Illinois Gold Prospecting

Hi guys. My name is Brian. This will be my first year of gold panning. I'm not going to invest in a Sluice Box yet because so many people claim Illinois doesn't have gold. I'm from the Flora area and have a small ammount of land with a couple creeks running through. Hope to talk to you guys more about your finds! Any advice would be greatly apprciated but from all the videos I've seen, I get the giest of it.

Well tonight I went to a creek brought some dirt home and panned it out. At first I coulden't really get the feel for it but the last few pans I started getting a feel for it. Last 2 pans had some very very fine flakes that moved slower than the black sand. They really sparkled with the flashlight on them. Is this really how easy it is?

Hi Brian,
I too am new here and am wanting to start prospecting where I can. I'm in St. Clair county and not sure what if anything occurs here. I have a friend that owns property at the bottom of the bluffs about 8 to 10 miles from the Mississippi east of E. St. Louis. It has a creek on it that floods in heavy rain and moves pretty swiftly then, but is normally pretty shallow the rest of the time. I'm going to test out a sluice that I built myself, but don't expect to find anything.
Maybe we can get an outing organized this summer if we can get interest and a place to find gold. I look forward to meeting some good people and having some fun looking for gold in IL.