Gold Fever Still Rages in the West

Chuck Allen got bit by the gold bug back in the 1970s.

While working one summer in the Queen Mine on the middle fork of the Yuba River — "hard-rocking" at the underground mine — the Yuba City resident unearthed an 17.5 ounce nugget of gold wrapped around clear quartz crystal.

Ever since then, Allen has had "gold fever."

"There is something about seeing that yellow glimmering metal for the first time that hooks many people into a lifetime of searching," Allen said.

Every chance he gets, Allen packs up his sluice box and gold pan and heads to the local hills in search of "color."

"I’m doing this for fun," Allen said. "It’s my hobby, my recreation."

There are quite a few amateur gold hunters in the Yuba-Sutter area, although Allen concedes he rarely bumps into them.

"Usually I see more fly fishermen," Allen said.

Allen has lived in Yuba City since 1999 and said the best thing about living in the Yuba-Sutter area is the proximity of accessible gold deposits available to the public.

"There are places less than an hour away that yield good color every time I put a pan in the water," Allen said.

One of his favorite spots is Parks Bar on the lower Yuba River, just below the Smartsville Bridge on Highway 20 east of Marysville.

Friday, Allen spent about 30 minutes at Parks Bar panning for gold and proudly displayed gold flakes.

"Look at all this gold," Allen said. "That’s why I keep coming back here. It’s so much fun."

Allen likes panning for gold on all three forks of the Yuba River as well as the Feather River and Butte Creek. One time he took the bus to the Simpson Bridge and even found a few flakes there.

"About the only place I haven’t found gold is where the Yuba and Feather rivers meet," he said.

The best place to look for gold in Northern California is where it already has been found, Allen said. He said prospectors can go to the Bureau of Land Management and ask for a map that shows where all of the claims have been, or they can check county archives.

"Most of the claims aren’t active any more," Allen said, meaning anyone can go and try their luck, since most of the rivers around here are on public land and not private property.

Prospectors also don’t need to go very deep below the surface into the bedrock to find gold.

Friday, Allen used a shovel to skim off rock and gravel from the surface on a hillside above Parks Bar. Three years ago, when Yuba-Sutter levees flooded because of all of the torrential rain, the Yuba River actually had risen high enough to submerge where Allen was digging.

Filling a small plastic bucket, Allen proceeded to use a screen to filter out the big rocks before dumping the gravel into a sluice box he positioned in the Yuba River.

After filtering out the larger pieces of gravel, Allen dumped the remaining fine sand into his gold pan and proceeded to swirl the pan, letting the gold flakes settle to the bottom.

"This is the key to the whole thing," Allen said, as he held up a small squeegee bottle. He used its to suck the small gold flakes out of the black sand.

"See those little specks," Allen said. "That’s what we’re looking for. What’s exciting for