Joey Wilson, left, rings up Curtis Barwick for a gold pan and a portable slough Saturday at Adventures in Prospecting in downtown Oroville. Dan Reidel — Enterprise-Record 
 
 Oroville >> Now is not the time to quit your day job in hopes of striking it rich. However, people with a new or renewed interest in gold mining may be spending more of their summer weekends near rivers and streams. 
 
 Joey Wilson owns Adventures in Prospecting in Oroville, where he says there’s been more excitement among his gold mining customers. 
 
 “There’s always been gold in the Feather River,” he said. What’s new is that the recent floods have moved things around. 
 
 It’s not just the Feather River. Floods scoured the banks of the American River, the Mokelumne, the Yuba and just about any other waterway where 49ers once got their boots dirty. 
 
 Curtis Barwick was in Oroville Saturday waiting for the prospecting store to open. He usually looks for gold closer to his home in Anderson, but decided to check out Oroville on his day off. He said gold mining gets him outdoors and helps him “recharge,” after a stressful week at work. It’s a lot like hiking, another of his hobbies, but with gold mining there’s a chance of a reward. 
 
 “The odds are greater than winning the lottery,” he said. Even on days when he only finds a few flakes, it’s fun to turn over rocks and sand. 
 
 He’s not alone. In fact, he’s a member of the Shasta Miners and Prospectors Association. 
 
 Back in the day, miners in the 1850s did not have metal detectors. Barwick bought one a while back and said if “lead was gold, I’d be rich.” He had found more bullet casings than he cares to collect. Other finds include coins, and a 1944 nickel. He gave his girlfriend a ring he found in the dirt, and would recommend that anyone who buys a metal detector have some fun digging around in their own backyard. 
 
 Others make gold mining an adventure. That’s one of the reasons Wilson named his shop “Adventures in Prospecting.” He sells wet suits and fins, and personally loves to dive when he hunts gold. 
 
 Finding gold is a common thread for Cindy and Paul Pekarek, who were at the Montgomery Street miner’s supply shop Saturday. The couple belong to the Mother Lode Goldhounds, near Grass Valley, and for fun they travel to new digs, including Oroville. 
 
 Paul Pekarek is a five-time gold mining champion, he said pointing to a pin on his wide-brimmed, black leather hat. The pin includes a miniature gold pan, pickaxe and shovel, with a real glob of gold in the center. To win the championships, he proved he could pan faster than most others. 
 
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 Some people, like Mark Saposnik, are “pretty serious” about gold mining. Saposnik spent his summers during college dredge mining. It’s more difficult to find gold now that dredging is no longer allowed, he said. The recent floods have “rearranged the rivers,” he said, and he’ll spend more time stomping around. 
 
 Spillway gold? 
 
 Gold miners can speculate all they want about gold that may or may not have washed down the hillside near the Oroville spillway. Before hydraulic mining was outlawed, hillsides up and down the river were washed away to unearth gold. 
 
 Gold is heavy, and prospectors would love to discover what is among the debris at the Diversion Pool. However, the area is closed except for the work crew. 
 
 Recent word from Department of Water Resources acting director Bill Croyle was that he did not know if gold had been found in the area. 
 
 It’s a moot point because “if anybody gets close to it they will be run off,” said Bob Van Camp, known locally as “Digger Bob.” 
 
 Van Camp was the spokesman in 2014 when a 5.18 pound gold nugget was found in the Butte foothills. The man who found the nugget has remained anonymous, but Van Camp was allowed to tell the story. 
 
 As for the spillway debris, Van Camp said he believes there is a gold vein that runs from Potter’s Ravine and south, including the area of the spillway. 
 
 In addition to panning near waterways, prospectors look for quartz, especially chunks that have been worn smooth by water flow. “Then you go downstream.” 
 
 He’ll also walk the higher ground with a metal detector, hoping some of that quartz will give him a strong signal. 
 
 Ninety-nine percent of the time the quartz is just quartz, but “now and again,” the quartz will have “some sort of metal in it.” This might mean manganese or silver, “or there may be gold inside.” 
 
 Part of the fun in finding gold is knowing it’s something that an old-time gold miner missed, Van Camp said. “I don’t do it for the money. I just do it for the adventure, for the challenge.” 
 
 He would love to get his hands dirty in the Diversion Pool at Lake Oroville right now. However, he understands that DWR is working night and day to get the water flow back to normal. 
 
 People will be looking at other areas, where gold panning is allowed. After the floods of the mid 1990s, “it was good getting for those of us who knew how to look,” he said. 
 
