You mean I can’t dig gold on my land?

While 4-wheeling with friends in an area where early prospectors had found placer gold, I was asked if it was legal for us to do some panning. I answered “yes,” a person can pan for gold on Bureau of Land Management (BLM) land, if it’s not claimed, and then realized my friends might not be familiar with the 1872 Mining Law. This law was instrumental in colonizing the west and is still on the books.