At rates starting at $850, the company ferries more ambitious would-be miners by helicopter to remote areas where they can try their luck.

Virtually all the customers were miners down from the diggings on a holiday, or would-be miners heading for the camps.

The unwanted merchandise was abandoned in the same places the would-be miners left their heavier belongings.

Also, it would increase the flow of would-be miners into the district, a bonanza for the merchants, the gamblers, the saloon-keepers.

One of the would-be miners said how good it was, so tasty it might have been flown up fresh from Mars.

When the gold or their stake ran out, not a few would-be miners turned to grapes.

They included soldiers of fortune as well as would-be miners eager to join the California gold rush.

More than likely crammed between two smelly, profane would-be miners.

The trail became more prominent in the 1850s as would-be miners trekked west to California in search of gold.

There were hotels, saloons, bathhouses, and a variety of shops where would-be miners could outfit themselves for the gold fields.