Unscrupulous prospectors trying to peddle their claims for profit upgraded their dubious mining properties in a “manner contrary to nature” by a process known as “salting.” The seller would take ore from a productive mine and carefully scatter it about his non-productive property in hopes of closing a sale on the claim. Others might take a shotgun, load the charge with gold dust and blast the walls of the shaft, impregnating them with particles of gold. Gold was malleable and would im


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