%1 http://coloradoencyclopedia.org/ en Base and Industrial Metal Mining in Colorado http://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/base-and-industrial-metal-mining-colorado <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--title--encyclopedia-article.html.twig x field--node--title.html.twig * field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--title.html.twig * field--string.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--title.html.twig' --> <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Base and Industrial Metal Mining in Colorado</span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--title.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: x field--node--field-article-image--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-article-image.html.twig * field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-article-image.html.twig * field--entity-reference.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--field-article-image--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div id="carouselEncyclopediaArticle" class="carousel slide" data-bs-ride="true"> <div class="carousel-inner"> <div class="carousel-item active"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'node' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * node--3240--article-detail-image.html.twig * node--3240.html.twig x node--image--article-detail-image.html.twig * node--image.html.twig * node--article-detail-image.html.twig * node.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/content/node--image--article-detail-image.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-encyclopedia-image--image.html.twig * field--node--field-encyclopedia-image.html.twig * field--node--image.html.twig * field--field-encyclopedia-image.html.twig * field--image.html.twig x field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-encyclopedia-image field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'image_formatter' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image-formatter.html.twig' --> <a href="/image/climax-mine-1930s"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'image_style' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image-style.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'image' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image.html.twig' --> <img loading="lazy" src="/sites/default/files/styles/wide/public/Climax-Molybdenum-Mine-Media-2_0.jpg?itok=y_NYXyOJ" width="900" height="720" alt="" typeof="foaf:Image" class="image-style-wide" /> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image.html.twig' --> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image-style.html.twig' --> </a> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image-formatter.html.twig' --> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field.html.twig' --> <div class="carousel-caption d-none d-md-block"> <h5><a href="/image/climax-mine-1930s" rel="bookmark"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--title--image.html.twig x field--node--title.html.twig * field--node--image.html.twig * field--title.html.twig * field--string.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--title.html.twig' --> <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Climax Mine, 1930s</span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--title.html.twig' --> </a></h5> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--body--image.html.twig * field--node--body.html.twig * field--node--image.html.twig * field--body.html.twig x field--text-with-summary.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--text-with-summary.html.twig' --> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>After sitting idle for several years after World War I, the Climax Mine experienced tremendous growth and greatly increased its production in the late 1920s and 1930s. The effects of underground mining are evident in the caving seen here on Bartlett Mountain (center).</p> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--text-with-summary.html.twig' --> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/content/node--image--article-detail-image.html.twig' --> </div> </div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--field-article-image--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--uid--encyclopedia-article.html.twig x field--node--uid.html.twig * field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--uid.html.twig * field--entity-reference.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--uid.html.twig' --> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'username' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/user/username.html.twig' --> <span lang="" about="/users/nick-johnson" typeof="schema:Person" property="schema:name" datatype="">Nick Johnson</span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/user/username.html.twig' --> </span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--uid.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--created--encyclopedia-article.html.twig x field--node--created.html.twig * field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--created.html.twig * field--created.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--created.html.twig' --> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'time' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/time.html.twig' --> <time datetime="2022-11-20T12:36:54-07:00" title="Sunday, November 20, 2022 - 12:36" class="datetime">Sun, 11/20/2022 - 12:36</time> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/time.html.twig' --> </span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--created.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'addtoany_standard' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * addtoany-standard--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * addtoany-standard--node.html.twig x addtoany-standard.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'modules/contrib/addtoany/templates/addtoany-standard.html.twig' --> <span class="a2a_kit a2a_kit_size_32 addtoany_list" data-a2a-url="http://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/base-and-industrial-metal-mining-colorado" data-a2a-title="Base and Industrial Metal Mining in Colorado"><a class="a2a_dd addtoany_share" href="https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=http%3A%2F%2Fcoloradoencyclopedia.org%2Farticle%2Fbase-and-industrial-metal-mining-colorado&amp;title=Base%20and%20Industrial%20Metal%20Mining%20in%20Colorado"></a><a class="a2a_button_facebook"></a><a class="a2a_button_twitter"></a><a class="a2a_button_email"></a></span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'modules/contrib/addtoany/templates/addtoany-standard.