SS Central America Gives Up Millions in Gold Rush Era Gold

July 2018 by Ralph Wetterhahn

A treasure-seeking young man whose name will forever remain anonymous made the months-long journey either over land or by sailing ship to California after word spread about the gold strike in 1849.

Following Clues to a Hidden Gold Deposit

March 2012
Many years ago I was in the American Canyon. I remembered a few details about a placer deposit there, so we decided to make a trip down and re-check some of these old workings.

Prospecting for Surface Flood Gold Placers on Low and Intermediate Gradient Streams

February 2015

Sample panning is a very important method used to find the richest parts of a flood gold deposit before setting up equipment and running material.

Rattler's Gold

January 2011
Rick donned a pair of fiberglass shin guards that he normally wore dredging, just in case he uncovered the rattlesnake during his digging and rock moving. I wasn’t convinced they were going to provide enough protection.

Highbanking at the 144

October 2013
My third sample location proved to be my last and most interesting. I needed to look no further.

Find of a Lifetime

May 2013
My metal detecting hobby began about ten years ago when I bought a used metal detector for about $300. I got it specifically to look for meteorites. It was pretty much worthless, not user friendly, and I did not find anything with it.

Detecting Strategies for Heavily Forested Areas—Part II

January 2017
Patience and persistence is the name of the game when you are detecting this way for gold, as you will have to do a lot of work preparing the ground to detect with any degree of success.

My Lucky Thirteen Nuggets

May 2017

Even with my favorite top-of-the-line gold detector there were several false digs. Many of the hot rocks gave a solid signal that was too much like a nugget to ignore. After trying several tests I just dug everything because it is better to be safe than leave a big, deep nugget for a more diligent gold hunter.

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