Finding gold in the San Juans Colorado where it was and ideas for finding new spots

[Marmentman]

Finding gold in the San Juan's Colorado where it was and ideas for finding new spots

Wanted to start a new tread for the San Juan mountain range. The history is rich but I have yet to find that elusive gold streak. They have been there in the past and will be there in the future, I have found gold all along the animas and San Juan rivers, but nothing like what others find on TN. Maybe looking in wrong areas, maybe over worked my guess is it's still out there keep finding the little stuff but not a source yet. Hope this thread can become useful to those of us in the four corners area. Good luck and happy hunting.
Here are a few good places to look:
Animas along rivers high mark and public land most spots good with some showing of fine color50 mesh- all the way to where the animas starts to Navajo tribal lands in farmington nm
Same with San Juan river shed

Again good luck and hopefully others will have good leads.
Try them and get back. I will try to up date every so often

 

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[UncleMatt]

I would love to post some video here of my Falls Creek adventures, but I don't load my videos to third party websites like youtube...

 

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[UncleMatt]

 

[UncleMatt]

It may not look it, but its waist high in most places, and often much deeper.

 

[UncleMatt]

I have some awesome video to share, as soon as T-net puts on its big boy pants and allows direct video uploads....

 

[Marmentman]

This terrain is no joke out here! Thing have changed out here, like what was mentioned earlier most of the trees wouldn't have been there back then, they were used as timbers or fuel for fires, they did not have the same environmental regulations or land regulations we have today, so landscape would have been drastically different. It isn't unreasonable that a landslide could cover many of the stories talked about in these mountains. Seasons change this land scape very fast out here. I think most of these stories if true would be found. By shear dumb luck, and probably not by some one with a bad back or bad knees. If I had re-hid this amount of treasure it would be very difficult to get to or find. And finding good land marks would be hard. A good example of this would be here in NM, Angle peak, when I was a kid it had two wings now no wings, check it out find the oldest pictures and you will get a good idea. Of course this is all part of research.

 

[Marmentman]

Man I hate using this iPhone for posts. Sorry for all the mistakes.

 

[Bill_saf]

A quick question for any one around denver co has anyone gone over by foxton on the river just out side of pike national forest on 97 & 96? I always wondered if it had any gold in it.
Its been 36 years since Iv been there and I didn't do any prospecting back then.

 

[KevinInColorado]

Finding gold in the San Juan's Colorado where it was and ideas for finding ne...

It's about an hour drive for me so no, but the bends in the S Platte there DO look interesting

According to USGS there were never commercial mines there, that's discouraging.

 

[Bill_saf]

well better to find out now then drive all that way from here for no gold. but then here in Illinois they keep saying there is no gold. and what little that has been found you can only pan for! aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa ok not

 

[UncleMatt]

I agree that some topography in the high country can change quickly, but other than changes to vegetation there are many areas that do not change quickly, simply because they are characterized by bedrock covered with a thin layer of topsoil. That stuff doesn't change so much, and it represents a lot of what is up there. I also see trees that are hundreds of years old up there all the time, but I agree the lower stuff was often clear cut for mining timbers and railroad ties. Then the undergrowth takes over those areas with a vengeance.

 

[UncleMatt]

I was up near the Continental divide in the Rockies last summer and the skunk cabbage had overrun most of the area simply because all the trees are dead from beetles....

 

[Marmentman]

Hey uncle Matt, have you spent much time up here? Speaking from personal experience, what you are talking about with the overburden being over the bedrock on a slope is very dangerous when it does get saturated with rain and snow and is the perfect combination for a rock/ actually debris slide and depending on how thick it is could burry anything several feet deep! This isn't meant to be an insult, so please don't think it is, but because there is so much bedrock and it does get covered from time to time we have a lot of slides in some of the best spots for gold. So what I am trying to say about your spot is don't give up and look in some of the places you think it can't be and you just might find it, or something else.

 

[Clay Diggins]

Hey Marmentman,

I see you are in La Plata. Have you tried the mountains above Cuba? Between there and Coyote there's some decent gold.

How about upriver from Abiquiu lake - there's gold there too. Over in the upper Brazos there's good gold.

There's even gold around Canjilon if you have the huevos to hang with the locos. A good Rio Grande accent goes a long way in that part of the country.

I can't tell you much about the area of the San Juan's you are looking in that you don't already know - not much placer gold there at all. It's hard rock country at best.

You might want to look south or west.

Just a suggestion.

Heavy Pans

 

[Marmentman]

Hey clay diggings thanks for the tips. I have looked around the hopewell district but only briefly as I passed by, gold on the animas is better. However I have not looked around the other locations you mentioned, what do you mean be guts? Are they crazy in that area? Or because it's Rez? Either way true people get plumb crazy over gold unless you teach them some tricks, this typically breaks the water for me! Give them hope let them dig and soon it isn't worth their time, more gold for me! It is a special breed who will keep at it when everyone else gives up!

 

[Clay Diggins]

Hey clay diggings thanks for the tips. I have looked around the hopewell district but only briefly as I passed by, gold on the animas is better. However I have not looked around the other locations you mentioned, what do you mean be guts? Are they crazy in that area? Or because it's Rez?

You are welcome Marmentman.

La Alianza movement is still strong in the Mountains around Tierra Amirilla and Canjilón. Reies Tijerina is a name well remembered there. (Reies passed away just this past week so now is probably not a good time to try that area.)

Those lands aren't Rez they are Spanish Grants. After living there for 200 years the Spanish there tend to think of the minerals as theirs, claim or no claim. Best to ask permission politely no matter what the Forest Service map says. If you don't speak high Spanish (not Mexican) you probably will have more problems getting their permission. Nice folk but a little suspicious of strangers.

The only crazy one is the person who tries to dig above Canjilón without a local friend to point out where it's alright to dig.

Heavy Pans

 

[Marmentman]

Is canjilon creek where the gold is or in the mountains? The reason I ask is there is a lot of land for sale along what looks to be a large creek up that way?

 

[Marmentman]

An again I think this is where showing them how to use the equipment and how much work it is for so little return would help. They would be the ones thinking we are crazy !)

 

[Clay Diggins]

In the mountains Marmentman.

The folks up around Canjilón could give you a few tips on mining. They are the experts on mining that area. Many family mines up in those hills.

Be nice, be humble and understand you may still get no for an answer.

Heavy Pans

 

[Marmentman]

Cool maybe I'll give it a try this spring

 

[UncleMatt]

I carry around a probe with me consisting of a simple steal rod with a handle bent into the end. When I am up in the high granite, I frequently push the probe through the soil, and often hit bedrock less than 3 feet down. While it is true that water saturation can cause slippage of overburden, I have yet to experience seeing that, or coming across a recent slide. There is a lot less precipitation up there these days than in centuries past, though I have been in some storms up there that were very intense. But still no sign of overburden sliding.