| Volume 1 Number 1 | December 15, 1995 |
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Volume 1 Number 1 December 15, 1995
THE OFFICIAL PUBLICATION OF THE GOLD PROSPECTORS OF THE ROCKIES
hank you!
The first meeting of the Gold Prospectors of the Rockies was a riot!Actually we managed to prevent it from coming to that. We had 107 people ... we had prepared for 40! That won't happen again! 
As acting President I want to thank you again. It's really obvious that the desire to learn about small-scale gold prospecting is alive and well. While I have a chance I want to wish you all a happy holiday!
The first order of business, at the meeting, was the establishment of a "Claims Committee". Ken Oyler and Jim Lazar will head it.
We have many members that signed on to help find a claim for our members. Thanks to all of you!
There is Good News and Bad News!
The good news is Jim Lazar got anumber of volunteers for the "All Girl Bikini Panning Team". 
The bad news is two were men! When they found out that camouflage bikinis were not allowed they dropped out! (Just kidding)
Seriously...the January meeting will be the election of officers to the club. Please give some thought to the people you want to lead this club in the coming year!
The committee heads will be appointed by the elected officers, that comprise the Executive Board, after the January election.
Our thanks to our guest speaker, at the November meeting. I have had several calls wanting to know if in fact his product, or the use of latitude and longitude, was really necessary to register a claim. No it is not necessary. One of the workshops we will have will be on what is necessary to register a claim.
DECEMBER MEETING WILL BE HELD AT
1301 Union St. Lakewood, at the Daniels Center. Meeting will start at 7PM SHARP!
The Center is 4 blocks West of Simms on 13th Ave.
Needed
An old workable,(play only O.K.). VCR. We want to work over a number of VCR tapes to add to the club library. Call Steve if you can help.
DECEMBER OUTING:
The December outing will be Sunday December 3rd. Please note it's Sunday not Saturday! We will meet at Clear Creek, WEATHER PERMITTING! At 10:30 A.M. at mile marker 262.5, about 2 miles past tunnel 3. Park on right side across from creek. We have a portable enclosure, by the creek , with the club banner on it. Sign in first. You must sign a
waiver before working the creek. If you are going to bring a hi-banker or suction dredge!
You must have your permit with you!Coffee & Cookies 
The club will not buy coffee or cookies, from club dues. A donation box will be available, and when the cost of coffee exceeds the donations it will be discontinued! If you want to donate coffee or cookies, for those drinking it, it will be appreciated.
I will conduct a beginners class on gold prospecting at the next meeting. It will be limited to beginners only Hand-outs will be provided.
Since the first meeting I have been asked the following questions. Please understand that I am acting as president till we elect officers so the answers I give may not be the same as those of our elected president:
Are we affiliated with the GPAA? ... NO!
Are we affiliated with the Springs club? ... No
Will we have club equipment for member use? ... With time and money ... Yes
Would we consider a lode claim? ... No
Can we get Clear Creek claims? ... Probably not. There is a real problem with the legality of most of the patented claims in Clear Creek. That is not to say we can't find a valid claim there.
Will we learn about metal detecting? ... For gold, Yes. There will be a metal detecting group formed that may have separate field trips to practice their skills.
Will all the field trips be on Clear Creek? ... No. We will visit Fairplay Beaches, the O'Neill property, the Arkansas River (Point Bar), North Tarryall Creek and more!
I attended the Park County Mining Association meeting recently and it's really obvious that the political climate towards mining is about as low as any time in history. It is really up to us to provide a voice to protect what we have left and work hard at re-establishing mining in the U.S. We have a really good dredge permit system here, compared to California, and we need to work at protecting it. For those of you who are dredging and hi-banking without permits, or are not following the Corps of Engineers rules, you are only hurting those that are following the rules.
We have dredge permits [forms] available at each meeting and will publish the rules and regulations in a coming edition of the newsletter.
If you have any gold related articles for sale or trade call me at home. We will list them in the January newsletter.
The library should be available in January, at the meeting. You can check-out, for a month, a number of books, magazines and video tapes on gold prospecting. If you have anything to donate to the library bring it to the December meeting.
If you have a suitable door prize, to
donate, please call Steve or bring by the shop.
I have enclosed membership cards for those people that did not get them at the first meeting. If you did not receive your card , in this newsletter ... or at the meeting, see me at the December meeting. Also please check the membership roster to see that your name, address and zip are correct. I have a number of applications that are not complete. If you do not get the newsletter this may be the reason.
CLUB CAPS We have ordered club caps. With any luck they will be here by meeting time. The caps will provide member identity, on field trips, and more important they will provide extra money to apply toour claims! Please support this cause ... buy a hat!!!! 
Acting Officers;
PRESIDENT: Peter J CallinicosVICE PRESIDENT:
Steve CychoszSECRETARY TREASURER:
Diana CychoszMEMBERSHIP CHAIRPERSON:
open
CLAIMS COMMITTEE:
Jim Lazar and Ken OylerNEWSLETTER EDITOR:
Peter Callinicos and Charles HawkinsLIBRARIAN:
EDUCATION CHAIRPERSON:
FIELD TRIPS
Charles Hawkins will make arrangements to tour a gold mining property in Cripple Creek. I believe this is a "leaching" process and it's important to understand how the process works and how it works safely. If you believe all you read about leaching we would all be dead or on our way!
We will tour the Phoenix and Argo Mine in early spring. I'm making arrangements for the School of Mines Museum, and we will visit the Museum at Leadville. We will try to tour the museums and mines for half a day and then pan the other half.
If any of you have suggestions on other places we should visit let one of the Officers know.
The next workshop will be in January, weather permitting ... Bet me!
We had a number of new members show up for the December outing.... I apologize for not being able to get the newsletter out prior to the outing but we had not found a meeting location and I could not mail till the location was firm.
Steve is about ready to go into production of a small Hi-Banker/Dredge. We saw a proto
type working at the outing. This is a great beginners machine with plenty of capacity. If you are considering a Hi-Banker/Dredge Combo please stop in and look at this one at Colorado Gold Resources, 7811 West Mississippi.
CLAIMS
We will have a report from the Claims Committee on their progress at the next meeting.
I met with Antra Resources, in South Park, and looked at their two claims. The "Who No.1" is a dry claim that would require moving lots of rock and dirt ... not suited for our needs. The "Who No. 2" has water, is rather narrow, but might be a possibility. We will wait to see what the Claims Committee thinks about them.
My feeling is a lease is better than an outright purchase as we could drop the lease at the end of the term and move on, if necessary.
There are lots of claims available, to register, but it will be spring before we can look at and sample the various ones. Again if any of you have any ideas as to area or know someone who has property that we might get on please contact the Claims Committee or give me a call!
I would like to run an ad in the Fairplay Flume seeking a lease and/or buy agreement on a placer claim. We will discuss this at the December meeting. The "Flume" covers Baily, Jefferson, Como, Fairplay, Alma and Breckenridge.
RALSTON CREEK
Ralston Creek has been designated, by the Colorado State Historical Society, as the official site that gold was first found in Colorado. This is the first recorded location on record.
The Gold Prospectors of the Rockies may take part in an official ceremony, next spring, in Arvada to commemorate a park.
Arvada is building on the original site. We will show people how to pan for gold and demonstrate techniques of that era. Period dress will be necessary ... more on this as we go along.
See you at the December meeting!
Pete!