From the earliest of times to today, gold has been a precious metal sought and treasured by many. Linda Bjorklund recounts the search and uses of gold from ancient times to the hardrock, panning, placer, and dredging operations in Park County Colorado.

Most of the miners who flooded into Colorado had no knowledge of geology or mining techniques. Many, barely able to read and write, just dropped everything and came in the hope of making huge fortunes. After the initial hardships, they learned what to look for and how to make initial tests to discover where the gold was (or wasn’t).

They found that quartz was often present in the vicinity of gold deposits, so looked for rock that was white with shades of brown or maroon.

They learned to look for places where streams suddenly widened, or where sand bars extended from the banks. Boulders, potholes or other hiding places that gold might have been deposited as water flowed through were good spots to check.