The Phoenix Gold Mine
Near Idaho Springs, Colorado
Tucked up a side road south of town is the Phoenix Gold Mine, one of the few places where you can still walk into a genuine hard rock gold mine and see how it was done. The claim was first recorded in August of eighteen seventy one by a group of prospectors, and later that year it was bought by a group of Cornish miners from Cornwall, England. These men were so common in the mines of the American West that they earned a nickname, the Cousin Jacks, prized for their skill at working hard rock underground.
Like most small mines, the Phoenix rode the ups and downs of the gold price. It sprang back to life in the nineteen thirties after President Franklin Roosevelt raised the price of gold, then was forced to close during the Second World War when the government halted gold mining. The mine has a knack for coming back, which suits its name.
In nineteen seventy four, the owners' children, David and Cyndi Mosch, found a new vein while prospecting near the main Phoenix vein. Family owned and operated for decades, the Phoenix now offers underground tours where visitors can see gold ore still in the rock and try their hand at panning.
