Fool's Gold — Ken Hodgson

For years, Jake Crabtree, a luckless and lazy prospector, has been searching for gold. Coming out of a winter hibernation - a time when Jake goes on one long alcoholic binge - he learns that his benefactor Dr. MacNair is at death's door. The doc's last request is to be buried on the claim that the two share. In the process of digging the doc's grave, a rich vein of gold is discovered. Once the news is reported in the papers, there is a gold rush to Oregon, attracting many unsavoury characters, including Horace Tabor and William Antrim.