The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current, April 16, 1980, Image 9
tiCalifornia’s gold rush WEDNESDAY, APRIL 16, 1980 ‘Recreational miners’head out to the deserts and rivers United Press International / BONSALL, Calif. —The Califor nia gold rush is on once again, i] Skyrocketing gold prices have pro duced the “recreational miner’’ — a new breed of prospector that would baffle the burro-and-sourdough prospector of the Old West. With an ounce of gold now selling for more than $650, the small, at one time almost worthless amounts of fine gold dust an amateur can pan out of gravel, are now valuable. Residents of western states are joining the search by the thousands. Often, they are middle class families out to find enough gold in the deserts or mountain rivers to pay for a vaca tion or weekend camping trip. George Massie, president of the Gold Prospectors Association of America, said that two years ago the association consisted of about 40,000 members. But last month the mem bership jumped to 52,000, and it cur rently stands at 65,000, he said. “With the price of gold going up the way it is, everybody and his brother wants to get into recreational mining,” Massie said. The association is made up of “mostly weekend people,” said Dave Troesh, 33, a former drugstore man ager who knew nothing about pros pecting when he took it up as a hobby 18 months ago. The native Califor nian said he now lives on the gold he pans from the Stanislaus River near Sonoma. “I’m not making a great living,” he said, “but I do well enough to get along. ” But he won’t say how much is “well enough.” The prospectors and miners are reluctant to talk about how much money they make. “Not if you’re going to put my name in the paper where the tax peo ple can read it,” said one. “You’ll never get a straight answer on that one from anybody,’’ answered another. Jerry Keene, head of Keene En gineering of Northridge, Calif, said, “Without mentioning names, I know of a guy in northern California who began working at it full time, and I hear he’s getting about 10 ounces a day.” Keene, who claims his company is the largest maker and distributor of portable mining equipment in the world, added that at today’s prices, that’s more than $6,000 a day. Whatever the prospectors and miners make, Keene and others in his business have found a bonanza supplying them with everything from maps and $2 gold pans to $4,000 power dredges. The best equipped amateur gold AT SAFEWAY ! Belmonte Lucerne V2% Low Fat Milk Mrs. Wright's White Bread FOODS READY TO SERVE SHOP! These items are available in the fslowing store only: In Austin at 941 N. Lamer, 1500 W. 35th Street; in Pearland; Lufkin; Port Arthur; Katv; Kingwood; in Houston at BeMort at Telephone, 16550 II Camino Real, Holcombe at Kirby, League City and Spring, Teias. Fried Chicken Hot! Smoked Fryers Whole f Ready to Eat!" . . Each French Bread SAFEWAY .YOUP. ONE-STOP VARIETY STORE! Crest Toothpaste NOT ALL ITEMS CAN BE SOLD ON SUNDAYS DUE TO TEXAS BLUE LAW. Regular irTTThMl 9 Oz. Tube or Mint Playtex Gloves Handsaver sitf * 5°* Deluxe 12" Floor Fan Galaxy § m qq Each Picture Frames S.P. Antiseptic Mouthwash Regular or Mint 16 Oz. Btl. Uc Cricket Lighter Disposable [|j^| Each IbP Superior 20" ^ Box Fan ** :2V 5"x7" or i8"xl0" SPECIAL OFFERS... Each TIMEX WATCHES M Complete Selection < J% OFF Manufacturer's Suggested Retail Price! VISA/MASTER CARD Jarlsberg . Cheese ....u. SAiFEWAYFINEST- QUALITY MEATS! Smok-A-Roma 9 Smoked Turkeys Fresh Frozen over sb! /fniVini Sliced Bacon (2-lb. Pkg.... $ 1.96) /jR Boneless Bulk Beef Whole Top Sirloin Regular Ground Beef “11.38 Excellent for Kabobs or 1. Top Sirloin Steaks Ground Sirloin 2. Top Sirloin Roast . .. Lb. SAFEWAY QUALITY MEATS! Whole Loin Strip i PHOTO & GIFT DEPT. Theie itmes ore available in the following Safeway Stores only: league City; Spring; Pearland; Katy; Port Lavaca; Bay City; New Braufels; Dear Park; Tomball; Victoria; Both Port Arthur Stores; in Bryan at 1805 Briarcrest; In Austin at 9411 N. Lamar, 6920 Manchaca, 2025 Ben White; in Pasadena at 4100 Fairmont Pkwy.; in Houston at Bellaire at Hillcroft, No. 5 Uvalde, Louetta at 5 uebner Airline, 13642 W. Montgomery Rd., 9510 N. Houston-Rosslyn at Gulf Bank and Kingwood Drive at Loop 494. Tappan Microwave Oven Automatic Defrost 28 Minute Timer #56-1226 7-Piece Patio Grouping Buy The Set and SAVE! LOW PRICES... Top Sirloin Steak «? no Boneless Safewoy Quality Beef, Loin .... Lb. OuW # T-Bone Steak no Safeway Quality Beef, Loin Lb. Ouw # Pork Loin Chops $1 oo Burritos , cc Cooked Lobster $4 qq North Atlantic 7.1 Or. Pkg. # Manor House, Fresh Fryers © jm*... ib. (Regular Cut-up Fryers ... Lb. 57') (Beef Pattie Mix — 75% Beef - 25% Hydrated Protein... Lb. *1.28) Smoked Sausage Safeway Regular or Hot AND A LITTLE BIT MORE! Boneless Hams Smok-A-Roma, Whole, Water Added . Lb. $ 1.68 Boneless Half Hams $i -*q Smoked Sausage $9 iq Jumbo Franks $1 £.o Eckrich 1 Lb. Pkg. I eO # Fish Sticks $1 nn Jumbo, Pre-cooked Lb. I mJLff Boneless Chuck RoOSt Boneless RoUlld StCdk .