The early miners sought their wealth in the creeks and rivers of the area but the true wealth was discovered by accident.

This was two days of gold panning, with just over 250 gold panners trying to win a medal to show they were one of the best of the best.

The old timers typically washed these areas down to bedrock, and some areas appear terraced. I would imagine this is because these hydraulic mines were generally where the miners found old Tertiary river channels on the sides of mountains that were gold-bearing.

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.

At first we decided to see what the flat by our camp would produce where the old-timers had worked it with their Pelton wheel and dragline buckets.

The first time I found gold in the creek here is when I decided to try a new place to drywash on a hill not far from the dirt path I was on.