Where and how to dig year-round in Colorado. Includes links to specific prospecting sites recommended for each season of the year.
gold prospecting
49 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. […]
Ben Parker is justifiably one of the heroes of the Colorado gold prospecting community. He was a student at Colorado School of Mines over 60 years ago. For his dissertation, he chose to create a compilation of ALL the information he could find about gold placer deposits across the state. […]
There was recently a broadcast of a short piece about prospecting in metro Denver with long time fellow prospector and friend JJ Long and me. The local TV station, KDVR 31 runs special interest stories about cool things across the state. When they decided to talk about gold prospectors, they […]
Announcing the latest book in the FInding Gold in Colorado series: The Wandering Prospector. Available now!
Hi all, the following article is from Paul Schiffer. Paul is a relatively new prospector who has taken a very intense approach to the initial learning process so I thought he would be a good person to write a guide for other new prospectors. Now here’s Paul:At some time, everyone […]
Gold prospecting in Puerto Rico dates back to at least the Spanish in the early to mid-1600’s, so it’s no surprise there’s still gold to be found today!! On a recent visit, my wife and I were able to spend some time gold panning the Mameyes River in the USFS […]
5280 Magazine is the premier magazine in metro Denver. I was thrilled to see that when they recently wrote an article on gold panning, they chose to reference this website twice! I’m so happy my efforts to serve the prospecting community are reaching a broader audience. On top of that, […]
Here at Finding Gold in Colorado, we have stepped up to create and publish the books Colorado prospectors want and need. We currently offer four books: The links above tell you more about each book and where to find each one, here’s where to find all four books in the […]
We are thrilled to announce the launch of a new tool every prospector should put to work! Keeping track of where you dig will help more than you may realize. By tracking our outings and how those trips turn out, we can learn more, faster, and become better prospectors. This […]
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, […]
Think like a miner. Hmm what does that mean if you are a small scale prospector in a public access prospecting area? Well, a miner is someone working a mine. Maybe on their own claim or someone else’s. Either way, a miner thinks longer term. They know they will be […]
The southwest part of Colorado was the last area properly explored by US gold prospectors as they migrated across the state. Many towns such as Ouray, Telluride, Silverton, Durango, Rico, Dolores and Placerville owe their existence to the early prospectors. While my book (learn more about it here) and various […]
Gold Rushes in Colorado left many old ghost towns, Mills, and mines worth visiting for their history, beauty, and even their 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 […]
Like this website and the Finding Gold in Colorado books? Want other prospectors to know you’re in the know? Then check this out! Lots of cool gear with the official logo on it. Note: I get a small commission from each item sold on Red Bubble so…thanks for your support! […]
Many small-scale prospectors dream of owning their own mining claim but don’t want to face the challenge of locating a new one. Instead, the idea of buying an existing claim sounds more appealing. Is this you or maybe your prospecting buddy? Buying an existing mining claim on federally managed public […]
Our next-door neighbors in Utah have some beautiful lands worth exploring. This is also true for gold prospecting in Utah. While there was never a real gold rush in Utah, there are accessible placer deposits in each quadrant of the state. If you are interested in learning more, you need […]
Gold bearing placer streams in Colorado are generally many thousands of years old, sometimes millions of years old. In that much time, a stream can move around and erode much deeper into a valley. As this happens, cobble deposits containing gold can be orphaned, or left behind, by the flowing […]
In the course of the research for my book (buy it here) and otherwise, I found quite a few online resources to be helpful. So, to give others a hand, here is my random collection of helpful web links. But first here’s a picture of some gold…because, gold. DRCOG interactive […]
This is a claim marker for a claim next to one of the spots in my book. It’s accurate and quite clear in what it is marking. Even without this, a gps will guide you in staying on the public lands where you are welcome since I provide GPS coordinates […]
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 […]
At some point, many casual prospectors get the itch to have their own claim. Then the discussion comes up about buying one vs. locating their own. Buying seems simpler to many but is rife with risks that lead to needing to do many of the same things as locating your […]
Prospectors Gold and Gems (PG&G) is an important asset in the commercial gold mining infrastructure of Colorado…available to prospectors all over. It is also more than that, it’s a one stop shop for a whole range of post-digging services small scale miners and active prospectors may desire. Back in the […]
The BLM manages what it calls the Piñon Bridge Recreational Placer Mining Area to allow casual prospecting by visitors on the San Miguel River. The land highlighted in green on the map is open to casual use but is unclaimable because it was previously private (railroad company) land and was […]
Your author doing some off season digging in Colorado. The trees are brown, but the gold is still yellow!
The BLM reacquired the land and river south of Norwood Bridge after it had been in private ownership. This unclaimable land along the San Miguel River is now available for your non-motorized prospecting. The gold here is pretty good! You get to this area by taking highway 145 easterly 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. […]
In the fall of 2016 I was driving by a construction site in our little town of Silverthorne. The site is a block west of the main highway through town and therefore about three blocks from the Blue River. The construction was for a new microbrewery and I noticed a […]
Point Barr is unclaimable land on the Arkansas River where you can drive right to the riverside and get to digging! The gold here is the typical fine Arkansas River material. This means fairly consistent in size – small! This means it would be the ideal place to run a […]
There are quite a few places around here to buy prospecting supplies. When you need gear, please shop via my links or support your local shop. There’s nothing like looking at your choices in person to get what you need and getting expert advice as part of the bargain. If […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 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 […]
Prospector Jack does a great job showing where to prospect…much better than just “telling” right? You have located a prospect. So now what. This is what I look for. I look for what I call the gold line, and that is the path that gold will most often travel. There […]
Prospectors often ask each other when they got ‘the fever’. For me it came when I was a six-year-old kid. My dad used to read National Geographic magazine to my little brother and I after dinner. We had fun with the stories about gold prospecting in Australia, Africa, etc. In […]
People have been “finding gold in Colorado” since well before there was a place called Colorado and are still actively doing it today. From American Indian residents of this area and early Spanish and French explorers finding gold in the streams and using it in trade, to modern residents digging in […]