‘2.19 U.S.D.A. Choice Beef, Round Puces Effective Thursday thru Wednesday, April 17th - 23rd, 1980 In Bryan College Station Beef Plate Short Ribs /i «fuS0A7$(j] % choice) 1| SAFEWAY | and a little bit more seekers use the small power dredges to suck up river gravel for sifting. In California, they need a $5 license from the state Department of Fish and Game. The department issued 5,208 permits in 1979, an increase of 1,450 from 1978. Keene said, “Our business is pri marily recreational mining, and we’ve been running about $2 million to $3 million a year. Now I’m looking at $1 million a month. “Business doubles by the month. I moved into a larger factory five years ago. Now I’m running two shifts a day, six days a week, and we’ll be operating 24 hours a day later this month.” W.G. Scotti of San Francisco Min ing and Lapidary said he sold about two dozen small power dredges in January and is now back ordered up to eight weeks. Fake nurse caught in El Paso United Press International EL PASO, — A woman posing as a nurse has been making money by giving immunizations of stolen polio vaccine to school children, author ities say. An invesitigation began after the school nurse in Canutillo, a suburb west of El Paso, became suspicious when a student presented a vaccina tion record bearing a doctor’s signa ture stamp instead of a real signa ture. “She contacted a health depart ment nurse who contacted the head department nurse and they got the child’s mother and found out she got the shots from this woman,” Dr. Ber nard Rosenbloom, director of the El Paso City-County Health Depart ment, said Monday. “In checking into this, we found she’d worked at three or four medical places in El Paso and was discharged from each place. Allegedly after she left, they found things missing — immunizations, vaccines, this sort of thing. “She’s been passing herself off as a nurse, and,, ^iyipg jfiimunizstiop^/ Stat,e .PepafL. ment of Health and State Board of Medical Examiners will determine whether to charge the woman with practicing medicine without a license, Rosenbloom added. Reagan low on money United Press International LOS ANGELES — Ronald Reagan has only $4 million of his $18 million budget left for his drive for the Republican presidential nomina tion but his campaign treasurer feels it will be enough to cover the re maining primaries and the July con vention. “We have to be cautious,” treasur er Bay Buchanan said in an interview Monday. “But the budget has quite a bit of flexibility. We know that $4 million is enough to cover the next four months and to cover the conven tion,” she said. Reagan spent the day at three private fund raisers in Los Angeles before meeting with volunteers at his Inglewood headquarters. On Tuesday, he heads for Indiana and the start of a four-day, four-state campaign trip. Under the direction of ousted campaign manager Johrt Sears, fired by Reagan the day of the New Hampshire primary, the campaign ate up by Feb. 26 more than two- thirds of the federal limit of about $17.5 million allowed for primaries. New campaign manager William Casey then instituted a series of cost saving steps. About 80 people left the campaign either because they weren’t needed after the early primaries or they were fired. In other reductions, staffers making more than $15,000 took a 50 percent cut in salary above that amount. There have been reductions in purchases of broadcast advertising and political mailings and telephone banks. “We’re the strong frontrunner, so there is not the need to spend the money as if we re behind,” said Buchanan. There also are fewer staffers traveling with Reagan and those who do now double up in hotel rooms. Buchanan estimated that staff re ductions have saved about $250,000 a month. Battalion Classifieds Call 845-2611