A prospector in a wetsuit and snorkel searches for gold pieces in a shallow mountain stream in California

DLnews Recreation:

THANKS TO HISTORICALLY BAD WEATHER

In California, the gold prospectors are on the move!

Recent wildfires and rainfall have triggered a "Gold Rush 2.0" in the Central Valley, with some prospectors finding large nuggets washed out of the ground or exposed by water and fire.

Junior prospectors: students in Coloma learn how to sift gold properly.

In addition, most recently, historian Ed Allen of Marshall Gold Discovery State Park stated that only about ten percent of California's gold had been found overall.

Now, nearly 175 years after the first gold rush, eager amateur prospectors are returning to "Gold Country" - a region on the western foothills of the Sierra Nevada - to search for the rest.

And the first successes of the gold-hungry searchers logically attract large crowds. But those who have found nuggets are reluctant to disclose where they found them. So hundreds of people tramp through the area in search of great fortune.

Successful gold prospector Jim Eakin told The New York Times where he found it: "Somewhere north of Los Angeles, south of Seattle and west of Denver." So: somewhere in the Western United States.

Speaking to the Times, Eakin wore a nugget of gold around his neck, which he claimed could buy him a brand-new Ford F-150 - meaning he estimates the nugget's value at about 26,000 dollars.

He explained that he was trying to get hold of the gold in every possible way. But, he said, you must keep your eyes and ears open: "Every time you stand by a river and hear the boulders tumbling, you know the gold is moving, too."