Hello from a very new prospecting enthusiast just getting stared and spending these winter months reading, researching, practicing my panning, and watching vids......

Being from Northern Colorado, I was curious as to possible places to go pan and/or sluice with my son. With a lot of the restrictions Ive been reading about, it doesn't seem that free and open as I thought it might have been. We have been into hiking over the past couple years and we have come across some nice creeks, rivers, and streams that would seem to beckon a newbie prospector like ourselves ... and thankfully there are resources like these forums where we can ask silly newbie questions. Here are some areas we were wondering about ... any input would be appreciated....

Left Hand , St Vrain creeks above Jamestown ...

Creeks within the Arapahoe/Roosevelt National Forests between Lyons and Estes Park off of hiking trails


We have been reading about tips to go where gold has been found before. How far down a river system will gold travel? With the big flood we recently experienced, is it possible that gold was dislodged, or carried down as far east as the St Vrain, east of I-25 into the plains? I remember pulling over on I-25 during the flood, looking east, and watching all the deep erosion and destruction of the creekbed wondering what kind of items would be stirred up and uncovered but dont have a clue if gold would travel down that far or if it has ever been found in that waterway or not...

-Ken

Hi Ken,
Legality in regard to locality is of utmost importance since Mineral Trespass is a serious crime.
I personally do not know anything about those general areas... but I do know how to research land ownership and land status relative to prospecting rights. I also own two claims in Northern Colorado. We can try to help you along if you're interested in learning.

The first order of priority would be to identify the ownership of the lands that you are interested in exploring, then status of that land. I would recommend choosing 'one' of the areas that you are interested in rather than a blitzkrieg of Northern Colorado for your first research project. It'll be easier after that.
Pick one area, not 100 acres... just a small place you'd like to spend the day prospecting. Point to it on your map and research/verify/determine the land ownership: Town Owned, County Owned, Recreational Area, State Owned, Public Owned (BLM, NFS managed), Open Space, Park, etc? You need to know.
That's a good starting point.

Almost all of Left Hand Creek is either claimed or Boulder County Property, at least from the research that I have done. There was one small bend that was still in BLM hands, but it was so small that 20 feet from the center in either direction, you would be on a claim. Not worth the trouble. The North St Vrain, above Lyons in the National Forest is good - I did not find any claims there, but as always - CHECK it thoroughly before you go out - there is a lot of private property there.

Thanks for the responses.

I am definitely interested in learning as much as I can....

Swizz, I started the process by picking one spot of interest ... I went to the Colorado State Land Board website (https://gis.co.gov/trustlands/) and looked at the area with the following layers:
SLB Ownership - Surface ownership, mineral estate
Other Ownership - All selected including the State, BLMs and National selections, military, tribal, etc...

Results of this query showed my spot of interest to be National Forest. There were some mineral estates marked off but nowhere near the spot I chose.

What would be my next step?

Here is a good starting point of gold locations by county:
http://www.goldfeverprospecting.com/cogolo.html

For beginner's I always recommend starting at Clear Creek in Denver (Adams County) or Clear Creek in Jefferson County Open space (from tunnel 1 on hwy 6 to junction with hwy 119). The gold is small here in Denver but it's easy digging and is good to learn the basics and still get some gold. Most of this gold originates from Central City area over 50 miles away! The creek rarely freezes for long here in town. I almost dipped in today. Avoid the city of Wheatridge they seem to frown on recreational goldpanning.

I have found a little gold in South St.Vrain near Central Gulch. These areas were hit hard by the floods. There are mine claims up Central Gulch. Make sure your on Federal Lands. Boulder County frowns on recreational panning. I have found some gold on Fourmile Creek south of Ward. There are several claims in that area as well.

National Forest is owned by We The People. It is managed primarily by USFS employees. Mining Laws of 1872 apply.
Next step.... you'll want to start investigating the status for this plot of land.
A great starting point for that is to go to the BLM website and familiarize yourself with their LR2000 program. It's not the easiest program to learn and run but we have many threads archived here which help to learn and navigate it. The site also has instructions but it can get confusing. Your goal there should be to run a "Mining Claim Report". The Mining Claim Report will reveal valuable information for the location information that you entered. The location information is based on MTRS data and you must enter the correct MTRS data to get results.
M- meridian
T - township
R - range
S - section
If you run the report, discover that there ARE existing Active claims in that Section, and still want to go there.... you'll need to identify claim boundaries BEFORE visiting the area. This is another step (which does not involve the LR2000).
If you run the report and discover that there ARE NOT existing Active claims in that section... you'll still need to verify that on a daily basis with the County Clerk Recorder since, for example: you could check it today and it's fine.... two days from now someone may have recorded a mineral claim. It's always your responsibility to find out, typically on the day or day before your boots are on the ground to be on the safe side.

