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There are not many places to access the Broad River from public property, without being in the National Forest or city owned land. There is only one place that I have found so far. I am always looking for new public access on South Carolina waterways, so I will update this listing as I find new Locations that will work for dredging access.
Broad River
Ninety 9 Islands Ferry - Take I-85 South to exit 96 toward SC-18. Turn left at SC-18. Turn left at SC-329 go 6.4 miles. Turn left at Mckowns Mountain Rd/ SC-S-11-13 go 4.5 miles. Turn left Ninety 9 Ferry Rd (this is a hidden turn the road is right before Peterson's cabinets). The ramp is at the end of the road. ( I visited this spot on 8/18/07. This is one big river, the water is not too deep or too fast for dredging, but man this thing is WIDE! 400 feet if it's an inch. I did not pan while I was here, but the area is well known for it's gold, so I will be dredging this location in the near future.)
UPDATE....
Well, I went and dredged in the Broad River yesterday (Saturday 8/25/07)... I had absolutely no problems with the locals, and did not have an encounter with the law. I did get buzzed by a single engine plane 3 times (plane was not marked with any SCDNR or other markings) Whoever it was, was very interested in what I was doing, 1st pass was at about 1000 feet, second pass was at about 300 feet, and the last pass was at treetop level. I dredged for 3 hours after that, but the law never showed up (I had hoped they would... I spent 3 weeks massing information validating my rights to be in that river).
As for the river.... there is gold in this location. I did not find a lot, but I did find about a gram (5 hours with a 4"). However, this river is 400 feet wide, so I consider it a success to have found anything on the first trip. More testing may show a pay streak (most of the old mines were on the opposite side of the river from where I was, and most of them were also down stream a little further). The riverbed was not too deep, there was about 3 feet of extremely hard packed, very boulder bound, overburden over the bedrock (I would suggest a 3 pound drilling hammer and at least a 36" pry bar for taking it apart). In 5 hours, I made a hole about 5 feet across and 3 feet deep (about 1/5 the size I can normally make in that time)( 2 of us worked our asses off to get it that big). The bed had been in place so long that I could crush some of the smaller cobbles with my hands, and a few of the deeper ones just disintegrated when the nozzle got close to them. There is a hydroelectric generating station just upstream from here. I dredged through 2 generating cycles, the water flow increase was not too bad. Apparently the river is wide enough that the flow dissipates quickly. The water came up about a foot and a half while they were generating. I was wearing 30 pounds of lead (with no wetsuit) and never felt as if I would be blown out of the hole. I was able to walk the dredge 200 yards upstream during a generation cycle, without too much trouble. I will be dredging here again in the future! |
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