Hoosiers go look for Gold archive

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Hoosiers go looking for gold
By Tom Spalding on July 29, 2010
Gold in Indiana? Yes, but don't bank on it

With gold prices peaking this summer at more than $1,200 an ounce, some people are seeking their fortunes in Indiana's streams.

They're panning for gold. Hoosier gold.

Tiny nuggets of the precious metal can be sifted from the bottoms of Indiana creeks and rivers, especially south of Indianapolis in Brown, Monroe and Morgan counties, where the streams contain leftover Ice Age glacial gravel. And people are going after it.

"They call it gold fever," said Alan Oden, 62, a woodworker who, along with his wife, Lois, recently hosted about 30 prospectors in an ankle-deep stretch of Pike Creek on their 32-acre woods near Morgantown.

Although it would be overstating the case to call it an Indiana gold rush, the Odens are far from alone.

At least two Indiana businesses provide gold panning for family fun -- it's free, but you'll need to buy or rent a pan and a trowel.

And the ranks of the Central Indiana Gold Prospectors Association of America -- whose members sometimes use elaborate and more expensive equipment -- have grown from 25 in 2008 to 280 in June, said its president, Wayne Mercer, 37, Nineveh.

Self-proclaimed prospectors wryly remark that the miniscule amounts of gold to be found in a day of panning or dredging might net an average of $25 -- enough to pay for the basic equipment. But as you look into those prospectors' pans, they'll admit the occasional nugget can bring in a tidy $70.

"You'd be amazed at the amount of people who had no idea they could even go gold prospecting in Indiana," said Mercer, who coordinates monthly outings.

He said he's seen some newcomer treasure-hunters quit after just a few hours because the dream of instant wealth didn't quite pan out.

Nelson R. Shaffer, a leader in the Indiana Geological Society, said gold prospecting never has proved lucrative enough to support commercial businesses. Anyone who tries prospecting needs to remember that, yes, patience is golden.

"You'll get very tired, and part of your backside and legs will hurt. And you'll very likely get some gold, (but) there's so much involved in the economics that I can't say whether anybody will make money at it," Shaffer said.

Yet business is booming for Robin Stevens, who runs the Gatesville Country Store in rural Nashville, about an hour's drive south of Downtown Indianapolis. She owns land adjacent to the store on the north fork of Salt Creek, a known source of gold flakes.

She welcomes rookies, as well as veteran, wetsuit-clad gold hunters with sophisticated dredgers. She makes her money by selling equipment and feeding hungry gold diggers.

"Interest has built immensely in the past year and a half," Stevens said. "I've gone from selling one or two pans a year . . . to now I have to call and get supplies (delivered by mail) twice a month."

Another gold-prospecting venture, this one about an hour east of Indianapolis, re-creates a 19th century gold-panning camp. Jellystone Park, a campground in Knightstown, gives free panning lessons and rents equipment for paying campers to use on a creek.

Proficient gold collecting requires expertise, good contacts who know where gold can be found and knowledge of Indiana prospecting regulations. The Indiana Department of Natural Resources adopted new rules in December after "confusion over what was legal and what was not legal," said Linnea Petercheff, with the DNR's Division of Fish and Wildlife.

The new rules aim to protect the environment and prevent trespassing. They stem from an incident in 2007, when seven prospectors were cited by a DNR official for extracting minerals without a permit in the Wabash River in Cass County.

Prospectors favor the rules, which set guidelines on where and how gold can be extracted.

Gold finds have been reported in 20 counties, including Marion.

How much money you can actually make remains a bit of a mystery.

Mark Bender, 57, Oaklandon, says he has prospected for 20 years. He says he's not in it for the money. More lucrative, Bender said, might be to market Indiana's gold hot spots for tourism.

"There are some opportunities there," he said, "that an entrepreneur might take advantage of to make a little bit of money."

Yes. But how much does he make?

Bender estimates it costs about $10 to retrieve a dollar's worth of gold.

Maybe so. But there's always hope.

Alan Oden, who hosted the prospectors on his land, said he has known since 1984 that the creek holds bits of gold and occasionally has waded into the water to see what he can find.

"My wife thinks I'm a nut," he said, "but as the pieces I bring back grow bigger, her eyes get bigger."