Terryall Gold
On July 19, 1859, fourteen men ventured from the goldfields of Colorado’s front range into the uncharted interior of South Park basin. Just below the Continental Divide, they dipped their pans into the swirling waters of Tarryall Creek. What they discovered triggered a stampede, a rush that would reverberate for 125 years. What did they find? What remains?
Geologist, archeologist, historian, and discoverer Mark S. Hanson chronicles Tarryall’s miners — the fortunes, failures, legends, and mysteries of persistent and hopeful explorers spanning twelve decades. Today, the faint patina of their toil adds to a stunning landscape. Echoes of a golden boom are now hushed.
Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consume and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
Mt. 6: 19-21
More about Mark Hanson
Mark grew up on a dairy farm in southwestern Minnesota. Missing the Colorado gold rush by exactly 101 years, Mark instead prospected the neighboring fields and gravel pits for shark’s teeth, agates, and arrowheads. Graduating from the University of North Dakota with a B.S. in Geology and a minor in Archeology, Mark furthered his education with a M.S. in Geology from the Colorado School of Mines. Joining a generation of “black gold” prospectors and explorationists who would ultimately bring brief energy independence to the United States, Mark enjoyed a 30-year career searching for oil, gas, and helium across the Gulf Coast, West Texas, and the western U.S.
In 2015, Mark and his wife, Lenora, bought a cabin on the Fortune placer in Tarryall Valley, where they enjoy hosting their children, family, and friends. An avid hiker, fisherman, and mining historian, Mark soon found himself mapping the collapsing mines, cabins, and flumes of Tarryall. Inspired by an elderly prospector and miner living in the valley, Mark began to chronicle the lore of the place, which ultimately led to “Tarryall Gold.” Mark is the proud owner of the Jefferson #4 and Piccadilly patented claims on Silverheels’ northeast ridge, which contain four gold mines, two of which are completely caved in, undoubtedly hiding immense treasure, and two of which were within inches of making major discoveries when they were terminated around 1910.
Notes to the Author
Thanks so much! First for your book and then for the tour. I’ve been a lifelong student of the DSP&P [Denven, South Park & Pacific RR] and have made numerous trips over Boreas retracing the rail line. I’ve looked across the valleys from Windy Point many times, and I never dreamed there was so much mining activity. Your book was a huge eye-opener for the region. Beautifully done! I particularly enjoyed reading about the main characters, i.e., Peobody, Fortune, Hall, Link, etc. All that activity was going on while the South Park line was freighting goods and people through the district and over the pass.
–Ric Jung
I wanted to thank you for your tour. You did such a great job with your book that everything was pretty much as I expected. It was still good to get a bird’s eye view. Mostly, I wanted to say that I was amazed by your book. It was so informative and comprehensive. It totally exceeded my expectations. The research and time that you put into the book made it exceptional, in my opinion. For me, you made history come alive.
–John Samples
I have dipped my gold pan into the Tarryall, and within the grains of black sand (newsprint), I have found a great amount of color (informative material) that caused me to continue panning (reading). In short, I have greatly enjoyed your book, Tarryall Gold. Great to see a bit of geology mixed in with the history of the area. So many folks have no idea what took place before the “old days.”
Your book sure could have saved me some blind leads, some 55 years or so ago, as I was building our cabin between Sacramento and Pennsylvania Creeks and traipsing along the railroad grade over Boreas.
–Tom Klinger, author of Colorado & Southern Narrow Gauge Memories Series Books
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