History Main / Prospector

* Bearded prospectors with ten-gallon hats made many, ''many'' appearances in LuckyLuke. The first was the appropriately-named Dick Digger, who was the layghingstock of the whole town because they all knew his claim was worthless. And having finally been convinced of it, he gives one last pickaxe blow... which uncovers gold.

* Bearded prospectors with ten-gallon hats made many, ''many'' appearances in LuckyLuke.

* Stinky Pete from ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory 2'', especially the behavior of his marionette in the ShowWithinAShow.

[[AC:Live-Action Television]]

* Some characters in ''FalloutNewVegas'' consider themselves this... it sounds better than scavengers or looters.

In particular, the California [[GoldFever Gold Rush]] brought many people west to seek their fortune. (See FortyNiner for this specific incident.) After the initial gold rush was over, some miners stubbornly refused to quit the profession and spread over the Western territories. At first, gold and silver were the desired commodities, but later oil, radium and uranium became the hot items to search for.

[[caption-width:350: "The Old Prospector" by [[http://www.alfredoartist.com/ Alfredo Rodrí­guez]] ]]

[[caption-width:350: "The Old Prospector" by [[http://www.alfredoartist.com/ Alfredo Rodrí­guez]] ]]

* In the ''MysteryScienceTheater3000'' episode "TheFinalSacrifice", Mike comes down with Grizzled Old Prospector's Hair thanks to being exposed to a [[WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes Yosemite Sam-esque]] in the movie. Symptoms include development of shaggy hair and beard, smoking a corncob pipe, and saying outdated phrases like "consarn it".

* Stinky Pete from ''ToyStory 2'', especially the behavior of his marionette in the ShowWithinAShow.

[[caption-width:350: "The Old Prospector" by [[http://www.alfredoartist.com/ Alfredo Rodrí­guez]] ]]

[[caption-width:350: "The Old Prospector" by [[http://www.alfredoartist.com/ Alfredo Rodrí­guez]] ]]

[[AC:Comics]]

[[AC:Film]]

[[AC:Literature]]

* Tell Sackett more or less stumbles into becoming a prospector in [[LouisLAmour Louis L'Amour's]] novel ''Sackett''.

* In the ''MysteryScienceTheater3000'' episode "TheFinalSacrifice", Mike comes down with Grizzled Old Prospector's Hair thanks to being exposed to a [[LooneyTunes Yosemite Sam-esque]] in the movie. Symptoms include development of shaggy hair and beard, smoking a corncob pipe, and saying outdated phrases like "consarn it".

[[AC:Tabletop Games]]

[[AC:Theatre]]

[[AC:Video Games]]

* Yosemite Sam has played claim jumpers in a couple of ''LooneyTunes'' shorts.

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* In the ''MysteryScienceTheater3000'' episode "TheFinalSacrifice", Mike comes down with Grizzled Old Prospector Disease thanks to being exposed to a [[LooneyTunes Yosemite Sam-esque]] in the movie. This results in his developing shaggy hair and beard, smoking a corncob pipe, and saying things like "consarn it".

[[caption-width:350: "The Old Prospector" by [[http://www.alfredoartist.com/ Alfredo Rodrí­guez]] ]]

[[caption-width:350: "The Old Prospector" by [[http://www.alfredoartist.com/ Alfredo Rodrí­guez]] ]]

A character who searches for mineral resources, traditionally gold.

The profession of prospector is actually quite an old one, for as soon as humans understood that there were valuable minerals to be had, some of them spent their lives looking for new supplies. But it came into its own in TheWildWest, with its large tracts of unexplored land.

In particular, the California [[GoldFever Gold Rush]] brought many people west to seek their fortune. (See FortyNiner for this specific incident.) After the initial gold rush was over, some miners stubbornly refused to quit the profession and spread over the Western territories. At first, gold and silver were the desired commodities, but later oil, radium and uranium became the hot items to search for.

The stereotypical image of the {{Prospector}} is an older man dressed in faded work garb, with a grey beard, missing teeth, a pickaxe and a trusty mule or burro. (Find a picture of Gabby Hayes in costume. Like that.) He'll be subject to intense bouts of GoldFever, wild celebration when he does find a rich deposit, and suspicion of anyone who gets too close to his claim.

Typical plotlines include: "Claim jumpers" try to get the prospector out of the way by swindle or force to steal his claim; a dying prospector gives the protagonist a map to his lost mine; a "worthless" claim turns out to be extremely valuable because there's a different mineral than what was expected.

