When Morlang retired four years ago, he decided it was time to act on the gold fever he caught as a child. He was gifted a gold panning starter kit, had plenty of enthusiasm, but soon became discouraged while trying to learn where to prospect legally. That is until he “hit gold” (pun intended) when he found the book Finding Gold in Colorado written by Singel.
“The best way to learn to gold pan is next to someone who already knows how to do it or by watching a good YouTube video,” says Singel. “My book is not a ‘how to’ but a ‘where to.’”
Although Singel had spent his working years in Denver, he successfully panned for gold in urban creeks. He, like Morlang, became increasingly frustrated with finding legal prospecting locations. After retiring to Silverthorne, Singel began intense research on the many layers of government in relationship to land usage and the various rules according to what entity a piece of property fell under — city, county, state, federal, BLM, Forest Service, etc.
Following thousands of miles crisscrossing Colorado, Singel’s book Finding Gold in Colorado was published in 2018. The book focuses on gold prospecting sites in historic, urban and remote locations across Colorado.
Prospectors using Singel’s book as a guide can be confident they are prospecting legally on land which is non-claimable and does not involve mineral trespassing. He said other prospecting books are written by geologists, which tell you where gold is but not whether you can dig there, setting the naive hobbyist up for trouble.
“When I wrote the book I thought I would be writing about a couple dozen sites, 50 if I was lucky, and 100 was my fantasy; I was amazed that the book ended up featuring over 180,” explains Singel. “I’m now working on a sequel including 70 more obscure places. It’s really humbling to know the number of sites out there.”
Morlang credits Singel’s book for his passion- turned-hobby moving forward. He found sites near Uravan in the book and began going several times a week, eventually buying two claims in the area.
“Doubting there was anything closer to home, I can’t believe the gold I’ve found at the Fruita State Park on the Colorado River just two miles from my house,” adds Morlang. “There’s another site in the book near the Redlands Parkway bridge in Grand Junction.”
