My Gold Rush Career Begins in 1984

Chapter 84 A gratifying harvest
Zhou Jingming has worked in geological exploration for several years and has decades of experience in gold panning. He has his own unique and in-depth understanding of lode gold and placer gold veins.

He led Wu Yang upstream along the north bank of the river for several hundred meters. Along the way, they saw carts full of gravel rushing down the dirt road from the high terraces, kicking up a trail of dust.

On those riverbanks, gravel-paved roads extend into the river, and along the chutes built on top, people carry buckets of water to continuously draw water into the chutes to flush away the sand.

Many people were wearing waders and standing in the waist-deep river, swaying their golden buckets like ducks wading through water, making the river splash loudly.

Shouts and voices rose and fell, creating a bustling scene.

Despite being separated by a river thirty or forty meters wide, and not entering any other people's mining sites, the people would still stop what they were doing and scrutinize the two as they passed by on the other side, maintaining a certain level of vigilance.

Zhou Jingming ignored this and was also looking at the people opposite him, trying to find familiar faces.

Having lived a second life and returned to the Gold Rush Valley, those familiar faces, for Zhou Jingming, were more like peeling him out of the illusion of rebirth, allowing him to gradually confirm that this was the anchor point of reality.

As for what use it is, it's naturally about repaying kindness and avenging wrongs; he's not an ungrateful person.

Especially those obstacles that appeared on his path to gold in his past life and may appear in this life, he must find ways to eliminate them as early as possible to make his future path smoother.

As Zhou Jingming passed a rocky riverbank, he stopped, put down what he was carrying, and hopped across the riverbank, stepping on the rocks. He looked at the terrain of the riverbank and then at the mining site dozens of meters above.

Based on the characteristics of the water flow, this is not a place where silt accumulates in the river, but the more this is the case, the more Zhou Jingming values ​​this place.

There is no other reason, because these rocks are not the smooth stones that have been rolled and polished by the water on the riverbank, but rather the original rocks with many gaps and pits on their surfaces, exposed by the river and cut from the riverbed.

The river water, carrying silt, crashes into this rocky area. The gaps between the rocks also impede the flow of water, thus creating a certain degree of sedimentation.

Although the increased water flow during floods carries away a significant amount of the accumulated silt, some will always remain.

In Zhou Jingming's view, this was a natural chute.

And so it was. He rolled up his sleeves, squatted down on a rock, and placed his hand on another rock in front of him. He then reached into the crack of the rock he had placed his hand on and groped his way out of the shallow water, grabbing a handful of mud and sand.

This mud and sand is jet black, and the impurities inside are almost identical to the black sand left in the felt after being washed in a chute.

He spread the black sand out in his palm and examined it closely. Inside, he could see two small pieces of bran and a tiny bit of gold dust.

He stepped onto the riverbank and said, "Brother, let's sift around here and carefully clean out the mud and sand from the crevices between the rocks in the shallow water. We should have a good harvest."

As Wu Yang was new to gold panning, he didn't know the specifics and initially doubted whether gold could be found in the sand and gravel of the riverbed when he first entered the gold panning valley.

Things are different now.

He had no doubts about Zhou Jingming's judgment.

Wu Yang immediately found his short-handled pickaxe, shovel, and waders. The two of them took off their outer clothes, put on their waders, and went down into the shallow water among the rocks.

Zhou Jingming looked around and saw a large rock with a basin-sized hollow near the water. It was filled with silt and sand, and a few water plants were growing inside. He immediately used his golden bucket to scoop out the silt and sand from the hollow, filling it to a shallow depth. He then squatted in the water and began to wash it.

Wu Yang took a shovel and scooped out the mud and sand from the cracks in the rocks, putting it into a basin. He found that it was difficult to use either the shovel or the pickaxe in these cracks, so he simply gave up, rolled up his sleeves, and reached into the cracks with his hands. He carefully felt around and gently scooped out the mud and sand from the cracks and put it into the basin.

They were afraid that if they made any big movements, the gold would slip away with the water.

Soon, Zhou Jingming finished rinsing the first batch of gold beans, each the size of a grain of wheat. There were two such beans at the bottom of the container, along with a few pieces of bran and some gold dust.

Zhou Jingming packed the gold, along with a small amount of black sand, into the canning jars he had brought, and continued to wash the mud and sand from the stone mortar into the gold bucket.

The second batch yielded even more gold.

