Denver: How far west of Arapahoe Bar is legal diggings?

[CO2]

Denver is a great city to live in if you want to spend some time grabbing flake and (mostly) flour from one of several waterways. I've tried Clear Creek in a few spots, mostly Tymkovich, and I've heard that everybody and their brother digs near Coors' warm water in the winter, so I was wondering: just how far west of Arapahoe Bar is it legal to dig? Is everything on the north bank from Youngfield up to the Coors property fair game? Or is it just the Arapahoe Bar that's permitted? Certainly the creek east of Arapahoe Bar in Wheat Ridge is off-limits. If decent water level and good temp, would you rather sluice in the metro area or would you rather head up Highway 6 past Golden? I didn't know what I was doing back when I tried digging the canyon so I'm not sure how the flood deposits compare from the city to the canyon.

Also, Golden Detectors in Golden offers a waiver to sign for legal access to the BLM claim for the first mile west of tunnel 3 on Highway 6. Is that legit? LR2000 says that double-claim is owned by a party in North Carolina and I wasn't able to trace that info back to the shop, so I'm assuming they're telling the truth that they administrate the claim. I don't want to ask the shop people outright, but I'll do it if I have to. I'm looking for a hobby, not a prosecution know what I mean. Anything helps, thanks.

 

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[CO2]

For example, based on the satellite photo, I'd like to dig just east of the railroad bridge just east of McIntyre. Is that area off-limits? My research shows that Wheat Ridge ends at Eldridge thus the McIntyre area is not within their authority ... is it an appropriate spot then?

 

[GoldpannerDave]

Signs mark the boundaries, but I have only seen the eastern most one. I have never walked to the western boundary.

Golden Detectors is legit.

 

[ConceptualizedNetherlandr]

Dioxide? Why was I reading that Squared? :P

 

[KevinInColorado]

Signs mark the boundaries, but I have only seen the eastern most one. I have never walked to the western boundary.

Golden Detectors is legit.

Golden Detectors leases that claim from the owner just so you can go there!

The eastern edge of the bar is marked and sadly it's well east of where you'd like to dig near McIntyre. The problem is that this land is owned by Coors and they are strictly saying 'no trespassing'.

However once you get upstream of the Coors property and you are on City of Golden property and you are welcome there You can check the city website for details and rules.

To your other question about where the best gold is...what a hard question! With work and time I am sure you will find spots you prefer. This year the gold at Arapahoe Bar is much better than in recent previous years. I've seen decent gold in my pan from the canyon and at other spots/times been quite frustrated. From my individual experience, I'd say the bar is more predictable and often more productive than the canyon! Btw, I've also heard good things and seen good gold in other spots such as Clear Creek at Broadway and South Platte at 78th Ave & Steele St. What I hope this tells you is there is good gold in many spots along these waterways...which means some exploring on your own can be very rewarding as you find a spot others have overlooked!

 

[CO2]

Thanks for the info guys. I wonder what the markup is on leasing that $310/yr claim. Hopefully not too bad. Fricken Coors though. I was down at Sidewinder in Florence and they were saying that Adolph Coors was the smartest man in Golden for buying the gold trap that is Clear Creek cutting through the Table Mountain lava flows. But with that big dam on the west side of the Coors property, when I checked out the creek through Golden last year the waterway was bank-to-bank with no exposed gravel (even with low flows out in Adams County). I don't know how far west down the bike path you have to hike to find good diggings so I didn't bother.

I'm aware that the Platte has diggable deposits upstream of the water treatment plant but to be honest, I'm intimidated to go there. Clear Creek just west of the Platte is dirty enough, and if I really wanted to brave contaminated waters then I'd put my shovel in Cherry Creek in the urban corridor just to see what's there/look on people's faces. But I don't know if DPD would confiscate my equipment so I'm in no hurry. Maybe one day I'll head back to dirty Ralston Creek, but then again maybe I won't. I'd be interested in digging the Platte down in Littleton sometime; hopefully it's cleaner than the other side of the metro area.