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--body--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--body.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--body.html.twig * field--text-with-summary.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item" id="id-body"><p>Miners came to Colorado for gold, stayed for silver, and survived after the 1890s by diversifying into a wide range of base and industrial metals such as lead, copper, zinc, molybdenum, tungsten, vanadium, radium, and <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/uranium-mining"><strong>uranium</strong></a>. Often ignored or discarded during early prospecting and mining, these base and industrial metals helped sustain mining operations after the <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/panic-1893"><strong>silver crash of 1893</strong></a>.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Production of these metals typically started in the 1870s or 1880s, increased in the 1890s and 1900s, and experienced later peaks as prices surged with high demand during the world wars. Most mining died out after <strong>World War II</strong>, but the Cold War spurred ongoing molybdenum production and a uranium boom. Today molybdenum has become the most important metal in Colorado, with giant mines operating in <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/lake-county"><strong>Lake</strong></a> and <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/clear-creek-county"><strong>Clear Creek</strong></a> Counties.</p>&#13; &#13; <p><strong>Types and Uses</strong></p>&#13; &#13; <p>In contrast to <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/precious-metal-mining-colorado"><strong>precious metals</strong></a> such as gold and silver, which are highly valued for their own sake, base and industrial metals tend (with some exceptions) to be worth less and are valuable mainly for their commercial and industrial uses.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Lead is used in bullets and batteries and has a wide variety of applications in construction, though its dangerous health effects have caused it to be phased out of pipes, paints, and gasoline. Copper’s high conductivity makes it ideal for electrical uses, especially as a wiring material. Zinc forms a number of useful alloys and compounds, such as brass (made with copper) and zinc oxide (used as a white pigment and in mineral sunscreens); on its own, it prevents corrosion in batteries and on iron and steel through galvanization. Molybdenum, tungsten, and vanadium are used primarily to harden or toughen steel.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Radium is highly radioactive and was used in the early twentieth century for illumination and as a cancer treatment. Uranium is less radioactive and was regarded as a waste product until World War II, when it became a key ingredient in nuclear weapons and, later, nuclear power plants.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Formation and Location</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>In Colorado, the mineral-containing rock known as ore was originally formed during the uplifts of the <strong>Ancestral Rocky Mountains</strong> (300 million years ago) and the modern <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/rocky-mountains"><strong>Rockies</strong></a> (70–45 million years ago). Superheated magma rose into rocks deep under the surface, creating pressure and rising through faults and fissures. As the magma solidified, it took the form of mineralized bands called veins.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>As a result of this origin, most of Colorado’s metals occur in a diagonal belt stretching roughly from <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/boulder-county"><strong>Boulder County</strong></a> to the <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/san-juan-mountains"><strong>San Juan Mountains</strong></a>. The main outliers are radium, vanadium, and uranium, found primarily on the <strong>Colorado Plateau</strong> near the Utah border, especially in and around the <strong>Paradox Valley</strong>. In general, the areas with the greatest production of precious metals such as gold and silver have also yielded the largest amounts of base and industrial metals such as lead, copper, zinc, and molybdenum. Lake County dominated the production of all these metals, with the San Juan region also contributing. Tungsten production was concentrated in Boulder County.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Early Decades</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>During the early decades of Colorado mining, prices for base metals were usually quite low compared to the precious metals that drove the boom: four to eight cents per pound for lead, three to thirteen cents per pound for zinc, and as much as a quarter per pound for copper. These low prices meant that as long as gold and silver retained their shiny luster, base and industrial metals remained largely byproducts recovered from the pursuit of precious metals but not worth seeking out on their own.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Because lead was often bound up with silver and had various industrial applications, it saw the earliest and largest production among Colorado’s base and industrial metals. Lead was shipped from <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/gilpin-county"><strong>Gilpin</strong></a>, Clear Creek, <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/summit-county"><strong>Summit</strong></a>, and <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/park-county"><strong>Park</strong></a> Counties starting in the early 1870s, after techniques for silver-lead <strong>smelting</strong> were developed. The discovery of silver-bearing lead carbonates in <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/leadville"><strong>Leadville</strong></a> later that decade caused Colorado’s lead production to soar; by 1880, Leadville led the world in silver-lead smelting. Lake County dominated the state’s lead production throughout the 1880s and 1890s, with <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/pitkin-county"><strong>Pitkin County</strong></a> and the San Juans making significant contributions as well.