I’m sitting at my computer, looking out the window at yet another winter storm (we’ve had almost 6 feet of snow this month (12/2016) here in Summit County!) and satisfying my gold fever with a little winter reading. I thought you might like to see some of the best of […]
Yearly Archives: 2016
22 posts
A must-visit for any casual prospector spending time in the Colorado mountains, Cache Creek was a commercial operation that was shut down in the midst of productive operations. Of all the places open to casual prospecting in Colorado, this is the one to hit if you dream of finding a […]
If you are reading this “now”, you missed the grand opening, but the overlook is open 24/7/365. Call the Victor Lowell Thomas Museum about scheduled tours of the whole historic mining area. The tours are organized through the museum in Victor; learn more here. …to read more about this site […]
The Lomax Placer site gives you a chance to see and touch placer hydrauliking equipment at a site where it was actually used. You can also see a fully equipped gold assay office, small museum and learn to gold pan. As you drive up Gold Run Road from Highway 9 […]
The chunk of Clear Creek in north-central Denver from Broadway to Washington St. has some really good gold. This stretch of river also has quite a few bridges over it which does two good things: provides some shade for summer digging Means there’s bigger gold in the top gravels that […]
Newmont North America runs the huge open pit Cresson gold mine near Cripple Creek, a small town in the Colorado Rockies. The folks running the largest gold mine in Colorado today have done a lot to support the local community from sponsoring local sports leagues to donating the gold to […]
If you make it to Denver, this is a must stop! The Hall of minerals has lots of gorgeous crystals, mineral samples and lots of gold, especially Colorado gold. Here’s the entry area on the ground floor of the museum: They are even encouraging everyone to “be a prospector”!! Here’s […]
Dudley’s bar is upstream from Big Bend (see my other post on Big Bend) a bit. This part of the South Platte is just down stream of the confluence with Clear Creek and due to some quirks of river flows during high water events, there’s GOOD gold on the west […]
For a couple years, the Jefferson County Open Space website had a page on their rules for prospecting in the park and guess who they picked as a model for doing it right? In the pic, I’m dressed for cold weather because it was December! That’s a Gold Cube with […]
Digging in the city means participating in recreational gold prospecting as a guest of a local government, parks & rec district or similar organization. While the tools of prospecting are the same (shovel, pan and sluice, maybe an electric highbanker like the Gold Cube), the process of finding a spot […]
A while back, I had a friend from China and her husband come visit. They wanted to spend a day as gold prospectors, so we visited Arapahoe Bar to dig (see my post about that site here). We dug the bottom of an existing hole and did very well, so […]
Goldstrike Park is an Arvada City park at the confluence of Ralston Creek and Clear Creek…both of which are gold bearing and open to non-motorized prospecting. On Ralston Creek, you can find fine gold just about anywhere in the stream bed. A large cobble bar has developed under the 56th […]
The gold in metro Denver is in almost every waterway big enough to have a name. In the early days of the gold rush this was confusing and frustrating for the first American prospectors. They found gold way out southeast in Elbert County, due south of what’s now Denver in […]
A friend of mine has done his own blogging about places to go digging in metro Denver and he has some great spots to tell you about. Red Wilcox is the co-inventor/owner of the Gold Cube, Banjo Pan and the inventor of the Gold-n-Sand hand pump/dredge. (Note: I have an […]
Exit 210C off of northbound I-25 in downtown Denver drops you right into Crescent Park on the east side of the highway. Driving a few yards south, you’ll see parking next to the South Platte River. Walk straight to the river and you’ll find yourself on the cobble bar. From […]
This is a bad news, good news story. But first, a little background. Grant-Frontier Park is on the South Platte River just South of Evans Ave (and west of Santa Fe) in central Denver. This has been a popular gold prospecting location since the very beginning of US citizens coming […]
This site is just west of Broadway on the south side of 70th Ave. That’s right, it’s plop in the middle of north metro Denver. There’s a nice sign you’ll see from 70th Avenue and there are 32 parking spots here, plenty of room to bring your friends! It’s a […]
This is a spot you have to see to believe! Big Bend has good gold and lots of it! It’s officially called Steele Street Open Space Park and is part of the Adams County Open Space parks. You arrive at a parking lot on the east side of Steele Street […]
Arapahoe Bar is a Prospecting Park in west metro Denver (in Wheat Ridge specifically…thanks Wheat Ridge and Jefferson County!) which welcomes prospectors for free on a gold bearing stretch of Clear Creek. As you can see in the photo, this site has an important part in the history of Colorado. […]
