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A few months ago, I was sent up to the Siskiyou County Courthouse to get some case information for a story I was working on. On my way out, I stopped for a moment to admire the amazing collection of gold nuggets displayed in the foyer.
There were nuggets the size of my fist and powdery-fine gold as uniform and soft as glistening sand. Nuggets the size of marbles and flakes that looked like Rice Krispies. They gleamed in the sunlight filtering through the smudged courthouse doors, and I was enthralled with the sight of all these riches, imagining how heavy those big nuggets would feel in my hand.
That they are worth a lot is amazing, but the historical value of such a collection is truly priceless, I thought to myself. After all, on Siskiyou County’s seal, there’s a miner panning for gold next to his trusty mule. Gold is a huge part of our history, our claim to fame.
Over the summer, my family spent a lot of time mining on a claim on the Trinity River.
We spent hours digging around to hit bedrock, pouring hundreds of shovels full of dirt into buckets and filtering it through a sluicebox to finally swirl the contents in a pan to see if we’d struck it rich. At the end of the day, the pan might have a few small specks of gold at the bottom.
Even though what ended up in the vial is probably only worth a couple of dollars, you’d think we’d won the lottery with how excited the kids got, jumping around and squealing at our “riches.”
Looking at that massive collection, I realized how amazing those courthouse nuggets really are.
That’s why I feel so sick that many of them were stolen last night – approximately $3 million worth. The suspects apparently entered the courthouse through an open window, and the alarm never sounded to alert authorities.
I'm disgusted by this theft. Those nuggets belong to the county, and it’s a shame that two people stole such a huge amount from our already cash-strapped communities.
To the law enforcement agents working to solve this case... happy hunting! Hope you find the treasure.
