A hand-tinted postcard from the 1910s shows several different gold-mining techniques. PHOTO PROVIDED/POSTCARD
By Finn J.D. John
Chronicle contributor
It was the spring of 1862, and prospector William C. Aldred had been in the gold fields of California since the Gold Rush first broke out – about a dozen years. And he’d hit just enough gold to keep him fed, clothed and hopeful.
Then one day, as he was taking a little refreshment in the…
