A guy might tinpan at the bottom of that and do some good. Might have turned up a few new nuggets.
I thought of that, the first I heard of this.
Back in, I think it was '86, there was a flash flood event on the Feather River above Oroville. It washed out roads and stretches of railroad track, and even topped over some of the smaller dams upstream of Oroville lake. That spurred a gold rush that lasted at least a couple years there, IIRC. I don't know if any placer miners struck it rich, but judging from all the new equipment I saw in use, the prospecting equipment makers and sellers must have enjoyed a bonus.
1986 Yuba river Levee "broke" in Linda Ca. Some believe it was blown on purpose to save Yuba City.
