From www.wired.com
Meet the Rugged Prospectors Still Panning for Gold in California
BY PETE BROOK
One surprising ripple effect of the Great Recession is the resurgence of independent gold prospecting. In California, evaporated savings, layoffs, and foreclosures sent some running to the hills. Sarina Finkelstein’s series The New Forty-Niners chronicles these modern prospectors with anachronistic images, some of which look like they could have been made 150 years ago.
Gold panning in the creeks of the Sierra Nevada mountains has been a mainstay since the Gold Rush of the mid-1800s, but for decades it tended to draw only hobbyists and small-scale speculators. Now, gamblers, romantics, and crusty entrepreneurs are joining the old-timers down by the river.
“Some people are prospecting for gold in order to survive,” says Finkelstein. “They had lost jobs, couldn’t find new ones, were freelance, or were struggling during retirement. Many have abandoned their permanent homes in order to live out of RVs and tents in the woods to prospect. Living a bare-bones or pared-down existence, some of them (without house payments, utility bills, etc.) are able to support themselves.”
Although the value of a dollar can wax and wane, gold is a solid investment. The price has roughly tripled since 2005, and at the moment it stands at about $1,300 per ounce. “At more than $1,000 per ounce, a small amount is still valuable,” says Finkelstein.