For most Californians, the recent end of a six-year drought means guilt-free baths; but prospectors see more at the end of the rainbow. Drawn by the lingering appeal of the Mother Lode, thousands of gold diggers have poured into old mining regions with hopes in their hearts and metal detectors in their hands. Some are retired folks; others are unemployed plumbers and builders fleeing the recession. The ninety-three’ers believe the run-off from heavy winter snows will wash down more gold from the Sierra Nevada mountains than usual. Even so, there’s little reason to expect pay dirt. Generations of gold diggers have picked over the same riverbeds since 1849; any new bullion is likely to be a sprinkling of dusty “flour gold.”
Still, there are enough stories to keep the prospectors coming. Ralph Shock, who conducts gold-mining tours out of Jamestown, insists that just the other day somebody brought in a nugget worth $5,800. On Christmas Day last year, workers at the Sonora Mining Corp. discovered a 60-pound hunk of gold appraised, in its rocky matrix, at $3.5 million. Since then, prospectors have descended on nearby Woods Creek to pan for gold. Sonora officials have tried to dampen gold fever by patiently explaining the difference between river gold and their multi-million-dollar crystalline gold piece, a product of hard-rock mining. Using earthmovers, Sonora dislodged 57 million tons of rock before finding its bonanza.
Most prospectors have more modest means. Nicholas Skuce Sr. of Jamestown’s Columbia Mining & Equipment recommends novices start out with a book and perhaps a shovel and pan. “No sense going out and spending money foolishly,” says Skuce. Most amateurs use plastic pans, not the traditional metal-they’re lighter and the gold shows up better against the green or black plastic. Others use dredging equipment to vacuum river bottoms.
This being California, some of the prospectors view digging as a matter of lifestyle. Standing in rubber boots in a gold-outfitting shop in Jamestown, Bay Area electrician John Wilcoxson knows that half of what he hears is hype. But, he says, gold digging is “relaxing”-an optimistic description of an activity involving freezing water, bouts with rattlesnakes and the threat of carpal tunnel syndrome from all the pan swirling. Of course he’d love to find a big nugget, but his other goal is to “slow down and switch gears,” says Wilcoxson. But gold country has changed since the old days. Upscale eateries like Michelangelo Ristorante Italiano and the Jamestown Coffee Emporium have moved into the area. How about a cappuccino, darling Clementine?
