While a large number of locations have yielded some placer gold, most of the state’s placer production has come from a few productive districts.

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

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.

In this article, I am going to take a look at three Midwest states and go through some of the prime places for prospectors to find nice local gold there.

I was amazed and surprised, and I took a moment to admire how beautiful this coarse chunk of gold was. It later weighed exactly one-half ounce.