 For an amateur, the adventure could lead to frustration. “But I don’t want to discourage people from learning about history, getting some fresh air and enjoying themselves, even if they don’t find anything.” 
 
 Right now, the water is still high. When dry times arrive, more streambed will be exposed, he said. 
 
 “I’m going to have a ball this summer.” 
 
 Know the rules 
 
 The rules have changed for gold miners. Suction dredge equipment is no longer allowed, which includes “mechanized or motorized” systems for removing material from the water. 
 
 Contact reporter Heather Hacking at 896-7758. ||||| Hide Transcript Show Transcript 
 
 Expert: Summer gold rush could be the best in 20 years | Share 
 
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 A geologist and gold mining expert said this year’s summer gold rush is expected to be the best in two decades. Advertisement 
 
 WEBVTT MAX: WE'RE GOING TO BE ONTRAVERSE CREEK, AND THIS IS AWELL-KNOWN AREA TO FIND GOLD.AND AFTER MONTHS OF RAIN ANDSUBSEQUENT FLOODING, THIS WOULDHAVE BEEN THE PLACE TO BE FOR ANEASY SCORE.>> YOU CAN PICK UP, LITERALLYPICK UP, SMALL NUGGETS OF GOLDRIGHT AFTER THE FLOODING.MAX: THOSE AREAS ARE NOW GONE,PICKED OVER BY GOLD PANNERS KEENON THE BEST TIME TO FIND THEMINERAL, BUT THAT DOESN'T MEANYOUR CHANCES AT TREASURE THISYEAR ARE GONE.>> AS FAR GOLD, THE DEPOSITS OFGOLD, THIS IS GOING TO RIVAL ANDCOME CLOSE TO 1997, THE FLOOD OF1997.MAX: COME SUMMER, WHEN THEMOUNTAIN MELTOFF IS UNDERWAY ANDCREEKS, STREAMS, AND RIVERSRECEDE, THE 2017 GOLD RUSH WILLBE ON.>> THIS STREAM RIGHT HERE WILLBE DOWN TO JUST A FEW INCHESDEEP, AND THERE WILL BE PEOPLEIN HERE WITH SLUICE BOXES ANDGOLD PANS AND LOOKING FOR GOLDTO SEE WHAT'S BEEN DEPOSITEDFROM THIS LAST SET OF FLOODS.MAX: BEFORE FINDING THAT IN ANAREA LIKE TRAVERSE CREEK, YOUHAVE TO MAKE SURE YOU HAVE THERIGHT EQUIPMENT WHEN LOOKING FORGOLD.>> YOU CAN COME OUT WITHSOMETHING AS SIMPLE AS A GOLDPAN.MAX: OR YOU CAN TAKE IT UP ANOTCH WITH A SLUCIE BOX. >> THE GOLD BEING HEAVY IS GOINGTO GET CAUGHT IN THIS BLACK MATAND BEHIND EACH ONE OF THESERIFFLES, WHERE THERE'S AN EDDYCREATED, AND IT ALLOWS THEHEAVIER MATERIAL TO DROP OUT.MAX: AT BLACK SHEEP MINING INSACRAMENTO, BUINESS BOOMS INANTICIPATION OF WHAT MIGHT BEFOUND COME JULY.>> WE'VE SEEN A LOT OF GROUNDTHAT'S BEEN MOVED AROUND ANDEXPOSED TO WHERE PEOPLE HAVEN'TGOTTEN TO IT IN YEARS OR EVER,EVEN.SO WE'RE SEEING A LARGE INCREASEIN BUSINESS.MAX: THOSE PROSPECTORS WILL ENDUP OUT HERE AT PLACES LIKESTIFLE MEMORIAL CLAIM READY FORA DIG GEOLOGIST RICH DVORACEKSAYS WILL BE UNLIKE ANYTHINGWE'VE SEEN IN 20 YEARS.JUST DON'T EXPECT RICH TO TELLYOU WHERE TO LOOK.>> IF YOU DO FIND GOLD, DON'TTRUST ANYBODY TO TELL YOU WHERETHEY GOT IT, TO BE TRUTHFULABOUT IT.I RARELY AM.MAX: IN EL DORADO COUNTY, MAX ||||| Do you remember where you were when you first realized the severity of the drought in the Western US? I would guess that you weren’t staring at a cloudless sky or a dry faucet. You were probably looking at a photo of Folsom Lake. 
 
