Mining Gold the Easy Way

There were many ways to pan for gold in California's Mother Lode during the 1850s but this one by a larcenous bartender takes the cake for originality. Back in the days before the San Francisco mint began turning out gold coins the cost of a drink was a pinch of gold dust from a prospector’s poke sack and the bartender got to do the pinching with his thumb and forefinger. Needless to say bartenders with big hands could always find employment in the saloons. One enterprising bartender skille