121-year-old western Colorado mining flume clings to its secrets Click on the picture above to go to the article directly. Or try this Colorado mining flume clings to its secrets – The Denver Post. Just don’t click on the DP logo at the bottom of the image since that takes […]
Gold prospecting history touring
22 posts
Benjamin Stanley Revett was a British-born mining engineer and entrepreneur who made his fortune in the gold-dredging business in Colorado. He was known as the “Gold Dredge King” for his innovative use of dredge boats to scoop up riverbed material in search of gold for the first time in Colorado. […]
The Edwin Carter Museum on the east edge of downtown Breckenridge is a charming little museum housed in the original log cabin of Edwin Carter. Carter was a multitalented guy and was in Breck for its early days. If you are exploring Breck during a visit, this is a fun […]
4-Wheel drive guide books to the Alpine Loop and the Animas Forks Triangle, in the San Juan Mountains of southwest Colorado.
Was it the last hurrah of the small scale miners? Gold mining in Colorado goes back a long way of course. One of the more interesting periods after the initial gold rushes is the Great Depression era of the 1930’s. The industry went into the Great Depression in a weakened […]
We are very excited to announce the next book in the Finding Gold in Colorado collection! Finding Gold in Colorado: Inspiring Images takes you on a photographic journey through Colorado Gold Country. If you enjoy the Prospector’s Edition, you’ll love this new book. It includes hundreds of full color photos, […]
Ever wonder what the gold rush era miners drank besides beer and straight whisky? Here’s a couple popular cocktails you might like to experiment with yourself:
Interested in what it was like to be a prospector before the Colorado Gold Rush? Here’s the journal of the first U.S. person to discover serious gold in Colorado and then mine it. George Andrew Jackson was a big part of making the Pikes Peak Gold Rush of 1859 into […]
Finding Gold in Colorado Book Index: The following index will be included in books published in late 10/2018 and onward. It is provided here for those who own the earlier version of the book in an effort to continue to make the book more useful to all. For those without […]
To help those planning trips, this simple map shows you which areas of the state are covered in each chapter of the book Finding Gold in Colorado – Prospectors Edition. This image should print fairly well at 8×10 but be sure to set your printer to “best” print quality. Chapters […]
My book on gold prospecting across Colorado is now available here and ‘in stores everywhere’. It has even been updated for 2024. Awarded recognition as the “#1 New Release” in its category on Amazon in June 2018 and an “Amazon Bestseller” in May 2021 and frequently since! Over 10,000 sold […]
The Museum of Northwest Colorado (http://www.museumnwco.org) recently added a permanent exhibit on the gold prospecting and mining history of that part of our state. This area is not well known for gold since there was no significant gold rush around these parts. The historical prospectors found gold but the lack […]
The Hidee Mine is one of the easier underground gold mine tours to do since you walk right into a flat, dry tunnel. It’s also very easy to get to from the Denver area. It’s on the Central City Parkway between I-70 and Central City. If you’ve been to Central […]
Most people stop at Vic’s Gold Panning to learn to gold pan. No shock right? But, honestly, there are lots of places to learn to gold pan…although some are less picturesque or less convenient (“Vic’s” is on the way from Denver to Blackhawk/Central City so its an easy stop when […]
A visit to the WMMI will excite and educate anyone with an interest in gold mining in Colorado. Indeed, this museum could almost be called the Colorado Museum of Gold Mining! When I visited, I was thrilled to see their focus on gold mining while also educating on mining and […]
The next time you are in the Leadville area, consider walking or biking the Mineral Belt National Recreation Trail to see cool gold rush artifacts and mining sites. My wife and I drove due east from Leadville on 7th Street for a mile or so until we crossed the trail. […]
Learning about gold placer mining includes everything from panning (which we all do) to sluicing, dredging and, at the large industrial scale, hydraulic mining which is also called hydrauliking. Maybe you’ve seen modern hydraulic mining on TV. The Gold Rush TV show included this technique when the Hoffman team was […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
