Where To Pan For Gold In Washington State

The law on gold in washington state.

Where to pan for gold in washington state.

The prospecting activity occurs only in certain waters in adams benton clallam grant grays harbor lincoln pacific spokane whitman and yakima counties that are not designated under the federal endangered species act as critical habitat for salmon steelhead or bull trout or have a freshwater designated use of salmonid spawning rearing and migration. The gold is very fine here so careful gold panning is needed to recover the gold. Panning in washington the state s streams that contain placer gold are also important for the plant and animal communities they support. Indulge gold fever for days on end at a variety of campgrounds where you can camp and pan for gold.

There are lots of gold mining opportunities in washington state. It was here at swauk creek that gold was first discovered back in 1873. Panning for gold is a great way to find gold or you can step up to a sluice or dredge and move some material. Fine gold can be found all throughout the okanogan river from the british columbia border down to its confluence with the columbia river.

If it were easy everyone would be doing it. Kittitas county is the heart of gold panning in washington state. Panning for gold is often an effort in futility as not every pan of sand produces gold flakes. Fine placer gold can be found in the columbia river and its tributaries as well as numerous creeks and rivers west of the cascades.

Gold miner panning on the nooksack river circa 1976. In the north cascades gold basin campground lies along the south fork stillaguamish river where. Gold mining camps were established all over kittitas county after the first find. Eastern washington gold mines the state s largest gold producers.

In fact most of them don t. Modern day prospectors still pan and search for gold in the areas around concrete wenatchee okanogan and sandpoint. To protect stream and streamside habitats the washington state depart ment of fish and wildlife dfw administers the hydraulics code rcw 75 20 100. Miners eventually made their way to washington state and established some lode mines that produced gold especially around the towns of blewett and liberty shown in the wenatchee gold maps.