Jester asked me yesterday if I wanted to go gold hunting in Jamestown (small town in the heart of California Gold Rush country). He said he wanted to get a metal detector so we could focus on getting only the really big chunks. That way it would be much more profitable than the last time we went to the American River, spent the whole day panning with no knowledge of what we were doing, and didn’t even end up with enough gold to weigh itself down against a mild sneeze. I of course said yes as long as there was a good spot for me to park my folding chair in the creek after I got tired of panning like I did before.
While it’s true we’re both desperate enough to need a cheap and easy way to make a quick fortune, it should be no secret that I’m too lazy to pan for gold. I wish there were a way to trap it or fish for it. That’s more my style. But I’m thinking that we may be going about this the wrong way.
I just read this article where a man had died trying to get gold out of his computer. He poisoned himself boiling mercury to try to separate the gold from the computer’s components. While it should be noted that his execution was about as bad as it gets, the idea is genius. There are piles and piles of old computers out there for us to mine. If Jester can find a way to get the gold out of them without killing us, we’ll be rich! Rich I tell ya!
That’s gotta be better than standing in a river, breaking your back trying to pick tiny gold flecks out of a huge pan of mud, right?
15 Comments
I grew up in “gold country” California, and I remember getting so excited when we’d go pan… never… ever… did we get more than flecks… wouldn’t it be nice tho?
Great idea! I have a room full of computer components you can start with. Just come on over and get them out of the den for me. Been trying to get rid of ‘em for years…
Tori- please tell us where you went so we can stay away from there and search out the chunkier locals
Shiny – put it out and we’ll pick it up in the morning. No really…we wil, I swear.
In Angels Camp right now. Hop, skip and jump from Jamestown.
The thought of standing in cold water to pan for gold chills me to the bone.
There is an older Dell laptop back in Clayton, CA that has been ready for disposal for quite some time.
The newer Dell laptop (replaced by a MacBook) was given to a friend who is disabled.
Crail – I spent a lot of time in and around Sonora over the past several years. I’m very familiar with Angel’s Camp. I say you just grab that old lap top and huck into the New Melones Reservoir. Because they have no daily charges for boating or camping it just seems like a great place for free electronics disposal.
If you can make gold from mercury and computers, what about cell phones? Man, that would be quite a gig.
I wish I could understand why gold is worth so much…but I really don’t. Standing in a river panning sounds kinda funnish though.
Abs – If you figure out how to do it without killing yourself, please let me know.
Franki – It’s fun for like 1o minutes after which you figure out I’m standing here with a big pan full of mud and a flake of what you think might be gold, but aren’t sure it is. Then you do the math in your brain to calculate how long it will take to find enough of these flakes to equal up to something of value and you sit back in your folding chair and drink a beer.
i would love to pan for gold for a half an hour. then? bring on the beer! i’m used to being poor. and i love beer. save a spot for me!
I’m with Narfy – it sounds fun for about a half hour. Good luck!
Save a spot for me too!
Hello – if you go panning with Jester and UMB you have to keep an I on the beer. UMB has a way of drinking all of it and then asking where it all went.
Gwen – Truth is, it’s only fun for about 10 minutes. I was exaggerating.
Ginamonster – Done. All you have to do is show up and if Jester finds a 5 lb. nugget, I’m sure he’ll share it with all of us beer drinkers.
baby, i would give umb a run for his money. sometimes i get thirsty!!
The difference being that you would never pretend it wasn’t you who drank it all. You would let out a belch of pride and exlaim “damn skippy!”
you know me so well!