Colorado Prospectors Research Tools

Clay Diggins

Silver Member
Nov 14, 2010
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The Great Southwest
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Well we finally got the Colorado claims map ready. It took quite a bit longer than we thought it would but we've changed things around for the Colorado claims. More about that just a little further down.

I'm announcing this map in it's own thread because of the interest shown by Colorado prospectors on TNet. Your best research time is coming up and Land Matters has a lot more than a claims map to get you the most out of your future prospecting trips. I'll add more to this thread over time so we can build a good set of resources for all the Colorado bound prospectors on TNet.

We've changed the Colorado claims maps quite a bit from our earlier claims maps. The Placer claims now have their own layer while the Lode, Millsite and Tunnelsite claims are on another map display layer. You can of course use either both, or neither on your map display.

Dolan Dave was one of the Land Matters beta testers and he asked if we could put the placer and lode claims on their own layers. It made sense and here is why:

There are 12,990 claims in Colorado (and on this map) as of October 21.

Of those:
10,708 are Lode Claims

1,545 are Placer Claims

720 are Millsite claims

17 are Tunnelsite claims

Yep Lode claims far outnumber placer claims! You will find this is true in all the mining states.
The plain fact of the matter is that most mines are not gold mines. People are mining all sorts of stuff - all the way from Asbestos to Zeolites. Even though some of those Lode mines are gold mines very few of them produce free placer gold.

The stuff you are looking for (placer gold) is some pretty rare stuff even in the world of mining. Even so there is plenty still out there for the small miner. Separating the non-gold, non placer areas out will give you a big head start on your prospecting research.

The map opens up with just the Placer claims displaying. They are outlined in yellow/red and now display the placer claim names on the map when you zoom in.

The Lode claims are displayed in light blue. You can add on the Lode claims or mix and match with Placer or Historical claims layer. Don't forget to check out the Land Status layer before digging too deep in an area. Some areas are private and always off limits without permission from the owners.

Of course your real research begins when you use the Information tool . The links there will give you all the basic information you need to get started finding one of those rich overlooked areas.

If you like the new claims maps layout let us know and we will thank Dolan Dave. If this is popular we'll make all the claims maps work this way. If you would like to see something changed or another feature send Land Matters an email.

Get the Colorado claims map HERE.

More to come soon. :thumbsup:

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The Colorado page is thumbnailed on my phone now. Thank you amazing folks for the incredible resource!!
 

You can get detailed information on mining districts and mines as well as geology and types of deposits in several different ways on Land Matters. There are more maps that can be a great assistance in your research and I'll go over some of those techniques soon. First let's look into the Library offerings, that's where the real meat is.

If you go to the Mining History Library and type in "Colorado" you will get access to several very useful research tools. I've made a partial list of my favorites below but you will find a lot more in the search results.

If you already have some of these research materials you might consider downloading the Land Matters version for a replacement. All the PDFs in the Land Matters Library have been OCR as well as vetted for completeness and respecting copyright. These are not google books with logos on every page and no way to search or copy from the text.

Land Matters PDFs are fully searchable with no restrictions on copying content. Many if not most of the books already have bookmarks to the more interesting pages. :thumbsup:

On to some favorites from the Library:

Geology and Ore Deposits of the Front Range & Geology and Ore Deposits of the Front Range, CO - Plates
is a must have for those folks in Denver and the populated half of Colorado. Gold in your backyard and this explains why and where. The book is 58 Mb download and the Maps (Plates) are 76 Mb. The maps are extremely detailed and very useful to prospecting research.

Early Records of Gilpin County, Colorado 1859-1861 - Mining Districts
This is one of my favorite records in the Library. I've been studying the formation and workings of early mining districts for years. This record is one of the best examples of early miner's self governance still around. 19 mining districts records are there in total. 19 Mb.
Learn what a real mining district is and how they governed themselves. A real eye opener!

The Official Manual of the Cripple Creek District, Colorado (1900)
This one is packed with information, maps and drawings! Over 300 active mining operations on Cripple Creek are described and mapped with extensive drawings of the underground workings. The definitive record of turn of the century Cripple Creek.

There is lots more in there. Dig around and you will probably find just what you need. If not let us know. We've still got more than a thousand books from our own library to process and upload so check back often.

That should keep you busy on those cold winter days! :laughing7:

Heavy Pans
 

what the @#$%!

No "Love" button?
Thanks so much!
 

Not wanting to bite the hand that feeds info, however I have discovered some issues with mobile device usage. Maps will not load completely. Is it an error on my end or are the maps not mobile phone friendly?
 

Geology and Ore Deposits of the Front Range & Geology and Ore Deposits of the Front Range, CO - Plates
is a must have for those folks in Denver and the populated half of Colorado. Gold in your backyard and this explains why and where. The book is 58 Mb download and the Maps (Plates) are 76 Mb. The maps are extremely detailed and very useful to prospecting research.

...a book worth some serious study. There is literally gold in people's backyard around metro Denver! (Sadly not under my house...I checked!)
 

Not wanting to bite the hand that feeds info, however I have discovered some issues with mobile device usage. Maps will not load completely. Is it an error on my end or are the maps not mobile phone friendly?
you have to turn off your pop up blocker..weird but that worked for me :)
 

Not wanting to bite the hand that feeds info, however I have discovered some issues with mobile device usage. Maps will not load completely. Is it an error on my end or are the maps not mobile phone friendly?

Thanks for the info ChrisinCO. :thumbsup:

We do test the maps on most, but not all, operating systems. It does work on all the phones, tablets and browsers we've tested. It may be your phone system is so new we haven't tested it but more than likely it's one of the two causes below.

Some pop up blockers will keep the map from opening the first time as Kevin pointed out.

If a map window is opening but not loading up a map it's probably either because your phone doesn't support javascript or you have it blocked in your phone's browser.

If it's neither of those problems it may be your mobile device is not compatible. If that's the case please PM me with your operating system and version and I'll see if we can make some changes on the server.

Heavy Pans
 

Thanks Kevin, now I have a headache and I just read the Cripple Creek section....lol. I will try the "kill the popup blocker" suggestion.
 

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