Finding “The Eye of the Needle” Nugget Near Rich Hill

by Jim Price

            It was a pretty nippy morning in the shadow of Rich Hill when my partner Harry and I left the Stanton Camp for the half hour ride to our digging's.   We finally got set up and started the first run about 8:30 AM, with the first cleanup around only a half hour later.

            We had worked outward to the right and to the left the prior day and the gold pickens were getting pretty thin. One place left to go was right up the middle. First cleanup looked pretty good. Harry was working with the pick and I had the #2 shovel moving trying to keep up with the big Gold King drywasher.

            About 9:40 I turned to let the washer clear and start the second cleanup of the day. Harry was still picking away and suddenly he said "Jim!"   As I turned toward him he plopped this object in my hand.  Eyes wide, I responded,  "What the hell is this?" It looked like a piece of tarnished brass, and Harry was sure I was going to throw it away.

             We Looked at it for a second and then spit on it and wiped it with my glove. Nearly fell off the shovel handle I was leaning on. We immediately shut down the blower and sat down to look it over and talk about it. Got some pictures and finished two more runs before heading back to camp.

            The word finally got out and we had a great afternoon showing and explaining how it happened.  Friends, neighbors and others came to view it.

            One of them was "Digger" who runs the backhoe for the digs, came around the corner of the motorhome and asked if we needed a plastic bottle for our gold. Harry looked at it and replied,  "No, the top isn't big enough."

            Digger looked at him funny and walked away. We waited a few minutes and went over to his trailer and asked if he still had the bottle. Handed it to Harry, who then imitated trying to put something in it. After a few comical trys, Harry opened his hand with the nugget in it. “See, I told you it wouldn't go in there, he grinned at Digger.

             Eyes wide, Digger shook his head.  “Damn, I knew you guys were going to pull something like this on me.”

            Harry and I both recognize the fact that there was no skill in finding the nugget, other than being at the right place at the right time.  One of our campmates probably summed it up right when he said,. "Even a blind hog can find an acorn once in awhile."

            Enjoy the pictures.   It proves once again that there are still some great gold pieces out there.

Weight is 9.21 ounces with approximately 5 ounces of gold.  Jim & Harry dubbed it “The Eye of the Needle” nugget.

The nugget fresh from the ground, just moments after discovery.

Dimensions are 2 1/2" X 3". Just a nice handful.

END