Hi all.
Can anyone tell me what a sourdough is (not the bread) and what you have to do to become one?
Love to all
Daz
xxx

Daz,

"Sourdough" is slang for a gold prospector. It originated with the California gold rush in the mid 1800's.

Now if you want to be one, you only need an old pie pan. Take the pan to your nearest creek and "pan for gold".

Hola you two!!
Yes I've done that in Wales with the children near the old gold mines in Coed y Brenin. Gold is still found in 'them there mines' for royal wedding rings etc but we were not so lucky. It used to be a favourite walk of ours from our holiday home to the gold mines. Part of our industrial heritage with its 'strong room' and 'dormitory' still intact and all set amongst the most glorious scenary.
Didn't know I was a sourdough though!
Hasta luego, Gillian

Hi all.
In the Yukon of Canada the prospectors would be out all winter and come back to town in spring. They have a festival in Whitehorse where I lived each year to celebrate this. To be a sourdough in the Yukon you had to have stayed over 2 winters there.
But your right too Don. It probably transferred up to the Yukon in the gold rush days of Dawson city.

Love to all.
Daz
xxx

Hi Don / Gillian.
When my folks came out to whitehorse I took them out to Black Mike's gold mine. As a side line to bold mine he would let tourists pan for gold. They got a pan and a sack of dirt and sluiced it. It was already loaded with gold but to see my Dads face when it was there in his pan was priceless. My mum didn't find any as she washed hers away.
They bought bags of dirt and pans off Mike and when they came back to England had a Klondike party. Everyone had to come dressed in costume and they had a tin bath in the livingroom to pan for gold with the dirt from Black Mike's.
They said they had a great time.
Love to all
Daz
xxx

Good Evening All,

Years ago while living in Guam we visited the Philippines where the military had a vacation retreat - Camp John Hay. One of the local tours offered was to a local gold mine where tourist could pan for gold, just downriver from the mine. We were warned of the high level of heavy metal runoff from the mine. Needles to say this did not set well with my wife. Both our kids were quit young. She watched them like a hawk and no hands were allowed close to the mouth.