Crevicing for Gold

Some of the best gold in a creek never sits in the open gravel. It slips down into cracks in the bedrock and stays there, sometimes for a very long time. Crevicing is the art of getting it back out. This guide explains what crevicing is, why cracks hold gold, which ones are worth working, what tools people use and the rules to check first. Randy has creviced for gold himself.

What is crevicing?

Crevicing is cleaning out the material packed into cracks and crevices in bedrock and panning it for gold. There is no federal definition, but Washington's fish and wildlife department defines it in its Gold and Fish rules as removing gravel from cracks and crevices with hand-held prospecting tools or water pressure.

It is usually done along the edge of a creek, on bedrock that shows above the water or sits just under it, often when the water is low.

Why do bedrock cracks hold gold?

Because gold sinks, and a crack gives it somewhere to stop. During high water the whole bed of a stream gets stirred up, and the U.S. Geological Survey explains that gold works its way down through the moving gravel until it reaches bedrock. When it gets there, any crack or hollow catches it, the same way the riffles in a sluice do.

The U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management make the same point in their gold panning guide: bedrock cracks and pockets act as natural riffles, and they suggest scooping out and panning the material from them.

Which cracks are worth working?

The ones where gold had a reason to stop and no reason to leave. Look for cracks in the same places gold drops out of a river in general: where the current slows, on the inside of bends and below rapids. Our guide on where to find gold in a river explains how to read the water.

Smooth, polished bedrock is often a letdown. Oregon's state geologists point out that where a stream runs over smooth bedrock, high water tends to scour the cracks and potholes clean. A crack or pothole packed tight with boulders and sand is a different story, and the material wedged in there can be very good. Broken, fractured bedrock is also worth a look. The Forest Service describes one Alaska canyon where good colors came from both the stream gravel and the fractured bedrock.

Do not ignore clay. A hard clay layer in the gravel, called false bedrock, can stop gold before it reaches real bedrock, and the Forest Service describes creeks where gold sits on clay as well as on bedrock.

What tools do you need for crevicing?

Simple hand tools. Washington's rules describe hand tools as ones held by hand with no engine, electric, hydraulic or air power, and give shovels, picks, trowels, hammers and pry bars as examples. Panners also use small tools for the finest work, such as a knife blade, tweezers and small vials for the gold, all of which show up on official gear lists.

You do not need much to start. Randy began panning as a boy with his grandmother, using nothing more than a metal pan, a spoon and a knife.

Some panners also use hand-powered suction pumps, sometimes called gold vacuums or sniffers, to pull material out of cracks. We found no official rule on whether hand-powered pumps are allowed in California, so if you plan to use one there, ask the state Department of Fish and Wildlife first. Motorized suction is a different matter, covered below.

How do you crevice for gold?

1. Check the rules first. Make sure the land is open to prospecting, that nobody holds a claim on it, and what tools are allowed. See the rules section below.
2. Find exposed bedrock. Look for cracks in bedrock along the stream, ideally where the water slows and where cracks are packed with sand and gravel rather than scoured clean.
3. Clean out the crack. Scoop the material out of the crack and into your gold pan with a hand tool, getting down to the bottom where the heaviest material sits.
4. Pan it. Pan the material down just as you would gravel from the stream. Our guide on how to pan for gold covers each step.
5. Put things back. Return any rocks you moved, fill any holes and leave the spot the way you found it.

What is sniping for gold?

Sniping is a close cousin of crevicing. The word usually means working cracks and bedrock under the water, often with a dive mask or snorkel, picking gold and gold-bearing gravel out by hand. We found no official definition of sniping, so treat it as the common name for underwater crevicing. All the same rules about land, claims and tools apply.

Is crevicing legal?

Often yes, with hand tools, on public land that is open to prospecting. But the details depend on where you are, so check before you go.

Bureau of Land Management land

The BLM's guide Can I Keep This? allows prospecting with hand tools, but asks you not to leave hazards such as pits or trenches, and does not allow power equipment or explosives. In wilderness and wilderness study areas, only hobby collecting with no surface disturbance is allowed.

National forests

Light, casual prospecting usually needs no permit on national forests, but some are stricter. National Forests in North Carolina, for example, do not allow stream banks to be disturbed, allow only a pan edge or small trowel to loosen gravel in the streambed, and require holes to be filled right away.

Mining claims and private land

Gold found on a mining claim belongs to the claim holder, so you need their permission before you crevice there. The same goes for private land.

State rules

States set their own rules on top of these. Washington, for example, requires you to fill holes and level your piles before moving on, to put moved boulders back close to where they were, and to leave fish, fish nests and large wood alone. In California, the Department of Fish and Wildlife says motorized suction dredging is banned, but panning and other non-motorized recreational mining are not affected.

How do you crevice safely?

Never dig into or under a stream bank. Undercut banks can collapse without warning. Creek water is often cold, so dress for it and watch for signs of hypothermia. In dry country, a flash flood can fill a wash quickly. Stay out of old mine tunnels and shafts. Prying and hammering rock can send chips flying, so wear eye protection.

What next?

Crevicing is one of many ways to find gold. For the bigger picture, from gear to where you are allowed to pan, see our gold panning page.