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Steve Herschbach visited Ganes Creek in 2001 and 2002. This is his response to the question "What are the odds of finding gold at Ganes Creek"?
I do not like to oversell things, and there simply are no promises in nugget detecting. Even for excellent operators luck does play a factor, and it plays even more into the game searching tailing piles. One thing for sure is that most people underestimate the patience it takes to nugget hunt in tailing piles. You are looking for the proverbial needle in a haystack, and finds are few and far between.
The early visitors to Ganes Creek racked up some impressive numbers, but the easy pickings are pretty well worked over now, and it will take more patience to succeed than it did for those first folks. And people expecting regular, constant finds are likely to be disappointed, as tailing piles are just not that consistent. There are not patches or paystreaks of gold like you might find in virgin ground.
There are some bedrock exposures that will produce lots of smaller nuggets if carefully searched, and so more actual pieces may be found more consistently by concentrating on that. But my feeling is this would result is less actual weight of gold found, as it takes a lot of small nuggets to make up for the larger pieces that might be found searching the tailings. And for most, the real goal at Ganes Creek is to have a shot at a truly large gold nugget.
It's really hard to put an average on tailing piles, but I think I could average about nugget a day on the average at Ganes while searching the tailing piles, hoping to make a big score. When I say average I mean some days I may find several nuggets, and on other days none. The nuggets may weigh anywhere from a few pennyweights (20 pennyweight per ounce) to several ounces. It's not that the nuggets are thick, but the odds of a really big, multi-ounce nugget are simply the best I know of. I think that even going to Australia would be a long shot compared to this.
On the other hand, someone who is not patient should beware. You simply have to detect all day, every day, and not worry about what you are finding. I could go for three days at Ganes finding nothing, and get up the fourth day being as optimistic as ever I'd find gold. But someone who gets discouraged and decides to sit back at camp will come away empty-handed. Always remember that one large nugget can make up quickly for lots of hours of metal detecting.
One of the nuggets found in 2002 was found by Dave Rankin. A beautiful 5.63 ounce nugget of nearly solid gold. Dave had minimal detecting experience, like many of the visitors to Ganes Creek. He put in four very long, hard days of detecting without finding a single gold nugget. But he persevered, and on the fifth day found one of the nicest nuggets of the summer. Truly the find of a lifetime! Dave will be the first to tell you it was hard to not get discouraged... and also that the effort was worth it.
While nuggets weighing up to ten pounds have been found at Ganes Creek, it's not very realistic to count on finding something like that. It would be like winning the lottery. It could happen, however. But far more realistic is to hope for a nugget weighing over one ounce.
Dave Rankin with 5.63 ounce nugget found at Ganes Creek
One thing that will help is that in 2003 there will be much more time spent scraping areas down with bulldozers to expose fresh ground. This does not guarantee gold, but it does help psychologically in knowing you are the first to scan the material. So people in 2003 will probably spend part of each day scanning these fresh exposures, and then wandering off into the tailing piles looking for overlooked areas and missed nuggets.
The fact is that most of the nearly 40 people to visit Ganes creek so far have found a nugget weighing over one ounce. Several found nuggets weighing over 5 ounces. And nearly all can say the largest gold nugget they have ever found has come from Ganes Creek. I personally made the last visit of the season in 2002, and after everyone else had covered the ground, I found the largest nugget of the summer. It weighed 6.85 ounces. And I still can think of many areas to hunt for gold at Ganes creek... the area is still rich with possibilities.
On the other hand, there will be some people with high hopes who will go there and find nothing. It is almost inevitable. Just remember you are paying to look for gold, not to find gold. There is a difference. Lots of people spend big money to come to Alaska to hunt a big sheep, or a big bear, or a big halibut, and come away with nothing. It's the same thing with nugget hunting. You are paying for the hunt and the adventure. Simply visiting Ganes Creek is an adventure in itself, and anyone just looking for a truly unique Alaskan experience will come away from Ganes Creek happy no matter what they find.
Be sure and read Which Metal Detector Should I Use? for tips to help you increase your odds of finding gold at Ganes Creek.
I hope this helps,
Steve Herschbach
Copyright 2002 Herschbach Enterprises
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