Gold is now at an all time high, so maybe we should all go prospecting. These books tell us how.
Looking for Gold: A Modern Prospectors Guide, by Bradford Angier (TPB, 1980, $2)
I LOVE this book. Did you know there is gold in Virginia? (It's only low quality stuff.) Included here are state maps marked where gold can be found. This book tells you how to pan for gold, or how to build the contraptions you need to find it. The government, in some cases, will even pay you to prospect for gold! If you do find gold, the book tells you specifically where to go to have it identified. (The book suggests you put a return address on your package.) Anyone who is an American citizen, or who has "declared his interest of becoming a citizen", can prospect for gold in the US. You need a deed to your claim. Then you need a prospecting kit, which should include a metal match (?), a second pair of glasses, two sheets of plastic to catch rain water with, at least one (newly redesigned) snakebite kit, a super soap called Trak, manicure scissors, wild garlic (so that you can wipe your sweat on your body as an insect repellent), water purification tablets (being sure to shake your container an additional min. for every extra 1000 feet in altitude), emergency kits (obtainable from Chuck Wagon Foods), a Walle-hawk (which is a modern day tomahawk), a little zippered "ditty" bag (obtainable from LL Bean), dental floss, and last but never to be forgotten, a gold/silver weight conversion table. There are even recipes on how to cook bread. Of course there is actually a lot of info. here that would be useful. I only listed the parts I think the most important. Anyone looking to make some extra money, this is the book for you! After all it's only $2, and 30 years out of date.
The Gold Mines of California: Two Guidebooks (HC, 1974 reprint, $3) ***SOLD***
Fayette Robinson's 1849 Guide- the more optimistic of the pair, which "contains advice that would surely lead the would-be miner to an early grave". There is a lot of discussion on two topics, how and where to build a railroad across Panama or Nicaragua, and how soon DC will ok a mint in San Fransisco so that the gold will be able to stay in the US, and not be shipped abroad.
Franklin Street's 1950 Guide- the later and more practical of the two, with descriptions of route options, climate, rivers and towns of the area, possible diseases, and a VERY detailed table of distances for each route. If you hire yourself out, wages for common workers are around $5 a day, while experienced miners make $10 a day. I find it very interesting that Street also describes alternate types of businesses in case you want to be part of the excitement but don't want to work the mines. Such alternates include farming (miners, of course, can't spend valuable time growing things to eat), tavern keeping, mercantile and trading operations, lawyering, doctoring, and gambling. (Gambling? Well yes, but Franklin doesn't add one of the trades that women worked at, both willingly, and in order to feed themselves and their children). Also mentioned are those who are "mechanical operators", or those people who make stuff, like cabinets, chairs, tin pans, horseshoes, saddles, jewelry, hats, lumber and, oh yes, food.
Well, enough of that. I sure love all the pertinent information I learn by blogging!
Look for these books on the table of new non-fiction. Come and enjoy! Avail. 8/31.
