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As this map shows, the areas where gold was found in California were
restricted to a rather small area of the Sierra Nevadas and the far
northwestern border of the state. Placer gold takes the form of nuggets
or flakes and is found near the surface in streambeds and alluvial
deposits. Lode gold is still embedded within the earth and needs to be
mined by drilling shafts into the ground, which requires a large number
of men and a sizeable investment in expensive mining equipment. Dredging
for gold, using technology imported from New Zealand in the 1890s, is
usually the last stage of placer mining. Again requiring a substantial
investment in equipment and manpower, this method yielded 300% more gold
than that found by the forty-niners during the 1848-1850 period.
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