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Copper was an early byproduct of ores in Gilpin and Clear Creek Counties. In the 1870s, mines in Park County and the San Juans started to produce some copper as well. One of the state’s few large copper mines opened north of <strong><a href="/article/salida">Salida</a> </strong>in 1884, and production ramped up even more when Lake County began to ship copper in 1889. Zinc production did not begin in Colorado until the mid-1880s. A zinc oxide plant built at <strong>Cañon City</strong> led to an increase in the 1890s. Much of the zinc came from Lake County, but <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/eagle-county"><strong>Eagle</strong></a> and Summit Counties also shipped some.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>The collapse of the silver market in 1893 led many Colorado mines to diversify their production to survive. Overall, Colorado’s mining production peaked in 1900 before entering a period of gradual decline. Within that decline, base and industrial metals became even more critical as ballast to help mines stay afloat as precious metals saw lower prices and lower yields. Colorado’s copper production, for example, climbed to a peak in 1909. Zinc boomed in the early 1900s before declining after the Panic of 1907. Production surged again with the discovery of zinc carbonate at Leadville in 1910, allowing zinc to displace lead as the area’s primary base metal.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>World Wars</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>The start of <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/colorado-world-war-i"><strong>World War I</strong></a> in 1914 generated massive demand for base and industrial metals as countries competed to develop massive, armored militaries. Prices for lead, copper, and zinc surged to new highs. Zinc production hit a new peak in 1916, with 134 million pounds bringing in some $18 million. Copper production did not beat its previous peak, but its value crested to more than $2 million annually.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>World War I also stimulated demand for previously little-mined metals used to harden or toughen steel: tungsten, molybdenum, and vanadium. During the war, Colorado became the world’s top producer of tungsten and molybdenum. Tungsten had been part of the state’s production since 1900, when it was identified in western Boulder County. Soon <strong>Caribou</strong> had the largest tungsten mine in the world. During the war, the price of tungsten shot up by a factor of twenty, and tons of new mines opened in the area.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Farther west, molybdenum was first identified at Bartlett Mountain in the mid-1890s, but it had little commercial value until World War I. The Bartlett Mountain deposit—the world’s largest—saw a rush of claims after 1915. In 1918 the Climax Molybdenum Company opened <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/climax-molybdenum-mine"><strong>a mine at Bartlett Mountain</strong></a> and quickly developed it into the state’s largest mine. The company bought up claims from its competitors when demand declined at the war's end. Climax sat idle for several years, but soon the marketing efforts of company head Brainerd Phillipson generated new demand from automobile makers and other industrial users. By the mid-1930s, Climax accounted for an astonishing 86 percent of world molybdenum production.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Vanadium had been identified in Colorado in 1898, when an ore called carnotite in the Paradox Valley was found to hold vanadium, radium, and <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/uranium-mining"><strong>uranium</strong></a>. Vanadium saw limited production in the early twentieth century, but as with tungsten and molybdenum, demand skyrocketed during World War I. By the early 1920s, Colorado had shipped some 500 tons of the stuff. Production declined after the war. During the <strong>Great Depression</strong>, when the development cost was low, the United States Vanadium Corporation bought up vanadium-producing properties, revived old mills, and established new towns at <strong>Uravan</strong> and Vancorum. Production remained limited, but the infrastructure proved helpful when demand for vanadium ramped up again ahead of World War II.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Among the carnotite metals identified at the turn of the century, radium was the most immediately useful; it provided nighttime illumination and was valued for experimental cancer treatments. Western Colorado soon became the world’s leading producer of radium, and in the 1910s, the <strong>National Radium Institute</strong> built a concentrator near Naturita and a plant in <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/denver"><strong>Denver</strong></a>. During World War I, prices for radium soared when supply from Austria was cut off in Allied countries. At the same time, demand increased as militaries scrambled for radium to light up instrumentation at night. Radium briefly became the most expensive substance in the world, going for more than $3 million per ounce. Yet Colorado’s radium industry quickly died out after World War I, when demand dropped and new deposits were discovered in the Belgian Congo.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>After a period of slow production during the Great Depression, the onset of World War II once again supercharged base and industrial metal mining in Colorado. Lead, zinc, tungsten, and vanadium surged for a few years, but this time the most lastingly important metals were molybdenum and uranium. At Climax, the War Production Board gave the molybdenum mine the highest operating priority in the country and posted a US Army Auxiliary Military Police unit there. The company shipped a total of 180 million pounds of molybdenum during the war.