Is There Still Gold to Be Extracted in Them Thar Hills?

A New Gold Rush Could Be Coming to California –

Tales From the MoJo Road –
By Glynn Wilson – 

COULTERVILLE, Calif. – In creating my very own version of literary journalism on the web over the past 20 years, as regular readers know I’ve often turned to Mark Twain and other American writers for inspiration.

When I made the cross country trip to California last fall, he was on my mind some, along with John Muir, of course, who is as central to the creation of this little town I’ve landed in as much as the gold in the hills and streams around here that started the California Golf Rush from 1848 to 1855.

“There’s gold in them thar hills … (and) there’s millions in it,” is a quotation often credited to Mark Twain’s character Colonel Mulberry Sellers from the 1892 novel The American Claimant. According to historians that’s not quite accurate, but it serves my literary journalism purpose to use it today anyway. 

Due to place, timing, preparation and some luck, as usual, I had a chance to go on a short expedition panning for gold Sunday morning. And while we did have some fun and found a few gold flakes, the experience taught me in person how hard it must have been on all those who failed to cash in finding “color” in the dirt, sand, water and rocks even back then.

The promise of finding fortune if not fame drove many a poor man to travel all the way across the country and the world to be here in those days. And due to recent developments in technology, it could drive many more to come here again.

See more pictures and read the full column here in the New American Journal.