As a working prospector, I have grubstaked myself for years by reaping the pockets of placer gold deposited by the semiannual monsoon floods. Our Western desert public lands contain millions of acres open to every American citizen for prospecting under …

I was about 13 years old when I went on my first prospecting trip with my uncle, Angus MacDonald. He was six foot seven, couldn’t stand to sleep indoors and drove a stripped down Model T Ford he had modified for serious mountain climbing.