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 in South America and late one season on the claim Parker was operating in the Yukon. If you’d like to see what a hydraulic mining site is like in person, the Iowa Hill site is a fun & educational place to go. Stop by the next time you are visiting Summit County (Breckenridge, Frisco, Dillon, Silverthorne area; really between Frisco and Breckenridge).
This historic site features a well-established hiking loop and lots of interpretive signs and old mining gear. The trail winds its way up, around and down a fairly steep hill so wear decent outdoor shoes and bring a hiking stick if you have any balance issues.
What have they got on site? Old hydraulic piping, nozzles, a coyote hole headframe, a hand-made crane for moving boulders, a restored miners’ boarding house, paydirt processing gear and more.
Cost: Free.
Hours: dawn to dusk daily, year-round, plan on a 1-2 hour visit. In winter there can be substantial snow fall so you might even need snowshoes occasionally!
Website: http://breckheritage.com/iowa-hill-gold-miners-hike/ . This site talks about the guided hikes offered by Breck Heritage but you can also do a self-guided hike any time for free. However, the only way to go inside the boarding house is on a guided tour.
Location: Access is easy for any vehicle and a parking lot is provided. From Highway CO-9 between Frisco and Breckenridge, turn off onto Park Ave, then right onto Airport Road. You’ll see Iowa Hill signage on your left a little way down.
Prospectors’ notes: You can be sure there’s still gold here, but no sample collecting is allowed at this site, sorry. There are other hydraulic mining sites in the county where you can dig. For info on that check out Chapter E of my gold prospecting guidebook Finding Gold in Colorado: Prospector’s Edition which you can get at your local library or buy here.
This site costs money to keep up. The only way it makes money is shopping referrals. If you appreciate the info here, please click thru one of my Amazon links the next time you want to shop online. It won’t cost you anything extra and it keeps this website going.