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Meanwhile, the race to develop an atomic bomb made uranium go from trash to treasure. In 1943 the Manhattan Project built a mill in Uravan to rework old tailings from western Colorado and Utah in search of material for bombs.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Cold War</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>After World War II, most mining in Colorado closed down for good. Some zinc production survived near <strong>Red Cliff</strong> and Leadville into the 1950s, and the Idarado Mine in the San Juans continued to ship lead, copper, and zinc. The main action, though, was in molybdenum and uranium, which remained in high demand as the United States shifted to permanent military preparedness in the Cold War.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>With the United States competing against the Soviet Union for nuclear supremacy, the federal government sponsored a uranium rush. By the mid-1950s, the Colorado Plateau had about 800 mines, and Colorado was the country’s largest uranium producer. The state’s uranium boom proved brief, however, as new mines came online in New Mexico and Wyoming. The rise of nuclear power plants resulted in another increase in production in the 1960s.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, Climax shipped huge amounts of molybdenum for military and industrial use. The company employed more than 1,000 workers, had a company town of 1,500 residents, and shipped more than 10 million tons of ore per year from the largest underground mine in the world. Even as it dominated the world market, accounting for 61 percent of world supply in 1963, it continued to expand, detonating the largest underground explosion in mining history in 1964 in order to break new ore from the mountain.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Health and Environment</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>During the first century of mining in Colorado, environmental concerns and employee health were secondary to production. After about 1960, however, a growing awareness of problems such as pollution and contamination led to new regulations and cleanup efforts that affected all aspects of the Colorado mining industry. In the case of molybdenum, environmental regulations shaped and sometimes prevented new mining efforts. In the 1960s, for example, corporate owner AMAX prepared for the start of open-pit surface mining at Climax by acquiring much of the upper Tenmile valley as a site for gigantic tailings ponds to contain the waste. Once that was done, open-pit surface mining began in the 1970s in an attempt to counter increasing competition from newer, cheaper foreign mines.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Meanwhile, AMAX also acquired a small molybdenum orebody west of <strong>Empire</strong> and started exploration there, eventually discovering a giant orebody some 4,000 feet beneath the surface. Because the orebody was deep under a narrow valley near the headwaters of an important Denver water source, the company worked with environmental groups to plan an operation that kept surface facilities to a minimum. The company also constructed its mill and tailing-disposal site fifteen miles away, on the western side of the <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/great-divide"><strong>Continental Divide</strong></a>. Development of the <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/henderson-molybdenum-mine"><strong>Henderson Mine</strong></a> and mill took nearly a decade and cost about $500 million, making it the largest privately financed project in Colorado history to that point. Production started in 1976, and Henderson soon matched Climax, with each mine producing roughly one-quarter of world supply.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>With molybdenum booming in the late 1970s, AMAX even made plans for a third large mine at Mt. Emmons near <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/crested-butte"><strong>Crested Butte</strong></a>. However, the project faced strong opposition from preservationists, tourists, and environmentalists, then foundered when the world molybdenum market collapsed in the early 1980s. That collapse led AMAX to suspend production at both Climax and Henderson, which had strong negative impacts on local communities that relied on the mines for employment. Henderson resumed limited production in 1984, but Climax remained mothballed for most of the next two decades.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Uranium brought a different set of problems. As early as 1956, officials had documented an epidemic of small-cell lung cancer among uranium miners in western Colorado, particularly those who smoked and worked in poorly ventilated mines. But no regulations were put in place until the 1960s, and not until 1990 did Congress pass the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act to assist families with health care and other expenses.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Meanwhile, uranium production in Colorado dwindled in the 1970s and collapsed after a meltdown at the Three Mile Island Nuclear Generating Station in Pennsylvania in 1979. The Uravan Mill shut down in 1984, and Colorado’s last uranium mining company closed in 1990. The state of Colorado sued Union Carbide in the wake of the Three Mile Island accident, leading to a Superfund cleanup that condemned the entire town of Uravan in 1986 and painstakingly destroyed it over the next two decades at the cost of some $130 million. Everything radioactive in the town was buried in a nearby mesa, and the abandoned site now belongs to the Department of Energy. Former residents and workers hold annual reunions at a local ballpark that was spared. Colorado also has about a dozen former uranium disposal and processing sites that are managed under the Uranium Mill Tailings Radiation Control Act of 1978.