History Main / Prospector

** In "Sackett" Tell Sackett more or less stumbles into becoming a prospector when he finds the trial to an old mine that was never completely finished while riding cross country to visit his brothers.

** In ''The Empty Land'' an unnamed prospector gets rich from some gold at the beginning then, after the death of his family, returns to the area hoping to find more [[DeathSeeker and die in the middle of the adventure]]. He does indeed die, although his partners find the gold he was taking them to, and soon go form prospectors to major mine owners.

** In the short story ''Murphy Plays his Hand'' Brad Murphy spends three months trapped inside a canyon as the result of a landslide while on a prospecting expedition and finds gold, which he spends those three months dining out of the ground before he gets rescued [[VillainousRescue by some outlaws who then try to kill him and take the gold as soon as they find out about it]], [[[BullyingADragon and find out they've messed with the wrong guy]].

** Bart Dawson and his mining partners (along with a few other old timers still hanging around town) were this in the backstory of both versions of ''Hunting for Hidden Gold'') digging a fortune in gold out of the ground before an attack by thieves forced Dawson to flee with the gold, offering an injury that gave him amnesia after he hid it, and before he could regroup with the others.

* ''Literature/{{Sackett}}'': Tell Sackett more or less stumbles into becoming a prospector.%%How?

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. (Some would spend any money so manically after a rich haul that it raises suspicion that they wanted to get back to the profession regardless.)

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 Creator/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 Creator/CarlBarks and Creator/DonRosa, Scrooge [=McDuck=] did some prospecting in the Yukon territory on his way to becoming the richest duck in the world.

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

* Stinky Pete from ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory2'', especially the behavior of his marionette in the ShowWithinAShow. Outside of the show he acts more like a ClassicallyTrainedExtra.

* Gabby Johnson and his Authentic Frontier Gibberish from ''Film/BlazingSaddles''.

* Walter Huston's character in ''Film/TheTreasureOfTheSierraMadre'' is a classic example.
* Spoofed in the 1958 BMovie ''Film/AttackOfThe50FootWoman'', 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.
* The protagonists of ''Film/PaleRider'' (except the Preacher) are part of a prospecting camp.
* Spur in ''Film/TheManFromSnowyRiver'' covers this and the MountainMan trope, complete with a bushy, unkempt beard and typically rough clothing. His stubborn insistence that his mine will one day pay out is PlayedForLaughs throughout the first film, and vindicated in the second, which reveals that shortly after his death a motherlode of gold was discovered there.
* ''Film/TheQuickAndTheDead'' opens with a mad prospector who sees the Lady riding in his general direction, and shouting that she's not going to get his gold shoots her off her horse. Or [[HatDamage her hat at least]]. The Lady chains him to a cartwheel and leaves him there, but he drags the wheel all the way into town to challenge her to a duel.
* ''Film/CowboysAndAliens'' features a few straight examples, and an ''alien gold mining expedition'' as antagonists.
* Jesse Tate is a frustrated old prospector who joins up with a BountyHunter played by Creator/JamesStewart in ''Film/TheNakedSpur''.

* ''Film/CanyonPassage'': Being a mining town, Jacksonville is filled prospectors. Poor, doomed 'Mac' [=MacIver=] probably best fits the stereotype.

* Tell Sackett more or less stumbles into becoming a prospector in Creator/LouisLAmour's novel ''Sackett''.

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

* The gold-crazy, claim-jumping aspect is donned by the children (even the scientific Dick) in the Arthur Ransome novel ''Pigeon Post'' (see ''Literature/SwallowsAndAmazons'') , while the methodical modern scientific aspect is pushed off onto the armadillo. Slater Bob manages to inhabit both visions, depending on who is with him at the time.

* The live rehearsal version of a never aired ''[[Series/SaturdayNightLive SNL]]'' skit on the best of Creator/WillFerrell DVD featured an old prospector named Gus Chiggins who was embedded with an US army unit that was headed to Afghanistan.

