Subscribe to this site's RSS feed.
Colorado Gold Miner
Prospecting for Gold in the Colorado Rockies
That Time of Year
Image via Wikipedia
Looking at the Snow Report widget in the right hand column today, I realized that it is getting to be that time of year when I normally head back out into the gold fields and start prospecting. When the ski resorts begin to shut down for the season it signals warmer weather. Warmer weather equates to snow melt, which washes more gold down the mountains, which creates more for me (and you too, I guess) to find.
Many of the places that I like to prospect at are on the Arkansas River and the Spring snow melt causes the river to rise creating problems if you are using a sluice box. The water gets high and swift and makes finding a suitable spot to set up your sluice troublesome, to say the least. I usually create a diversion with some rock to bring the water to the sluice instead trying to find a place to set the box.
If you are into rafting, this is the best time of the year to hit the Arkansas River around the Salida area. The water is high and swift making for the ultimate raft trip through the area. It is a thrill ride that you will never forget… But, I’m getting a bit off topic here…
Dredging can also be a challenge during the Spring runoff. You need to find a calmer area and have some good strong rope to tie the dredge (and yourself) off with. The calmer water will also be where gold is more likely to drop out and sink to the bottom, so finding a calm area on the river should be a priority anyhow.
Personally, I prefer to use the highbanker this time of year. Regardless of how high the river gets, I can always find a place to set up the rig and go to work. In most of the places I frequent, I am digging a ways from the river’s edge so this makes less work for me in transporting my material to be processed. But sometimes…
I just want to sit in my chair with an ice-cold beer in a secluded spot and lazily shovel material from my bucket into the sluice box and take in the scenes around me. The relaxation, both physically and mentally, that this brings me is worth all of the gold that I have ever found in all of my years of prospecting.
Unfortunately that will have to wait this year as I am in the process of preparing to move to Colorado permanently. No more long drives from Henryetta, Oklahoma to Salida, Colorado. Its taken me nine years to convince my wife that it is where we need to be, and by the end of June it will be. I’ll miss out on some early season gold mining, but in the end, it will be all worth it… And who knows? I may just sneak off and do a little relaxing on the river during the move.
Until next time… See ya’ in the gold fields!
Point Bar Public Mining Claim
If you are ever up the Arkansas River Valley near Salida, Co, be sure to bring your mining equipment with you. The public mining area at Point Bar, part of the Arkansas Headwaters Recreation Area, is jointly maintained by The State of Colorado, the Gold Prospectors Association of America, and the Bureau of Land Management. The gold is fine, but plentiful in this area, so it is a worthwhile stop.
If you plan on using motorized equipment (highbankers, dredges, etc), you will have to visit the the BLM office in Canon City or Salida for a permit. Additionally there are restrictions on the use of dredges during certain times of the year when fish are spawning. You can check the BLM website for more details.
If you are just using a pan and sluice, you do not have to worry about permits. Be sure and bring a bucket and shovel, because the best areas are a ways from the River channel.
You should be able to see where others have been digging. Chances are, that if others have been digging there, you will find gold there as well. The overburden is fairly light at one to two feet thick. Below that you will hit a caliche layer from the ancient river bed where the Arkansas River flowed thousands of years ago.
This caliche layer is where you will find the most gold. It can be tough digging as the old round riverbed rocks are nearly cemented together from the chemical makeup, time and pressure. Be sure and wash the bigger rocks off. I usually bring two buckets with me… One empty and the other about half full of water to wash the rocks off in.
I normally use a half-inch mesh and classify everything down to a small size before sluicing it. This makes the sluice box run much smoother and the gold recovery higher because you don’t have the bigger rocks carrying your fine gold out the end.
My bucket with the water in it, I run through the sluice or just pan out. Most of the material is pretty fine in it, so it makes it a pretty easy job to pan or sluice. I usually save the concentrates from my cleanups until I get home.
You can take a cleanup wheel or recirculating mini-sluice to do your cleanup with. This makes for an easy time, but I usually work the sluice until dark, so I can get as much gold as I can while I am there.
Here are a few pictures from my last trip to Point Bar back in March. Notice the snow on the mountains around me…
Point Bar Diggings on the Arkansas River in Colorado. Notice the reddish color overburden. The off-white material below is the caliche where the majority of the gold is found
Snow on the nearby mountains
The Arkansas River is pretty low and mild before the Spring snow melt.
A view of the nearby "Fourteeners" from downtown Salida, CO... just a few miles North of Point Bar
These rock are from the highbanking operations that have been taking place at Point Bar
A few last notes. There is a public restroom in the park, but don’t expect to use it during the Winter or early Spring as it is locked up tight… Bring a port-a-john with you! Camping is allowed here, but be sure and have a fire pan if you plan on building a fire. Rules are rules and the Park rangers do enforce them.
Related Blogs
- Salida, Colorado – Deal of the Week, Month, Year! « Salida …
- Colorado Arkansas River Real Estate « Salida, Colorado – Ranch …
- Stay in the Heart of Colorado Rockies at this Creekside Hot …
- Salida Colorado Land for Sale
- Colorado Gold Mining | California gold rush miner
- Visit Colorado, USA
- Volunteers needed this weekend for the Ark River Clean Up Green Up
- Arkansas Headwaters Recreation Area update
Placer Mining on the Arkansas River
There is gold in them thar hills… er… mountains! All along the Arkansas River from Leadville down to Howard there is gold in the Rockies in abundance. Now you’re most likely not going to be finding a huge nugget, but the fine gold is plentiful.
The biggest issue with mining the Arkansas headwaters is that most of the claims have been taken. Many are not marked, so be sure to check with the proper authorities before mining an area. The good news is that there is a public mining area and some group mining claims that are pretty easy to gain access to.
At Point Bar, just South of Salida, there is a public mining area that is maintained by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), Gold Prospectors Association of America (GPAA) and the State of Colorado. If you just plan to pan and/or sluice you can just drive there and start after it. Be sure to fill in your holes. If you plan on using any type of mechanized equipment like a high-banker or suction dredge, you will need to get a permit from the BLM office in Canon City or Salida. There are also several months that are blocked out completely from dredging. When you apply for the permit, you can find out the latest.
The Gold Prospectors of America has a nice claim near Buena Vista and another claim at Low Pass Gulch, just off the Arkansas, near Granite. I tried the Granite claim last Spring and didn’t have much luck. The Buena Vista claim was much better, but you still need to know what your looking for.
It would be a good idea to invest in a gold pinpointer metal detector. I met a guy last yaer that had one and it helped me out tremendously in finding the hot spots. I’ve already picked up one of my own for this year and am anxiously awaiting getting back out on the claim.
Some of the Colorado mining groups have claims along the Arkansas as well. Check out the Gold Prospectors of Colorado and any other groups to see what they have to offer. Memberships are usually reasonable and well worth the money spent.
Happy trails and may there always be yellow in the bottom of your pan.