- Laura swears her friend Jonah to secrecy after the two uncover a shiny golden ore lying in the bed of their favorite fishing hole and both begin planning what they will do with the great wealth they are sure to have once they've mined their treasure and taken it to the bank.—shepherd1138
- After Ms Beadle breaks up a fight between Willie Oleson and a boy named Jonah over a nickel, she then decides to teach her students about the gold rush at Sutter's Mill in 1849.
Jonah and Laura Ingalls go fishing soon after. Seeing something shiny in the water, the two believe they have found gold in river! However, Laura swears Jonah to secrecy, fearful that what happened at Sutter's Mill may happen here.
Over the next few days, Laura and Jonah try to learn more about harvesting the gold. Mary Ingalls wonders why her sister is reading up on mining, and during a class talk on weights and measures, Jonah asks how much an ounce of gold might be worth.
Laura devises "going halfsies" with Jonah, and also asks some of her family what they'd want if they could have anything. Pa mentions how he would like a larger house for the family, while Ma mentions how she'd like to buy everything in the mercantile store.
During this time, Laura also has a series of dreams in which she envisions her family becoming wealthy from the gold, and the Oleson family becoming destitute.
Under the cover of going fishing, the two kids attempt to pan for the gold, but find it to be more difficult than expected. When Laura recommends they use a screen to strain the gold, Jonah rushes off. The next day, the Oleson family wonder where their screen door has gone.
Eventually, Nellie and Willie suspect something is going on, but see Laura and Jonah (pretending to be) fishing, and leave them alone. Growing paranoid, Laura devises extra measures to make sure no one finds out what she and Jonah are doing.
After some time, the amount the two have collected soon gets to be so much, that Laura decides it is time to cash-in what they have found (Jonah also returns the screen door to the Olesons' residence). They skip school the next day and use a cart to take the gold to Mr Sprague at the bank, only for him to inform them that what they have found is iron pyrite (aka "fool's gold") which has no real value.
The two return to the river and dump everything back in. Laura is upset that their hard work has resulted in nothing. Shortly afterwards, Pa shows up (after having been told by Mr Sprague what happened).
Laura tells how disappointed she is that she couldn't give her family what they dreamed of, but Pa commends her for being who she is, and claims that what she already gives her family is worth so much already.
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