We find prospect after prospect and we’re always looking for the one that says “mine me’. There are a multitude of factors involved and a very serious one is the

The last article of mine was titled “Prospecting after Winter Storms.” There I was talking about what effect the heavy winter rains and snow had on the gold deposits in

In the late 1860’s Michigan Bluff was a center for many of the nearby mines. J. S. Bickford, who, at 24 years old, had decided to file a claim on a abandoned mine north of Michigan Bluff.

Yankee Jim’s was booming, with hydraulic mining dominating the scene at Georgia Hill, at Oliver Wendell Henderson’s hydraulic pit, and at Yankee Gulch. We covered this in the last month’s article and the difficulties were monumental. If two words had to describe the miners of that time I would choose persistence and determination. If you want to put together the total package, add to that a mixture of hope, expectations, and the potential of a substantial living, blend it all together, and you would have our 49er.