To many gold is what their jewelry is made of, but to the prospector it is much more than just another metal. To him, it is a dream filled with hopes, and memories. Most weekend or recreational prospectors have been bitten by the "gold bug." Probably the most driven of the weekenders are those who are more interested in the thrill of finding the gold than in the actual profit that can be made. Amateur prospecting is a phenomenal pastime. Why is it so? Simply, gold is an element which is almost always found as virgin metal. One of gold's most distinguishing features is its color. It is a pale to deep yellow, and it stays nearly the same whether it is scratched, melted or cooled. Gold, when hammered, will become flat. Other similar colored metals break or disintegrate.

Specific gravity is the measure of how heavy a mineral is compared to an equal amount of water. Some examples are shown below:

MINERALS SPECIFIC GRAVITY

Platinum (refined) 20

Gold 19.3

Mercury (quick silver) 13.5 to 13.6

Silver 10.5 to 11.1

Copper 8.9

Cinnabar 8

Galena (lead) 7.5 to 7.6

Cassiterite 7

Scheelite 6

Pyrite 5.2

Hematite (iron) 5.3

Magnetite 5.2

Monazite 5

Ilmenite 4.7

Chromite 4.6

Garnet 4

Limonite 3.6

Diamond 3.5

Epidote 3.4

Olivine 3.3

Pyroxene 3.3

Zircon 3.3

Muscovite (white mica) 2.8 to 3.0

Turquoise 2.6

Quartz 2.6

Chlorite 2.6

Graphite 2.3

Gypsum 2.3

Opal 1.9 to 2.2

Halite 2.1

How did it all start? Thousands of gold seekers left everything to come out west when they heard of the fabulous gold strikes throughout the Mother Lode. Prior to 1848, California was ruled by Mexico. Among the early settlers of California was Captain John Sutter. Captain Sutter was granted 60 miles of land from Governor Alvarado of Mexico. Sutter was blessed with the gift of gab, and Governor Alvarado was extremely impressed with him. Not only did he give him the land, he also promised him Mexican cititzenship, and made him a government representative and an officer of justice in the northern frontier. Sutter was extremely enterprising. He built a fortress on his land, which came to be known as Sutter's Fort. The fort became a stopping place for travelers to California. He had a cattle ranch, traded and trapped furs, and constructed an irrigation system. As the community grew, Sutter agreed to put up the money for a community sawmill. The mill was erected 45 miles northeast of the fort, located on the south fork of the American River in the town of Coloma.

During the construction of the mill, Sutter's carpenter, James Marshall ran into a problem with the trailrace on the mill. On January 24, 1848, while checking into the problem, Marshall noticed something shining in a foot of water at the bottom of a ditch. Picking it up and examining it, Marshall realized that what he was holding was a gold nuggett. Sutter wanted to keep this find a secret, knowing that he could become a very wealthy man. Marshall who was loyal to his boss kept the secret, and the two tried to obtain more land without raising suspicion. They weren't successful, as their finding was soon discovered.

Sam Brannan, owner of the general store, decided that if he spread the news of the gold discovery, more and more people would be requiring supplies from his store so he took several gold nuggets into San Francisco, exclaiming that there was gold to be found at the American River. By the end of the year, people from all over were coming to that area of California to find GOLD.

Unfortunately Sutter had spent a great deal of money on the sawmill in Coloma, and on a gristmill in Brighton, and he was sick and destitute. Sutter's Fort was overrun and destroyed by gold seekers. In the end, Sutter was granted an annual pension by the state of California of $3,000. James Marshall did not fare much better. On August 10, 1885, Marshall's body was found fully clothed on his bed in a hotel room. He had never again found gold, and earned little bits of money by signing his autograph. He died a lonely man, only 5 miles from his gold discovery. There is a monument erected in James Marshall's memory that overlooks the American River. The statue is a bronze figure of him that points to the spot of his original gold find. His body lies beneath the monument.