A single mass of crystalline gold, 201 ounces of it, came out of the American River country at Grizzly Flat in 1865. Nearly every big nugget of that era went straight to the melting pot; this one survived a trip to the Paris Exposition and today it is the crown of the California State Mining and Mineral Museum in Mariposa, the finest crystalline gold specimen the Mother Lode ever gave up.
TRUE FIND: Grizzly Flat, El Dorado County
See it on the map