 Although drought conditions were technically declared after the low-precipitation winter of 2011-2012, there was still a general lack of awareness—or maybe ambivalence—around the issue. Most California residents I spoke with at the time didn’t even seem to know this was happening in their own state. 
 
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 Folsom Lake in summer 2011 and winter 2014, photos by California Department of Water Resources 
 
 All that changed at the beginning of 2014, when a series of comparison photos showing California’s dwindling bodies of water began going viral. The photos were part of a collaboration between NASA and the state of California to increase understanding of the drought. 
 
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 One of the most popular comparison shots showed Folsom Lake, in Northern California. The first photo: A seemingly infinite deep blue pool, a white blur of water gushing over the spillway. The second photo: A dusty rock-strewn landscape that was more Mars than California. 
 
 Websites began publishing the before-and-after photos of Folsom Lake using slider tools and animated GIFs. For the first time, and within an instant, you could grasp the concept of how low these California reservoirs really were, and more importantly, share your concern with others. Our story, for example, was read by almost a million people. 
 
 Suddenly, the world was riveted. 
 
 
 
 Built for Protection 
 
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 An early dam on the American River, built by Folsom Prison convicts, photo by US Bureau of Reclamation via CDCR 
 
 About 25 miles northeast of Sacramento is the confluence of the North and South Forks of the American River, whose waters sweep down from the white serrated peaks of the Sierra Nevada. 
 
 The American is a boisterous river—to this day it is very popular for rafting—and flooding regularly swamped the valleys below, including the growing city just downstream that would soon be named the state’s capital. There were several attempts to control the American starting in the late 1800s, but the smaller dams could not withstand the powerful springtime storms. 
 
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 Big day for Folsom Dam in 1952, photo by US Bureau of Reclamation 
 
 In 1948 the Army Corps of Engineers began construction on Folsom Dam, pouring the first concrete in 1952. The goal was not only to prevent the American River from overflowing its banks but also to funnel enough water to fuel the booming agricultural business in the state’s Central Valley. The dam was completed in 1955 and not a moment too soon—that winter saw record-breaking precipitation and the dam likely saved Sacramento from devastating floods. (An auxiliary spillway will be completed in 2017 to add another layer of flood protection). 
 
 
 
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 When full, Folsom Lake holds about 975,000 acre-feet—enough water to cover the state of Rhode Island with 1.5 feet of water. During an average precipitation year, an estimated 2.7 million acre-feet of rain and snowmelt from the Western flank of the Sierra Nevada flows into Folsom Lake. Also in a normal year, the lake features 75 miles of shoreline with recreational opportunities managed by California State Parks. 
 
 Folsom Dam on better, wetter days, photo by US Bureau of Reclamation 
 
 Like 19 other reservoirs in the state, Folsom Lake is now part of the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, suppling drinking water to local cities and irrigation districts for the Central Valley Project, a gigantic network of canals and pumping plants. Folsom Dam is also home to a hydroelectric facility that provides 10% of Sacramento’s electrical needs. And it provides water and electricity to Folsom Prison, the correctional facility made famous by the Johnny Cash song. The first dam on the river was built here, in the late 1800s, by the hands of prisoners. 
 
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 All of the Central Valley reservoirs have been affected in some way by the historic lack of rainfall, but there was another reason Folsom Lake became a posterchild for the drought. As the summer heat sucked reservoirs dry, Folsom Lake yielded some of the most dramatic images—including a few very interesting discoveries when the water started to disappear. 
 
 A Ghost Town Returns 
 
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 Visitors walking to Mormon Island via Folsom Lake Drought Update 
 
 In what may be the drought’s sole silver lining, withdrawing waters throughout the parched West slowly began to reveal architectural treasures thought to be lost. Folsom Lake had its own secrets. In early 2014, the quickly depleting lake revealed a mining town which hadn’t seen daylight since the valley was first flooded. 
 
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 Drawn map of the area circa mid-1800s, with the American River at top 
 
 The settlement was named Mormon Island, and it was founded in the mid-1800s on the banks of the South Fork of the American River. Gold was discovered here in 1848, making it the second significant strike after the one at nearby Sutter’s Mill which sparked the state’s Gold Rush. Prospectors dug a canal off of the American River to look for more gold, making this one of the first major river diversions in the state, and, it could be argued, the birthplace of water policy. 
 
 
 
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 The town of Mormon Island in an undated photo 
 
 Mormon Island suffered a devastating fire in the late 1800s and didn’t have many residents when it was evacuated in the 1940s to make way for the reservoir. But the drought was able to peel back what little history that had been left behind. As the waters retreated even farther in 2014, a new breed of prospectors swarmed the area with metal detectors looking for evidence of the drowned town. 
 
