Wild Gem Mining in Macon County, NC????

[SCdigger]

Hey guys,

First post to this forum. My mom and dad own 5 acres in the mountains above Franklin, NC up Hwy. 64 (just above Deep Gap). If I was looking to explore the gem possibilities, where would I start...my brother and I did do some panning out of a couple of the rain fed creeks and got lot's of VERY small garnets.

Greg

[Dugday]

Garnets are pretty neat, I heard that sometime in the creeks where garnet are found, that gold can also be found. Good luck.

[Buster]

Welcome to Treasure Quest SCdigger, My wife and I have been wanting to get up that way to Franklin to do some gem digging..That would be so cool..maybe this sumer..As for your question..not sure on that one...Someone else will give some suggestions on that..I have not done any as to speak...Welcome again to TQ...Buster.....

[homefire]

If I had that opportunity, I would go gold panning in the creeks! Any gem stones would show up and you may find some good gold.

Welcome to the TQ from southern New Mexico!


I find Corundums in my pan here some times.

North Carolina Gold Mines. Prospecting, Panning, Treasure Hunting, Rockhounding

[anne]

Welcome to TQ I wish there was somewhere here to go Gem hunting. Good Luck

[EBCIII]

Welcome to the site! The area you are talking about is a great gem area. I bet with some luck you could do quite well. Maybe Pappy will see this post. I think that is near his stomping grounds, Beale.

[PAPPY]

First of all WELCOME to the TQ FAMILY. I'm in Sparta,N.C. not too far from Franklin. Your first venture should be in the creeks. You need a sifter to work the creeks but one can be eaisly made in about 30 minutes using 1/4" screen mesh wire. You want to load and sift your creek dirt and sand ( Gems have the tendancy to go to the bottom)and you want it to come from just as deep as you can dig. I'll PM you later with a few suggestions.

[SCdigger]

Originally Posted by PAPPY

First of all WELCOME to the TQ FAMILY. I'm in Sparta,N.C. not too far from Franklin. Your first venture should be in the creeks. You need a sifter to work the creeks but one can be eaisly made in about 30 minutes using 1/4" screen mesh wire. You want to load and sift your creek dirt and sand ( Gems have the tendancy to go to the bottom)and you want it to come from just as deep as you can dig. I'll PM you later with a few suggestions.

Thanks Pappy. I have a larger sifter that I use for trash pits/privy digging, but it might be too large for this....I do have some 1/4 inch hardware cloth and can probably throw something together. Will throw in the gold pan. There's a larger river down at Deep Gap which is about a quarter mile down the road...I may play around in the streams on the property, but they usually don't have running water unless it's been raining. Look forward to your PM.

Greg