Reviews of Big Thunder Gold Mine (Tourist Attraction)

Kathy Gibble

Very interesting. A real gold mine. We learned how the men worked the mine. Got to see gold in the stone wall and got to pan for gold. Our 18 year old granddaughter was with us and enjoyed it.

Stacy Kostelnik

The history. And of course the boys loved panning for gold

Steve Short

We sat on their quiet deck and had a couple beers

Brad Dixon

Awesome tour and really cool panning experience. Guide was very good!

Tony Sines

Had a great time with the tour and panning for gold. Worth the time and cost.

Myka Kelly

Good place for kids

Melissa Darr

Wonderful time! We signed up for claim panning and was treated to a labor intensive digging adventure. Gorgeous creek bed where we mined and panned. Yes, we found some Black Hills gold. Excellent and knowledgeable guides that shared their "how to" approach to panning for gold. No complaints. We highly recommend.

jos ki

It was entertaining to see how things were done back in the day and was fun to mine for gold

Jeffrey Sandy

Kids found lots of gold after the lesson in panning. Rattlesnake Randy is the best!

Kevin McGuire

We walk in, place was dead, one group of 6 was just ordering, we had 10 people. Waitress said oh boy, we have such a small grill it will be awhile. It took 20 minutes to get drinks, its been 30 minutes and she just told us our food just hit the grill. Bathroom had no paper towels, I told her, yup I know!!!! Ill never be back.

colleen Homb

Good tour and the kids loved panning for gold. Staff was very helpful.

C Mig

Excellent tour. Jerry best guide lots information

Veronica Madrigal

this was the first time visiting Big Thunder Mine, and we are very happy to rate it a 5 star!!! Both my partner and I had a magnificent time mining for gold and gems, as well as doing the guided tour. The top reason for giving it a 5 star review, is mainly because of the kind and friendly staff. The gift shop was mainly serviced by young people who were respectful and helpful when it came to moving our tour time because i felt sick for a moment. The gentlemen who gave us the tour was sweet, willing to answer questions, informative, and very knowledgeable (mind you this was probably his 20th tour for the day, and was still pleasant). We encountered NO PROBLEMS with bringing our dog along the tour as long as the rest of the group was ok with it. the fact they are welcoming to pets and that they are also mindful of others was very impressive. we panned outdoors for hours without any worries about our dog being with us or even being inside the gift shop. The pricing was very reasonable for being a tourist attraction, very well worth it, specially when we encountered good service. The restaurant was also very kind and friendly, with indoor and outdoor sitting. I asked them for a container to use to give my dog water and with no hesitation was given a container and ice water. They have plenty of parking and well set stations that gave enough space to pan without feeling crammed up with each other. The tour guide offers to take group pictures, and the opportunity to get into a mining bin for pics. If i had to be picky about things the only few suggestions i would have for them, is to consider additional restrooms to the businesses. The kitchen could be a little faster about the service, and the tour guides could use a little more humorous or interactive (a personal preference). it would help to have more interactive lesson with all the information that is being given in a short period of time. Lastly: give these guys a TIP! I did not think to tip our guide as we walked out, but good thing my partner seen the sign and mentioned tipping the young men. The entire group walked out without tipping him, and I feel the signs are not very well visible as a reminder.

George & Meg Mar

Sarcasm is very disrespectful and not a great way to greet your tour group (it is a good way to lose any tips you might have gotten though). The kids enjoyed the gold panning afterwards.

Will Henry

Big Thunder was a real 1880's gold mine, a lot of fun and they will teach you how to pan for gold!

Lura sandy

We took the tour through the gold mine and then learned how to pan for gold by the great Rattlesnake Randy. Staff were friendly and our guide Allysa was knowledgable and funny. My 12 year and 16 year enjoyed it and we would recommend.

Sanford Ader

Go here every year for haunting at keystone

Ralph Kunz

Great people , love the tour , lots of fun

Brandi Lowe

Nice place to relax while your family goes on the mine tour.

