The Gold Prospectors Association of America lists eight Colorado counties with gold deposits. Good spots include Clear Creek, Fairplay Beach, and the Arkansas River, but don’t trespass on private mining claims. Most weekend panners find gold flakes, but there’s still elusive nuggets out there waiting.

Political Effects. Politically, the gold rush of 1858–59 inspired the creation of the Colorado Territory in 1861 and shifted the balance of power on the Colorado plains from the Cheyenne and Arapaho to the United States.

The prospectors provided the first major white population in the region, leading to the creation of many early towns, including Denver and Boulder, as well as many other smaller mining towns, some of which have survived (such as Idaho Springs and Central City) but many of which have become ghost towns.

After the areas surrounding Denver repeatedly produced disappointing amounts of gold, news that placer gold was discovered in the mountains west of the area in early 1859 quickly spread around the still new nation of America and far beyond.

Gold panning on rivers in Colorado is limited to public property only, or in areas where you have permission from the property owner to pan. The town of Fairplay allows gold panning along the South Platte River on the town “beach.” You must obtain a permit from the town, for which you will pay a nominal fee.

Gold Panning in Colorado

• #1 Clear Creek Canyon Open Space.
• #2 Arapahoe Bar.
• #3 Cache Creek Prospecting Site.
• #4 Steele Street Open Space Park.
• #5 Point Barr Public Area.
• #6 Rattlesnake Gulch.
• #7 Cherry Creek Public Area.
• #8 Grand Frontier Park.

South of Gilpin County is Teller County, which is the location of the Cripple Creek District. This district produces the most gold in Colorado and is one of the highest producing areas in the country.

From deep in the earth, diamonds are “brought to the surface in a peculiar igneous rock called kimberlite.” Kimberlites were discovered in northern Colorado in 1964. They can be found in several places, including west of Boulder; near Estes Park; and along the Colorado-Wyoming state line.

Gems and minerals are abundant throughout Colorado. You can dig for gems in Colorado in almost every part of Colorado and if you are lucky, you will be rewarded with a beautiful gemstone.

A wide variety of gems have been mined in Colorado. For a short time, Colorado had the only commercial diamond mine in North America. The state is also famous for its aquamarine, rhodochrosite, amazonite, smoky quartz, and other minerals.

Other notable gem-quality minerals that have been found in Colorado include garnet, tourmaline, lapis lazuli, quartz crystal, smokey and rose quartz, amethyst, turquoise, peridot, sapphire, and zircon. Agate, chalcedony, and jasper, three varieties of cryptocrystalline quartz, are also found in many places.

The North Star Mine at Cripple Creek is now Colorado’s only active turquoise source. At Cripple Creek, turquoise veins are found in altered diorite.

Opal Hill is located just South of Fruita Colorado and near the Horse thief State Wildlife Area. The hill gets its name from the Opal that can be found scattered over the terrain. The opal found in this area is called common opal and opalized wood.

A quarter of the states produce the majority of the gemstones in the country. In decreasing order of production value, Idaho, Arizona, Oregon, California, Montana, Arkansas, Maine, Colorado, North Carolina, Nevada, Texas and Utah produced 90 percent of the U.S.’s natural gemstones last year, the USGS said.

The United States Geological Survey reports that notable quantities of gem-quality agate, beryl, coral, diamond, garnet, feldspar, jade, jasper, opal, quartz, ruby, sapphire, shell, pearls, peridot, topaz, tourmaline, turquoise, and other gem materials are currently produced in the United States.

Texas

benitoite

A gem is a precious stone, that means, it has value. Arizona’s state gem, turquoise, is blue-green stone.

In 1970, lawmakers adopted the moonstone as the official state gem. Ironically, the moonstone, a form of the mineral feldspar, is not found naturally in Florida… nor was it found on the moon!

Texas Blue Topaz

Texas is known as the “Lone Star State” and is famous for its BBQ, live music, hot temperatures, and more.

1. Hot Weather.
2. Second Largest State.
3. Live Music Capital of the World.
4. Texas BBQ.
5. The Alamo.
6. The Lone Star State. The official nickname of Texas is ”The Lone Star State”.

Top 100 Jobs Relatively More Common in Texas Than Elsewhere

In 2019, Texas ranked fourth in the nation for being one of the friendliest states. The ranking curated by Big 7, an international travel blog, went on to state “Texas’ enthusiastic locals and greetings of ‘Howdy! ‘ everywhere you go have surely helped it secure its place among the friendliest states in America.

The word Friendship was adopted as the Texas state motto by the Forty-first Texas Legislature in February 1930. The word was probably chosen because the name Texas or Tejas was the Spanish pronunciation of a Caddo Indian word sometimes translated to mean “friends” or “allies.” See also TEXAS, ORIGIN OF NAME.

The Lone Star State

It became its own country, called the Republic of Texas, from 1836 until it agreed to join the United States in 1845.