I took a geology course last year and Denver is fascinating! For example, Green Mountain over Lakewood isn't a mountain - it's a giant pile of ancient river cobbles. And the Denver gold deposits....... there is gold in Cherry Creek past Parker... and Cherry Creek flows northwest from the prairie! I've been telling people that if you could excavate the entire Denver Basin down to the bedrock to capture all the gold, you'd be a trillionaire. It's probably not true, but if you change the T to a B then it probably is. Denver is a fine place for fine placer. Lots and lots of spots to dig.

 

[CO2]

Thanks again, unless anybody else wants to chime in I believe I have the info I need. So is it better to delete this thread, or leave it online for the next several dozen seekers to get the info too?

 

[GoldpannerDave]

Thanks again, unless anybody else wants to chime in I believe I have the info I need. So is it better to delete this thread, or leave it online for the next several dozen seekers to get the info too?

I would leave it; others ask similar questions and can find this thread.

 

[GoldpannerDave]

Dioxide? Why was I reading that Squared? :P

As so often happens, what you see depends on where you stand (both literally and figuratively). As a chemist, it immediately said carbon dioxide (or Colorado dioxide ) . Coming from some other frame of reference, I guess you could read it Colorado oxide squared. Or square Colorado oxide

 

[CO2]

As so often happens, what you see depends on where you stand (both literally and figuratively). As a chemist, it immediately said carbon dioxide (or Colorado dioxide ) . Coming from some other frame of reference, I guess you could read it Colorado oxide squared. Or square Colorado oxide

Well for the first few hours on this site it did in fact say "Carbon Dioxide", but I changed it. If the CO represents Colorado, then there is no oxide, just the square of Colorado I guess. I was in a hurry when I picked CO2 and thought it'd be cute.

 

[KevinInColorado]

Thanks for the info guys. I wonder what the markup is on leasing that $310/yr claim. Hopefully not too bad. Fricken Coors though. I was down at Sidewinder in Florence and they were saying that Adolph Coors was the smartest man in Golden for buying the gold trap that is Clear Creek cutting through the Table Mountain lava flows. But with that big dam on the west side of the Coors property, when I checked out the creek through Golden last year the waterway was bank-to-bank with no exposed gravel (even with low flows out in Adams County). I don't know how far west down the bike path you have to hike to find good diggings so I didn't bother.

I'm aware that the Platte has diggable deposits upstream of the water treatment plant but to be honest, I'm intimidated to go there. Clear Creek just west of the Platte is dirty enough, and if I really wanted to brave contaminated waters then I'd put my shovel in Cherry Creek in the urban corridor just to see what's there/look on people's faces. But I don't know if DPD would confiscate my equipment so I'm in no hurry. Maybe one day I'll head back to dirty Ralston Creek, but then again maybe I won't. I'd be interested in digging the Platte down in Littleton sometime; hopefully it's cleaner than the other side of the metro area.

I took a geology course last year and Denver is fascinating! For example, Green Mountain over Lakewood isn't a mountain - it's a giant pile of ancient river cobbles. And the Denver gold deposits....... there is gold in Cherry Creek past Parker... and Cherry Creek flows northwest from the prairie! I've been telling people that if you could excavate the entire Denver Basin down to the bedrock to capture all the gold, you'd be a trillionaire. It's probably not true, but if you change the T to a B then it probably is. Denver is a fine place for fine placer. Lots and lots of spots to dig.

There's lots of good gold and open creek for digging in the S Platte and Clear Creek and none of the water is too bad...been digging here for years I've also found gold in Cherry Creek right across from the Pepsi Center and down at Colorado Blvd. It's out there although that creek is not as rich as the others from what I've seen.

