The first experience involved an overgrown gold mine operated during the 1880s. A razed mill adjoined the mine and could be glimpsed from the isolated public dirt road I was traveling.

The problem is that extracting gold from hard rock is often a lot more difficult than processing placer gravels. Still, there is some very high-grade ore out there in many old mining areas.

Some ask if a prospector can collect an entire ounce in a day. It is possible; I’ve done it before.

Adam’s condition had been deteriorating every step of the way. At times, I could only coax him ten or twenty feet before he laid down again. He refused to eat or drink. At this point, I realized we might not get out of the canyon by dark and might need help getting Adam out at all.

The nugget sat there in plain sight, though it was covered in dirt, while hundreds of people had passed that way every day.

This year was a test. We had never done anything like this before, yet we grossed $30,000 in the short time we had to mine.