Re:The New California Gold Rush
by indigoshift on Saturday October 17, 2009 @11:20AM
(#887019)
It's fun. When I was 16, my dad bought a 50% stake in an actual gold mine in northern Idaho. We spent the summer mining for gold--after we spent a few weeks getting the neglected mine up and running again.
My dad and brother would go underground and do the actual digging; my mom and I stayed topside, with me running the hoist and the both of us working the sluice box.
I found a nugget as big as my thumb that year. We found a number of smaller nuggets as well.
Two years before, my dad had a placer claim for a stretch of creek about 10 miles from the mine just described, and we spent all summer out in the woods, dredging and panning for gold. Didn't find anything, though.
My dad and brother would go underground and do the actual digging; my mom and I stayed topside, with me running the hoist and the both of us working the sluice box.
I found a nugget as big as my thumb that year. We found a number of smaller nuggets as well.
Two years before, my dad had a placer claim for a stretch of creek about 10 miles from the mine just described, and we spent all summer out in the woods, dredging and panning for gold. Didn't find anything, though.