Gold is the most sought after and admired metal in the world. And Carl Barks seemed as fascinated with the alluring, shining metal as we all are and consequently wrote a number of stories on the topic.
It is amazing how diverse stories Barks managed to write on the fairly limited subject. Anybody can construct a story about the ordinary digging or hunting for gold - and so did Barks - but he did more than just that; he used gold in many stories in new and often surprising ways. Some of them are described below in a few, loosely divided categories...

TREASURE HUNTING
Since Barks' joint venture story with fellow artist Jack Hannah (FC0009 Pirate Gold) the ducks have been on a number of gold hunts. Barks always tried to vary the hunts so that there is never an uninteresting chase for a standard treasure chest. For that purpose he even invented two totally different gold detectors which played major parts in the stories (in U$18 Gyro takes his invention into the desert only to find gold in China, and in WDCS073 the nephews use their gold tester on Daisy's new ring). Here are a few other examples of special hunts for gold.
U$25 The Flying Dutchman starts out as a normal hunt for a gold-laden sunken ship, but the real hunt is for a mysterious ship that sails without a crew. Finding gold in the end is merely an added benefit.	In U$26 The Prize of Pizarro the ducks are on a fairly traditional treasure hunt in the Andes. But Barks added a twist to the plot by having the gold heavily guarded by the buriers' ancestors.
In WDCS155 'The Rainbow Heirs' Donald, the nephews, and Gladstone are told by Scrooge that they can always find a pot of gold at the end of a rainbow. Scrooge then makes sure that they do...	In U$10 The Fabulous Philosopher's Stone Scrooge has found a lead to the legendary stone that can change every metal it touches to gold. The hunt is on - for a very common looking stone...

MASSIVE GOLD FINDS
Barks dreamed up several stories in which chiefly Scrooge found vast amounts of gold.
WDCS268 Christmas Cheers	U$22 The Golden River
U$24 The Twenty-Four Carat Moon	U$35 The Golden Nugget Boat

GOLDEN OBJECTS
Barks made many stories in which rings, cups and other golden objects were shown. Just think of the countless Junior Woodchucks' chests covered with rows of gold medals! He also dreamed up special and unexpected props for use in the stories; for example a set of gold teeth became an important prop in FC0495 'The Horseradish Story'! Here is a collection of other memorable objects.
The first manmade golden object a Barksist would think of is probably the Viking helmet from FC0408 The Golden Helmet. Another memorable type of clothing is Scrooge's gold-wool jacket from U$12 The Golden Fleecing.	Just as Barks in his childhood had heard stories of square eggs he was aware of stories of golden eggs - a subject of both myths and fairy tales. In U$45 Isle of the Golden Geese he even added golden geese with golden feathers.
In FC0203 The Golden Christmas Tree the nephews wish for - just that: a golden Christmas tree! In the end they receive 18,766...	In U$31 All at Sea Scrooge sails home with a billion dollars in gold. In order to hide it from the Beagle Boys he camouflages the gold as corn.

INCIDENTAL GOLD
In some of Barks' gold stories the gold is not a primary topic in the plots at all. Still, it comes in very handy for the ducks just the same! Here are some examples.
In FC0062 Frozen Gold Donald is hired to fly medicine up north in his new plane. By chance he and the nephews also stumble over a fortune in gold.	In U$20 City of Golden Roofs Donald and Scrooge get into a contest as to who is the best salesman. Scrooge happens to get his payment in a gold-filled barrel.
In U$46 Lost Beneath the Sea Scrooge's lucky dime ends up on the ocean floor. When he goes after it, he finds stacks of gold bars made by an alien race.	In U$07 'The Cibola Story' Scrooge just tags along when Donald and the nephews take to the desert in order to collect arrowheads. They wind up finding nothing less than seven cities of gold!

FORMER FEATS
In his stories, Barks made several references to Scrooge's past when he was looking for gold. Barks first mentioned Scrooge's early days in FC0386 Only a Poor Old Man when he lets the old man reminisce about his gold-digging days in Klondike: Froze my fingers to the bone digging nuggets out of the creeks. And we get more scattered information:
FC0456 Back to the Klondike While digging for gold in the Klondike Scrooge buried a hoard of nuggets at his claim on White Agony Creek. He also was robbed of a goose egg gold nugget by Glittering Goldie.	U$26 'The Gold Miner's Story' Scrooge was a prospector in the boom town Pizen Bluff years ago.
U$49 The Loony Lunar Gold Rush Scrooge recalls an awful summer in the Transvaal, where the sun heated the rocks so much that molten gold oozed out like taffy candy. He had to run to Capetown to get asbestos gloves to be able to pick up the hissing stuff.	U$11 Riches, Riches Everywhere Scrooge brags to the nephews that he got rich by digging gold and silver and tin and copper out of the mountains of the world, and by being the cleverest prospector that ever peeked under a pebble.

NON-GOLD STORIES
Several of Barks' gold stories have plots in which gold was scarcely ever actually present. Nevertheless, he sometimes made references to the metal in different ways. One of the more far-fetched ones is from U$36 The Midas Touch where just the title has a distant reference to gold (Midas was an ancient Greek king who turned everything he touched into gold).
In U$16 Back to Long Ago! Scrooge and Donald go on a treasure hunt for old Conquistadorian gold, but they never find any; they only wind up with a treasure chest filled with rotting potatoes.	In U$19 The Mines of King Solomon Scrooge finds the mythical gold mines, but this is not the theme in the story at all. When the ducks, by pure coincidence, find the fabled mines, Scrooge is only seen with gold in two panels.
In FC0422 The Gilded Man the ducks travel to Guyana in South America to look for a rare stamp, but they also encounter an enormous Indian covered in gold paint.	In U$08 'The Stone Ray Machine' the ducks sets out on a rescue mission. Scrooge tags along enjoying the sea breeze that can remove the gold dust from his clogged pores.