There's also LOTS of gold in little creeks around the metro area...go see my Prospector's Journal for proof

Also, the gold you describe that is out in Parker and across the southern metro area (where I live btw) is weathered out of the Castlerock (conglomerate) formation which is composed of material washed out of the proto-Rockies which weathered away before the age of the great dinosaurs! So it's very small, very pure and oddly distributed from a modern pov.

 

[CO2]

There's lots of good gold and open creek for digging in the S Platte and Clear Creek and none of the water is too bad...been digging here for years I've also found gold in Cherry Creek right across from the Pepsi Center and down at Colorado Blvd. It's out there although that creek is not as rich as the others from what I've seen.

There's also LOTS of gold in little creeks around the metro area...go see my Prospector's Journal for proof

Also, the gold you describe that is out in Parker and across the southern metro area (where I live btw) is weathered out of the Castlerock (conglomerate) formation which is composed of material washed out of the proto-Rockies which weathered away before the age of the great dinosaurs! So it's very small, very pure and oddly distributed from a modern pov.

First of all, wow, I had no idea that Cherry Creek starts down by Monument. Second of all, wow, I climbed Castle Rock twice this summer so I'm familiar with the conglomerate layer the gold came from. (They should have called that "Ship Rock"; it looks a lot like an old frigate sailing on a bed of beach sand.) That entire deposit seems like it's nearly all gone! So I looked it up on a gold & gem map (see attached) and sure enough, there's placerground in Douglas Co. Wow, Cherry Creek gold comes from Castle Rock, wow.

As for metro Denver, my map leans heavily toward Clear Creek, Ralston Creek, and Little Dry Creek [Arapahoe County]. But I have no idea how reliable that map is and yes, Cherry Creek through Denver does have some gold. Apparently Cherry Creek's arsenic is only harmful if you drink it, but by the time the creek gets to the Platte confluence the E Coli level is way over the safe limit. So I might check it out sometime since I'm down in that area a lot. I'd get more gold than I found this summer anyway.

I'd like to prospect some of the smaller streams around Denver, but after my experience this summer I'd rather just stick with a spot I know will produce good colors e.g. Clear Creek. I went out to five spots in the high country this summer and didn't even find a 1/10 gram. Was very disappointed at Cache Creek since the site was huge and I don't know where the good gold is there, unless it's underneath the diversion creek bed which is dry as a bone. I tried digging into one of the remaining gravel mounds and not only did it just feel wrong, but it didn't produce either. Wow those oldtimers really destroyed the place with their hydraulic jets. As for Point Barr on the Arkansas, when I got there markers for 3 adjacent claims were clearly visible. Since I hadn't bothered to check LR2000 beforehand, I left without getting my shovel dirty. To be honest the size of Point Barr is quite unimpressive at high water. And as for Texas Creek it was raging highwater and the floodplain didn't produce, 4-Mile Creek was raging and inaccessible, the 30-foot terrace over the Arkansas was full of silt and flour (I call it "scum gold" since it floats off your pan in a sheen) so that wasn't worthwhile, and the river itself is either claimed-up or low producing but furthermore it was raging highwater too. So I think I'll stick with Clear Creek. Clear Creek is definitely worth digging..

Lastly, what do you think about Ralston saying he was pulling substantial gold out of what's now Arvada in 1850? Do you think his men depleted some honeyholes and kept moving? I personally think he was probably exaggerating how much gold was there. There's certainly nowhere near that much now - did the early residents pull it all out? Or has Ralston Creek in actuality never been a big producer? My October 1866 Dept. of Interior map (see attached) shows the developed gold country at the time and it's definitely not in Denver.



