Gold in "Them Thar" Hills

49er Mining Supplies Gold Mine Tour and Outdoor Writers Spring Conference

Outdoor Writers Association of California in Tuolumne County for Gold!

By Del Albright

Sonora, CA, June 2008. The Outdoor Writers Association of California (OWAC) chose Tuolumne County for their Summer Conference and boy, did we find GOLD!

As part of the conference, which was a lot of fun and very productive, we got to link up with some great folks from 49er Mining Supplies in Columbia, right outside Sonora, CA. What a thrill we had!

Rob Goreham, owner/operator of 49er Mining Supplies gave us the grand tour of a real gold mine, and let us keep the gold we found! Wow.

Yup, we went gold mining on a real claim and found real gold. Check out the photos.

Interestingly enough, Rob donated the tour to the conference as one of his ways of educating folks on the right way to gold mine. "We show folks how it can be done with environmental sensitivity while caring for our rivers and creeks," said Rob. Sure enough, he showed us just that. It was impressive how much work the miners go to in order to protect waterways and riparian areas, while still finding gold.

See photos below

 

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Rob Goreham from 49er Mining Supplies giving us the morning briefing.

"Gold is where you find it" according to Rob, and we found it right under his feet!

In order to really operate a dregde (essentially a type of vacuum) you have to go underwater.

Thumbs up and all is well -- for another dive to find more gold!

Tour guide helper, Jeff, shows us how to pan for gold right in the creek and not leave behind any disturbance.

Stacie shows us how to operate a "high-banker" sluice box for finding gold (and we did!)

This is what it's about -- finding gold in them thar hills!

Big gold nuggets in a private collection for display only -- we did not find anything THIS big. Whew...