The New Gold Rush

A young breed of prospectors in the California hills

Part five in the series ‘Reflections On Water’

Turns out there is something of a new gold rush on: an organization called the New 49'ers. The mining club has claims along rivers up and down the state, and members can camp and mine at will, keeping what gold they manage to beat out of the rock.

Ben Overbeck, member of The New 49'ers mining club, on a claim along the Klamath River near Happy Camp. April 2013. While working along the Klamath River in April of 2013, I returned to camp one afternoon and wandered down to the beach, and found a scene straight out of 1849. Two men, bare-chested, beat pick-axes into the rock cliff bordering the river.

It is brutal work, made even more difficult by modern environmental demands. Ben used a small pump to pull water out of the river to mix with ore and dirt, allowing the heavier gold to be caught up. He had to dig a pit in the sand down the hill, so that zero water returned directly to the river. Instead the water would slowly seep through the sand and earth, filtering it before it joined the water table below.
Carrying buckets of rock around in the blazing sun is not my idea of a good time. As long the miners act responsibly and abide by the law, let them go to it. By the great horned spoon!

Originally published at Weyland Photo.

Editors note: ‘Reflections On Water’ is a weekly series of thoughts and observations about water usage in drought-hit California. Part one was Wasting Water. Part two was California’s Fish Economy. Part three was War Of Ideals. Part four was Digging Tunnels, Mining Votes.

Follow photojournalist Nathan Weyland on Instagram and Twitter.

Follow Vantage on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. If you enjoyed reading this, please click “Recommend” below. This will help to share the story with others.