California Drought Brings Back Gold Fever | National Geographic

California Drought Brings Back Gold Fever | National Geographic

California rivers, low from the recent drought, are ushering in a new gold rush. Professional miners—along with hobbyists like Bruce Meyer—are hurrying to uncover precious metals by panning, sniping, and prospecting at the base of the Sierra Nevada Mountains.
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Read more about the new gold rush:
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/08/140814-california-drought-gold-rush-water-climate-mining-panning/

VIDEOGRAPHER AND EDITOR: Spencer Millsap

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50 Comments

  1. LOST RIVER GOLD & GEM MINING on August 9, 2023 at 4:42 am
  2. Trollololo on August 9, 2023 at 4:42 am

    golden worth shit now it is on the market, you can make a hell of a lot more mining bitcoins,. or hopping on the weed wagon but gold now you can’t make anything nowadays with gold

  3. Brandon Stephens on August 9, 2023 at 4:45 am

    I’d love to go back up to the american river in Sacramento and pan for gold like I did in the 5th grade

  4. BlueRice on August 9, 2023 at 4:45 am

    i remember i found a lot of gold. i mean A LOTS of it. i brought it to the pawn shop and it turn out to be fools gold. T_T

  5. Showdown on August 9, 2023 at 4:47 am

    Pathetic!!!!

  6. CrainRacing on August 9, 2023 at 4:51 am

    Great video, thanks for sharing that Nat Geo. 🙂

    Feel free to share any of my video’s if you would like to.
    I hope that more people take up this great hobby.

  7. jenny minny on August 9, 2023 at 4:51 am

    correct and the goverment wants it all. greed.

  8. MarcAnthem on August 9, 2023 at 4:53 am

    man that guy is so chill. i hope he finds a good chunk

  9. Doug styles on August 9, 2023 at 4:56 am

    Dude seems real cool. The world needs more people with his type of perspective on life.

  10. Capybaraism on August 9, 2023 at 4:57 am

    This guy rules!

  11. DaNyLa JaKeYa on August 9, 2023 at 4:58 am

    I wish I knew him

  12. jenny minny on August 9, 2023 at 4:59 am

    theres more Gold than people think.

  13. hayesman76 on August 9, 2023 at 4:59 am

    Would it make sense to use a metal detector in such shallow water?

  14. Junior Espinoza on August 9, 2023 at 5:00 am

    Seams like a good cat ..pray he finds that payoff from his passion for what he loves doing

  15. CplSki USMC on August 9, 2023 at 5:01 am

    The real treasure is getting out there in nature and enjoying the hunt. Finding a little gold just makes it that much more fun.

  16. Alexandra Sá on August 9, 2023 at 5:02 am

    I know this guy!!!!! I was with him today and he taught me how to pan gold! I found some gold and as payback promised to watch this video and show all my friends so he cn get paid when he gets more views!!!!

  17. Anthony Thompson on August 9, 2023 at 5:02 am

    it seems so relaxing. I have always wanted to try panning and just spending time at the river. I’m a teen, so life can get stressful and I would like to do that as an eascape rather than for profits. it’s hard to fine *enjoyable relaxing things when you live in a large city like Chicago

  18. Elizebath Nelson on August 9, 2023 at 5:04 am

    Like your video smile

  19. Caz on August 9, 2023 at 5:06 am

    After reading these posts about how mining and dredging beats up stream beds and what a negative impact it is, you should realize that nature does more damage than this what about the car size boulders that bounce down the river naturally what do they do to the stream, what about the lead in.the stream bed? ppl.should.learn about what this really does like maybe clean the river, I see fish all the time feeding out of the back of my dredge, and enough with the " silt" and dirty water going back in the river, like this makes sense, fish and other wildlife survive perfectly in floods and rapid water where silt is always flowing, mining is in reality good for the river, think of it as a cleansing the river while churning up food for fish to eat and providing holes to spawn in which I have also found out personally that fish really like, so enough on theories and thoughts and just stick to the facts, nature does more in one year than.people could do in a hundred

  20. Catalina Queen on August 9, 2023 at 5:07 am

    What an awesome guy! If he didn’t strike it rich during the drought, I hope the flooding rivers and breaking dams wash-down many awesome treasures to him. peace.

  21. fonquisha watermelon on August 9, 2023 at 5:11 am

    optimistic dude. good on him

  22. frannelk on August 9, 2023 at 5:11 am

    Get a real job and stop wasting your time.

  23. Appalachian Prospectors on August 9, 2023 at 5:13 am

    Great Video.

  24. Thomas Vega on August 9, 2023 at 5:13 am

    wow what i wouldnt give to live that life your the LUCKY one !

  25. MarlbBlack on August 9, 2023 at 5:15 am

    great cool, calm and collected video, hope you find the big papa!

  26. billville111 on August 9, 2023 at 5:16 am

    if you’re working a dead-end job there’s no hope like there is hope finding a big lode

  27. Philip Morphew on August 9, 2023 at 5:19 am

    Nice video. Good fun to ya!

