Any Miners or Prospectors Here?

[Mike Ellis]

While on vacation in Colorado, I toured a couple of gold mines and did a little amateur rockhounding. I began wondering how the big mines in the Cripple Creek area were able to drive so many miles of tunnels when the original claims would seem to be fairly small in surface extent.



Thinking along these lines, I reasoned that they must have bought up neighboring claims to extend their boundaries. Hence the question - where are such claims bought and sold? Not something you typically see in the real estate want ads (at least not here in Texas anyway).



Also, is it still possible to do old-style prospecting and file a claim, and if so, on what lands is this possible?



Mike





PS - Any place left in the USA where homesteading is still possible - that is, the actual "take possession of 160 acres" and not the "claim homestead of your current house"?

 

[LSMITH]

Mike, there is a show on the outdoor channel regularly that pertains to your questions. There is an association and associated things to do with prospecting and filing claims that is talked about on the show, sorry I am being so nonspecific but I change the channel as soon as it comes on usually. Hope I helped a little bit... ... .

 

[LSMITH]

Well Dan, ROCK ON WIT YO BAD SEFF!!!!!! That is exactly what I was trying to mention. Thanks for the help!!

 

[Champane Flight]

Member

I joined the GPAA. I can tell you where the real gold is. Selling memberships in the GPAA! Don't get me wrong the maps are right on and the property's they offer for prospecting are there, but they want you to send them money every year and then want you to pay for their outings.



I have been prospecting for about 23 years and can say that the only real gold I have found is the pleasure of looking...

No, I have hit a couple of holes, not enough to get rich. Fun hobby though.



You can file a claim on any BLM ground. You can prospect on state, federal, or private with permission of course. The rules for equipment on federal and state usually prohibit the use of dredges, but panning and moving small amounts of material is allowed. Check with your local state parks people. Dredging in major rivers that traverse BLM ground is allowed, but sometimes the size of dredge is restricted.



If you are looking for maps of BLM ground, go to your local Wal-mart and look for a Gazetteer, they have them for most states. They will show you locations of BLM, state land, federal, trails, roads, and places you never thought existed. Have fun. Do some research on placer gold in the state you will be visiting.



Cripple Creek has large deposits of gold ore. Not much placer up there, I have hit many of the spots up there. There are several other places in Colo, I am not tell in, Whippersnapper!

 

[WDaniels]

Mike,

I don't know how it works in the Lower 48 but up here in Alaska there are a couple types of claims you can file for. The first one is a patneted claim. That is where you own the land and it is yours to do with as you wish. Not many of those left around but are still some out there. Most you buy from others who own them. The other is were you must do so much monitarly each year and they only last for a certian time period and the land is owned by the state.

I gold mine every summer for a guy that has both types of claims. We are a small outfit with a lot of big iron.

WD

 

[Mike Ellis]

Outstanding guys, thanks for all the info!



I have always been interested in mining, but there just ain't much in my neck of the woods, in fact the only mines of any scale at all that I have found in my area of North Central Texas are the old coal mines at Bridgeport (played out in early 1900s) and old copper mines up around Archer City area. Made for a certain amount of frustration in my childhood when my "prospectin' expeditions" in the back pasture turned up nothin' but sandstone, more sandstone, and the occasional arrowhead.



The tour of the Molly K mine up at Cripple Creek was very interesting, they are still doing hardrock mining while the biggest mine in the region is doing the open pit routine and leaching out the gold with cyanide. The guide told us that the big open pit mine took out many millions of $$$ of gold last year, think he said like $90 million with expectations of up to $100 million this year. They have basically stripped away an entire mountain to get it because concentrations are so low you have to work on a huge scale to be profitable.



Was really fun watching the Molly K guide demonstrate the drills and mucking machines and such. During the tour, he mentioned that Molly's descendants still own the mine and lease out the mining work to miners on contract. Apparently very few original claim owners kept their mines over the long haul, but Molly's entire family made out like bandits from her lucky picnic walk when she found the gold her menfolk had been hunting for...

 

[WDaniels]

Mike,

Here are a couple of links about gold dredging here in Alaska from the 19teens to about 1960.

http://www.explorenorth.com/library/weekly/aa072999b.htm

http://www.questconnect.org/ak_gold_dredges.htm

If you want more just get on google and type in Alaska gold dredges.

There is one of these old monsters about a mile below where we are mining now.

The trommel that we have now was suppose to have come off of one of the old dredges back in the 50's. Some one took it and rebuilt it and moterized it for use on wheels.

Hope you like this.

WD