Pikes Peak Pebble Pups

Pikes Peak Pebble Pups

Saturday, May 26, 2012

Pebble Pup Field Trip to the Anchoria Leland Mine

Post card of Anchoria Leland around 1900. 
High above Cripple Creek on the side of Gold Hill is the towering headframe of the Anchoria Leland Mine. This historic mine is a landmark with a magnificent view of the mountains and the city of Cripple Creek below. The mine was owned by the Anchoria-Leland Mining and Milling Company in 1892, and produced over $3 million worth of gold, making the mine one of the great producers. The Colorado Springs Mineralogical Society Pebble Pup group toured the historic mining operations of the Anchoria Leland and checked out the headframe, hoist house, blacksmith shop, and the ore sorting house.

Anchoria Leland headframe today.
This exclusive field trip is made possible by the Teller County Focus Group and the Victor Cripple Creek & Victor Gold Mining (CC&V). The mine is located on property that is not accessible to the public at any other time. This area is rich in gold ore and CC&V will begin to mine at the site. soon.  The headframe and surface plant will be taken down and moved.

The Pebble Pups had lunch together in the Victor City Park and then explored a trail behind Victor, Colorado. The group stopped at Stratton’s Independence Mine and then continued down a trail where excellent specimens of augen gneiss and gold ore were collected.



Hoist house at Anchoria Leland.
Ore sorting house at the mine.
Blacksmith shop.
View of Cripple Creek from the Anchoria Leland Mine.

Pebble Pups and Junior members pause for a photo after their hike on this trail.
The famous Independence Mine is the background.
 The next stop was the commercial quarry at Florissant where the Pebble Pups and their parents spent the rest of the afternoon collecting 34 million-year-old plant and insect fossils.  Superb specimens were found by all of the Pups and had to carry out their specimens in boxes.  The day  ended with everyone saying goodbye.  This was an excellent field trip.
Luke is splitting the lake shales to find the hidden fossils.
Gavin relaxes on a swing showing one of his specimens.
Reid shows some of his fossils.
Gavin is carefully examining lake bed shales formed during the Eocene.
View of a fossil spider. Scale is in centimeters.
Gavin is in the foreground working on his shales and filling his collection boxes.
His brother Reid is busy finding fossils in the background.
Zack finds cattails, leaves, and a pine needle from an extinct pine tree.
Reid collected many fossils at the quarry.









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Welcome! This is the gateway to adventure and discovery

Through this blog pebble pups and junior members of the Colorado Springs Mineralogical Society can access their lessons, work on assignments and projects, and receive details about field trips in the Pikes Peak Region. This Internet program is also suitable for young people who are interested in Earth science but do not live near a rock club or gem and mineral society or for young people anywhere who want a deeper dive into these topics. The only requirement is that all participants must be members of the Colorado Springs Mineralogical Society and must fill out the CSMS membership form (under important websites) and send their registration and membership fee in. Steven Veatch is the senior instructor and will need an email from you with your name, address, phone number, and permission from your parents to participate in this program.