  28. randolph patterson on August 9, 2023 at 5:19 am

    In 1977, I visited my brother who lived in Sierra City and he & a partner had a claim in Lady’s Canyon. That was the hardest work I ever did in my life. I basically did odd carpentry or dirt work, pick & shovel jobs, and housepainting, I only panned as a sometime hobby, because of the hard labor. I found a few flakes every time. Some kids found nuggets under the bridge in Downieville that summer, and a bunch of people with floating dredges swarmed the area in no time. The sheriff decided to limit the operation to the first twelve people who showed up, so the scene calmed down and no one got a raw deal. Every spring thaw washes fresh gold into the rivers and you can work the same spots over & over. My brother would get down to black sand & gold flakes in his pan, dump it in a coffee can, and move on. In the winter, he’d pan the sand in his bathtub. I wish I would have had the urge to work harder when I was there, I could have done real well for myself. I was a big drinker at the time, and I just wanted to play in the outdoors. We took a long hike on the weekend of the 4th of July, camped out by the Monarch mine, and trekked over the hills to Lady’s Canyon Creek, where his claim was. We just did it for the hell of it, but I won’t ever forget the experience. We finally hiked down the creek to highway 49, and hoofed it back to town. spent four days out there without seeing a house or a car. Nobody would ever starve out there in the summer. The wild fruit trees would see to that. I ate pears, peaches, cherries and blackberries. You’d be climbing mile after mile along a little stream that could easily pass through a pop can, and come to a small pool on the way, and it was packed with trout. At night, I laid on my bedroll and all I could see was the blackness of the surrounding trees but in the over head sky were thousands of stars. On the hottest days of the year, the nights were bone-chilling cold, from the thin air not providing insulation. We’d skinny dip in masses of folk & family, enjoying the sparkling clean water under the hot sun, and look up to see a blizzard on the Sierra Buttes above us. I visited a guy at his cabin and when I’d head back to town, the only way to follow the path down the hill to town was by keeping an eye on the stars above the pathway, in pitch black. I was out there for about five months, and it haunts me that I was gonna get my shit together when I got home and go right back out there. I never have made it, and I’m running out of time. It feels like I left my life on ‘hold’ when I came back to Minnesota, and I never really invested myself in anything else, but really I did. My brother spent a long time out there but finally moved back home when our mother became ill. He took care of her for eleven years until she passed away, and she got to live out her years at home because of his unfailing efforts. Now we talk about what it might be like for us if we went back to the hills and picked up where we left off.

  29. BuyThis&That on August 9, 2023 at 5:20 am

    nice video i like the way you say it ,kip looking you will  find it Happy prospecting to you

  30. Christopher Tolhurst on August 9, 2023 at 5:22 am

    God bless you. What a great video. Thanks for the video. Keep looking. Peace.

  31. junior Gee on August 9, 2023 at 5:23 am

    try less then 1% gold has ever been found

  32. Max Sands on August 9, 2023 at 5:23 am

    Before I was a fool looking for gold I was a fool without any!

  33. Gold Hunter Exploration - Sheikh Kamarul Azmi on August 9, 2023 at 5:24 am

    Nice

  34. Erick Reyes on August 9, 2023 at 5:24 am

    Huh huh

  35. Douglas Hagan on August 9, 2023 at 5:30 am

    FIRST ACTUAL GOLD STRIKE NEAR SUTTERS CFORT

  36. Kris Mas on August 9, 2023 at 5:30 am

    The government put some gravel to the street close to our house before. I saw some gold pieces and never knew that it was real gold. I was like 13 yrs old that time.

  37. Larkinchance on August 9, 2023 at 5:30 am

    Thousands of people are heading in your direction..

  38. randolph patterson on August 9, 2023 at 5:31 am

    Funny how people can criticize gold panning like the earth is crying out in pain from it, or something, and still not see how they themselves are overlooking what they could be doing to reduce the damage to the environment that they cause all by themselves. I wonder what some of them think they’re doing when they fertilize their lawn, ride a snowmobile, or take out their garbage.

  39. ernie pforr on August 9, 2023 at 5:33 am

    flunkmaster

  40. Little Kyle and Miss Jessica Clements on August 9, 2023 at 5:34 am

    I am so proud and happy for you babe. I’m glad you brought me.

  41. Kargil Trespone Thang zoor on August 9, 2023 at 5:35 am

    nice

  42. Caleb Theriot on August 9, 2023 at 5:37 am

    his laugh tho

  43. Black Bullet on August 9, 2023 at 5:38 am

    I love nat geo best channel

  44. jenny minny on August 9, 2023 at 5:39 am

    wish i was there, i love the water,.

  45. alphaIsrael127 on August 9, 2023 at 5:39 am

    i did some prospecting in the san grabiel mountains CA. and its hard work, but it is rewarding if you pick the right place…

  46. DaNyLa JaKeYa on August 9, 2023 at 5:39 am

    For going out there with him looking for gold

  47. Subhadeep Haldar on August 9, 2023 at 5:40 am

    They are all greedy,,, Gold means greed…No peace in the world… World soon will collapse

  48. Philip Morphew on August 9, 2023 at 5:41 am

    Good video! Good attitude!

  49. A.G. Martinez on August 9, 2023 at 5:41 am

    Aliens possibly inhabit Coloma, in Human disguise and in underground bases

  50. NH beach metaldetecting on August 9, 2023 at 5:41 am

    nice!!!

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