Scott Ames

The only thing that we did was pan for gold and had fun. They gave us a good demonstration and then let us stay as long as we wanted.

Josh Reichenberger

Wasn't much gold in the pans but it was still fun!

a'chi limm

Nice place to learn about gold mine. Friendly staffs.

Michelle Forster

We did the 4 hr gold pan tour. Great experience with Trent. Book your trip online because the ladies in the gift shop said they would get us booked and return our call which they didn't.

Jessie Roe

Friendly staff and tour guides. The mine tour was fun and interesting. My son loved gold panning. Next time I'm getting my own pan though, because I wanted to look for gold too, ha!

Anna Elise

It was a really fascinating place. Great tour, Jennifer is amazing! We actually found some gold even though we panned for less than an hour. The prices were decent, nothing too crazy. I will definitely be making the 15 hour trip again just to bring my own kids!

Max McCray

Our tour guide loved to tell a story making our experience so much fun and we learned a lot. The tour lasted about a hour. We really enjoyed it. Go see for yourself

Andrew Tegland

Friendly staff, very interesting tour of an actual gold mine. My daughter loved It! (I think she may have actually learned something.) Had a burger at their restaurant, and I think it was the first hand pattied burger I've had on the trip. Great experience.

Bob Zoeller

Didn't expect to go there today...was going on walking tour of Keystone and just happened by this great place. Tour guide, Bill, was great and knowledgeable...got to pan for gold and got some cool flecks...would do again in a heart beat....lots of fun and history

Marshall Spezman

A fun adventure for the family.

Aimee Speicher-Skaggs

Be sure to check Groupon for savings! Informative and fun, this is a great place to visit on a hot day. Lots of educational opportunities. We loved panning for the gold!

Carrie Vovk

Fun with the kids to pan for gold or gems. Stop here if your looking for something different to do other than the same old sight seeing.

RV Allen Jr

Had great time. The tour guide was awesome. Paned for and found some gold

Jakob Garner

It's fun and kid friendly. It offers a tour of the actual mine, and mill house that operated during its "Hay Day". It gives people an idea of what a "Hard Rock" mine is and what it was like to work and own one. They also offer permits to go panning for gold in creeks and streams in the Black Hills of South Dakota, where you have a chance of finding real gold! They also teach you how to pan for gold and what to look for.

Charles Harlow

Family had a fun time and secretly learned some history. "Sheriff" Bill, our guide, was very knowledgeable and entertaining, if you like the occasional bad pun, I do. We also did a little panning for gold and he was very helpful. We might have hauled out 3 whole dollars between the 5 of us.

Lee Van Spier

Nice place, great guide, great stories and enjoyed the panning. Wish there was more shade for panning

Nicholas Fell

Rattlesnake Randy was a great guy and the tour was fun.

Michael Maughan

One of the best cave/mine tours near Keystone and Mount Rushmore. Kids really enjoyed panning for gold.

Carlos Montanez

Awesome place to visit. Great place to take the family. The guides are very good even though they are very young.

jmel1056

We had fun and our tour guide was very friendly and knowledgeable. The women running the store was also very friendly.

Angie Hicks

Awesome!!!!! The girl that did our tour was young but very knowledgeable. Loved it!

jennifer johnson

We had the most fun panning for gold!!

Randy Edwards

The tour by "Pops" was great and informative. Going into the old gold mine was refreshing as it was in the mid 80's when we visited. At the end of the tour we panned for gold and gemstones. Our kids, 2 and 5 years old, enjoyed it. We even found 2 gold flakes that our 2 year old washed away when playing with the glass bottle they provide when you pan for gold.

Bob Snyder

Place is cool but didn't find nothing

Nancee Schuiteman

Absolutely awesome tour and loved panning for gold!!!

