About 40 years
ago, there was information that placer gold and placer platinum (platinum group
metal) was dug in Yubari-river Hokkaido.
I headed for
Yubari-river with aluminum pan and a garden scoop. There were many
coal mines around this area, but energy conversion to oil occurred and the coal
industry declined.
While watching the
ruined coal mine housing, I went to a river near the mountain trail of Yubari-dake. Information on
gold digging was obtained only from books and I had no idea how to dig gold. I saw many fossils
of ammonite in the neighborhood, so I switched to fossil collection. There was
a part of the fossil taken by someone, but a spiral ammonite was not found.
At a later date,
it was reported to the newspaper that the postmaster had nearly 50 cm of
ammonite, so I visited his house with sweets. When leaving his
house, he gave me the ammonite with beautiful crystal structure. This is still
a good memory.
After that, although
I was interested in gold, my hobby moved to river fishing. Regarding gold
digging, there was a blank period of 40 years from this incident.
In recent years, a
big dam was built and a part of the gold area was submerged, but it seems that
gold and platinum are still being collected.
Yubari-city is the location of the movie "The Yellow
Handkerchief " of Ken Takakura who died recently, there is a memorial hall
in this place, many of his fans are visiting.
Fossil
of ammonite taken in Hokkaido
The movie is a
story at the coal mine housing. She raised many yellow handkerchiefs as an indication that she still waits for her husband returning from prison.
Movie
poster of Ken Takakura's appearance
