Friday, 30th May 2008 (741 views)

The thrill of the search is what keeps amateur gold digger Gary Sturgill looking for gold in "them there hills".

Mr Sturgill, who searches the countryside of Oregon in his spare time, is the focus of a feature by the News Review.

He has been searching for gold for more than three decades and is the president of the Douglas County Prospectors Association for the fifth time this year.

Mr Sturgill is the most prolific finder in his club; he owns the mineral rights to three plots of land.

Fellow gold hunters Ellnora and Don Young use a dredge, a tool to extract gold from sand and gravel; a new machine costs more than $1,000 (£500) but panning is always an option for an outlay of around $5.

Mr Sturgill says the looking is the pleasurable part of the hunting and his wife would not let him give up his day job despite his continuing, undisclosed success.

Meanwhile Mike Dunn, owner of Gold Pan California, who sells a range of gold hunting equipment, is reporting a rise in people getting into the hobby as customers empty his shelves of gold hunting tools, ABC reported.

 

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