Fairplay, Colorado

The Gold Fields Of Colorado

For gold prospecting, take highway 285 South from Denver to South Park, the Center of Colorado's Gold Fields. This 900 square mile "park" at 10,000 feet above sea level, is surrounded by the highest peaks in the Rocky Mountains.

This is where nature put the gold when the mountains were formed. This area was the home to many wild gold camps that are now ghost towns. Only the foundations and a few broken down buildings are visible to remind us of these boom towns.

Alma, Buckskin Joe, Eureka, Saint Elmo and many others have fallen victim to over a hundred years in the harsh elements.

Fairplay is located in the middle of South Park and is the home of many incredible tales of the wild west. Take the time to visit the Fairplay Hotel, the site of the murder of Thomas Bennett gunned down by John J. Hoover in 1879.

Hoover by all accounts was barely tolerable when sober and was a virtual terror when "in the cups." Hoover was arrested by Sheriff Ifinger and a year later was sentenced by Judge Thomas M. Bowan to 3 years in the State Penitentiary.

The town was outraged and a lynch mob of 10-20 men broke into the jail and hung Hoover from the second story of the courthouse.

The Old Courthouse In Fairplay, Colorado

The Judge promptly packed up and left, never to return.

Visit www.LearnGoldProspecting.com for more information on where recreational prospectors find gold!