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Students on a guided tour inside the Argo Mill

School Trips

A Guided Trip Through the Gold Rush

The Gold Rush, Where It Happened

The Argo Tunnel ran 4.16 miles under Idaho Springs and drained the mines above it. The mill below sorted what came out. Both are still standing, and a guide walks your group through the whole route the ore took — about an hour and a half, with stops inside the tunnel and on the mill floors.

Every tour finishes at the gold/gem panning troughs, and every student goes home with real Colorado gold. It is state history, earth science and engineering in one visit, on the ground where it actually happened rather than in a diagram.

The trip is built for 4th grade, and it fits the rest of upper elementary just as well.

A guide leading a group through the Argo Mill Mill & Tunnel Tour Hands working a gold pan in creek water Gold/Gemstone Panning The Argo cable car climbing Virginia Canyon The Cable Car The Outpost at the top of the canyon The Outpost

What Teachers Ask

What it costs
$19.95 a student. Every student gets the historic mill and tunnel tour AND gold/gem panning, and takes home real Colorado gold.
Teachers go free
One free teacher or para educator per 25 students — 1 for 25–39, 2 for 40–59, 3 for 60–75. Their place covers the tour, not gold/gem panning.
Extra chaperones
$14.95 each. Adults get the mill and tunnel tour only — gold/gem panning is for the students.
How long
Under 50 students, about an hour and a half. 50 or more takes about two and a half hours, because we run the group through in two waves and hold both tour times for you.
Ages
Written for 4th grade and the Colorado history unit, and it works through upper elementary.
Group size
From a single class to a whole grade. Tell us the headcount and we will run the tours back to back.
Buses
There is room for a bus at the mill and parking for buses is free. Let us know how many and we will keep the space.
Lunch
Bring packed lunches and eat at the base. Tell us if you need somewhere to put them.
Weather
The mill and the tunnel are indoors, so the trip runs whatever the weather does.
Accessibility
The mill floors and the gold/gem panning area are reachable; the tunnel floor is uneven in places. Tell us what your group needs and we will work it out.
Cable car
Not part of school trips at the moment — this is the mill, the tunnel and the gold/gem panning.
Smaller than 25?
Book online now! and come as a group — the free teacher places start at 25 students.
Changed plans
Cancel up to 72 hours before for a full refund. Closer than that, call us — we are flexible.

Standards It Speaks To

What the day covers

Colorado history
The 1859 rush, what it did to this valley, and the town it left behind.
Earth science
Ore, veins and the rock the tunnel was cut through, with samples in hand.
Engineering
How a gravity mill sorts rock, and why the tunnel was driven where it was.
Labour and community
Who did this work, where they came from, and what it cost them.

Plan a Trip

Tell us about your school trip.

We will respond within 24 hours — or call us at (983) 955-8866.

Under 25 kids?

Book the Mill & Tunnel Tour on the normal booking page and come as a group.

Book online now