Gold Mining and a Giveaway!

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For my latest release, A Match Made in Heaven, I had to do a bit of research about gold mining. I know a couple of amateur gold miners who get very excited when they talk about their hobby. They do things the old fashioned way and pan for gold, and have great fun doing it.

People have always been fascinated with gold. Wars have been fought over it, nations rise and fall chasing after it and why not? This precious metal represents wealth and prosperity.

Did you know that veins of gold are created when hot lava makes it’s way to the surface? The lava cools and releases large amounts of gases and liquids. These follow cracks in the lava, depositing minerals along the way. This is what forms a vein. Who knew? And to think some of these veins can run for miles! Wowzers! The other interesting thing I found during my research, was when veins reach the surface, wind, water, weather, all break down the gold and carry it off.

But where can you find gold? My characters live in Cripple Creek Colorado where one of the biggest gold strikes in the 1800’s was found. Other characters are from Denver, and have never panned or mined for gold, but thought it would be fun to try. Much like modern day gold seekers willing to give panning for gold a try.

You could find gold on your own property. The stuff is everywhere! But to do it properly, one wants to follow a few steps. After all, you don’t want to fill your back yard full of holes. Instead, one of the best places to look is within quartz crystal formations. Unfortunately, it’s expensive for beginners to get to the gold that way, so there’s a better option. Locating alluvial deposits, an accumulation of the precious stuff that has separated from a source rock during sedimentary processes. This is what miners call “placer mining” and was the main form of gold mining in the early years.

It’s also wise to look for gold in a place where it’s been found before. Research local area museums, natural history or historical societies. Some towns might have their own school of mines. You’ll learn all about precious metals this way and have a better idea of what you’re doing. Unlike my characters, who dove into their mining adventure with very little prep. Well, that’s not entirely true. They did “read up on it” the night before setting out on their gold mining adventure.

This fun hobby is gaining popularity and getting started doesn’t have to break the bank. Modern day gold pans are made of lightweight plastic and are fairly cheap. Steel pans are heavier, harder to use, and can rust. So start with the plastic. My characters didn’t have such a luxury, they had a difficult time of it. But in the end, my hero and heroine found something more precious than the gold they were trying to mine. 

What other activities from the past do people do as hobbies and for fun? I’ll pick one person from the comments to receive a free e-copy of my new release, A Match Made in Heaven! I can think of a few. These activities were necessary back in the day, but fun to do now. Knitting, bread baking, weaving. What other activities can you think of?

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USA Today bestselling author Kit Morgan is the author of over 180 books of historical and contemporary western romance! Her stories are fun, sweet stories full of love, laughter, and just a little bit of mayhem! Kit creates her stories in her little log cabin in the woods in the Pacific Northwest. An avid reader and knitter, when not writing, she can be found with either a book or a pair of knitting needles in her hands! Oh, and the occasional smidge of chocolate!

44 thoughts on “Gold Mining and a Giveaway!”

  1. Quilting used to be a popular hobby and still is for some people. My family has had several avid quilters. I have also been panning for gold. I live near Reed Gold Mine where early gold was found in the 1700s. The whole area around me is filled with history of gold mines.

    • Oh wow, I bet you had fun panning for gold. And I thought of quilting too. Quilting is such a huge deal now a days. There are quilting clubs all over the place.

  2. Gardening. Growing one’s own vegetables was a necessity in the past, especially to have stores for the winter. Nowadays, we can go to our local grocery store or big box store and get food 24/7 (or almost 24/7)

    There can be satisfaction found in gardening, and even in canning or freezing the fruits and vegetables of our labors.

  3. I do quilting, canning, making butter, and making soap. I tried panning for gold once while on vacation.

  4. Quilting, knitting & crocheting were my first thoughts. It is funny how things lose popularity and then return and become popular again. Gardening, canning & bread making come and go in popularity. 2020 caused many to start cooking when they normally didn’t. In Texas after #Snovid2020 many have upped their game on survival skills.

    • One of my friends in Texas told me kitchens were just for show. A lot of folks dine out in Texas. At least where she lives in Plano. Gardening is a big one too!

  5. Making home made bread and canning. Knitting, crocheting, sewing, quilting. Mom taught me these. Vegetable gardening. My husband and I enjoy both of these. Bee keeping, Making soap. Washing clothes by hand. Cooking over a fire. We did this every year camping. And my husband and son did it a lot in Boy Scouts Raising our own chickens. Horse back riding quilting dash lady at comcast dot net

    • A lot of these things are coming back. My sister cans and makes her own jam. She also sews. I knit, but would love to learn how to crochet. A garden? I’d murder it. Luckily my sister is a master gardener!

  9. I embroider, used to crochet, and I make my own cards. I know they used to do embroidery, crochet, knit, and sew and quilt. So, I think a lot of what they used to “have” to do we now do just for the joy, not out of necessity, at least for most.

    • Knitting and crocheting was definitely out of necessity. Embroidery was a skill “young lady’s” learned. Like painting and piano playing. Definitely a lost art now a days. I’ve made cards before too, Trudy. I love card making!

  12. Making all your clothing and household soft goods such as curtains, etc., canning, smoking meats, drying herbs for medicines…..

  13. Kit, I would love to pan for gold, just to try it. We did it when I was very small when we visited Knotts Berry Farm and I found a little tiny teeny piece of it. I think I still have it in a little bottle somewhere. LOL (WHO KNOWS WHERE!) I think there is a place in Missouri where you can go and pick up diamonds–there have been some pretty good -size ones found there. I have always wanted to do something like that and be able to say, “HEY! I FOUND A BIG OL’ GOLD NUGGET!” or “LOOK! I FOUND A DIAMOND!” LOL Probably will never happen at this point! Loved your post, and I didn’t know that gold was formed from lava!

    I always wanted to learn how to quilt! That would be my “next project” from the past if I had time to do it. Really enjoyed this.

    • I’ve always wanted to learn to quilt. My big sister does. She doesn’t knit or crochet but does most everything else. Cans, gardens, sews. quilts. Me? I just write about it! LOL!

    • They had to do it all back then. But now, not so much. I was telling someone else how surprised at I at the amount of young people now a days that can’t cook a whit.

    • Baking! Yes, not many bake nowadays. Well, they toss some Pillsbury cookies into the oven. LOL! Those of us that grew up with baking still do of course. I remember when my daughter took a cooking class in New York to learn how to make macaroons. When she came home she said she now knew why she didn’t back cookies from scratch! I told her macaroons were very involved and not a good comparison.

  16. My husband and I got engraved His and Hers gold pans as a wedding present, since we were geologists. I have panned for gold, in the Arctic. It’s cold hard work.

  17. Making furniture, buckets, and baskets. Some people take up blacksmithing, making horseshoes, or decorative things from iron.

  19. Blacksmiths! When I lived in a little town called Tiskilwa Il there is a family of Blacksmith. I was fascinated watching them twist and heat the metal to make beautiful horseshoes, or objects to hang in your barns/ houses. What surprise me more was when her husband couldn’t keep up with orders his wife took up the trade. She was a tiny lady but she didn’t let that stop her from working with the hot irons.

  23. Sewing clothing or anything else they needed, tanning hides, canning, quilting, hunting & fishing, butchering animals, smoking meat, gardening, drying foods, pickling, milking a cow and making cheese and butter from it, learning home remedies and methods to deal with medical issues for people and livestock, how to make soap, how to make candles, how to make Jams & conserves, how to make “spirits,” how to build things (both furniture and buildings), blacksmithing and bladesmithing. I am sure I could think of more, but this is more than enough. I just realized that my family and I have done almost all of these at one timer another.

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