About Michigan Prospectors
Michigan Prospectors is a growing group of people intersted in prospecting for gold, minerals and fossils in Michigan. Learn More....
Join Michigan Prospectors Facebook Group and learn or share your knowledge about rock hounding and prospecting in Michigan. Be sure to visit the files section for some helpful information and interesting articles.
Gold In Michigan
Michigan is not well known for having gold but there is a long history of gold mining in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. But did you know that there is gold in Lower Michigan as well? Yup, there is gold in them thar hills. Long ago the glaciers deposited gold and minerals all over lower Michigan. There literally is gold in the hills that the glaciers left behind.
You can find gold in just about every location in Michigan. There is gold in gravel pits, glacier sand deposits, dunes, streams and even lakes. The glaciers ground up rocks and minerals during their travels across this State. During the melting and receding phase, those minerals were deposited into hills and mounds which can still be seen today.
In many areas just digging in the sand you can find at least one flake of flour gold per pan, sometimes more. By studying the history of Michigan and studying topographic maps you can find the best places to pan for gold. Rivers and streams concentrate the gold every time it storms.
One good thing about Michigan gold - it is constantly being replenished and deposited in creeks, streams and lakes by nature so there will always be something for the next person. Storms, snow and ice melt catch placer gold from sand dunes and hills, concentrating it as the water flows, eventually dropping it out into deposits. It is just sitting there waiting for some lucky prospector to find it. The Great Lakes waves churn up sand and leave behind layers on the shore. You cannot ask for better help from nature. Where you find black sand in the layers, you can often find gold.
Gemstones And Fossils
Michigan is loaded with fossils, minerals and gemstones. The same glaciers that dropped all that gold also left behind some very unique rocks and minerals. Many of the minerals we have here were brought down from Canada and left behind when the glaciers melted. This gives Michigan a very large variety of rocks and minerals like nowhere else in the World.
Michigan is a fossil hunter's dream. You can find all sort of fossils in Michigan. There are places where you are literally walking on fossils where an ocean bed used to be.
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