4. Losing Everything
According to Deason’s great-grandson Arthur, the man “broke before he died.” His failed investments led to poverty later in life, but Arthur did say that Deason never forgot his discovery. The man kept the crowbar that helped them take out the nugget from the ground:
“Dad would say, ‘That dug up the Welcome Stranger.’ It didn’t mean much to us when we were kids.” But what about Oates?