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A hobby worth its weight in gold Panning for gold meets modern technology Date published: 2/27/2006
T HEY GO BY names like Tinpan, Slick50 and Woodchuck. They spend countless hours crisscrossing the state looking for pickers, snowflakes and thumbnails. No, they're not playing the latest version of a Pokemon card game. These people are the modern-day equivalent of gold prospectors. Pickers, snowflakes and thumbnails are terms they use to describe the size and quality of the gold they find. While there's very little resemblance between the new breed and that of the stereotypical prospectors of old--someone who looks like a cross between Yosemite Sam and Denver Pyle's Mad Jack character from "The Life and Times of Grizzly Adams"--there remains an adherence to the basic tools and practices of the trade. The pans are now made of plastic instead of tin, and the sluices--artificial channels used to control the flow of water--are metal instead of wood. But both are still used in the same way to separate specks of gold from the rock and sediment of creek beds and riverbanks. Another difference is that today's prospectors tend to haul their own gear in backpacks or strapped to carts. During a recent trip that I took with a local prospector, I didn't see a single supply- and pickax-laden donkey. Robin "Tinpan" Adair of Goldvein is typical of the modern-day prospector. He thinks of panning as more of a hobby than a path to fame and fortune. "No one is going to get rich out here doing this," he says. "The thrill isn't so much in the finding and the keeping, it's in the hunt, but I'm not opposed to finding an 800-ounce pocket of gold, either." Tinpan is actually Adair's user name for an online forum that he and his fellow prospectors use to talk about their gold finds and prospecting techniques. The Web site, va-gold.com, is a prospecting resource that provides tips, links to clubs and even maps to old gold mine sites. Today's prospectors appear to not be as territorial as their predecessors in the 1800s. On any given weekend, you can find several of them working in close proximity to one another in spots like Contrary Creek, which passes under U.S. 522 in Louisa County. Many of the prospectors know one another only by their forum screen names, but they share information and equipment openly. These prospectors also welcome newcomers with open arms. Adair was introduced to prospecting at an early age while growing up in Goldvein. These days he often takes his 9-year-old son, Luke, known as "Pick," on outings, teaching him to pan and about the rich local history of gold mining. Down at Contrary Creek, Adair enjoys getting the local kids from Mineral involved in panning, and often lets them use his gear. "I like to make sure that they find a little gold to take back home," he says, smiling.
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