On the Snake at Lewiston and Clarkston

On the eve of Thanksgiving we rolled into Clarkston, Washington after a memorable day on the road. Across the Snake River on the Idaho side is the sister-city of Lewiston where we stayed. Our one full day in the Hells Canyon area had one setback - everything closed for the holiday. No matter, we took walks along the Snake and Clearwater Rivers.

At the end of the day I met a man testing his new patented product for panning gold. The Gold Getter improves on the old fashioned gold pan. With a gold pan you have to swirl repeatedly to get the gold to separate from the dirt and fall to the bottom. With the Gold Getter you simply drop the dirt into the box and shake. The gold, which is heavy, falls through a metal plate with round holes and traps it. It reduces the time and energy to taper off the soil to get to the good stuff.

He was with his wife. "It doesn't even pay for gas," she said. They're banking on this product to bring in the big dough. He showed us some placer gold. A very nice couple. Keep an eye out for their ad in future issues of Gold Prospector magazine.