Hi Dan, When Butte Creek (In Chico Ca) had a flume burst and wash a massive amount of dirt off the side of the mountain and down into/across the creek about a year ago, it did have an effect on the gold and the salmon. We didn't get a full land bridge from the slide that I'm aware of but there was massive piles of dirt on both sides of the creek. In any case, the silt that washed down was enough to cause a massive drop in oxygen in the water. Indicated by thick foam and lots of bubbles floating on the water. This, paired with the obvious layer of silt that got distributed was enough to kill off a ton of the algae and other oxygen sensitive life in the creek. I saw tons of dead water striders oddly a few days later. Frogs were climbing out of the water for shelter... The salmon fry and other small fry seemed to do ok. I raked a lot of our creek front to see if it made any difference and what I noticed is that the little fry would follow me around as I stirred up the silt to get it washed out. So they were either looking for food in what I stirred up or they liked the gravels more then the mud. I think it helped our area relative to other unraked areas because our creek front kinda seems to me like it has more life and activity then other areas but I'm not totally sure on this. Craw fish population seems to have increased drastically. Salmon counts are a lot lower for spring run this year (this is the run that would have been effected). Overall, it did kill of a lot of life but nature is resilient and seems to have picked up a lot of the slack with other populations booming. Moray eels are way more prevalent this year because they will burrow into the mud to lay their eggs. In terms of gold; I do believe it put more gold in the creek. Its a little difficult to tell because gold is everywhere in this creek but it seems like the heavy silt locked the gold that was there in place kinda and then new gold came in and settled through the mud on top so, a year later, we have some gravels on top with a small, red dirt, silt layer that gold is sitting right under. There is still gold in the layers below the silt layer (as normal) but there seems to be an overaccumulation of smaller flower gold right under the silt layer that formed during the event. Although the event was a small "disaster" compared to what happened up there, it taught me a ton about how this creek moves and carries gold as well as how the ecosystem of this creek works and balances extreme events. The red dirt that came down from the slide was much higher in iron and really made all the vegetation nice and green after but the water being more void of oxygen killed most the natural algae making for a very nice 2-4 months of very clean lush looking canyon. Now, roughly a year later, you cant tell it happened except for that silt layer you will hit a few inches below the top gravels and we are all praying PGE didn't wipe out one of our salmon runs completely. So far its not looking good though. Being said, we have seen runs get decimated to almost 0 on this creek before and they manage to bounce back so I remain hopeful and convinced nature can overcome and even the score again. Hope this helps.
We were sneaking little breaths on the side because secretly we knew you were OK, BUT IT’S GREAT TO HEAR YOU ARE SAFE!!! The Hurd Herd collectively exhales!!!
Dan just for your information, salmon do not eat once they hit fresh water to go spawn. They go through a biological transformation once they reach their spawning stage which is also their end of life stage. They do however get aggressive and strike at things that may be in their path on route to go spawn in their birth waters.
Thanks Dan, we were concerned about the Chilcotin River as we were camping on McMillan Island at Fort Langley at that time. Great to know that the water over topped it and eroded it down. We love your videos. Our whole family love Gold and own a bit each. But we have Karatbar Gold.
Glad to hear some level headed explanations to this whole debacle instead of all doom and gloom. I'm glad to hear that your claims aren't affected from this, and even more glad this didn't become the worst case scenario
When I saw the landslide happen ... I actually did think about you and you claims Dan. A passing thought but a thought just the same. This was a nice little video to alleviate any pent up worries. Thanks man.
This was the video I was waiting for. Sat here in the UK I'm gradually learning BC geography and geology with you Dan and once i heard that the Fraser was involved i knew you'd be explaining it to us soon. Thanks Dan
My father left me a map location of a very small river where he said the gravels at the clay layer contain fine alluvial gold in pretty good amounts. It was difficult to get there but sure enough lots of flour type gold. The big surprise....we found DIAMONDS!! In those same concentrated gravels. Pretty new to all this but we are really excited to get back there better prepared in the fall. Thanks for this channel.
😊not really. Most of the wood coming down is just trash or firewood at best. The fresh trees that have wash if will have limbs and root masses. Log salvagers are not allow to cut trees in the water according to my dad. And if you could it is extremely dangerous to do while it's floating. Most of this stuff will just be a hazard to navigation. And a total nuisance to the gillnetters and other fisherman. The "Fraser debris trap" has caught a lot of it but it is only so big and what gets by will be fouling docks and boats. The tugs aren't bothered by it much but it will make their job of towing logs a bit hard to tie up and untie. But hey, if anyone wants a very old heritage cabin from "The Pot ranch" you'll find it somewhere in the river.
