Some financial commentators have speculated that bitcoin and other virtual currencies have captured a portion of funds that would have been invested in gold. I find it a bit ironic that people who invest in precious metals would even consider another fiat currency.

• Chinese buyers turn their noses up at new car smell
• Sheriff’s office more than ready for emergencies...in the bathroom
• Saving money by not paying the bill

The father-son duo spent years combing this bit of Pennsylvania wilderness with high-end metal detectors, drills and other tools to prospect for a fabled cache of Civil War gold.

Gold is a fairly widespread mineral in the Italian Alps and in the Northern Apennines. It is found both in primary mineralization and in past and recent floods.

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.