Satisfy your gold fever with a little winter reading and digging

December 28, 2016 · Gold prospecting history touring, Gold prospecting sites, Mining Tourism

Bazooka Sniper on the Winter Solstice 2016

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 the web regarding Colorado gold. Here’s some of the more unique things I found:

A fun read about one person’s first adventure digging in Denver: http://bigthink.com/esoterica/looking-for-denvers-heart-of-gold-nil-panning-on-the-south-platte Note: They talk about dredging in town. This is illegal, don’t do it! An interesting write up about one of the first successful black prospectors in Summit County. http://www.summitdaily.com/explore-summit/colorado-history-the-story-of-barney-ford/ Here’s a fun google map showing historic gold mines & districts all over the state. These include private land and other areas where you can’t dig but it’s still a cool, interactive way to see where commercial gold mining occurred back in the day: https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?mid=1jNExz4j5Yub0AQ13rF4VphVgYcU&hl=en_US&ll=39.201656747110555%2C-106.2725458968593&z=11 Areas up and down stream of these spots can still be quite productive. This is sure to get you dreaming of summer trips! In the mood to do some gold tourism when it’s too cold to dig? Here are some mines and museums to check out across Colorado: http://www.colorado.com/articles/colorado-mine-tours-gold-rush-towns Remember, it stays warm underground all winter : ) And read up on a nice summary history of gold discoveries across Colorado on Wikipedia: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gold_mining_in_Colorado This article is missing quite a few things and has a couple things wrong…but that’s why I’m building this whole website and wrote a book right?! Also, remember there’s no such thing as bad weather, just poorly dressed prospectors (with respect to the US Army who originated this phrase) so you CAN still get out digging in many places. Here’s a few:

• The Arkansas River anywhere downstream from Leadville. The water levels get very low and some gravels freeze but the low water level gives access to areas that aren’t safe in summer. Finding a location is a also little tricky since there are claims to avoid but open spots with good gold are out there.
• Clear Creek in the Clear Creek Canyon Open Space Park…similar story to the Arkansas River but lower elevation so usually a bit warmer, especially in a sunny spot. The high canyon walls are pretty but do mean lots of shade. More here: http://findinggoldincolorado.com/clear-creek-canyon-tips/
• The many waterways of metro-Denver. Find a sunny spot, get warm by digging and enjoy the peace and quiet of having a spot all to yourself. I got out last Wednesday in south metro Denver and had a great time, you can too! More info on exploring in town: http://findinggoldincolorado.com/finding-spots-to-dig-in-town/
• The most amazing spot is the Arapahoe Bar site on Clear Creek. This is just downstream of the Coors Brewery and all the water of the creek runs through a heat exchanger in the plant to cool the freshly brewed beer so the creek is pretty ice free and not soooo chilly on our toes ;) Also the creek runs east-west in this area so there is plenty of sunshine (no shade until the trees leaf out in spring) and since it is in a gully, you are protected from the wind in most cases. Pretty mild conditions for winter prospecting indeed! Read my original post about Arapahoe Bar here: http://findinggoldincolorado.com/arapahoe-bar-tips/

Finally, for inspiration, here’s another pic of my sluice in the water last week amid snowy banks.

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Tags: Arapahoe bar, Arkansas River, Clear Creek, Clear Creek gold panning, Clear Creek Open Space Park, Colorado gold mining, Colorado gold rush, Denver gold prospecting, free gold panning, gold panning, gold tourism, metro Denver gold panning, placer gold, recreational, Where to find gold, winter gold prospecting