** In "Film/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".
** The movie featured in the season 5 show ''Film/ThePaintedHills'' is about two prospectors such as these. And Lassie, of course.
* In two of three appearances in ''Series/TheBradyBunch'', Jim Backus appeared as a prospector, living in a ghost town in California, convinced that the Brady family was there to jump his claim. He locked them in the town jail cell and rode off in their car, with the camper still attached. He returned the next day because he only wanted to get to the county office to register his claim, apologizing to the Bradys for locking them up. They, being the Bradys, let him off the hook.
* When their car breaks down in a dusty old town, the Bundies from ''Series/MarriedWithChildren'' ran into an almost cartoonishly stereotypical one of these who was looking to retire. Playing to the family's (as well as the Darcy's) greedy natures, he's able to get them to buy his claim for a substantial amount of money. Unfortunately, a park ranger reveals, this turns out to be a scam the prospector pulls on rubes all the time. This does not sit well with either family.
* An episode of ''Series/TheMentalist'' had a prospector as the VictimOfTheWeek. He lived in an area that had minor gold deposits that attracted many amateur prospectors but were deemed not commercially viable for serious gold mining. When he is found dead people immediately suspect that he found a rich gold deposit and was killed by a claim jumper.
* Milo Clancy in the ''Series/DoctorWho'' serial "The Space Pirates", an Argonite miner and frequent victim of the titular pirates.
--> '''Milo Clancey:''' Rubbishy newfangled solar toasters!
* The Weather Channel's show ''Prospectors'' is about, well... Claim jumpers, also known as high graders are a very real problem.

* Mad Mack Midas from the ''Series/ChuckleVision'' episode 'Gold Rush.'

* "The Prospector" is a character who serves as the narrator for several of the ''TabletopGame/{{Deadlands}}'' supplements.
* A vignette in the Designer's Notes for ''TabletopGame/TranshumanSpace: In The Well'', set during the terraforming of Mars, features a prospector who is paranoid that he will be lured away from his find, and a Martian Ranger trying to convince him the terraforming process is underway. His [[TooDumbToLive last thought]] is "Where did that claim-jacker get all this water?"
* There are a tonne of prospectors kicking around the solar system in ''TabletopGame/RocketAge''. They're most commonly seen on Venus, Ganymede and in the Asteroid Belt, trying to stake out claims before other prospectors or the large corporations get involved.
* The ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'' GaidenGame ''TabletopGame/{{Gorkamorka}}'' has the special character Nazgrub Wurrzag. A [[ScavengerWorld Scrap Prospector]], Nazgrub is a loner who wears a big floppy hat and carries a pickaxe-shaped choppa. He spends his time searching for that one big score that will lead to unimaginable wealth and has the special rule [[GoldFever Scrap Fever]] that makes him ''Hate'' any model he sees carrying a Scrap counter.

[[folder: Theatre]]

* Pretty much everyone in the musical ''Theatre/PaintYourWagon'' (and its [[Film/PaintYourWagon very different film adaptation]]).

[[folder: Video Games]]

* This is one of the professions in the ''Settlers'' series of computer games.
* The MECC game ''VideoGame/TheYukonTrail'', unsurprisingly, is all about prospectors.
* ''VideoGame/PlantsVsZombies 2'' has the prospector zombie. They carry dynamite in their back pocket which will launch them behind the plants when it detonates. To counter this, either kill them before their dynamite goes off or use a split pea to shoot them when they're behind the plants.
* The general profession in the ''VideoGame/{{STALKER}}'' series is hunting for rare artifacts and (usually) selling them off to traders for vast amounts of money. Of course, given the environment of the [[EldritchLocation Zone]], this is often a hazardous undertaking.
* ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas'' has a number of prospectors, appropriately considering the heavy influence the game draws from classic Westerns. But instead of gold and minerals, these prospectors pick over old ruins for ancient pre-War electronics.
* ''VideoGame/ZeusMasterOfOlympus'': the silver miner walker is definitely this (despite, y'know, the game being set in UsefulNotes/AncientGreece), having the accent and the line "There's silver in them thar hills".
* ''Videogame/SunlessSkies:'' Lustrum is full of them, all searching for Hours (the solidified, material form of time itself, which has many applications and of which London has a huge, steady demand). Ever since Old Tom struck it rich, there's been an entire Gold Rush-esque push where prospectors of all types and levels of expertise and equipment have flooded the little town staking their own claims, as well as the people that cash in on that amount of prospectors by selling (often subpar) digging equipment. And they all hate the fact the Windward Company installed a refinery and their own mechanized mine there, believing they're stealing claims that are rightfully theirs.
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* Good old Yukon Cornelius from ''WesternAnimation/RudolphTheRedNosedReindeer''.
* Yosemite Sam has played claim jumpers in a couple of ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes'' shorts.
* WesternAnimation/InspectorGadget met a paranoid prospector who assumed that everyone was after his gold.
* Mr Dinwiddie the gold miner from ''WesternAnimation/IvorTheEngine'' was basically this character, albeit he was also something of a MadScientist due to his knowledge of geology. He also subverted the trope with the revelation that while he was an extremely successful miner, he didn't much care for money and so just put the gold back into the ground when he found it.
* Roughly half the settlers on New Texas in ''WesternAnimation/{{Bravestarr}}'' were prospectors looking for veins of [[{{Unobtanium}} Kerium]], a precious ore that had dozens of uses, literally. (Most of the other half were criminals trying to steal it.)

