The western states have produced massive amounts of placer gold since the 1848 discovery of gold at Coloma, California. Placer districts throughout the West were heavily mined almost continuously for over a century by a variety of methods.
Despite this previous activity, there is still plenty of gold to be discovered. Thousands of gold placer claims are maintained in every state, evidence that there is still gold to be discovered, and in many cases is being actively mined.