Hi Friends,
I saw a call for help on a local gold prospecting group page from a man named Joe. He had come west (with his cat) in his van and was hoping to strike it rich. He told me he was enamored with gold mining after watching the show Gold Rush, and figured he could come out, make half an ounce per day and get rich.
However, he had been to three sure fire locations where gold is and only found one flake. His call for help was two fold: 1. help me figure out how to get the gold, and 2. help, I’m running out of money and have been living in my van for two weeks.
I saw this sad story and said I was in his area and could come meet him (he was almost out of gas and had no money to fill the tank). I gave him my take on prospecting (see NOTE below), and, more importantly, gave him some cash to help him keep going. We discussed how he could start to get a foothold here in California so he can land on his feet, as he came west with $2,000 and it is essentially gone and he his golden plan has not “panned” out.
Unfortunately, Joe will need to make some hard decisions and get some traction fast, otherwise; he will be homeless and living on the streets soon. My prayers are with Joe and I told him to reach out to me if his situation turns dire.
NOTE: Yes! there is gold in the hills! BUT… you would almost certainly make more money flopping whoppers at BK and will probably die early from a snakebite, a loose Boulder, a broken arm/back/leg, cancer from sunburn, bear attack, getting robbed at gun point, etc - but maybe one or two people could get lucky and hit the jackpot!
Thanks for coming by and hearing this story.
Brian
I always thought gold panning was a fun hobby....not something you could do professionally in 2021....
Certainly not as a rank newbie with no experience.
Exactly, and that is what I shared with him. He sees us getting gold on the group page, but it is a gram on an amazing day ($60), but most days it’s a grain ($7) or less, lol. Poor guy.
170 years too late.
For me this sounds like just something fun to do, with no expectation of actually finding anything. I think the odds are against him, but have to give him credit for giving it his all. Go big or go home. lol. Get rich prospecting or go broke trying! Best of luck to him and PROPS to you for the support your giving him 😁
Gold prospecting is not something one gets into with only $2,000. How much does he live on one a month?
I have no idea - bad planning I guess. He is from West Virginia and said he has been poor his whole life so maybe he is uber frugal.
I hope he does not give up... find a job as a busboy or dishwasher or something until he gets his bearing. I hear they get free food!
I bet there are more that think they can do what those TV celebs like PArker and Toni Beets do. (Toni Beets is Dutch like me and all he does is saying F***; nice for our image)
Yep. I reminded him that the gold they are getting is about $15 per yard and they are moving incredible amounts of dirt (have to do reclamation at the end so it is as if it never happened) and it would be almost impossible for a small time miner to go through a full yard of dirt in a day - even if he had their land he would be making $15 worth of gold if he got through a full yard of dirt in a day.
Without the right equipment and good luck you could never make a 1/2 oz of gold per day. If that was the case everyone would be doing it.
Yep, totally. I texted with him today and he is borrowing some more equipment and got some tips on hot spots so he is heading back up there… told him to text me his results when he is back in cell phone service range. Might go up there and give him a hand for half day, we shall see.
That’s great news. Hope he find something. That’s nice of you.👍
Thank you for sharing your story