Sunday, December 02, 2012

Mile High Gold Summit Part 4


Gold closed Friday at just a bit over $1715, and Thanksgiving has been over for more than a week, now.  Hope all of you had a good one and are long on your way to a Merry Christmas.  We continue to unpack (probably will for another 6 moths), add storage to the new house, get the new shed ready for winter and work on the old place to make it more saleable.  You would think we had done enough, but apparently not. 

I am getting back to the Gold Summit with installment number 4.  I hope all of this has been of use to you.  I found several parts of it very informative.



Anyone from the Front Range and beyond, who prospects for gold in Colorado, should be familiar with Al Mosche of the Phoenix Mine. Al’s family has been mining in Colorado for over a hundred years, and he gave us an interesting look back at those periods in time.  He entertained us with several stories, as only Al can, and gave us a peek at what mining was like from the 1880’s until now.  Anyone who is curious should take a tour of the Phoenix mine, located west of Idaho Springs.

Fred Dodge was on hand to sign autographs for people who were familiar with his present consulting job with the Discovery Channels hit show Gold Rush.  He didn’t give away any upcoming events with the Hoffman’s, but told us that he mines gold for a living.  However, he didn’t go into much detail about anything.  Anyone familiar with the Dodge’s knows that parts of his family own and occasionally operate one of the mines on Pennsylvania Mountain in South Park near Fairplay.

Which brings me to Christie Wright, who is with Park County Historical Society and Secretary of the Park County Mining Association.  She gave us some history on her two areas of expertise in the area; Buckskin Gultch and Hall Valley.  We have been around much of Buckskin Gultch, but never Hall Valley.  I think a road trip is in order next summer, just so we can say we have been there.  You get there by going west up PCR 60, near Jefferson.  She also told a brief history of the beginnings of the area.  Park County was established is 1861 and is 45 miles by 60 miles, or 2200 sq. miles. Yes, you can get lost in there for days and put hundreds of miles on your vehicle.  I know.  We have.  The rest you can google .

Denver Parks and Recreation sent over one of their Rangers, Jake Wells, to talk with us about what Denver is doing in respects to prospecting in public areas.  This is new to them, and they are in their beginning stages of coming up with regulations to cover prospecting for gold in the City of Denver.  After they have their outlines, they will be meeting with local prospectors for input into what they need and to make sure terminology is correct.  They will also be working with Jefferson County, since they already have a plan in place.  Right now, they are allowing hand equipment. No motorized equipment at all, not even battery operated.  Again, there is the issue of the size of the holes, but Denver is, also, concerned with the added noise.

That’s it for today.  I have saved the Stream Biologist, Dave Winters, for last.  His talk was lengthy and had some very good information for you to consider.  You will be surprised that he is not against your activities.  Only WHERE you do them in relationship to the stream.   As Always,

Good Prospecting to You,
Shirley Weilnau

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