Over the years, California’s famed gold rush of 1849 has captured the attention of romantics and historians, but this craze wasn’t just limited to the West Coast. Vermont enjoyed its own version, and has a proud tradition which is still very active in the twenty-first century.

After the California gold rush of ‘49, those that didn’t make it straggled back to their respective states and countries to return to their former lives. One such dreamer came home to Vermont around 1850, and went fishing up on Buffalo Creek in Plymouth. As he cast his line he couldn’t help but think about the rush, and looking down into the stream he recognized a familiar glint in the water. He plucked a half-ounce nugget from the stream. That was the beginning of Vermont’s own gold rush. The Rooks Mine was soon started nearby. Rooks was a stamp mill, where they crushed the ore, and leached the gold through a process of acid and mercury—a practice that was long ago retired.

Many Vermont prospectors have a passion for panning gold, similar to what their forefathers possessed 100 years ago. Photo: Green Mountain Prospectors.

All told, they took 22,000 ounces from the mine at the top of the mountain. Fine gold and small nuggets can still be found in the stream, and just about any other in Vermont for that matter. I personally have panned many, and have only been skunked once. That was probably because I didn’t have the time to give it a good effort.

Gold has a specific gravity of 19, which means it’s 19 times heavier than water. It is also 7.5 times heavier than any rock it is found with, and twice as heavy as lead. It is so malleable, that it is said that one ounce can be formed into a single strand of wire so small that it would span the circumference of the Earth. Gold can be pounded so thin, you can see through it. It covers the face masks of NASA astronauts, and the famed “golden dome” of the state house was originally covered with just two ounces of gold leaf. Some nations base their entire wealth on the amounts of gold they hold in their coffers.

Less than two percent of the gold on the face of the earth is in “nugget” form. No two nuggets are the same, which is why nuggets are prized by both the prospector and the collector. Many rich men have found their wealth through mineral claims that produced only flour gold. This is gold so small that you need a 30X jewelers loupe to see it. Even that tiny, each microscopic speck is beautiful to look at.

The tools of the recreational prospector today are very different from the methods of the early 1800’s. Early miners used water cannons to wash whole mountains down to the valley streams, where the dirt, rocks, and hopefully gold was channeled through a long sluice box. There, the riffles separated the heavy gold from the aggregate. Smaller scale miners used burlap, and sheepskins held down in the water. As they shoveled the dirt into the stream, it flowed across the bags, and skins.

Regardless of the size of an operation, it all came down to the pan. Early pans included anything from a pie plate to a coffee cup. Old examples were large and cumbersome, with no riffles. Eventually, riffles were hammered into the pans by the Chinese, who weren’t allowed the lucrative claims. Today, you can get a state of the art plastic pan for around $10. The only other item needed is your kitchen soup spoon, and you are on your way!

The Vermont gold rush continues to this day. Recreational gold prospecting is the fastest growing family oriented hobby in the nation today. At this writing, there are 515 members in the Green Mountain Prospectors of Vermont. When you count the spouses and children with each member, that puts the head count around 1000. They meet four or five times each spring through fall on a monthly basis in Vermont and New Hampshire. This is a weekend of playing in the water and family fun. They also usually find some gold! Usually everyone goes home with a piece ‘er two. After a hard day in the water, they have a pot luck dinner, eat like kings and queens, then sit around a campfire and lie about the one they saw for sure that went through their fingers, and out of the pan.

Any thing you need to get started in the fun can be found on their website www.geocities.com/gmpvvt/?200717. You’ll find contact information and dates and locations for upcoming outings. Hope to see you on the river.