At first people looked for alluvial gold, which is gold lying in streams just under the surface of the bottom of the stream. Gold is heavier than sand so it goes to the bottom of the stream or creek. People washed creek sand in iron pans. As the dirt washed away, any gold was left in the pan because its weight kept it from washing away along with the dirt.

Panning- To use the pan, a miner would place a small amount of soil, gravel and sand into a pan as well as a significant amount of water. The miner would then swirl out the muddy water leaving gold specks at the bottom of the pan that had sunk to the bottom when the water was being swirled. Cradle- A miner would shovel a large amount of soil, gravel and sand into the hopper, which had a piece of mesh on the bottom that would allow gold and sand to fall through but would catch large rocks and pieces of debris. Puddling-The clay or gold mixture would be placed in a large contained and then water would be poured in. Using a wooden stake, the miner would stir the mixture and the clay would dissolve leaving the gold flecks and sand in the bottom on the container. The remaining mixture would then be panned or cradled. Shaft mining- Shaft mining when gold started to become scarce just under the surface of the ground, miners turned to digging deep holes, or shafts, in the ground. Miner’s Pick –Miner’s pick was used to break apart solid pieces of rock and soil so it could be placed either directly in the cradle or in the case of shaft mining, in a bucket to be brought up from the shaft mine and then put through the cradle. Shovel-A shovel was used to put the soil into the cradle as well as used to dig shafts.

Find a spot where you think you'll find gold. Streams are good because they carry small flakes and nuggets from upstream deposits. Natural "sluicing" actions then separates the gold to where you can find it. Streams in gold-bearing areas are good for starters. Find a point in the stream. Deltas at the end of a canyon through the mountains are good, as the water spreads out and slow down. Once the water slows all that gold is going to drop out quicker than silt and other lighter junk. Also try to check the inside of curves and behind large rocks. Shovel about 4-5 handfuls of dirt and gravel into your gold pan. Slowly lower your pan into the water. Make sure all of the dirt in your pan is wet. Split up any fragments of debris and remove any big rocks. Then swirl the pan back and forth. The swirling lets the gold to sink to the bottom of the pan, and so the dirt and gravel goes to the topside of the pan. You can dunk it into the water after settling so that the current carries away the sediment and debris. Tip your pan and allow the current to rinse off the top layer of dirt and gravel but be careful not to allow too much to be rinsed away. It’s best to just allow one layer to be rinsed at a time, otherwise the gold may be washed away with it. Slowly, move your pan forward and backward to help the unwanted material to be washed away. Repeat the swirling and rinsing cycle until you have a few portions of material left in your pan, the size of just a few dessertspoonful's. The material left in your pan usually looks like black sand. Look in your pan for gold splinters, if you see some make sure you swirl hard enough to keep them at the bottom. If you see a lot of them you may not be swirling hard enough for them to settle.