It wasn't until the third bucket that the mud and sand in the stone pit were completely filled. This bucket of mud and sand was from the very bottom of the stone pit, and it yielded the most gold. The most conspicuous gold bean was not much smaller than a corn kernel.

The gold panned from this stone pit alone weighs at least six grams.

Seeing this gratifying harvest, Wu Yang looked at Jin Douzi's gold and said, "Brother Zhou, I think it's really a waste for you to stay with the team."

Zhou Jingming was busy packing the refined sand into canning jars. He glanced at Wu Yang and asked with a smile, "Why do you say that?"

“Look, you just casually came out, picked a spot, and panned for more than ten minutes, and you found so much gold. If you did this for a day, it would be equivalent to working with the team for at least four or five days.”

Wu Yang took the jar, lifted it up to look at the gold dust at the bottom, and shook it: "If I had your ability, I would definitely choose to go it alone and fight a guerrilla war!"

Zhou Jingming had considered this idea before.

Back in his hometown, he had already planned that he could mine gold all by himself with just a shovel, a pickaxe, and a gold bucket.

But he also knew very well that it was too risky for one or two people to do this kind of thing, and it wasn't appropriate.

"You only thought that way because you saw so much gold in this stone pit... You've oversimplified things."

Zhou Jingming put down the gold cup, wiped his wet hands on his arm, took out a cigarette from his pocket, and handed one to Wu Yang.

Wu Yang looked at his dripping hands: "Help me dry them, so I don't have to wipe them!"

Zhou Jingming immediately took two cigarettes, lit them with a match, and handed one to Wu Yang before continuing, "An individual's ability to withstand risks is too weak, far inferior to that of a large team."

Putting aside other people's schemes, the bears and jackals in the wilderness alone are not something one person can easily deal with. It's manageable during the day, but at night, you don't even know when you'll be attacked by wild animals.

Also, if you're alone, you can't bring much stuff into the mountains. Food and lodging will be problems. You won't be able to get a hot meal, and you'll be exposed to the elements. If you get sick, you might just die in the mountains.

Moreover, such places are not everywhere. You can work in one place for a few days and then you have to find another one. More often than not, you are either looking for gold or on your way to find gold.

After a month of actual work, those with experience will be better off than those who just follow a team, while those without experience won't be able to do it, mainly because it's very unstable.

Comparing the two options, joining the team to pan for gold is more reliable. We'll do guerrilla warfare for a few days, and you'll understand after experiencing it firsthand.” Wu Yang thought about it and agreed, so he didn't dwell on it further.

The two worked together, with Wu Yang specifically responsible for sifting out the mud and sand from the cracks in the stones and the troughs to fill basins, while Zhou Jingming was responsible for shaking the golden bucket to wash them.

Before I knew it, I had been working all afternoon.

Not all of this silt yields good gold; sometimes, a whole bucket might contain only a tiny amount of gold dust, presumably from deeper layers.

However, some of the gaps between the stones were very small, and many stones seemed to be rooted to the spot, so even with a pickaxe, they wouldn't budge, making it impossible to continue digging out the mud and sand.

But the afternoon's harvest was quite good; I estimate I got about twenty grams, and the remaining piece is enough to dry for half a day tomorrow.

Seeing that it was almost time, the two stopped what they were doing, went ashore to rest, and prepared for the night.

Water pants are waterproof, which means that these rubber-made things are not very breathable. After wearing them for a few hours, sweat and other moisture will all concentrate on the soles of the shoes, sucking your feet in.

The two could only help each other, in one posture, on the riverbank, to pull their feet out of their water shoes.

Their feet were covered in sweat until they turned white and wrinkled, and when they turned their shoes upside down, the sweat dripped out.

The two walked a short distance up the riverbank and found a sheltered earthen ditch. Altai is arid and receives little rain, so at night they could simply lie down on the ground wrapped in blankets without much problem.

They gathered some firewood, built a fire, heated the flatbread, and used the basin they had brought to fill with water, which they then boiled over the fire and drank after it had cleared.

Given these conditions, we can only deal with them simply.

After satisfying his hunger, Zhou Jingming fed Jin Wang two baked buns. As dusk fell, he and Wu Yang wrapped themselves in blankets and lay down.

As darkness fell, the lights of lanterns could be seen shining from the underground tunnels of the camp across the river. The noise from inside could also be heard across the river, startling Jinwang, who was sleeping nearby. He would raise his head from time to time to look in that direction, and sometimes he would let out a fierce growl.

