"Float gold" or "floated gold" livened up life in the American Old West and became the foundation of Western myths, as well as the source of wealth for a fortunate few.

The term "float" or "floated" gold was gold which had washed (floated) down from mountain gold mines or natural rock deposits in the many streams and creeks throughout the West. These streams and rivers carried with those gold deposits the ability to turn any man or woman rich, or plunge them into hopelessness and a life of gold-obsessed poverty. 

The float gold was mined using "placer mining." Placer mining used dredges, pans, water sluices, and even high-powered pumps and hoses to separate the grains and nuggets of gold from the rocks, gravel, and mud in the stream beds. The simplest gold prospecting tools used then -- and used by many gold prospecting hobbyists throughout the West today -- were picks, shovels, and gold pans.

The process was called "placer mining" from a word of Spanish or French origin referring to a submersed plain -- in other words, it involved poking and sloshing around mud, rocks, and water to find the highly prized gold flakes and nuggets. Successful placer mining often was more a matter of luck than skill. Obviously, the best locations would be those along good sized streams that came down from mountains and rock formations. That's the source from which the gold would be eroded and washed into the stream. Hence, most placer mining happened in mountainous areas of the Old West, chiefly in and around the Rocky Mountains throughout Colorado, Utah, and Nevada, and the Sierras in California.

Gold panning itself was the simplest and easiest work for an individual prospector. He would scrape rocks and gravel into a pool along the shore of the stream, or perhaps dredge the muddy gravel off the bottom. Then he would mix the gravel with the water, slosh and roll his shallow pan side-to-side, and allow the water and lighter gravel to slosh out of the pan. At that point, the prospector would carefully examine the heavier remains in the pan, hoping to find shiny flakes or even outright nuggets of gold.

Despite the thousands of eager prospectors who grabbed up grub and supplies to pour into each new gold strike, there are still many, many small streams and creeks throughout the West which hold significant promise for today's prospectors. From hobbyists to serious, full-time prospectors, gold still draws men and women to the West.

Float gold made some people rich, and turned others into obsessed, driven relics of poverty. It still may today!