My attempt to strike gold in the place where the Gold Rush originated.
I ’m standing sura - deep in icy water , panning for Au , while I worry the rest period of me is getting a sunburn even though I ’m wearing SPF 50 . The water is self-conceited and rushing promptly downriver , and I ’m frightened to venture much deeper because the American River has already claimed two life last season . This is the real deal experience , brace a nugget ’s throw from where James Marshall squatted and establish a huge clod of gold in a sawmill tailrace in 1848 , starting the Gold Rush . Marshall ’s clutch for a glinty thing everlastingly exchange the face of California and spell disaster for aboriginal American population . Here at the Marshall Gold Discovery State Historic Park in Coloma , California , social structure see the event ; there ’s a replica sawmill , museum , sacred Nisenan chaw - se ( stone for grinding acorns into flour ) , Mormon Battalion cabin , Chinese Joss House and other sphere that make it clear that the rush for gold was an international phenomenon . People get from all over the ball .
Earlier , I find out how to pan for gold at the trough gear up up for schoolchildren , elbow to elbow with kids working intemperately for that golden fleck or a seed garnet to make their day . But now I ’m in the river alone , looking for a hunk of gold . And although I ’m physically uncomfortable , I can see the allure . It ’s like the casino ; you just need to try out one more pan before you give up . I ’m ready to share the tips to do your own atomic number 79 panning , but first , we must attack a myth .
Many people are verbalise about how the “ big melt ” is stirring up riverbeds and expose more Au , giving path to a 2nd Gold Rush . It ’s absolutely true that California has seen record amount of precipitation last year . Golden Gate Weather Servicesreports that in Sacramento and South Lake Tahoe , around equidistant from Coloma , the rainfall as of this date has been 98 % and 73 % of the regular full - season rate , respectively , ( though much gamey in seasons ’ past ) . So will we see large nuggets drifting from the depth as body of water aggressively swirl across riverbed stain ? Not so hasty there , Jedidiah , and hold your Equus caballus , Nellie .
Colma, California: A student on a field trip try gold panning.|Photo by David Butow/Corbis via Getty Images
“ When the Gold Rush pass , we always say that gold had been depositing here for 300 million twelvemonth since the Jurassic period , ” says Steve Hilton , deputy district super and supervisor of the Cultural Resources Programs for the California State Parks Gold Fields District . “ One dear season of rainfall does n’t replenish that gold . ”
All over the part , you ’ll notice “ tailings ” or large pile of rock and roll go away over from hydraulic excavation , the environmentally destructive practice of using machinery to blast water at sandbank to loosen the gold from the stone . After that kind of discussion , the river will unlikely succumb much more than flecks . “ Dredging and corporate minelaying endeavor to turn river from their natural banking company allowed miners to expose and accumulate much of the gold . While there is still a heap of gold pass on that gets wear away , much of the easy picking have been collected , ” say Hilton . Still , people happily pan , and there ’s always a probability that a Eureka second will occur . Here ’s how to make it more likely .
Here’s how to try your luck
1 ) First , get a goat god . They ’re for cut-rate sale at most Gold Rush site in northern California . You could also stop by Placerville Hardware , purportedly the oldest hardware store west of the Mississippi , in nearby Placerville ( placer being a kind of Au ) . In this charming , historic depot , there are still holes drill in the wooden heel counter to capture tiny spot of Au from when miners would weigh their take . But you’re able to use any shallow bowl .
2 ) Look for obtuse water system , say stave services analyst / volunteer coordinator Jerrie Beard . If there ’s a Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree in the water catching swirls of flow around it , that indicates an ideal place to dig out with your pan . Gold is heavy , so the more that piddle is slowed down , the more chance atomic number 79 sit around in the deposit .
3 ) comprehend your cooking pan in deeply . stick it into the backbone / land at the bottom of the river as far as you may . You ’ll now have a genus Pan full of Amandine Aurore Lucie Dupin , rocks , water , and hopefully gold .
Marshall Gold Discovery State Park where gold was first discovered in 1885.|Education Images/Universal Images Group/Getty Images
4 ) stir your genus Pan back above the pee and start swirling the water around the pan in a circular fashion . This moves unwanted elements to the top of the water , while gold sinks to the bottom .
5 ) Start rinsing . This mean you must slosh the top grade of your content back into the river – it ’s horrible because you think there probably is a big nugget in there , and you ’re losing it . But you must intrust in the system of weights of atomic number 79 .
6 ) If you have an “ official ” pan , there will be ridges inside the flange . Beard tell you should rinse as many time as there are ridge because the ridge will potentially continue gold for you as you slosh out grit and pebbles . Hold the pan with the ridges off from you . No ridge ? No matter . The 1800s miner did n’t have them either .
7 ) Keep swirling urine around the pan until you get a clear sight of what ’s left in it . seem for flecks of gold , not Ag . Both are shiny and get you excited , but silver indicates “ fool ’s gold ” or fool’s gold .
- Have a small vial or pee - take vas handy to hold your gold . Press a juiceless digit onto the fleck and then cautiously puff your finger over the back talk of the phial to expel the bit within . Beard recommends doing this over the cooking pan in case you send packing it . At Coloma ’s Au pan off troughs , faculty have this down to a science ; there are built - in holders to keep your vial vertical while you continue to pan .
I did have a great day both at the trough and in the river but came away with a short fortune , four flecks the size of it of an ant . To me , the true wealth came from contemplating the Grandmother Rock , across the river from the gold panning beach . Here , Nisenan women ground acorns to feed families for so long that the rock and roll bear deep holes from their rock - on - rock craunch over the centuries . It takes 100 years to go 1 in into the rock , and some of these holes are 12 in deep . Beard involve the schoolchildren to do the maths , and they gasp when they total up with 1,200 long time — and the Gold Rush was not even 200 long time ago . It puts everything in position . “ Gold only has value when we put time value on it , ” Beard tell the schoolchildren during her circuit . “ The Nisenan did n’t value Au . ”
