The only thing that saved me was talking to a local miner who gave me a “heads up” that private individuals owned all the mineral rights in that section.

Some ask if a prospector can collect an entire ounce in a day. It is possible; I’ve done it before.

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.

Due to the lockdown, I spent lots of time indoors this spring and I decided to add a drone as a faithful mate in my research.