Pennilynn McNew

Neat experience. Our lodge road was flooded & washed out due to rain & flooding. We walked up, down, & around the lodge down soaked path to get to upper part of road & walk into town. Big Thunder Gold Mine was still open. Super friendly, reasonable, kid friendly, very informative. We learned way more than we thought on the mine tour, & glad we opted to pan for gold. Highly recommend this tour. FYI, though, bring hand warmers as your hands will get cold when panning for gold. The folks do have a nice little heater inside to warm your hands though. One of our favorite visits. Thank you!

Austin Crook

Go see Sheriff Bill at the Gold Mine. It's very apparent that he loves his job and the visitors that come by. Fun place for children and adults to learn how to pan for gold and gems

Cyndi Stefani

What a cool place to visit! It's beautiful and interesting to learn about mining. Pops is awesome! He gave a great tour and was so personally accommodating! Panning for gold was pretty fun too!

Brian A

Fun. Guide was very knowledgeable. Good for a couple of hours.

Jacobus Armstrong

It was just a beautiful sight of place to see and visit

Cindy Millett

Visted with my Grandkiddos, 10 & 5 years old. They & I enjoyed the friendly guide & learning the history of the mine. Had fun panning for gold too!

Jenna Agens

My daughter had a blast

Jessica Massing

Staff was friendly. Laughed several times during the tour. A younger blonde girl, knew her job very well. Even the cashier in the gift shop was comical. I bought a Groupon and thought it was well worth the money. We toured the mine and then panned for gold for awhile. My 10yo was easily discouraged... although another kind visitor did help her find two pieces of gold in her pan. I would recommend to anyone in the area

Venu Pallerla

It is awesome to see the inside of the mine. The guide did a very good job to describe the trails the money went through and the amount of gold they found there ;) !!!

Lynn Haydon

Nice selection of geodesic and rocks

Robert Keough

I thought my adult children would get bored panning for gold and they'd want to go do other things. We had so much fun together here that we stayed for over an hour. Proprietors were friendly and eager to show us how to properly pan for gold.

Matt Codak

Nice quick little tour, good place for small kids to gold pan after the tour.

Luis A. Casillas

Guide was awesome! Lady at the front desk looked like she hated her life.

Taylor Haley

It's fun to learn but they dont have a lot of stuff to do

Jessica Martin

it was cool. not spectacular, but it was fun.

Travis Krause

Tour guide was amazing! Nice place to adventure into a mine

G Adams

I Like Big Thunder Gold Rush because it was hands on not much to say about it it's exactly what you expected it right Sylvan ears but like everything in a tourist area very expensive for the area it's average I had fun now didn't get much gold but I did have fun there so I would recommend it to you and your children Jordan might get kick out of it so try it all I can say is it's fun... I'm Phil

captain Morgan

Nice people , good place to pan for gold

Levi Ziegler

This quaint little operation has some interesting things to offer and for a very affordable price. The experience feels geared towards children but there's lots for adults to learn as well. The mine tour connects participants to an important part of black hills history.

Adiel Nissanian

The amount of gold that was found here is less then what is made, daily by tours of the mind by tourist. If that's not the American dream I don't know what is. The staff was nice and the price was decent the tour guide could have been more knowledgeable.

Troy Knox

Nice place to go tour, pan for gold, or just have a good family fun experience.

Angie Jordan

BEST BURGER EVER!!!!!! Great service, great prices. Going back tomorrow for dinner.

Pat Pianalto

Mine tour was neat but the older lady running the register was a bit of a bee-otch..

Sean Brozak

Such a great stop. It is a tourist attraction but still so much fun and a fun way to interact with history. This would be great for young kids as well as it's not too cold and they can touch everything. Panning for gold is fun too and I recommend at least 1 pan per kid. Went on Tusday July 3rd 2018 and the younger gal that gave the tour did an excellent job even recovering from a sore throat. I also recommend this if you are planning on going through any caves with someone who is a little scared of tight spaces as this is nice and calm.

