When photographer Sarina Finkelstein saw a blurb in a newspaper mentioning a new gold rush in Southern California, she had to check it out.
What she found was an odd assortment of characters, including a former farmer from Missouri, an out-of-work Hollywood lighting technician, and a retired construction worker.
While all were united by the belief that they could change their fortunes with an ounce of gold (approximately the size of a half-dollar coin and currently worth around $1,245), Finkelstein found that the lifestyle was as much about self-reliance as anything else.
Finkelstein has collected the photos from four years following the miners in a book, "The New Forty-Niners." She's shared some of the photos with us here, but check out the rest in the book.
The majority of the miners that Finkelstein met mined in the Angeles National Forest and lived in tents and campers along the San Gabriel River canyon, also known as "Nugget Alley." After the Forest Service outlawed mining in the area in 2012, many moved to private claims. Some stayed.
Source: Forest Mining Policy
The prospectors work primarily near streams and rivers, since that’s the most productive area for panning and sluicing. Sluicing is a method of sifting soil or deposits using water through a box filter, capturing gold and heavy metals that are denser than other material. Panning works the same way, only using a pan instead.
The first prospectors that Finkelstein met were a “desperate bunch,” she says. Many had lost jobs or were freelancers, veterans, or ex-convicts that couldn’t find work.
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