* Mad [=McGraw=] (voiced by Jimmy Hibbert) and his mule (Jack May) from the ''WesternAnimation/CountDuckula'' episode 'Ghostly Ghost', where the Count travels to the Yukon to search for gold. A similar character shows up in 'Deadeye Duck', again voiced by Jimmy Hibbert.
* The Doc from Saskatoon, or more commonly, simply Doc from ''WesternAnimation/AvengerPenguins'' is a frequent patron of the Penguins favourite ice cream parlour. He fits the appearence of the ol prospector type and is prone to telling tall tales of his days in the OldWest. Voice by Rob Rackstraw.

* ''VideoGame/ZeusMasterOfOlympus'': the silver miner walker is definitely this (despite, y'know, the game being set in AncientGreece), having the accent and the line "There's silver in them thar hills".

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

* Roughly half the settlers on New Texas in ''WesternAnimation/{{Bravestarr}}'' were prospectors looking for veins of [[{{Unobtanium}} carium]], a precious ore that had dozens of uses, literally. (Most of the other half were criminals trying to steal it.)

* ''Series/{{Rush}}'' was set on the goldfields of colonial Australia, so naturally prospectors abounded.

* The gold-crazy, claim-jumping aspect is donned by the children (even the scientific Dick) in the Arthur Ransome novel "Pigeon Post" (see "Literature/SwallowsAndAmazons") , while the methodical modern scientific aspect is pushed off onto the armadillo. Slater Bob manages to inhabit both visions, depending on who is with him at the time.

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

* Stinky Pete from ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory2'', especially the behavior of his marionette in the ShowWithinAShow.

* InspectorGadget met a paranoid prospector who assumed that everyone was after his gold.

* There are a tonne of prospectors kicking around the solar system in ''TabletopGame/RcoketAge''. They're most commonly seen on Venus, Ganymede and in the Asteroid Belt, trying to stake out claims before other prospectors or the large corporations get involved.

* In the story "The Electric Man" in ''Strange Adventures'' #54 (published by Creator/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 Creator/CarlBarks and Creator/DonRosa, Scrooge [=McDuck=] did some prospecting in the Yukon territory on his way to becoming the richest duck in the world.
** Don Rosa has another enriched prospector with some importance, Howard Rockerduck. His importance is owed to: [[FridgeLogic he's the reason Scrooge's]] NumberOneDime, [[FridgeLogic that is an American coin, was in Scotland to begin with]]; he's the father of John D. Rockerduck, a rival of Scrooge who inherited his initial fortune from Howard; and he taught Scrooge how to be a prospector, thus being indirectly responsible for Scrooge being rich.

* There's an unnamed Old Man (well, two of them, maybe, the evidence is inconclusive) in ''Literature/TheBelgariad'' who works as one of these (or at least claims to).
** The one in the ''Malloreon'' admits that he has a pretty nice cache already, and really only prospects because it gives him a good excuse to spend a fair bit of time away from civilization while still being able to wander back when it gets ''too'' lonely.

* ''{{Series/Deadwood}}'' takes place during the Black Hills gold rush, so there are quite a few prospectors around.

* In the ''Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000'' episode "Film/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".

* Mad McGraw (voiced by Jimmy Hibbert) and his mule (Jack May) from the ''WesternAnimation/CountDuckula'' episode 'Ghostly Ghost', where the Count travels to the Yukon to search for gold. A similar character shows up in 'Deadeye Duck', again voiced by Jimmy Hibbert.

* The MECC game ''The Yukon Trail'', unsurprisingly, is all about prospectors.

** In "The Tenderfoot", an Englishman comes to claim his inheritance, accompanied by a unflappable butler. At the end of the story, the butler becomes a prospector in the Yukon, where Waldo and Luke go to rescue him after he's kidnapped for his claim.

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

See also MountainMan. Do not confuse with GoldDigger, which is more about hooking up with someone for money.

* Bearded prospectors with ten-gallon hats made many, ''many'' appearances in ''ComicBook/LuckyLuke''. The first was the appropriately-named Dick Digger, who was the laughingstock 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.

* Tell Sackett more or less stumbles into becoming a prospector in LouisLAmour's novel ''Sackett''.