The Prospectors QUILL

Transcription

1 The Prospectors QUILL October 2013 issue Don t forget Motor season is over October 1 st October 9 th general membership meeting will also be the board elections for the 2014 season. The following people have been nominated for board positions. President Ben Higley George Enterman Vice President George Enterman Secretary Tricia Enterman Treasurer Wayne Wittkopp 3 yr trustee Mike Hammond Stan Gurley Richard Cook 2 yr trustee Jason Allen Yam Richard Cook Calvin Johnson Nominations will still be accepted on the day of the election Please note that the election will be on Octobers 9 TH at the General Membership meeting and YOU MUST BE PRESENT TO VOTE

2 Denver Gem Show This year s show was a great success, our troughs were full from start to finish. We would like to thank all of the volunteers that were willing to give their time to this year event. The GPOC salutes you. Here are some pictures of future GPOC members and prospectors alike. What a way to end our Events for the 2013 season. There was an estimated 10,000 people that attended this year s show.

3 President Ben Big Ben Higley Vice President George Enterman Secretary Tricia Enterman Treasurer Wayne Wittkopp One Year Trustee Paul Harloff Board of Directors Two Year Trustee Dick Margeson Three Year Trustee Howard Divelbiss COMMITTEE CHAIRS Memberships Elise Pearce Raffle Wayne Wittkopp Claims Committee Jason Allen Big Nugget Prospecting Supplies A store in Canon City, CO. with a full line of new and good used gold prospecting equipment. I also have the Big Nugget Catalog with many gold prospecting items from Keene and Jobe to choose from. I've been building the "Big Nugget Brand" custom built gold prospecting equipment that has been designed to get you greater amounts of Colorado gold. I've taken the years of gold panning experience that I have, and combined that with what I have learned from many other prospectors. With that knowledge I have designed my very own Big Nugget Brand" of sluices using Gold Hog Matting. Owner, Douglas Lee (The Big Nugget) Canon City, Colorado call

4 Do you like Libraries? Ever wonder if anyone else had to tote around piles of textbooks for school? Or how metal miners and steamship operators learned their trade or operated their machines? Textbooks are not new, and they have been around in every shape and form, in every field, from the first appearance of the printing press. At the Western Museum of Mining and Industry, we have hundreds of textbooks from the nineteenth-century and on in our one of a kind library and archives collection!! We have textbooks on engineering, mechanics, metal mining, steam engines and even one entitled Underground Treasures: How and Where to Find Them! Now that should be of interest to anyone! Written by historian and professor of natural history, James Orton, in 1872, this textbook reveals such invaluable tid-bits as how to prospect with a jack-knife and how to maintain your steam-powered Diamond Drill! (You ll find an illustration from that text book to the left.) Your tablet reading devise can only reveal so much.books hold facts and wonders beyond what any computer device can impart! The smell, the feel of crumbling pages, the hand-written notes and unique old advertisements reveal what history really is. Your local Western Museum of Mining and industry contains the pages of history as well as the machines! Know your history? The mineral belt of Colorado is well known for its rich occurrence of minerals but Gold was the main attraction for the Gold Rush of the 1850's & 1860's. Gold is still being found today in this rich mineral belt and can be collected by panning many of Colorado's streams and rivers but it can also be found in small quantities along with the many associated minerals at the many abandoned gold mines in the state. Thanks to the early Colorado gold miners, there are many abandoned gold producing mines on public lands. These abandoned mines afford many opportunities for the novice to find their own gold and hunt for the many minerals associated with gold Colorado Gold Rush Most people know of the California gold rush and the historic 49'ers but Colorado also has a very storied and larger gold rush of its own. Gold was actually discovered in Colorado in 1849 and 1850 by prospectors heading to the California gold rush; however, the amounts of gold found in the South Platte river were not enough to keep these early Colorado prospectors from the much-hyped wealth of the California gold rush. It wasn't until 1859 that the Colorado gold rush was officially in full swing on the front range of Colorado around Denver and Pikes Peak in Colorado Springs. The Colorado gold rush was the largest in American history and these prospectors were called the 59'ers for the peak year of the rush. The boom continued until around 1861 when most of the placer gold had been panned. The focus then turned towards hard rock mining but in those early days, the technique for extracting the gold from the sulphide ores was not productive. This extraction process was later improved and prospectors began searching other parts of the state for gold ore deposits. It is estimated that Colorado has over 23,000 abandoned mines, many of which are gold mines on public lands and open to anyone who wishes to poke around.

5 The Haunted Mines Haunted House! September 20th through October 31st: Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights from "Dusk till Die"! On Location on the grounds at the Western Museum of Mining and Industry Do you enjoy a good fright or scary movie? Are you up for the challenge of Total Terror? Or do you feel like fighting your way out of Dante s Inferno? Well then, this fall you must visit the Western Museum of Mining and Industry s annual Haunted Mines haunted house! This one-of-a kind outdoor/indoor haunted house attraction is open from September 20th through Halloween nights, starting at dusk! Ride the Descender Hoist a death defying descent into the depths of the mines! Explore your way through a maze of tunnels that you may never get out of!!! And finally, if you make it that far, you ll have to crawl for your life to escape out of the vent shaft!

6 October Meetings October 3 rd Board Meeting Gold Hill Police Station 955 Moreno Avenue. CS, CO 7pm October 9 th General Membership Meeting Elks Lodge 3400 N. Nevada Ave. CS, CO 7pm

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