The
Gold Bug was founded by Art Lassagne in 1962 as a resource for
treasure hunters and prospectors. A storefront was opened in
Lafayette, California in 1965 and moved to Walnut Creek, California
in 1969 for selling metal detectors, gold pans, prospecting
equipment, and books. Mr. Lassagne is the author of several books
including The Metal Detector Handbook and California
Pioneer Towns.
In 1971, the storefront was
closed and the founder moved to Nevada to be closer to the old
mining and prospecting ghost towns of the Sierras. At that time the
Gold Bug became primarily a mail-order business, publishing the Gold
Bug Newsletter and various related books.
In 1974, the Gold Bug moved back to California, but remained a mail order business. Moving from prospecting to research, the Gold Bug's focus changed to early map reproductions and other geographical information, which remains its focus today.
In 1994, the Gold Bug ventured into
software publishing with its first software product, AniMap. In June 1995 the
Gold Bug began its presence on the World Wide Web.