Far Northwest Colorado Gold

Ever heard of the Iron Springs Divide? How about the Little Snake River? Maybe Lay Creek? These are geographic features in far northwest Colorado and are geographical highlights of a gold bearing region better known for the town of Craig, Dinosaur National Monument, and the Yampa River.

The placer gold in this region of the state was good enough to attract the attention of commercial gold dredges in the first part of the 20th century and it’s still good enough to draw small scale prospectors today!

Here’s a rather optimistic report on the region from the period when commercial dredging was happening: https://mountainscholar.org/bitstream/handle/11124/172935/MineRpt_1374_1_LayPlacers-RouttCountyCO.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y

Here’s an early geological report on this area from a government geologist and prospector who later became president(!): https://mountainscholar.org/handle/11124/171899

In my book, I document quite a few creek and river deposits open to casual prospecting through this area. For those willing to do their research, I’m sure there are also many areas open to claim on BLM land through this area as well. Follow these instructions to get started finding open, claimable lands to explore.

While you are in the area, be sure to stop into the local museum. It has an incredible collection of frontier era weaponry and a good display about the gold. They also sell my book! Read about the museum in this article: https://findinggoldincolorado.com/museum-of-northwest-colorado/

TIP: This part of Colorado is hot and dry in summer so dry washing in dry gulches is a viable approach to gold recovery too.

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