This book is about exploring old gold and silver mines in Part One. Part Two is about actual experiences using various recovery equipment to find gold. Part Three is a look at some of the million dollar gold mines from present to the 1800's. Part Four is about new equipment to recover gold from rivers and streams.

Chauncey de Leon Canfield (1843-1909) first published "The diary of a forty-niner" in 1906, and 1,200 of the 2,000 copies in that edition were burned. Joseph Gaer's Bibliography of California literature describes this book as written in the form of a diary, but fictional. The diary of a forty-niner (1920) reprints Canfield's 1906 publication. It purports to be the diary of Alfred T. Jackson, of Litchfield County, Connecticut, during his days as a gold prospector, 1850-1852. Jackson offers first-hand accounts of Nevada City and neighboring Rock Creek; descriptions of Grass Valley, North and South Yuba Valleys, and the Sierra Mountains; details of gold mining with accounts of pioneer overland crossings, and foreign mineworkers (including Chinese). Entries concerning Jackson's personal life include details of his courtship of a French woman in the camps.

GOLD, did you ever wish you could find gold without using a pile full of heavy and expensive equipment? Can a person jump into the water and pick up lots of gold? Well some people do just that, and what they do is called SNIPING. This style of mining is one of the best-kept secrets along many gold-bearing rivers. The equipment is simple and inexpensive, but the rewards can be great, in both the doing and finding. Jump in knowing you have a head start on the learning curve that Sam Radding, Jim Garlock and many of their friends spent years chasing. The gold is still there, and sniping is the most enjoyable way we know to get it. Once you see that first piece of underwater gold, you'll be hooked!