Geology Museum at the Colorado School of Mines

Do you see the big letter "M" that sits at 6,900 feet, towards the top side of Mt. Zion in Golden, Colorado? It is made of whitewashed rocks and measures 104 feet X 107 feet.  It was designed by the Colorado School of Mines professor, Joseph Francis O'Byrne in 1908 as a descriptive geometry exercise, and he succeeded in creating this letter that does not appear distorted from any angle. It has become a welcoming sign for the Colorado School of Mines --a prestigious public research university devoted to engineering and applied science. It has the highest admissions standards of any public university in Colorado and is among the highest of any public university in the United States.

All photos and photo collages will enlarge, for easier viewing, if clicked on.

Founded in 1874 the Colorado School of Mines is a world-class research institution and contains a very interesting Geology Museum which acts as the Colorado state repository for its mineral heritage. Arthur Lakes, a world-class geologist of his day, put together the first collection of geological treasures for the school when it opened, and the collections have grown through the years to over 50,000 specimens!

The new museum building was completed in 2003, and displays gemstones, minerals, gold, silver, and copper in their original form, fossils, meteorites, and mining artifacts, in its well-lit clear glass display cases and shelves.

The remarkable mining murals above the collections are by Irwin Hoffman.

There were many display cases of rare and valuable Colorado Minerals, such as the red-colored Rhodochrosite and Tetrahedrite that you can see in the middle of the display above, or the Turquoise that is in the top left.

More Colorado minerals were beautiful pieces of Amanozite and Quartz, like the blue/black specimen in the back center, and Microcline on the back right.

There was also an entire room full of examples of Gold mined from different areas in Colorado and also around the world.  It was easy to see how this element created the Gold Rush frenzy in the middle 1800s both in the mountains of California and Colorado.

There were large specimens of rare minerals from around the world--in order from top left: Amanizite, Schorl on Albite/Cleavelandite, 

bottom left to right:

Amethyst,  Almandine, Columbite on Albite.

There were beautiful examples of pink Rhodochrosite, and objects that were made from it.

Two pieces that really impressed me were the "Colorado Fire" necklace and the gem-studded crown that is worn by "Miss Colorado" pageant winners and stored for the rest of the year at the Geology Museum in a protective safe.

There was a walk-through mine exhibit that contained this amazing ultraviolet mineral display! With the flick of a switch, the minerals on the left would glow with their natural fluorescence under short and long-wave ultraviolet light.

The museum also displays a Moon Rock from the Apollo 17 Moon Mission.

We saw many examples of meteorites...

..and also a wonderful fossil collection.

The "Cave Bear" skull, and Mastodon molar and tusk, were fascinating to see. Mastodons once roamed in my area, as teenagers found both a piece of a mastodon jaw and tusk in a stream in my neighborhood.

There was even a fossilized dinosaur bone in the Geology Museum.  This photo of my granddaughter and husband touching it is one of my favorite photos from our visit to the Geology Museum. Our little miss has become quite interested in dinosaurs recently, especially after we visited Dinosaur Ridge--click here to read that post if you missed it. 

The Geology Museum also includes an outdoor geologic trail, that features seven outcrops with various geologic and paleontological points of interest, including dinosaur tracks, logs, and leaves. We did not go to this trail on this visit, but saved it for the future, as we knew we'd like to visit the museum again. The museum exhibits change 20% annually, so there will always be something new to see.

The Colorado School of Mines Geology Museum is located at 1310 Maple Street, Golden, Colorado. Admission is free, but donations are accepted. It is open Monday-Saturday 9 AM to 4 PM and Sunday 1 PM to 4 PM.  It is closed on certain legal and school holidays call 303 273 3816 for information. 

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