* In the story "The Electric Man" in ''Strange Adventures'' #54 (published by DCComics), an old-fashioned prospector looking for gold shares a waterhole with a young scientist prospecting for "earth power."
* As seen in the works of CarlBarks and DonRosa, Scrooge [=McDuck=] did some prospecting in the Yukon territory on his way to becoming the richest duck in the world.

* ''[[BlazingSaddles "And no sidewindin', bushwackin', hornswagglin' cracker croaker is gonna rowway BISICUTTER!"]]''
* Walter Huston's character in ''Film/TheTreasureOfTheSierraMadre'' is a classic example.
* Spoofed in the 1958 BMovie ''{{Attack of the 50 Foot Woman}}'', where a stereotypical grizzled prospector is seen carrying a Geiger counter and griping to his mule about how everyone wants uranium instead of gold these days.

* There's an unnamed Old Man (well, two of them, maybe, the evidence is inconclusive) in ''TheBelgariad'' who works as one of these (or at least claims to).

* "The Prospector" is a character who serves as the narrator for several of the ''{{Deadlands}}'' supplements.

* TheLoneRanger sometimes masqueraded as a prospector, referred to as "Old Prospector".

<<|WesternCharacters|>>

* What EdgarRiceBurroughs's JohnCarterOfMars was doing in Arizona when he got transported to Mars.

* Walter Huston's character in ''TheTreasureOfTheSierraMadre'' is a classic example.

* ''[[BlazingSaddles "And no sidewindin', bushwackin', hornswagglin' cracker croaker is gonna rowway MAH BISICUTTER!"]]''

* Pretty much everyone in the musical ''PaintYourWagon.''

** Now who can argue with that?
*** I think we're all indebted to Gabby Johnson, for clearly stating what needed to be said!
**** [[OverlyLongGag Olson Johnson is right!]]

* The protagonists of ''PaleRider'' (except the Preacher) are part of a prospecting camp.

[[caption-width:350: "The Old Prospector" by [[http://www.alfredoartist.com/ Alfredo Rodríguez]] ]]

The profession of prospector is actually quite an old one, for as soon as humans understood that there were valuable minerals to be had, some of them spent their lives looking for new supplies. But it came into its own in TheWildWest, with its large tracts of underexplored land.

* Some fantasy [[OurDwarvesAreAllTheSame dwarves]] will do this, although most seem to prefer working already-established mines with their brethern.

In particular, the California [[GoldFever Gold Rush]] brought many people west to seek their fortune. (See FortyNiner for this specific incident.) After the initial gold rush was over, some miners stubbornly refused to quite the profession and spread over the Western territories. At first, gold and silver were the desired commodities, but later oil, radium and uranium became the hot items to search for.

* Tell Sackett more or less stumbles into becoming a prospector in [[LouisLAmour Louis L'Amour's]] novel ''Sackett''.
* Stinky Pete from ''ToyStory 2'', especially the behavior of his marionette in the ShowWithinAShow.

* "The Prospector" is a character who serves as the narrator for several of the ''{{Deadlands}}'' supplements.
* TheLoneRanger sometimes masqueraded as a prospector, referred to as "Old Prospector".
* Some fantasy [[OurDwarvesAreAllTheSame dwarves]] will do this, although most seem to prefer working already-established mines with their brethern.

* There's an unnamed Old Man (well, two of them, maybe, the evidence is inconclusive) in ''TheBelgariad'' who works as one of these (or at least claims to).
* Good old Yukon Cornelius from ''RudolphTheRedNosedReindeer''.
* This is one of the professions in the ''Settlers'' series of computer games.
* As seen in the works of CarlBarks and DonRosa, Scrooge [=McDuck=] did some prospecting in the Yukon territory on his way to becoming the richest duck in the world.

* The MECC game ''The Yukon Trail'', unsurprisingly, is all about prospectors.
* Yosemite Sam has played claim jumpers in a couple of ''LooneyTunes'' shorts.

* InspectorGadget met a paranoid prospector who assumed that everyone was after his gold.
* What EdgarRiceBurroughs's JohnCarterOfMars was doing in Arizona when he got transported to Mars.

* The live rehearsal version of a never aired {{SNL}} skit on the best of WillFerrell DVD featured an old prospector named Gus Chiggins who was embedded with an US army unit that was headed to Iraq.