Love your channel and content, Dan! And thank you for the update. I am not a biologist or involved directly in fisheries (just a fly fisherman). But regarding the state of the Fraser and spawning salmon, another thing to ponder is what the mud and silt will do to gravel bottoms. Spawning salmon, from my understanding, do not really feed significantly once they return to freshwater to start their one-way spawning run (as contrasted to steelhead). But I do know that they return to the their birth areas and that is usually far up river. And that healthy gravel beds that are NOT silt-laden are ideal for spawnings. So I hope this new, unseasonably desposited silt doesn't singificantly affect their specific spawning habitat.
Thank for this update video! Great information for those of us concerned & interested about the results of the slide and your prospects. Good to hear you’re being careful!
I was totally going to ask "where did Dan get that great wide-brimmed sun hat?" and then I saw he conveniently provided a link. The man is thorough with his details!
Thanks for your expert opinion. A noob like me did think of all that gravel and silt possibly depositing a new supply of minerals into the river valleys.
I certainly wanted to reach out and ask, but I figured you would definitely make a video about it. I am so excited to watch this video Dan. Thanks for all your hard work. 😊
You always earn my subscription Dan. You have single handedly sparked my interest in prospecting and fossicking. Always a pleasure watching your videos.
There is one big potential for deposit! Dan I think you should check the exact place, where Chilcotin river enters Fraser. As this flood water enters Fraser it suddenly slows down - in theory it should deposit huge gravel bar, where heaviest material deposited upfront. In spring runoff this gravel bar would be washed enough to be prospective.
Thank you for the explanations for those of us who don’t live near you. Hopefully those whose ranches, homes, crops etc were lost of damaged they are able to rebuild quickly. Here’s to new adventures and prosperity for you and your family Dan. Thank you for taking us along.
I’ve never watched one of your videos before - the algorithm suggested this for me - but I like your content! Great video explaining all the little vagaries of the Chilcotin slide and its effects on the Fraser.
Great video once again. Glad I caught this one very interesting and the thing most impressive to me is that several days of flood water from a tributary river barely raises the Fraser. Now that is impressive. Rock on Dan oh and by the way what a great name.
You are my fave! Knott's Berry Farm had a little 'prospecting' area in the 60s, have not been there since. You just made me realize that was my first choice for profession, how lovely! And you are one compelling mountain man, such a treasure of a vid on a fabulous day!
That's who Fleetwood Mac stole the song from, a gold miner. "And if you see my reflection in the snow covered hills, well the land slide brought it down." - The Gold
Post Mt. Saint Helen's eruption the additional log debris in the water courses had a boon in local frog populations due to the added cover. Frasier river might not see this boon, but the chilcoton river could. Great video Dan. Your personality makes the information better. Happy prospecting from North Carolina.
thank you for sharing the adventure and information about this I had no idea that this was going on. your probably right on the money with the effect that it had on the river.
Yes, I was curious how the damming and breach would affect your claims. You analysis makes sense to me. I do love your footage of the Fraser. The eddies and boils are mesmerizing.
Hey Dan! You're right, I was at the Yale Panning Reserve on Aug. 8-9th and the water level wasn't that high but there was a lot of mud and clay on the river banks. Love your videos!
Thank you! On the East Coast in the US, but worried about the salmon. I thought all that debris would be disastrous for them. But now I'm not so worried. Your info and explanations helped a lot. Gotta love that salmon! Good luck with the gold.
'the authorities' (and anyone else with two neurons and a working synapse) KNOW that, when there's salmon/trout/any fry in a river or stream, it's never a good idea to introduce turbidity of any volume. But the many minor slides that already naturally happen, in every river, and the rarer ''nagwentleds'' (Chilcotin for '''landslides across the river'') DON'T know that. Can we not commit to protecting these populations whenever we can? The alternative - of soft enforcement - isn't pretty for the fish, and the ramifications, of 'prospectors' going out there, wholesale, whenever, will only lead to tighter restrictions. If that's OK, then fly at her.
Thanks for the update Dan I was one who asked about it. 👍 I think I read it is @30 kilometers from the slide to the Fraser. Maybe in a few hundred years a little more gold will make down to your claims.
Man BC is so beautiful, ill never leave!.... the hiway drive up the river is just incredibly beautiful, how it slowly turns from mountains and trees to desert
It's funny that you did this video. I am here in the states, so Canada stuff doesnt come up often (I do follow you) but I had a random video show up of the head waters reaching the Frasier and was going to tag you in it with these very questions.
Well Dan I have to say it may have affected your ability to get gold it will now be buried under a layer of mud and silt which is a pain to deal with hopefully your far enough down river it won’t super bad thanks for sharing see you on the next one👍🏼👊🏼
Thanks for making the video. I was curious what your take was going to be, but after seeing the result of the flood in the Fraser, this is about what I expected: not much.
