A Story about Gold

Running through the western edge of the range in Sierra Nevada, you can find the Yuba River that runs its way through the ocean passing by a big cool and beautiful forest. This located near little towns and it is known as a trout country and this is exactly what a lot of people go there to do, fish for trout and look at the beautiful scenery.

A friend Donald was telling us how he and his wife had gone out to this place to do some trout fishing and to enjoy the beautiful scenery. They took their car and placed it in a side road that was near the river and they went down the ruts to a camping ground with grass on it and decided to set up their tent there. After having set up the tent they decided to go out and explore the campground. There were only a few other campers around that were staying in the area.

As soon as Donald finished setting up their tent he decided to go down to check out the fishing area with all of the fishing gear, while his wife Mary stayed organizing the tent area. Donald went fishing and was surprised at how many fish he had caught; he ended up with around seven trout in his creels. During the whole process Donald ran into some boys that were wearing wet suits and were in the water. Some of the boys that were in the water were pulling a little raft they had made and there was another boy that had on a snorkel and had a plastic bottle in his hand.

As soon as Donald passed by, the boy waved at him and asked if he had had any luck catching anything to which Donald replied “yes” and preceded to proudly show the boy the trout he had caught.

The boy then told him that they had also done well that day and held up the plastic bottle he had in his hand. Donald was not sure at first but then to his surprised realized that there were some small pebbles inside the bottle, they had a yellow shine and he asked, “Is that what I think it is?”

The boy looked up at him and told him that indeed he had found gold nuggets and showed them to Donald.

The boy then gave the bottle to Donald so he could see them closely and Donald was surprised at the weight of the bottle. This is obviously when Donald told us his interest for gold livened. He has never stopped since then.

The rest of the boys that were still in the water were scooping up the sand and gravel from the upstream part of the rocks because this was a place where the weight of the gold nuggets was too heavy for water current to move them from their spot.

They told Donald that the rapid flow of the spring freshets had torn the soil and the sand and caused the gold from the banks that were higher up in the mountains to be swept down to where the current of water was not as strong anymore. The gold that was heavy then settled in the bottom and little by little moved its way upstream until the rocks in the rapids caught onto it and held the gold nuggets where these boys were able to find them.

These boys had made some sort of raft and they used it to dump the buckets of gravel they had gathered from the water onto it and would then sort out what they wanted and what they didn’t. Obviously in their case they were specifically looking for gold nuggets and this was their main goal. Donald said the only instrument he saw the boys use, was a sieve, which they used as their separation equipment. The boys had only been there for around six days and had managed to gather a good amount of gold nuggets and they said this was going to be used to cover their travel and vacation expenses.

Donald asked the boys about the gold dust and they told him that it was carried down by the current of water. The whole conversation made him feel very intrigued and he wanted to try it.

He asked one of the boys that was talking to him if he thought there was gold in the place they were standing and the boy handed him a pan and told him to try it.

This is obviously where it all began for Donald. Pretty soon Donald’s wife was also there squatting by the river panning the gold. Donald’s wife at first stood on the side as if not completely convinced of what her husband was doing, but as soon as they saw some traces of the yellowish color gold has, it was enough for her to be convinced of it too and was soon enough squatting next to her husband. Their first attempt at getting gold that day did not end up in a lot of gold but the little bit they did get made them feel very proud and happy.

When they got home the first thing they did obviously was show it to their friends.

Old Mother Lode is one of the places people like to go to for weekend prospecting. However there are other places to do this in. during the months in which the weather gets cold, going towards the dessert might be another option and there are many people that will do this.

There are certain times of the year in which the Mojave dessert is a good option and this is usually during the months of October to May since it is pretty nice during the day, however mind you that it can get quite cold at night. Another good thing about going to the dessert during these months is that there are not as many dangerous animals around never the less they do still exist during this time and it is always necessary to take precautions.

 Some people enjoy the dessert a lot and some people simply cannot stand it at all. When the rainy season comes along in the dessert, it gets a greenish look in between the creek beds. During the months of spring the dessert starts to show a beautiful display of interesting looking blossoms from its trees and bushes.

There is gold in the dessert. There was once a big gold rush after the rush into central California and it obtained much less attraction. Obviously during this time, mining in the dessert was a bit more difficult and harsh and the people that went thinking they were going to find gold easily pretty soon discovered it required more work moved on to other places.

Another factor about the dessert is the scarcity of water and therefore having transportation turned into something vital in the financial side of mining. There are some people that in the past did hang in and were able to obtain a good amount and gold and then moved on to other places.

There are two types of people that like to do gold mining on their weekends or free days. One type is the people that are collectors and enjoy the souvenirs and are happy with finding a little gold nugget. When these type of collectors find gold this way they might mount it to wear as jewelry or will keep it in a certain place to show off to people etc. these types of gold hunters are the ones that enjoy doing this task with gold pans on the sides of streams, or they enjoy using the “water saving” equipment if they are working in a place such as the desert.

Often times they do not get a lot of gold but are able to get a few dollars worth of gold dust or a small gold nugget which they are perfectly content with. And as everyone that has gotten into this type of hobby or job knows, there are many other things that can be found along the way as well such as interesting coins or treasures. This type of gold miner enjoys not only looking for gold but also enjoys being outside in nature, looking at the view of the places they go to, fishing, hiking etc.

Then you also have the other type of gold miner, which really gets into it. This type of gold miner works a bit harder to get to his or her goal. If the person knows that there is a certain spot in which there is gold and have already seen and obtained gold from it, most likely they will go back again and again to work on it. This type of gold miner will also be more interested in getting special tools for gold mining such as nice sized sluice or rocker as this is what will help them process a good amount of dirt over the weekend or during the time they have to do the job. Just a couple people working at this type of job can manage to scrape up a good amount in dollars worth if they have the right type of equipment and their backs do not tire easily.

So why don’t people do this all the time? However, as everyone that has gotten into gold mining knows, it is not something that always goes well, while there are days in which you can strike gold and do very well, there are also days in which you will simply not find anything and doing this as a full time job just might not be the best option as there is no assurance you will be able to hit the jackpot.

One thing that everyone that is interested in getting into gold mining is that they all dream of making a small fortune off of it. There have been occasions in which people have reported finding gold in a certain spot but never reveal the exact location with good reason obviously. The truth is that in the end, whether gold mining is a hobby for you or if you are the type of person that is more seriously into it, the right tools and luck is definitely required. Who knows, you might end up being the one who hits the jackpot one day.