I threw gold back in river!

[Massbaycolonist]

Found a quartz rock about the size of an orange. Flecked with gold flakes. Didn't feel like lugging around a heavy quartz rock. Tossed it back in river. Duh!!

[strickman]

i don't think i would told that one.

[tertiaryjim]

Ya did good. Now it can mature to a solid nugget. Thats why we have catch and release. Jim

[Likely Guy]

I was told a story about an old prospector who lived around here in the late 70's (when the price of gold last went through the roof) who had a favourite trick he liked to play. At a popular local spot he found himself continually harrased by tourists who wanted him to teach them how to pan for gold.

He'd get them to fill their pan in the river and while they weren't looking he'd salt the pan with a nice little 6 gram nugget and then slowly and dutifully teach them the art of panning. Of course when he got down to the fines and black sand the nugget would make its' appearance much to the delight of the tourists.

He'd then pick the nugget out and just as quickly, throw it back into the river, and say "Well, that's how you pan for gold!" You can imagine how the tourist's jaws would drop!

What they didn't know was that he was pretty good with slight of hand, and had replaced the nugget with a similar sized rock.

[Seamuss]

I found a gold nugget with your name on it but I threw it back because I was looking for platinum.

Next lie: I throw flour gold back so it can grow up to be a nugget.

[Inform]

I did it once, lol! I painted a rock gold, threw it into a high mountain river in Tuolumne county, CA since all the bay area folks were panning on private property...wonder if they ever found it? If they did, they would have drown from the current, or froze from the temps...geez, private property simply means ask for permission...I was a kid when I did that, but it is still fun to think about!

[Seamuss]

Found a quartz rock about the size of an orange. Flecked with gold flakes. Didn't feel like lugging around a heavy quartz rock. Tossed it back in river. Duh!!

I'll go back and get it. I'm not proud, I'll take anything shiny out of the river.

[a32deuce]

After panning a nice little 2gr nugget along with some flour gold, I handed it to my g/f to hang onto while I used the snuffer bottle to retrieve the fines in my pan. She wanted to put it in a safe place, which in her way of thinking was her mouth. Well you guessed it, she swallowed it. No it was not retreived, lol. Needless to say, I now hang onto my nuggets.