SANDY RIVER PLANTATION, Maine (NEWS CENTER) -- Knee deep in water, picking through sand and rocks searching for gold. Sounds like a scene from the great american gold rush, but it's a hobby that many are currently taking part in in Maine. The Maine Gold Prospectors Central Maine Chapter is a group that has been around since 1995, trying its luck at striking it rich.
The group that holds outings the third Saturday of every month in the summer has around 300 members. Some bring sifting pans and sleuth boxes while others prefer motorized dredges to pick up the sand and dirt from river bottoms. Crystal Pottle got gold fever after watching a special about panning on the history channel.
"Back breaking six hours in the river, but when we cleaned it all up and we had one fleck of gold we were like dang there's gold in these rivers so it kind of like encouraged us to want to do it more," said Pottle.
Many of the members of the central Maine chapter have had success in finding small flakes of gold in Maine waters since the group was formed in 1995. President, Phillip Moulton, has been taking part in the outings since he was a kid.
"For a person to own that and you just pulled something that's worth something from out of the ground and all you had to do was put in some hard work to get it," said Moulton.
For more information about the Maine Gold Prospectors Central Maine Chapter go to mainegoldprospectors.com.
