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Comment by patrickgzill | Hacker News Reader

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There is gold, however small, in most states, usually in one or two of the large rivers.

Gold is often found alongside quartz - as water erodes the quartz, the gold is carried away by the water.

Interesting links:

Post on dry washing for gold:

http://goldismoney.info/forums/showthread.php?t=415908

That poster's "Encyclopedia of Prospecting" http://nevada-outback-gems.com/prospect/chris_prospect.htm

Have always thought it would be neat, even if not profitable, to buy a pan and see if a few bits of gold dust can be found.

It's fun. When I was 16, my dad bought a 50% stake in an actual gold mine in northern Idaho. We spent the summer mining for gold--after we spent a few weeks getting the neglected mine up and running again.

My dad and brother would go underground and do the actual digging; my mom and I stayed topside, with me running the hoist and the both of us working the sluice box.

I found a nugget as big as my thumb that year. We found a number of smaller nuggets as well.

Two years before, my dad had a placer claim for a stretch of creek about 10 miles from the mine just described, and we spent all summer out in the woods, dredging and panning for gold. Didn't find anything, though.

You'll get much better pickings in California or Nevada though. Nevada is, in fact, where most of U.S.'s gold comes from, and it's the world's low-cost producer of gold. It's the Saudi Arabia of gold.

California works too, especially for small miners, because for larger operations environmental concerns can be a pain. But the Sierra Nevada is very well endowed.

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