The sun was beginning to set, which put the light at just the right angle against the hillsides to where I believed that I spotted a very small dig and tailings pile up the hill near the top of the second wash.

People always ask me what is so important about locating contact zones. The answer to that: Gold.

When he got home that night, he looked at the plotted points of gold and trash he had dug and saw that there was a distinct line where the gold nuggets were being found.

George was considering filling his dredge floats with closed-cell foam, ensuring that there would be no area available within each float for flooding.

There is always an overwhelming feeling when finding gold of any size, but one like this doesn’t come along very often.

I had some success following this premise this summer, finding a few nuggets in places I think I overlooked in the past.