A. Good guess, but "salting the mine" was actually a trick! Crooks would fool gold seekers into buying a phony claim. They "salted" the mines by scattering gold dust and nuggets on the land. Sometimes they would even load a shotgun with gold dust and fire at a hillside.

To protect a site from claim jumpers, a miner needed to be on guard. If a miner went to town, he depended on his fellow miners to watch his claim. Eventually, camps had claims officers who were paid for patrolling the claims and settling disputes.

Pistols were used for hunting and protection.