Tony Brix

Kids loved mining for gold and gems

Corinne Putwen

Sam and I had a great time he even panned for gems

Abby Becker

We had fun visiting the mine, did the tour and panning. Good for kids, especially ones influenced by Minecraft :P

Mitzi Miland

Had fun. Alex great guide.

D Johnson

Neat tour. Tour was done by younger girl Emma. She was nice and tried to answer answer questions. We did gold panning, that was fun too.

Heather

Had burgers at the restaurant, both bison and beef. Very good, hand formed HUGE patties. Fries were excellent as well. Highly recommend.

Sarah Reeves

We had a great time! Tour guide was knowledgeable... it lasted about 30 minutes. Then we did the gold panning with one pan! So much fun. Found a few little specks of gold!

Kenneth Fay

Great time panning for my personal gold.

Dorian Kunzler

Our tour guide Isabella was excellent and knowledgable about the history of the mine and town. We did the panning for gold option as well and that was cool to be able to get some of our own gold flakes to take home. It was a great experience and would do it again!

Alex_Rocks_101

For me, it's not so much about the gold. I loved the tour where they talked about the mine. It's very close to Mount Rushmore, you can even see it from there! If you like planning for gold, they teach you how and lot you can for gold. If you like anything stated above, definitely come here!

Aaron Schroeder

The kids had a blast, and was educational as well. They even got to pan for gold.

Mark Flessati

Very cool mine tour. Fun panning for gold too.

Lisa Necastro

Awesome tour of the gold mine. The tour guide was extremely knowledgeable. Our family had a really nice time here!

Melanie Raines

Excellent service. Used a Groupon, we called to see if available & they were able to fit us in. Did the panning at the creek and our guide Trenton was fun, friendly & enthusiastic.

Lauren Rekonen

Very interesting tour and we had fun panning for gold.

David Becker

Interesting, and great fun for kids.

Brooklyn DeSart

Our tour guide was very knowledgeable and the kids had a great time

Erik Greer

What a cool place to visit with so much history! Rattlesnake randy was so friendly and my kids enjoyed his jokes and stories! Can’t wait to go back!

Ricardo Espinoza

Nice place. Cool facts.

Brandee Otto

If you love history, take the tour of this mine. Was very interesting! Easy flat path to walk, but you need to duck frequently to avoid hitting your head. We also enjoyed the gold panning.

Jarod Smith

My son and I had a lot of fun here. All of the staff was very friendly and helpful.

Sarah Taylor

Great place for all ages, lots of fun even if you don't strike gold! :)

Paul Sodoken

It is an interesting place to be, not much to say but it has a grill and a bar

Life a Little Differently

Everyone can pan for gold and get at least 3 pieces of gold. Once you buy a pan, you can keep panning for as long as you like to find more! The gift shop is nice and there's a penny squisher. The only downside is that, since it's just over a creek and on a hillside, it's not wheelchair accessible - or at least not without a lot of help.

chase.w net

Good tourist attraction make sure to bring sweat shirt or jacket even in warm weather

Edily Grullon

Nice place! I wanna go again there

JENNIFER HEYDONRINGER

Our second visit to Big Thunder Gold Mine this fall. Absolutely love this place. Sandi, Randy and Trenton were so amazing. Can't wait until next Spring when we can make it back up to see everyone. Gold Fever!!!!!!

Lisa Zuniga

Think twice about taking the tour if you’re tall or claustrophobic!!

Tristan Nava

Isabelle was a great guide, energetic and informative. Been a few times, will definitely return.

CrazyAce X3Random;3

Kids enjoyed the mine tour. Panning for gems and gold was a fun experience.

Sarah Van Berkum

Very slow and messed up orders and never made it right. Took about an hour to get our burger and fry meals and the food was just okay.

Rachel Thiele

Kids had a blast. Good place to cool down from the heat! Lots of history you can learn here. Had a great tour guide, Alyssa, if i remember right.

Sara s

Our guide was super good Kayle I think was her name. The lady that checked us in probably needs to retire. Talk about rude!

