It's not about finding the nugget that will make you rich. The chances of that are slim to none. For most New Hampshire gold prospectors, it's all about the hunt.

After spending a morning on the river - wading in the cool water with the sun overhead, the easy rhythm of panning making everyday stresses seem far away - it's easy to understand why.

Hold on, you say. Gold in New Hampshire?

There are different theories about how the gold got here. Some say glaciers pushed it south from large deposits in Canada. Others say New Hampshire's hills contain small deposits that have been eroded and spread downstream. Most of what can be found here is in the form of tiny, almost imperceptible flakes that take some skill to find. But it's exciting when you do.

We got a lesson from Brandon Bowers, a food ingredient salesman from Concord who started panning along the Yuba River in California, where even the local supermarkets sell panning supplies. He has found just under three ounces of gold since moving back to New Hampshire three years ago. With gold prices above $950 per ounce, that's no small haul.

Bowers took us to the Baker River in Warren, just off Route 118, where bedrock outcroppings stretch like smooth, flat fingers into the riverbed. Here's what he taught us:

• Look for creases in the bedrock just above the water level on the river's banks - nooks where the sediment could have settled years and years ago.

• Scoop a shovelful into a circular gold pan, which has ridges on one side. Add water and swish it aggressively, causing the heaviest material to fall to the bottom.

• Tilt the pan so that the material falls on the ridged side, then gently rock it back and forth in the water, letting waves of water come into the pan and sweep out the lighter material. Pick out the big rocks, occasionally shake the sediment back into the bottom of the pan and repeat. You'll notice that what's left will change from blond to black as the light stuff is filtered out, leaving the heavy stuff behind. What's left in the pan should

be almost all black sand - a very small fraction of what you started with.

• Swirl what remains in the bottom of the pan, looking for gold flakes. Often those specks won't move with the rest of the sand but will stick to the bottom.

The first pan Bowers demonstrated came up empty. So did the second. But, a few more pans in, we had found five specks of gold, the biggest about twice the size of a period on this page.

Bowers takes all of the finest residue home to sift through more carefully so as not to miss any specks. He had a jeweler in New Boston melt much of his collection into miniature bars and a ring for his wife.

There is a strong camaraderie among hobby prospectors. Bowers and his buddies will set up a tent along a river bank, bring some beer and a radio and spend the day panning.

He brings a pan along on hiking trips with his wife and son just in case they come along a river with good bedrock.

Single page