Which answer choice best describes “panning” for gold?
A.) Miners ran iron pans along the rocks near streams. Because gold is magnetic, any
gold that was present in the rock would attract the pans. The miners would then pick
away the surface of the rock to expose the gold.
B.) Miners ran water through a long, sloping wooden box called a “pan.” Wooden bars
across the bottom of the pan trapped any gold that was in the water.
C.) Miners went to places where stream currents slowed. They gathered rock from the
stream bed into flat pans. Any heavier gold particles would drop to the bottom of the
pan.
D.) After the most obvious gold had been taken, miners used a rock-crushing machine
called the “pan” to search for gold on a large scale.
