Gold rush

To cut a long story short.....in the Australian gold rushes of the 1900's, the majority of the people who got rich were those that were selling equipment and services to the prospectors, relatively few prospectors got rich. This probably applies to other gold rushes in other parts of the world also. I discovered this fact a few years ago when I flew from Scotland to Australia and spent a month using a metal detector in the old mine workings - I found about $15 worth of gold.