Digging for God’s Gold!

 “Now a river flowed out of Eden to water the garden; and from there it divided and became four rivers.  The name of the first is Pishon; it flows around the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold.  And the gold of that land isgood…”

(Does this mean there is gold that isn’t good?  We’ll talk about that later.)

Where can gold be found?  Just about everywhere on earth, but, today, most of it is found deep in the earth. There was a time that gold was easy to find because it could be clearly seen as it sparkled in rivers and creeks, on the plains, in deserts, just about anywhere.  It was so abundant, people used it to make jewelry, decorate buildings, fashion coins—just to name a few things.  After thousands of years, it has become more difficult to locate, and many people have risked their lives to find it. In fact, one of the biggest quests for gold occurred in the United States a little over 150 years ago.  And, it ended with riches for only a few and ruin for most.
The year was 1849—the place was in the mountains of central California—a place known as Sutter’s Mill.  A carpenter named James Marshall and his crew of workers had just set up camp on the American River at Coloma near Sacramento.  Marshall was building a granary mill for John Sutter, who was interested in purchasing the land.  On the cold, clear morning of January 24, 1849, Marshall was up early enjoying the lovely sunrise when he saw something sparkling in the creek a few feet away.  He reached down and picked up a few tiny gold nuggets.  Soon, word spread that gold had been discovered.  Thus began one of the largest human migrations in history as a half-million gold-seekers (called “49ers” ) from around the world descended upon California in search of instant wealth.  Slogans like “Go West, young man!” or “To California or Bust!”  encouraged people to trek westward on pack mules or in covered wagons in search of gold.
For the first six months, finding gold was a boon for many because gold was plentiful and easy to find.  The first prospectors were good-natured and friendly as there seemed to be enough gold to go around.  However, within six months, the easy gold had pretty much disappeared, and as the number of miners increased and gold became scarce, tempers began to flare.  Prospectors panned for gold sometimes up to 10 hours a day knee-deep in ice cold water, digging, sifting, and washing gravel.  A little bit of gold dust was all they’d get.  What’s worse, many who believed they’d found gold were fooled by pyrite, a copycat of gold—known as ‘fools gold’.   “To California or bust” had seemed so promising.  But, most miners had ‘busted’!  Many men lost everything in their search for gold and returned to their homes poorer than when they had left.  

	Discovering the Comstock Lode  Encarta Encyclopedia—Museum of Fine Arts, San Francisco/ Gift of Mrs. E. C. Lacey    The Lode was named after the prospector who laid claim to the site.
	Virginia City, Nevada, Today—Encarta Encyclopedia, Phil Schmeister

Is it Gold or Pyrite? 
What is it about Gold that causes people to want it so much?  Why do some risk their lives to get it?  Let’s look at a few characteristics of gold.

Gold is found as either a free metal with little or no impurities or mixed with other elements such as tellurium, silver, quartz, or pyrite. One of the main characteristics of gold is that it is malleable—bendable.  It is easier to work than all other metals.  It can expand (stretch)—for example, 1½ oz. of gold can be beaten into a transparent sheet of 300 square feet (gold leaf)—so transparent, you can see through it; or, it can be beaten into a tiny wire measuring 62 miles long!  Because it is a soft metal, it can be engraved on; but, this means it can be scratched easily, so, to make it stronger, it is usually alloyed (mixed) with silver, nickel, copper, lead, or another mineral to give it more strength.  Gold is also resistant to corrosion (doesn’t rust) and is a good conductor of heat and electricity. 

Fool’s Gold, or Pyrite, is a common mineral composed of iron sulfide and, like gold, is found in sedimentary rocks, in igneous and metamorphic (volcanic rocks), and in coal formations.  It is a brass yellow, and is opaque (NOT transparent), and has a metallic luster.  Pyrite is beautiful to the eye and a favorite of rock collectors.  The resemblance of pyrite to gold caused many prospectors to mistake it for gold, hence the term “fool's gold”.   In some cases, pyrite resembles gold so closely that it takes an ASSAYER to test it.  He will test its hardness—pyrite is hard and brittle; under pressure, it can break.  Also, it is not as dense as gold—it has more air in its makeup.  That’s why it will remain at the top of the prospector’s pan while gold sinks to the bottom.  An Assayer can also use nitric acid or other chemical solutions, an x-ray, or the streak test.  

Let’s see what’s in the Treasure Box.  (Show the two charts with gold nuggets and pyrite, an actual pyrite rock, and my pieces of gold jewelry.)

As you can see by this chart, I don’t have a real gold nugget—it’s too expensive!  This chart shows 1 to 2-inch gold nuggets ranging from a value of $400-$4000!  I also have a chart here that shows a piece of pyrite.  My goodness—it DOES look like real gold.  What’s this?  I’m looking at a real pyrite rock—it is beautiful!  Gold-colored and sparkling.  I can see how people could be easily fooled into thinking it is real gold.  The closest thing I have to a real gold nugget is some jewelry made of alloyed gold (gold that is mixed with other elements). 

