Important question. The number of expressions in our vernacular that are particularly american or US, and are connected with 19th to 20th century "popular" culture (what culture isn't?) is amazing. Brits see it more than we, as their expressions are much different and to our ear a bit odd. "Can you dig it", "it pans out", "the motherlode" (California), "solid gold", "a nugget of information", "worth his salt", "worth his weight in gold", "a dry hole", "refined", "gold rush", "cheechako", "sourdough", "gold dust", "greenhorn", "It's a gold mine", "stake a claim", "bonanza", "eldorado", "goldbricker", "to clean up" (make a fortune), "parka", "mukluks", "a stake" (provisions, or a part), "grubstaked" (provisioned), "claim jumper", "strike it rich", "gum-boot", "levis", "paydirt", "flash in the pan", "moose pasture" (It's from the Klondike), "on good ground", "grub" (to mean food), "flapjack" (pancake), "hitting the blower" (to pay a bill), "unrefined", "gold fever" are all expressions that originated in mining camps from times gone by. Some have found alternate use in the language today.
On to the marge of Lake Labarge
Where fortune and trials await us.
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