This link is useful for getting people into trouble who know nothing about land status research or mining laws.
Gold Fever Prospecting is a good company but this link is an irresponsible publication.
First off: the information is COPIED word-for-word from the book Colorado Gold Panning and Placering. Not sure if they got copyright permission for that.
Second: it states NOTHING about existing claims or how to research if these suggested areas are even legal to prospect
Third: I know this because my mtn is listed in that link and the book. The write-up says nothing about the mtn being completely claimed already. It mentions the old "xxxxxx xxxx Mine" (which I now own) but doesn't state that it's still in operation. As a result I get at least 10 "hobby" goobers a year showing up with their buckets, pans, and sluices they bought from Gold Fever Prospecting expecting to drive there and just dig in to everyone's minerals, they like to play stupid and act like that write-up gives them some kind of permission to be there. When I recite (from memory) what they read in your link or in that book their eyes get as big as saucers. I take the opportunity to educate them if they're willing to listen but usually send them packin after they find out that the mtn is bunched up with seven existing claims. My claims being the only ones clearly marked. There is basically very little to no valuable open ground left to legally work there yet this article gives readers the highest hope of striking it rich there on a weekend, directions and everything. Imagine their surprise when they drive all that way and pull up to crabby old ME.
It gets old greeting people who are poking around up there illegally because of this link.
I know it'll never end, people are generally ignorant whether by choice or virtue. I'll continue to use the opportunity to educate people when they blindly show up out of nowhere, refer them to our club to learn how to research, and send them on their way. Distracting though... I go up there to MINE, not educate people. I come here to CP to help with education.
There ya have it. Had to air that out since you posted a link that's a little thorn in my boot. I'm sure other mine owners and responsible prospectors would agree.

Ah ha! A man that knows Lefthand. The small bend of which you refer, I think is my "secret olace" http://golddredger.com/secret.htm I was up there about a month ago and it seems the upstream landowner thinks his place starts a bit more downstream than what I thought. I was probably on his property or at least what he thought was his. Don't pan or sluice on Buckingham Park property. I've heard that they will take your prospecting equipment. We plan on doing a little "sampling" below my claim as they or I don't know the exact placement of my downstream claim line. Here's a video from my Lefthand claim. http://www.golddredgervideo.com/prospectin...denoptimist.wmv

This was taken at the Ward-Jamestown bridge. The Ward side is actually a great sluicing area juust above the bridge but it is also park property. We shot the video before they got hardnosed about it. http://www.golddredgervideo.com/prospectin...tsbirthday3.wmv http://www.golddredgervideo.com/prospectin...esluceinghi.wmv


I've dredged in the St Vrain one time above Lyons but didn't find anything.


Leonard

Last night I went to the BLM site opened the interactive map which was able to get me the MTRS for the plot, opened the LR2000 program and ran a report with my particulars ... the report showed about 6 document listings... I couldnt figure out if they were actually active mining claims or how to find the boundaries off of the info given on the report.

You'll need to take a trip up there and plot boundaries by hand.

I used to fish the Lefthand quite a bit, and ran into a hard-nosed claim owner when I was turning over some rocks to see what aquatics the trout were feeding on. When he realized that all I was doing was fishing, he was actually quite nice and helpful, and put me on some really nice trout on his claim. This was in '93 before I met Karen.


I also fished the St Vrain a lot during the 90's, and I saw a lot of activity going on then, in the National Forest part. It may have gotten good with the flooding last year. I would be checking it out if I still lived in Broomfield. Just make sure you check the area for new claims, and stay north of the National Forest Sign, as it is all private property below. Also, there are stretches of private property along the creek in the national forest, so be aware of where you set up.

From a very confused new member to the forum, this helps clarify some things for me. Thanks!

Glad to hear it!