White Buffalo Gold by Adam G. Fleming

Everyone in town believes that gold was once found in the river outside Harmony, Nebraska. Brightest of the class of 1992 but unsure what to do with her life, Emily Zimmerman stays home, compelled by her quest to find traces of the gold that put Harmony on the map. While employed in the local nursing home, Emily discovers a world of routine death, regret, and senility underlined with dark humor and the seeds of deepest hope. Meanwhile, the key to her mystery is locked insides the memory of an old man who has traveled, studied, written, and fogotten more than Emily has ever known.