Gold miners slam rules designed to save fish Ed Levesque heads into the Wenatchee Mountains every weekend with the same fever that lured his forebears here during the gold rush of the 1870s. "There's lots of gold in this creek," said the 63-year-old miner. "In the old days, you could come up here and dredge to your heart's content." But these days, the quest that beckoned people West more than a century ago is running headlong into a more recent Western goal: the survival of fish. To protect fish and fish eggs during critical spawning periods, the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife is limiting the time when miners can dig or dredge for gold in certain creeks, streams and rivers using motorized equipment, including suction dredges that resemble shop vacs. Fish and wildlife officials say dredging in spawning areas can disrupt stream bottoms, disturb sediment and harm habitat for fish already on the brink of extinction, such as bull trout and chinook salmon. But many of the state's 2,000 small-scale prospectors view the new rules as another assault on their rights under the General Mining Law of 1872 to explore public lands for minerals....