Denver, now


Colorado, 1866


Denver, 1866

 

[KevinInColorado]

Sooo...
1. Sorry to hear you were frustrated by high water on your trips. Seasonal water flows are a big factor here, even in metro Denver.
2. Those maps are helpful but they are focused on commercial deposits since they are based on historical commercial mining and state geologist work to support the growth of mining. My point: they understate the area where you'll find gold! Many spots too small for commercial opportunity are great for us. My best spot in the state is NOT marked on those maps! The maps are useful, just not the whole story at all.
3. Ralston Creek - they found almost all the gold at the confluence of Ralston Creek and Clear Creek. This was an area where the creeks were both wide and slow so the gold accumulated. My theory is the gold they found was more from Clear Creek ancient channel than they realized. There's gold in Ralston, and I have a sample of it but you'd have to sample around to find a hot spot.

 

[CO2]

I've also found gold in Cherry Creek right across from the Pepsi Center and down at Colorado Blvd. It's out there although that creek is not as rich as the others from what I've seen.
. . . There's also LOTS of gold in little creeks around the metro area...go see my Prospector's Journal for proof

I hadn't been previously aware that the Cherry Creek placer was coming from Douglas Co. Not only is that a huge distance, but it was placer to begin with! Do you know where the placer washed down from in the Protorockies? If you could xray Denver all the way to the bedrock from space, it'd be one bright gold spot. I'm convinced it's lining virtually the entirety of the Denver Basin.


RE1. Water is water. I once saw Clear Creek go from gravel bars galore to no gravel whatsoever in 20 minutes. It went up at least a foot after a storm hit so far away I wasn't even aware it was happening. I was able to catch some of my gear floating away in a tub. Water is water and the best philosophy is to be thankful the gold is moving. When I was down at Sidewinder they told me of a spot I could dig under a downed tree near town in a floodbank that they confirmed had some gold. I didn't feel panning the silt out'd be worth my time. There's a reason they sell a sluice in Florence that's superb at capturing the micron flour. Just saying.

RE2. I'd like to check out some of those creeks eventually. I see 'em all over town. Again, every square mile of the Denver Basin has gold, that's what I think. I know for a fact the maps are incomplete and I'm pretty sure the bonanza-grounds got bought up as fast as possible. What's left is the reliable fine colors we all know and love. After all, they're on the map. "Go dig there and leave our land alone. PSSST we're pulling half a gram per bucket - and nobody's invited."

RE3. That Protoralston Creek musta been one hell of a riffle for Protoclear Creek. I just put Goldstrike Park in Arvada on my to-do list. I wonder how much of the original deposits are left. That Clear Creek bed is extremely deep, Ralston too probably.

 

[KevinInColorado]

As you say, most waterways in metro Denver have gold. Virtually every named waterway on my end of town has given me at least a few flakes! I really enjoy the hunt...finding tempting spots and making sure I know the rules for that spot.

As far as Goldstrike Park in Arvada, I've heard bad news there. Both that the city park rules are quite strict (check their website) and that the park building work buried the paydirt anyway. You'd do better just up or down stream I imagine.

 

[3xflyfisher]

CO2,
Don't discount the canyon above Golden. Gold concentrations there are more "spotty" than through town. This is because through the canyon the characteristics of the creek doesn't allow an "equal" deposition of the gold. The gradient of the stream bed and thus water velocity doesn't allow for an even distribution. However, by exploring and sampling you may come away pleasantly surprised. By putting the time/effort in you will find larger gold as you are closer to the source.

 

[CO2]

Thanks 3xflyfisher I will explore the canyon but I don't know when. If I had a detector to find the upstream flake would be great. It's going to get cold in the canyon soon and by the time it warms back up the water will probably be high with snowmelt. I wonder what the low-water channel looks like this time of year (haven't been up that way in a while).

The detector shop pays to lease the double-claim on the first mile west of the third tunnel - there's a reason for that and it certainly isn't because their customers don't have a nearby spot to dig - after all legal diggings starts near Highway 93 and extends west all the way to the county line. My map shows that claim as a gold island in a big blue park which is quite unusual since it's the only BLM land around for many miles. LR2000 says the claim has been continuously active since 1938. I'm thinking the bend around the rock at tunnel 3 squeezes out good deposits in that mile. Definitely worth checking out.