Some CHARACTERISTICS of Gold:

          *Refinable by the most intense heat
       
          *Malleable—soft, bendable; easier to work than ALL other metals;
                                easy to scratch or engrave.

          *Expandable—1½  oz of gold can be beaten out to 300 feet!  Gold
                 leaf—gold hammered so thin that light can shine through it
                 (it’s transparent!…it would take 200,000 sheets of gold leaf to
                 make a stack one inch high!  If you took 200,000 sheets of
                 your school notebook paper and stacked them on top of one
                 another, the stack would be about as tall as a five-story
                 building!)  Old Testament Scriptures speak of ‘beaten gold’
                 done by skilled goldsmiths.

          *Resistant  to corrosion (won’t rust)

          *Conductable   Receptive;  a good channel for heat and
                                    electricity

          *Dense—solid:  Compare to pyrite which has more air.  Gold will
                 sink to the bottom of a pan while pyrite stays at the top.

          *Testable—by flame, streak, hardness (*Mhohs Scale), and
                              acid testing
        Gold shows a particular color, hardness, reaction to acid, and
 streak (Gold is yellow, pyrite is greenish-black).
         

Pyrite is the classic "Fool's Gold". There are other shiny brassy yellow minerals, but pyrite is by far the most common and the most often mistaken for gold. Whether it is the golden look or something else, pyrite is a favorite among rock collectors. It can have a beautiful luster and interesting crystals. It is so common in the earth's crust that it is found in almost every possible environment, hence it has a vast number of forms and varieties.

GOLD

Take the ‘G’ out of Gold and it spells ‘old’—

GOLD doesn’t get old (corroded or corrupted).

GOLD

Take the ‘L’ out of GOLD and it spells ‘God’. 

God is the GOLD we are after.

SCRIPTURES:

The Lord gives us treasures:

        And the Lord shall give to thee good treasure…. Deut. 28:12

The trial of our faith is compared to gold:

          That the TRIAL of your faith, being more precious than gold… I Peter 1:7 

The Lord tests us like gold is tested:

          “And I will bring the third part through the fire, refine them as silver is refined, and test them as gold is tested.  They will call on My Name, and I will answer them; I will say, ‘They are My people and they will say, ‘The Lord is my God."  Zech 13:9 

The Lord is the Goldsmith of our hearts:

          “And He will sit as a smelter and purifier of silver, and He will purify the       sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, so that they may present to
          the Lord offerings in righteousness.”      Mal. 3:3

The Lord is our Assayer:

          “Now if any man builds upon the foundation with gold…each man’s work      will become evident; for the day will show it, because it is to be revealed       with fire, and the fire itself will test the quality of each man’s work.” 
                                                                    I  Cor. 3:12-13  
Heaven is made of gold:

          “…and the street of the city was pure gold, like transparent glass.”     
          Rev. 21:21

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Optional (Footnotes—points of interest): 
1.  Underground Mines
After California became a state in 1850, panning for gold had all but disappeared as prospectors moved to more advanced techniques for extracting the precious metal. They turned their attention to quartz mining because gold deposits were often found inside quartz veins located deep in the earth.  Several underground mines in nearby Mariposa County were started and continued for more than 100 years.
2.  GoldFever! 
It is not without good reason that the word "fever" is used in the quest for gold.  It has proven to be all too easy to throw caution to the wind at the thought of gold, to sacrifice standards that have been an integral part of your life, to spend more money and time than you have, and to bring yourself to varying degrees of ruin financially, emotionally and domestically.    Out of despair, many 49ers turned to poker and other forms of gambling in hopes of snatching the quick fortunes that had eluded them in the rivers.  When that didn't work, many turned to crime. Jails, unnecessary a few years earlier, were soon filled. Hangings became common--almost matter of fact.
Wrote 49er John Bucroft:
"Dear—, I take this opportunity of writing these few lines to you hoping to find you in good health.  Me and Charley is sentenced to be hung at five o'clock for a robbery. Give my best to Frank and Sam."  1993-2004 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
3.  Comstock Lode
From 1859-1898, in Western Nevada (ten years after the California “gold rush”), a rich vein of gold and silver yielded hundreds of millions of dollars until it was depleted.  Men excavated to a depth of 3200 feet before being permanently halted due to the boiling water and gases of the lower regions seeping upwards.  At one time, the population in Virginia City, Nevada (Comstock Lode site) was 20,000, a fair-sized town in those days. Today, it’s less than a thousand!  Mother Lode was a term for the band of gold-bearing quartz found approximately 100 miles south to north along the western foothills of the Sierra Nevada Range in Central California.  The term eventually referred to any place that gold was plenteous.