Goldfindr

Gold in Montana — the public record, read

Everything below comes straight from the federal record (USGS MRDS) — every documented gold occurrence, prospect and producer in Montana, mapped and readable for free. Not the famous names retold: the actual filed records, including the quiet ground between the famous districts.

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Montana by the numbers

3,071recorded gold occurrences
1,439past & active gold producers
810recorded as placer ground
10,271mineral records of all kinds

Principal recorded commodities: Gold (3,071) · Silver (1,571) · Copper (888) · Lead (760) · Sand and Gravel, Construction (555) · Gold, Silver (383).

Where to find gold in Montana — county by county

The counties with the most recorded gold occurrences — each links to its own page and into the live map of that ground (claims, creeks, roads and geology on):

CountyGold recordsProducers
Madison County map →497320
Jefferson County map →331195
Granite County map →282113
Lewis and Clark County map →281152
Park County map →25838
Beaverhead County map →21688
Powell County map →205112
Broadwater County map →20268
Mineral County map →10748
Silver Bow County map →9965

Recorded medium & large producers

Sites the federal record lists with medium or large production — proven ground worth a careful, legal look at the country around it:

SiteCountyStatusRecorded size
Bear Creek PlacersGranitePast ProducerMedium
Butte DistrictSilver BowPast ProducerMedium
Helena PlacersLewis and ClarkPast ProducerMedium
Kearsarge MineMadisonPast ProducerMedium
Kidd MineMadisonPast ProducerMedium
Lincoln Gulch DistrictLewis and ClarkPast ProducerMedium
Ninemile Creek DistrictMissoulaProducerMedium
Pioneer District-MontanaPowellPast ProducerMedium

What this can — and can't — tell you

The public record shows where gold was documented, claimed and produced. It cannot tell you what's left, whether a specific creek still carries color, or that any spot will pay. What it CAN do is stack the odds: known sources upslope, the creeks that drain them, what's already claimed, and the bedrock — read together. Always verify claim status with BLM and land rules before you dig. Information, not advice.

The free map shows every dot above. Membership opens the layers that turn dots into a plan — favorability at working zoom, active claims, land ownership, geology and the creeks that drain the known sources. The first 7 days are free.

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Gold by state

Learn the method

The dots are the record. The method is how you read them: