Let’s set up a thought experiment: Suppose you had some material that ran one ounce per ton gold, which is generally considered high grade to fantastic grade depending on the circumstances.

Every time we prospected here we found gold, sometimes some really coarse flakes, but no large nuggets (yet).

These “people”—and I use that term loosely—worked together with others. What was happening to me was like scenes out of the old James Bond movies.

“I heard him hollering down in the hole as soon as I got there,” he said. “I was just glad to see him alive.”

The sun was beginning to set, which put the light at just the right angle against the hillsides to where I believed that I spotted a very small dig and tailings pile up the hill near the top of the second wash.