One of the best ways to tell gold from fools gold is the shadow test. After panning the ore down to the bottom of the pan look for the shiny stuff in the bottom and then hold it up to the sun and hold your hand up to where you can move its shadow over the suspected gold. If it disappears then its fools gold if it stays bright and gold colored then its gold. Although gold that is found in the field is not shiny it does have a glow that stands out from all over things in the pan. I wonder why someone would pick up a nugget and not know that it was gold as he most likely had a gold piece or two in his pocket to check it with. Also most nuggets found in the stream beds are quite small and would have been lost if tossed into the back of a wagon. As I said this is a nice story to tell all those who would listen but it does have a few big holes in it. I have no doubt that it was told and I have no doubt that people are still looking for the gold mine I only wonder why. Walt Davies