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There's Gold in the Hills

In the wide, quiet spaces of BLM land, I heard echoes of a past we’ve buried—and a future we still might save.

A cyanide solution applied to the ore would separate any microscopic gold particles from the rock, and then the leftover materials were dumped in a tailing pond, which unfortunately posed a long-lasting environmental threat, as toxins, including mercury, often leached into the surrounding soil and watersheds. With some initial help from Friends of the Inyo, a local conservation organization familiar with the terrain, I mapped out a long hike that would have us traverse the ephemeral Dry Lakes Plateau, pass near Beauty and Bald Peaks, and eventually lead us to the intersection of Atastra and Rough Creeks. The severe winters and the unpredictable timing of snowmelt made summer the most active period for their relocations, when the men would venture into the high Sierra to pursue deer and bighorn sheep while the women engaged in the meticulous work of seed harvesting in the meadows and along creek banks.

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