Among the gold prospectors, there were many from Qin, Ganzhou, Xiang, Shu, Yuzhou, and Luoyue, and they were often a mix of Han and Hui people.

People from the same hometown like to stick together, share things with each other, and enjoy gathering to chat, play cards, or even sing local operas and folk songs during their breaks.

People in Qin love Qinqiang opera the most, people in Shu like to play mahjong, Hui people pray regularly, people from Luoyue like to chat together in their dialect, and young people sing folk songs from their hometowns.

Judging from the noise, it must be people playing cards for money.

Gold panning is a quick way to make money, but gambling can be incredibly lucrative. Even if you lose all your gold, you can always make more. Many honest and hardworking people come to the Gold Rush Valley, but after a while, most of them develop a gambling addiction and become very irritable.

Zhou Jingming was in a semi-conscious state until he could no longer see any light from the other side, and then he finally fell asleep.

The night passed peacefully.

The next morning, Zhou Jingming was awakened by the crisp sound of Wu Yang breaking firewood as he gathered firewood.

At this moment, the first rays of dawn were just appearing in the east, and looking around, it was still pitch black.

There was still no movement at the camp on the terrace diagonally opposite.

After lighting the fire, Wu Yang went to the side and began his daily training.

Zhou Jingming quickly got up, rubbed his stiff face, and then went to the side to practice the routine three times. After doing eighty push-ups, he tried to do handstands several times until the training task was completed. Only then did he return to the fire, take six baked buns from his canvas backpack and bake them by the fire. He also took a tin basin, fetched water from the river, and boiled it to make salt tea.

Once the baked buns were soft, Wu Yang finished his training and returned to the fire.

As the two ate their baked buns with salt tea, the sky brightened considerably, and the camps on the opposite riverbank began to light up. Smoke billowed from the chimneys of their dugouts as people started preparing breakfast, and gradually some people went out to play.

After Zhou Jingming and Wu Yang had eaten and drunk their fill, it was already broad daylight. After smoking a cigarette, the two changed into waders and entered the riverbank. Even through their waders, they could feel the icy cold water in the shallows, and they began to repeat the same work as yesterday.

Perhaps because the better gold-bearing sand was mostly selected yesterday while digging in the crevices, the gold yield this morning was much lower. After working for more than two hours, the results were not satisfactory.

Zhou Jingming didn't waste any time. He rinsed the golden bucket, took the jar containing the refined sand, and went ashore: "Wu Yang, pack your things, let's move to another place!"

He carefully observed the people in the two or three camps opposite him, but didn't see any familiar faces. Since the gold he was getting wasn't satisfactory, he decided to immediately move on to another location.

Wu Yang quickly washed his pickaxe and shovel and followed them ashore.

After taking off their waders and packing their luggage, the two continued upstream.

Over the next half day, the two changed gold panning spots several times.

On a riverbank, there was a rock about the size of a tractor trailer lying on the riverbank. It must have rolled down from the mountain. The two men washed more than ten buckets of mud and sand from the base of the boulder.

On another riverbank, there was a fallen poplar tree. The upper half of its thick trunk was rotten, but the part submerged in water was still firm. On the side facing the water, there was a lot of gravel and silt. The two of them spent more than an hour washing the silt.

Another place was a gentle riverbank where they found a blue stone riverbed with several water-filled pits. These pits were full of sand and silt, and it took the two of them more than two hours to get there.

Along the way, Zhou Jingming passed several gold panning sites. At each site, he would always find a spot opposite the mine to pan for gold for a while.

The area where the most gold was extracted was the mud and sand that had accumulated under the trunk of the bitter willow tree; it is estimated that about seven or eight grams of gold were extracted.

About five grams of gold were found under the boulder, while less than two grams were found in the pits and hollows of the bluestone riverbed. Zhou Jingming judged that it must have been panned by someone.

Including what I found on the rocky riverbank this morning, I've managed to collect about twenty grams of gold in the past half day, a still pleasing haul.

As he passed by a riverbank at dusk, he spotted another gold panning spot. It was a small bend in the river, where the flowing water had exposed a patch of cracked slate on the slope.

It was there that Zhou Jingming and Wu Yang witnessed a good show unfolding at the camp below, and saw the "acquaintance" they had met on their way back from scouting the mountain: Scorpion Zhang Debao.

(End of this chapter)