dredging in rivers

Determination of whether waterways are "private" where they pass through private land or whether they fall under government control, even if the waterway divides a single owner's piece of property, is all determined by the government's determination of "navigability" of the waterway.  Creeks, streams and small rivers usually don't pass the navigability test.  If you can't get a commercial vessel down it, then the portion of the waterway passing through an owners land is considered part of the private property of the owner, and you can do whatever the owner of the land will let you do on it. 

To my knowledge, most every square inch of the Tennessee River is classified as navigatable waterway, so you'll be hard pressed to get any permission to do anything in it.  There are a few little offshoot streams that I know of that peel off of the Tennessee and then merge back into the river downstream that don't pass the navigability sniff test, two south of Chatanooga TN, and three south of the Wilsom Dam down in the Muscle Shoals area of Alabama, but for the most part, the Tennessee will be off limits for any sort of dredging. 

Other rivers like the Ocoee which are under TVA control don't pass the navigability sniff test, however the TVA has bought up, or assumed via eminent domain,  all the land immediately around, and including the river, so since you'd need permission of the owner, you'd be hard pressed to get permission to dredge there.  We snorkle in the deep holes on the Ocoee all the time after the water gets turned off, looking for lost jewelry and the like from rafting customers, and never get harrassed by the rangers, but I imagine if I broke out a dredge it would raise some eyebrows.

If you believe in a risky lifestyle and don't mind getting caught and fined, or if you can make friends with the local rangers so they'll look the other way, then go for it.

It's easy to make friends with Rangers by the way... They're people just like we are

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thanks for the info.   i'm still playing phone tag with TVA.  i'm about to start dredging in a creek that empties into the tn river a few miles from my house.  it definately has gold in it.  not a lot, but i sluiced a couple different areas of it back in the fall,  so now i want to dredge it down to bedrock. i think the best spot will be right where it empties... there is a rock bluff with quartz streaks showing about 200 feet from the end.  empties into a sandbar over bedrock about 3 ft down...  i've got my fingers crossed....,   i dont want to get into a issue with "the man" over it though... take care folks.. good luck and happy hunting!!

                                                                               andy
                                                                                                                                                                                                                             

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its pretty steep on the bluff side of the creek, almost straight up.  around 50 ft high i would guess, then on the other side it is fairly level.  most of the quartz streaks ar below the high water mark (approx 8 ft)..  i'd really like to do some sledge hammering on the face of the bluff, but to be honest it scares the crap out of me..  lots of loose rocks around basketball size just hanging by luck.  i have knocked out a little here and there but no pay streaks yet.  good color in the stream though.  i'm still playing phone tag with TVA by the way, lol.   thanks for the advice... happy hunting!!

                                                                                          andy

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