`Amateur prospectors discover river of gold in the Shenango`

By Hal Johnson
Herald Staff Writer

Six-year-old Veronica McDonald shifted dirty water around a plastic pan over a trough filled with more dirty water.

That water was pumped out of the Shenango River. When Veronica was done a few minutes later, a few shiny slivers remained in her pan.

It was gold, but hardly enough to pay for french fries at the fast food restaurant that, coincidentally, bears her family's surname.

For Veronica, the find will be another addition to the collection that sits atop her dresser in her New Sewickley Township home in Beaver County.

For her father, Ernie McDonald, it is another family weekend outing. The McDonalds were among more than 200 attending a Saturday meeting of the Allegheny Chapter of the Gold Prosecutors Association of America.

``This keeps us from sitting around the TV, getting fat. We're not going to get rich by this,'' said Veronica's father.

For the rest of us, it's proof of something incredible that amateur gold prospectors take for granted. There's gold under the murky Shenango River, and other rivers and creeks in western Pennsylvania.

Her find along the river in Riverside Park in Greenville was not Veronica's first. She said she found gold in a creek by her home.

About 14,000 years ago, Ice Age glaciers brought south gold and platinum from what is now Canada. The discovery of gold in western Pennsylvania has been known for only a few years.

Jim Adams, a chapter member from Pitcairn, Pa., wades into a shallow spot in the river, bucket and pan in hand. Spotting bits of quartz in the water, Adams said it was a likely spot to find gold. Gold often is found imbedded in quartz.

Taking the shifted river dirt to shore, Adams is proven right. A few minutes later, gold is found.

For the uninitiated, gold weighs twice as much as lead and a lot more than other pebbles. So the gold sinks to ridges on the side of the pan as dirt and pebbles are shifted out.

Gold prospectors do their part to clean rivers, picking out bits of mercury and lead and other debris. Gold prospector Tom Jablowsky said he turns the lead he finds into fishing weights.

``If you think you're going to get rich, you're lucky,'' said 70-year-old George Coler from Canfield, Ohio.

When asked why people do it, Coler responded, ``Why do people play golf?'' Relatively few golfers are in it for the money.

The outings ``are a lot like going to reunions, only with a lot of strangers. They're filled with fellowship and food,'' Coler said.

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Updated Oct. 13, 1997
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