I made my way up past where I left off and the wash was going to end in about 100 feet. It was then I got a sweet signal.

He began hiking my way and was as astonished as I was when he saw it. Another high five moment! It makes you wonder how long this gold had just been sitting there on the ground.

Chris got a nice target signal on the edge of rising bedrock, but still in a low, but washed area. After breaking up the bedrock, he recovered several pieces of gold amounting to almost three pennyweight.

He made some casual conversation until he got around to what really brought him into my camper.

BLM stated we had 30 days to amend our claim so that it fit within one 40-acre square or we would forfeit the claim.

Many of the gold camps were violent places, but in this regard, the town of Auburn exhibited a different behavior. There were few of the duels or lynchings that characterized many of the other early settlements.