By Sara Ballenger
 Photo by Joe Hu, Town Crier |
Shouts of “Eureka!” could be heard from the banks of Adobe Creek at Redwood Grove in Los Altos May 15.
Students from Judi Hultberg’s fourth-grade class from Springer School in Los Altos had staked their claims and begun panning for gold - or, in this case, pyrite or “fool’s gold,” which is found naturally in the creek - as part of Redwood Grove’s first “Gold Rush Program,” run by resident naturalist Keith Gutierrez.
“Gold was always mentioned, but nobody thought there was really gold, even in California,” Gutierrez said. “It wasn’t until President James Polk made it official by announcing there was gold in California that people started heading West,” he said to the class, which has just begun its unit on the California Gold Rush.
Gutierrez then gave each student a gold pan and divided them into groups or “claims” on the creek.
“When panning, you need to scoop as much rock and minerals per scoop as you can. You will mostly get dirt and sediment, but you should be able to see if you have found gold,” Gutierrez told the students. “Any gold you find you can keep. We will weigh it at the end, and whoever gets the most gold will win some grains of real gold.”
To make the hands-on learning experience as real as possible, Gutierrez showed the students a 16-gram gold nugget that had been donated to the program. In the days of the Gold Rush, Gutierrez said, the nugget would have been worth somewhere around $1,000, but in today’s market it’s worth $140.
“Some students pan for 15 minutes and find nothing. Imagine doing that day after day,” Hultberg said. “It’s great that the kids get to see the different kinds of gold panning equipment. It’s also a good lesson in teamwork. If the students are working together and they do find gold, they have to decide who gets to keep it.”
After panning for gold, students used a two-person saw and were treated to a blacksmith demonstration by Gutierrez.
Gutierrez enlisted two student volunteers to help stoke the fire to soften a horseshoe and pound it into a hook for Hultberg.
“It took a lot of work to be a blacksmith,” student Kevin McKee said. “With gold panning, it’s hard to find a big nugget.”
Students also dressed up in period clothing, played period games and made butter and biscuits by hand. Some students came away with an appreciation for modern-day conveniences.
“We should be happy with what we have, even if it’s not a lot,” student Mark Annevelink said. “People used to make everything themselves.”
For more information about the Gold Rush Program or Redwood Grove, call 941-0950.
