Page 8 - March ARB Beacon 7-2-15
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8 July 2, 2015                                                                           www.aerotechnews.com/marcharb
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Looking for Glitter in the Dirt

by Charlie Gill                                separators and a sluice. The technique for                                                                                                Photo by Charlie Gill
AFN Broadcast Center                           panning for gold may not be rocket sci-
                                               ence, but it is science. “Gold is more than   The AFN Broadcast Center’s Mark Payne sifts through dirt looking for gold here
   Can a hobby make you rich? Maybe.           19 times heavier than water, so gravity just  at Riverside. He hasn’t found near March Air Reserve Base -- but has found
Mark Payne is an engineer at the American      does its work and it drifts to the bottom,”   some in outlying areas of Southern California.
Forces Network (AFN) Broadcast Center          he explains. But searching for the “mother-
at March Air Reserve Base. Among other         load” is not without its potential dangers.   characters out of the history books. He might not make him rich. Or, it just might.
things he makes sure the Television Opera-     “You’ve got snakes out there and you have     gets to see the sights of California. It isn’t It depends on how much value you place
tions center runs smoothly. It is here the     to be careful around the rocks. You have to   expensive and it is interesting. The hobby on adventure.
network is monitored and overseas Ameri-       make sure you can get back because there
can military community viewers call in to      may not be cell phone service, and walking
set up their decoder, aim their dish and reg-  may not be an option,” he said.
ister for service.
                                                  Mark also says there is a great deal of
   Mark arrived at Riverside last year from    camaraderie among the prospectors. “I’ve
Italy. For now, his family remains behind      met some of the greatest guys. Some look
in Vicenza, Italy area. So Mark decided        like the old prospectors you read about in
he needed to find something to keep him         books. They have great stories to tell and
occupied -- something interesting. Search-     will even help you out by pointing out some
ing for California gold seemed like a good     areas where gold might likely be found.”
idea. “I wanted to find something that was
inexpensive,” he said. “And at the same           But what about the payoff? Is Mark
time I wanted to be outdoors.”                 Payne getting rich from his hobby? “I fig-
                                               ure for every two tons of soil I’ve moved, I
   Mark travels around Southern California     made about two dollars.” But what would
to find what he is searching for, places like   he do if he found one of those big nuggets
Lytle Creek and Bautista Placer. He even       worth thousands of dollars.” He has a sim-
joined several prospector clubs. As a mem-     ple answer, “Look for more.”
ber, he is able to travel to different claims
and pan to his heart’s content. The equip-        So Mark continues his weekends on the
ment he uses is simple: a shovel, buckets,     back roads of Southern California with
                                               a hobby that brings him in contact with

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