 Glimpses of a drowned town as told through trinkets 
 
 
 
 Visitors could be seen climbing over surprisingly intact rock walls and nearly complete foundations, matching up layouts of the buildings with old maps of the town. The hardier foragers dug through buckled slabs of mud, unearthing bits of infrastructure like rusted hinges or artifacts like soda bottles. 
 
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 The lake continues to reveal surprises from its now-arid depths. Last week, a mother and son found a human skull. 
 
 
 
 To Release or Reserve? 
 
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 One of the most iconic photos of Folsom Lake by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images 
 
 Around the same time that photos of Folsom Lake went viral, the local water board issued a dire warning: The lake was dangerously close to becoming a “dead pool.” 
 
 That meant the lake’s capacity was approaching the danger zone of 100,000 acre-feet, when water levels would be too low to reach the intake pipes in the dam. This would most immediately and dramatically affect three cities which would have to draw water from other nearby districts, tap into groundwater reserves, or, worst-case scenario, implement rationing. 
 
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 The biggest area of controversy at Folsom Lake is the federally mandated amount of water released from the dam each year. Officials want more water to stay behind the dam’s walls to act as drought insurance, but the government has promised—actually over-promised—a certain amount to the interests downstream. 
 
 Folsom Dam and a nearly nonexistent lake by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images 
 
 This scenario changed a bit this year. In early 2015, Governor Jerry Brown issued unprecedented conservation measures that required urban water districts to cut usage by an average of 25%. Many water boards in the Sacramento region were able to conserve the amount required by the state. This summer, the state curtailed the rights of junior water rights holders in the region, meaning some of the least-prioritized farmers did not get to divert any water. 
 
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 In a way, this same hydrological dilemma is playing out at every major reservoir in the state: How do we save enough water to keep cities flush with drinking water, allocate enough water for agriculture to feed the population and boost the economy, and leave behind enough to nurture the fish in wild streams? These questions are central to the battle to reform California’s water rights and water policy. The fact that they’re being asked when there is literally no water left is very troubling. 
 
 Rare late spring rains helped the lake to avert disaster in 2014. But by the end of 2015, after the hottest summer on record, Folsom Lake’s levels were taking a dive once again. 
 
 Still Dropping Fast 
 
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 Folsom Lake on September 22 via Folsom Lake Drought Update 
 
 Folsom Lake might be the most famous symbol of the current drought, but it is also a peek into an uncertain future. 
 
 With summer 2015’s continued high temperatures, little rain, and almost no melting snowpack, Folsom Lake continues to suffer. The reservoir dropped three feet in September alone. When engineers designed the dam 70 years ago, they never even considered this scenario. 
 
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 On November 8, levels reached 143,363 acre-feet, the lowest levels ever recorded. It dipped to 140,410 acre-feet last Sunday. 
 
 The lake’s levels for the past year compared to its driest year (1977), wettest year (1982), and historical average 
 
 The lake is so low now that an emergency pumping system has been installed, preparing for levels to drop into the “dead zone.” In September, a series of pipes were put in place to act as a backup intake system. (Vegas is doing the same thing to Lake Mead, but permanently.) Now barges are being deployed to act as floating pump stations, ready to begin pushing the remaining water up over the dam and into the nearby city of Folsom. 
 
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 There is no rain forecasted for the region this week. 
 
 Follow the author at @awalkerinLA
– This winter's flooding in Northern California has done more than bring relief after years of drought; it's created the prospect of the best gold prospecting in 20 years. Gold hunters in the area tell the Chico Enterprise-Record the floods have "rearranged the rivers" and "move things around." That means gold veins that have been hidden for 200 years are suddenly exposed. According to CBS San Francisco, the floods also swept gold out of abandoned mines and washed it downriver. While KCRA reports that gold can simply be picked off the ground following major flooding, the best prospecting will come in the summer months when the water has receded. Right now, rivers are still high and government workers are trying to keep would-be prospectors away while they get things under control. But in the summer—which experts say could be the busiest since the one that followed major flooding in 1997—stream beds will be exposed for better gold hunting. "I'm going to have a ball," one prospector tells the Chico newspaper. The epicenter for the new gold rush could be the Oroville Dam, which nearly catastrophically flooded this winter and required the use of an emergency spillway for the first time. (This treasure hunter is seeking $1 billion in gold from a sunken ship.)