OT.....My brother has a gold claim. Placer mining.....dredging and panning. Great fun and sometimes profitable! It used to be my fathers. Good fishing there too.<g> It's on the north fork of the middle fork of the American River, just outside of the little mountain town of Forest Hill. <A HREF="http://www.arrafting.com/" target="_new">http://www.arrafting.com/</A> Every once in a while he pulls out a good size nugget. The biggest I ever saw come out of it was just shy of an ounce, though I heard about bigger ones. He wears a nice nugget on a chain around his neck. There's still alot of gold in dem der hills!<g> ......most of it dust, though.