The REMINISCING of a Would-Be PROSPECTOR

"Gold Fever": most anyone who "caught it" went to their grave, still dreaming of striking it rich. So it was with my father, Harvey Maddux. Gold forever glittered in his dreams. As his daughter, I remember he always carried a beat-up steel gold pan in the truck of the car. He explained it all to me: how to spot a prospective stream; then scratch down to bedrock; spoon up the dark sand in the crevices of the rocks; swirl the bits of residue as the extra water spilled over the edges of the pan; but I never recall seeing those precious flecks of gold. In writing the title of this book, "Reminiscing..." he never imagined that anybody would prospect for something other than gold.
He grew up poor, but with rich memories. In his later years, he self-published "Homestead on the Trask", then "Camera Around Portland”. This was long before word processing or E-publishing were available. When he failed to convince a local publisher to accept his books, he did what any industrious photo-engraver would do (well, maybe). He hand set the type, drew the pictures; etched the full-page zinc plates, proofed them, then printed them on a lithograph press.
"The Reminiscing of a Would-Be Prospector" was his last book, and not as well scrutinized for typos, etc., as his previous two books. Mother was getting tired of his book projects. She was his chief editor and proof-reader. However, her health was failing fast. This book must have burned in my father’s soul, however, even as his own health and eyesight waned. He obviously did a lot of remembering and research for this book. As he recounts, there’s “still gold in them-thar hills”, lots of it, according to the geologists and other experts. The reader can surely guess that many of these methods are unacceptable in today’s environmentally conscious world. Poisonous levels of mercury and other dangerous chemicals still remain in Southern Oregon’s pristine Rogue River.
But dreaming is still allowed. And the thought of many billions of dollar’s worth of gold yet to be discovered by the lucky few.