Little known fact, I was a Mountain Man
man for a few years.

I just came across this article by ABC. Apparently with the downward slump in the economy, AKA recession, some have taken to the centuries old practice of heading to the hills with salad spinners and looking for gold in streams and rivers. It's not a bad idea, considering the price of an ounce of gold is around $1,000. Find four or five ounces and your doing fairly well.

The thing that made me laugh is when I first saw the news article my mind instantly went to an old man with a wide brimmed hat sitting over a river and finally jumping up yelling "EURKIA, I dawn gone and stuck gold! ODALLAY!"

With the return of prospectors I'm sure the return of gold towns and taverns can't be far behind. And with those come songs like "oh my darlin' Clementine." Clementine being a girl and not to be confused with the orange of the same name.

I personally am waiting for the return of mountain men. As you can see by the picture at the left, which may or may not have been photoshopped, I am all set for the return of mountain manning. I mean, look at that beard. Do you know how long it took me to grow that thing? It literally took me 5 minutes to find a picture and clip my face on to it. I know, an eternity, but really it's nothing to mountain men.

Actually, apart from Caribbean pirates of the 1700's I would say Mountain men are some of my favorite people. I heard the true story of a man who was attacked by a grizzly, and though he managed to kill it with a knife i think, it knocked him out. Thinking he was dead, his friends left, leaving him with just his clothing and a bear skin used for a shroud.

When he finally woke up, he crawled over to a rotting log, had maggots eat the infection from the huge gash marks on his back, and crawled for a few weeks to a month to finally make it to safety, eating carrion and snakes along the way. And I'm sure when he got back to the fort he was staying at he ate a whole mess of flap-jacks. Cus that's how mountain men roll.

But what does that have to do with prospectors? Nothing, just thought it was cool and now was a good time to tell the story.