Nancy Crocker

Loads of fun for all ages you get a short walking tour of the mine going all the way back into the shaft, with the tour you also get a history of the shaft and I history of the gold as well as various other rocks that are in there, you get the reasoning and explanation of why they had to have a canary in there or bird and why they did certain things and how they use some of the tools that were in there. After exiting The Mineshaft we also went into a barn that had a lot of the old-time tools that were set up Annex she explained the tour guide explained how the tools were used and how long they were used for and what the dangers of them were.

Brook Hoyt

Ross gave a great tour. Don't miss this Keystone attraction. Kids had fun panning for gold. Even found a few flakes.

Justin Peevey

It was a great experience friendly staff well worth it

Gaming For Idiots

The Earthy Buffalo burger was ABSOLUTELY PERFECT!

amaya Mason

It was a fun experience. We kept the gold we panned.

Nathan Byrne

Decent mine. Pretty small. You can walk from end to end in about 4 minutes. The ground is perfectly paved so people with walking disabilities should have no problem. It’s very spacious inside unless you are 6 feet like me but even then, it wasn’t a problem. Our tour guide was very knowledgeable and very friendly.

Matt Benz

Very informative and interesting! We panned and did the tour! Bill is awesome!

Calani Mopeono

Omg I did not like this place at all why well there was not any gold and I bet you it’s shredded up cheep foil paper then they say you must have a dry hand to pick up gold so what do we wipe our wet hands on the young man said YOUR PANTS boo I payed 20$ for frying pans to dig gold in murky water like I warn y’all do NOT COME HERE YOU WONT GET ANY GOLD AND IF YOU DO THEN YOUR BLESSED but one thing there’s these little flake stones they look like gold but there not so they may trick you

Thomas Kouma

Staff was very friendly. Learn the history of the mine and the community. Lids enjoyed panning for gold.

Carrie McAlary

A great way to pass a little time!

Gfrye F

pretty good different experience

Kimberly Rivard

The kids had a lot of fun gold panning

The High-Tech Redneck

Amazing tour guide, Sheriff Bill! Great history

Amanda Hook

Shawna, the tour guide, was very enthusiastic and had a great sense of humor. You can tell she loves teaching about history. The gold mine tour was chilly but very interesting to see. After the tour we planned for gold and got to keep everything we found. We were the lucky ones and got an entire file full. Fun for all ages!

Luke Wiley

Very helpful staff

Alicia H

The tour was very informational, great history, though the guide was not always good at answering questions. We were given ample warning that the mine is cold all year, 52 degrees.

Tara Russ

Fun place,will come back to participate on different day.

James Belile

Was pretty fun, lots of cool old things on the tour, tour guide started out kinda crabby but was into his groove and loosened up by the end. Gem and gold panning was fun though. Overall was still a great place to visit.

Marlin Severson

Very informative guide, and got to find some gold and other gems. If you're interested in rocks and minerals, this is a must see.

Stephen Trudeau

Got a great your guide, kids enjoyed paning for gems, while adults had fun paning for gold.

baljinder singh

This is a must go if u are a mining buff and want to know more about the mining history in Keystone. Do the tour which was very informative at understanding about how the miners worked. Kids loved the gold panning experience and brought back like 4-6 minute shaves as souvenirs.

Ashlee Mandrell

It was ok. Food was so so and the service could be a little quicker

Ben Barnes

Very friendly and helpful staff. The gift shop is really cool, it's got some pretty eclectic stuff. Would highly recommend if you've got kids. Ours loved the tour too.

Tony Knapek

Very informative tour. Very interactive guide.

Jon Canfield

Informative tour and fun with or without kids.

Robin Korb

Went for the 4 hour gold mine tour and we thought it was such a fun and unique tour! You don't realize how much work mining is until you're doing it yourself! Tour guide was great as well.

Kayla McCue

Trenton was a fantastic guide! We had fun learned a lot and walked away with a little gold!