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Soaring gold prices rekindle interest in gold panning hobby
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Carl and Dee Wackerly practice their gold-panning technique during the introductory class Wednesday at the Manteca Bass Pro Shops. - photo by VINCE REMBULAT
It was years ago when Dee Wackerly and her husband, Carl, last tried panning for gold.She recalled that it was somewhere up in the Stanislaus River.“It was always exciting,” Wackerly said. “We used a pair of tweezers to pull the gold dust out (from the sand).”The Wackerlys were re-introduced to their old hobby on Wednesday at the Gold Panning 101 class conducted by Robert Temple at the Manteca Bass Pro Shops.Temple works for the national retailer in the camping department. He’s been there for over a year.In that time, Temple has conducted several of the free introductory gold-mining courses at the local Bass Pro Shops.“I love to talk about gold,” he said at the one-hour class.