Granite, CO

rginn · Oct 16, 2019

Went down here today to check out the gold field along Cache Creek. Stopped by the Granite cemetery. First burial here was of a young man who died of pneumonia in 1860. Lots of unknowns, and you might note quite a few burials of children 5 years and younger. Life was tough in those days. Lot of smoke in the air even this far north of the Decker fire.

tamrock · Oct 16, 2019

Still some good potential dirt to process around there it looks like. There was a young fella washing gold up there long ago and lived out of his van. He told me he was getting about 5 to 7 bucks a day working his tail off. He said it really wasn't about the money, but he got enough to keep a few cans of beans to survive on, plus living in the great outdoors.

Rookster · Oct 16, 2019

Great photos. Thanks for sharing.

rginn · Oct 16, 2019

tamrock said:
Still some good potential dirt to process around there it looks like. There was a young fella washing gold up there long ago and lived out of his van. He told me he was getting about 5 to 7 bucks a day working his tail off. He said it really wasn't about the money, but he got enough to keep a few cans of beans to survive on, plus living in the great outdoors.

Yep TR lookin for gold is really hard work. The gold in this area is very fine. I did a little test pan and there's gold here in the pan, towards the center of the pic, and best of luck if you can spot it. I been here lookin around a few times, but now I have a better idea of a little better equipment I need to bring along next time.

tamrock · Oct 17, 2019

RGINN said:
View attachment 1762364Yep TR lookin for gold is really hard work. The gold in this area is very fine. I did a little test pan and there's gold here in the pan, towards the center of the pic, and best of luck if you can spot it. I been here lookin around a few times, but now I have a better idea of a little better equipment I need to bring along next time.

Biggest piece I ever found looked like a grain of rice. Cache Creek has been a popular place for a long time for the recreational gold miner. You can see the evidence of larger-scale hydraulic mining around there, but my guess is that's never really proved to be profitable. Lots of gold for sure in itty bitty pieces all around that area. Yesterday I went to drop off a bolt driver to a fella who bought a bunch of rock bolts from me to anchor up the ground in his tour mine. It's called The Phoenix Gold Mine and a popular tourist place and Idaho Springs. The mine does still have some good reserves he says, but turning it into a place for tourist to enjoy has been a lot less expensive and less risk than all the issues it takes to run illegitimate mining operation. The mine was originally claimed by his grandfather and he's a mining engineer who is also an instructor at the School of Mines. You can go look around under ground and the kids can learn to pan gold also. I might help him out during the off-season to put the rock anchors in, just to get myself a little exercise.

rginn · Oct 17, 2019

They had a profitable mining operation going on Cache Creek but probably one of the first environmental lawsuits ever shut mining down over a hundred years ago, and they hadn't cleaned the area out. Farther up the prospects are a little better, but that is a registered claim. I think I'll head back down here before it closes Nov. 1st a little better prepared. I was happy to note there wasn't any mica schist in the pan.

tamrock · Oct 17, 2019

There was also two fellas who had a claim back in the 80s just down river from Granite on a bend in the entry of the canyon. They were hand shoveling dirt off the banks into sluice and using spiral wheels. They said they also recovered some kind of other stuff from the black sands, which wasn't gold. Can't remember what it was they said, but I remember they said it was some high tech mineral, so it may have been some rare earth mineral. You could see them working down in there from around Stone Cabin.