The short answer
If you like history, machinery or the Colorado Gold Rush, yes. The tour is one hour and guided. You walk through a mill that stopped working in 1943 and left most of its machinery standing. Gold panning is included. If you only want views, skip the tour and take the cable car.
- Length
- One hour, guided
- Price
- Adults $32.95. Seniors 65+ and military $29.95. Kids 6-17 $19.95. Kids 5 and under $4.95.
- Includes
- Gold panning
- Where
- 2350 Riverside Drive, Idaho Springs, CO (I-70 Exit 241)
- Temperature
- Cool inside the mountain all year. Bring a layer.
What you'll see
You start at the tunnel portal where the ore carts came out. From there you follow the rock down through the mill: crushers, stamp batteries and shaker tables. The mill was built at the tunnel mouth so gravity could do the work. Ore went in at the top and moved down seven levels.
Gold panning is included with the tour, with real water and real pans. Most people find flake gold, plenty find garnets, and you keep what you find.
The history in four facts
- George Jackson found placer gold at the mouth of Chicago Creek in January 1859. It was the first significant strike in what became Colorado.
- Miners could reach the gold, but flooding underground was the hard problem. The answer was a drainage tunnel, driven 4.16 miles into the mountain.
- That tunnel took the better part of two decades to dig. It drained and served more than a hundred mines.
- A flood in the tunnel in 1943 ended the operation. The machinery stopped where it stood, and most of it is still there.
Who it's for
A good fit: history fans, families with kids who like to dig and pan, and anyone who wants a cool, dry activity on a hot or windy day.
Maybe not: if what you want is a view and a ride, the cable car to Miner's Point is the better pick. To do both, the Gold Package bundles the cable car, mill tour, gold panning, all-day parking and a food credit.