Gold Prospector Statue
Yuba City, California
South of Yuba City, a giant grizzled prospector mines for gold at an aging mini golf at Mallard Lake. The holes are Gold Rush-themed, with informative signs ("The largest nugget ever found in the Mother Lode weighed 195 pounds.")
The prospector figure is under 20 feet tall, constructed of foam around a metal frame. Decades of sun and weather exposure have taken their toll -- the prospector is discolored in places, with chunks of foam gouged out. His fingers dangle from skeletal rods. His hammer droops, and his wooden pick axe handle is splintered and litters the weeds.
Mallard Lake staffers told us the statue has no name, and was originally a participant in the annual Forty-Niners parade in Grass Valley. The Gold Miner was retired from the parade and moved to Yuba City, perhaps as early as 1969. The mini-golf was spruced up and restored in 2014.
We learned in May 2017 that the property had been sold, the mini-golf will be removed by the end of the year, and the statue's fate after that is unknown.