ColoradoProspector   CP Club Membership Info.

Welcome Guest ( Log In | Register )

Orange not-so-pyrite.
nate
post Dec 15 2015, 06:00 PM
Post #1


Shovel Buster!
***

Group: Members
Posts: 130
Joined: 24-October 15
From: Colorado Springs
Member No.: 121,949



June 1959.

I set out on horseback from town with 2 of my cousins. We were planning to head northwest from town, up the canyon and eventually make our way in the direction of pikes peak. We were out of town about 12 or 15 miles when the terrain got too tough for the horses. My cousins and I decided to take it on foor and hike up a ways to check things out. After topping out on a flat area, we realized that we were at the site of an old Ute or Navajo camp. You could tell it had once been a home of natives because of several things. First of all, there were almost perfect rings of grass from where the tepees had sat. Apparently even with the century or more that had passed, the topsoil that had been gathered hadnt washed away from it being nice and packed down. Only a guess, but something had kept those 10 or 12 tepee rings there. There were also the undeniable signs of a native camp. We searched and dug around for a while pulling out broken pottery, broken arrowheads and relics of the people who never owned, but always took care of this land. We decided to keep moving and on up the mesa a ways we realized the ground was damp. Not having any recent rain, our curiosity led us following the wet ground. As we moved on up, the ground got more and more wet until we noticed a spring coming out of the ground. The water flowed out, down a ways and then seeped back into the ground. I guess it went into some underground aquifer or creek and later emptied into a rived. Examining the wet ground some orange color caught my eye. Washed clean from the water was what my older cousin told me was orange pyrite. Apparently there wasnt any value in it, but I picked up the flakes as I went just because it looked nice. We carried on our way, the others not thinking too much of the two rather interesting areas that we had seen. As for me, I went back up there a couple times. The view of the peaks along the frontrange was amazing and I just couldnt resist being out on my adventure. Each time I passed the area where that little spring popped out, I picked up the noticeable flakes of pyrite and kept them all in a tin at home. Less than a year later, I signed with the military and left for several years. I returned home after than and with the busyness of life, didnt think too much of my adventures from years before. It wasnt until maybe 10 years after that, that my grandmother mentioned in passing the money she gave to my mother when I went to the military. I asked her about it and she told me how she had given my mother $600 for the gold that I gave grandpa. GOLD!?!?!? I had had no idea. When I shipped out, I had to get rid of a lot of my things that I couldnt take with me. That tin of pyrite was something I thought my grandpa might like to think of me by. Apparently at some point he got curious about it and had it checked out. Yep, they said, you got some orange pyrite there. But, most of that stuff is Colorado Gold. With my 3 trips up there, picking up those flakes I had found $600 worth of gold that my mother had gotten money from as well as a couple hundred dollars my grandmother kept. Like anyone, I wanted to go back up there. Unfortunately, by that time I had a pretty bad decline in my health. Blood clots in my legs and climbing mountains just dont go together. I know I'll never make it up there, but I can remember like yesterday the view we had and what that place looked like. The twin peaks out to our west, the plains out to the east. You know, if you had a good topo map, I could show you right about where we were at. Nate, maybe you could go on that gold adventure for me. Ive lived in this town to this day and have yet to ever hear of gold being found up in that spot by anyone else.


--------------------
Rock: Climb it. Dig it. Build your house upon it.

Go to the top of the page
 
+Quote Post
 
Start new topic
Replies
Crusty
post Apr 26 2017, 09:21 PM
Post #2


Master Mucker!
*****

Group: Members
Posts: 2,430
Joined: 6-June 13
From: Falcon, CO
Member No.: 82,915



that story would have my laying awake at night pondering the possibilities! Thanks for sharing!


--------------------
Find Colorado Prospector on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/170314493176558

CP Lifetime Member

Go to the top of the page
 
+Quote Post

Posts in this topic


Reply to this topicStart new topic
2 User(s) are reading this topic (2 Guests and 0 Anonymous Users)
0 Members:

 



Lo-Fi Version Time is now: 28th March 2024 - 02:29 AM