Sunday, November 13, 2022

Colorado Mines Museum of Earth Science Part 1


Mines Museum, located at 1310 Maple Street, in the Colorado School of Mines campus in Golden, Colorado had its beginnings in 1874 with the collection of geologist, Arthur LakesIt includes the historic Colorado State Mineral Collection created by the Bureau of Mines in the 1890s. The museum serves as the state repository for Colorado’s mineral heritage. It showcases the most extensive public collection of minerals from Colorado, along with examples from around the USA and the world, as well as two goodwill moon rocks collected during the Apollo 17 mission.



My husband and I arranged a visit to the museum with friends in October.  It was the second time that we had visited the museum-- click here to see that post--and we knew the friends who had not been here would enjoy the visit. 




If you click on each photo x 2 it will enlarge to its fullest size for easier viewing of the labels in the displays of minerals, fossils, meteorites, and gems.

There were so many displays on two floors, so I decided to make this a two-part blog post so I can include most of my photos.






I was always a rock hound, an avid collector of rocks when I was a child and I wish I had a museum such as this one to visit when I was young, as I might have pursued geology as a career!  




 I still pick up rocks from different locations so that I can learn more about them. Colorado has a very diverse geologyso I'm constantly fascinated by all that I see as we travel around the state.





The Mines Museum is housed in a newly built building that was completed in 2003.  It also displays gold, silver, and copper in their original form, fossils, meteorites, and mining artifacts, in its well-lit clear glass display cases and shelves.




There is 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.




The Mines Museum attracts 30,000 visitors a year!





The Mines Museum has more than 2,000 items currently on display and more than 40,000 total items in its collection, so there will always be something new to see. They regularly rotate exhibits to provide fresh educational experiences and displays for their visitors to enjoy.




I particularly enjoyed seeing the display of these North Table Mountain rocks and minerals. as seen in the collage above. There was a view of North Table Mountain in the distance from the window next to the display. My husband and I hiked to the top of that mountain a few summers ago and it was like entering another world! You can see that post on this link.




The museum also has Mineral ID days where one can bring in objects from your private collection to have a geologist identify them.  Those days are posted on the website.





One of the best things about the museum is that Admission is FREE!

Regular Hours: Mon. – Sat. 9AM-4PM and Sun. 1PM-4PM

(CLOSED JULY 4TH, CHRISTMAS DAY, AND NEW YEAR’S DAY)




All groups of 10 or more visitors are required to schedule their visit at least 48 hours in advance. If you do not schedule your visit in advance, you may not be admitted into the museum due to current capacity limits.  See the website for more information.





The Museum also offers paid guided tours for groups of 15 people or less. For groups larger than 15 people, please email museumevents@mines.edu.  See the website for more information.






Click on and enlarge more photos to view just a small sample of the displays  ...






















Weren't they all so beautiful?

In my next post, I'll show the moon rocks, meteorites, fossils, and the sparkling Miss Colorado Crown containing over 600 gemstones and 21 diamonds that we also viewed at the museum.  I hope you'll come back to see more!


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10 comments:

William Kendall said...

I would enjoy visiting this museum. Terrific shots!

eileeninmd said...

Hello,
What a wonderful exhibit and museum. I would like to explore this museum too.
The rock collection is amazing, so many pretty displays. My son used to collect rocks. Great tour and photos. Take care, have a great new week!

Sharon Wagner said...

Yes, fascinating! What an extensive variety. They would look right at home on another planet. Otherworldly.

Penny Carlson said...

What a wonderful place to visit! When I was a child I remember getting a rock kit as a Christmas present. It had different varieties of rock glued to a piece of cardboard, descriptions of the rocks and a little hammer to use when out exploring for rocks.

Barbara Rogers said...

Isn't it amazing how people have mined so many different minerals and devised so many uses for them! I'd have read each display as I went through that museum...then forgotten everything. It's happened in several other mineral museums before...just some kind of gap in my memory process.

Barb said...

I was a rock collector as a girl and still keep an eye out for good specimens. The museum had an awesome collection. Great photos, Pat.

ellen b. said...

Amazing diversity of shapes and color.

Jeanie said...

that looks like a lovely museum. I'm fond of rocks and minerals although I know little about them and their collection looks quite impressive!

Lowcarb team member said...

What a lovely museum and so good it's a free entry.
I think the rock collection is amazing, great displays. One of our sons used to collect rocks/gemstones, I know he would love to visit!

Enjoy the new week ahead.

All the best Jan

Angie said...

Pat - belated Happy Thanksgiving! I was in Ohio visiting family. The original purpose of the trip was wedding dress shopping for our daughter - so much fun! And successful! Of course, we wrapped a bunch of other activities around it ... So much for which we are grateful!

So I am catching up on blogs - I can see why the visit to this museum will take two posts - so MANY incredible photos - I kept enlarging them and looking at the labels - some of them just don't look real! Abd free?? How wonderful is that?