In the spring of 1864, John S. Cowan of Georgia, D.J. Miller of Alabama, John Crabb of Iowa, and Reginald (Bob) Stanley of Nuneaton, England, left Alder Creek to prospect along the Little Blackfoot River. After finding no success, they crossed the Continental Divide and camped in a narrow gulch on the east side of the mountains, where a small stream ran through gravel and they spent the evening panning. Although they found color there, they moved on in search of better diggings and spent six weeks finding nothing. Nearly out of provisions, they returned to the little gulch for one last chance on July 14, 1864. Stanley later recalled that while his partners dug holes near the mouth of the gulch, he went upstream with pick, shovel, and pan, sank a hole to bedrock about six or seven feet down, and panned gravel from the bottom, recovering three or four small smooth nuggets. The four miners used the Georgian method of placer mining, which led to their later name, the Georgians. According to Stanley's description, the discovery site is now in the parking lot south of the Colwell Building. By 1869, successful placer mines at Last Chance and other local gulches had collectively yielded nearly $18 million in gold, or $310 million in modern currency.