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>More broadly, mining and smelting resulted in contaminated soil and water wherever those activities occurred. Serious cleanup efforts began after Congress passed the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act, commonly known as the Superfund law, in 1980. Over the next few decades, more than a dozen Colorado mining and smelting areas were listed as Superfund sites, including Uravan and a uranium mill in <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/fremont-county"><strong>Fremont County</strong></a>, as well as more conventional mining and smelting districts in Boulder, <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/chaffee-county"><strong>Chaffee</strong></a>, Clear Creek, Eagle, <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/gunnison-county"><strong>Gunnison</strong></a>, Lake, <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/mineral-county"><strong>Mineral</strong></a>, Pitkin, and <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/san-juan-county"><strong>San Juan</strong></a> Counties. Denver alone has several Superfund designations resulting from smelting and radium-ore processing. Some sites were fully remediated in the 1990s and early 2000s, but long-term cleanup efforts continue in many areas.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Today</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>Today molybdenum is the primary metal still mined in Colorado, and the state remains the nation’s top molybdenum producer. When world molybdenum prices rebounded in the early 2000s, corporate owner Freeport-McMoRan increased production at Henderson and revived Climax—historically the state’s largest and most important mine—in 2012. By that time, Henderson had yielded roughly 1 billion pounds of molybdenum, whereas Climax had produced around 2 billion pounds over its life. At current production levels, both mines are expected to last until the late 2030s, when remediation efforts will begin.</p>&#13; </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-author--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-author.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-author.html.twig * field--entity-reference.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-author field--type-entity-reference field--label-above" id="id-field-author"> <div class="field__label" id="id-field-author">Author</div> <div class='field__items'> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-author"><a href="/author/encyclopedia-staff" hreflang="und">Encyclopedia Staff</a></div> </div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-keyword--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-keyword.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-keyword.html.twig * field--entity-reference.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-keyword field--type-entity-reference field--label-above" id="id-field-keyword"> <div class="field__label" id="id-field-keyword">Keywords</div> <div class='field__items'> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/lead" hreflang="en">Lead</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/zinc" hreflang="en">Zinc</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/copper" hreflang="en">Copper</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/molybdenum" hreflang="en">molybdenum</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/tungsten" hreflang="en">tungsten</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/vanadium" hreflang="en">vanadium</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/radium" hreflang="en">Radium</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/uranium" hreflang="en">uranium</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/climax-mine" hreflang="en">Climax Mine</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/henderson-mine" hreflang="en">Henderson Mine</a></div> </div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'links__node' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * links--node.html.twig x links--inline.html.twig * links--node.html.twig * links.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/navigation/links--inline.html.twig' --> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/navigation/links--inline.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-references-html--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-references-html.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-references-html.html.twig * field--text-long.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-references-html field--type-text-long field--label-above" id="id-field-references-html"> <div class="field__label" id="id-field-references-html">References</div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-references-html"><p>James E. Fell and Eric Twitty, “The Mining Industry in Colorado,” National Register of Historic Places Multiple Property Documentation Form (2006; revised 2008).</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Charles W. Henderson, <em>Mining in Colorado: A History of Discovery, Development and Production</em> (Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1926).</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Peter Hessler, “<a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2010/09/13/the-uranium-widows">The Uranium Widows</a>,” <em>New Yorker</em>, September 13, 2010.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Stephen M. Voynick, <em>Climax: The History of Colorado’s Climax Molybdenum Mine</em> (Missoula, MT: Mountain Press, 1996).</p>&#13; &#13; <p>“<a href="https://cdphe.colorado.gov/hm/superfund-sites">Superfund Sites</a>,” Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment.</p>&#13; </div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-additional-information-htm--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-additional-information-htm.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-additional-information-htm.html.twig * field--text-long.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-additional-information-htm field--type-text-long field--label-above" id="id-field-additional-information-htm"> <div class="field__label" id="id-field-additional-information-htm">Additional Information</div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-additional-information-htm"><p>Carl Abbott, Stephen J. Leonard, and Thomas J. Noel, <em>Colorado: A History of the Centennial State</em> (Boulder: University Press of Colorado, 2013).</p>&#13; &#13; <p>B. S. Butler, J. W. Vanderwilt, and Charles W. Henderson, “The Climax Molybdenum Deposit, Colorado,” Geological Survey Bulletin 846-C, US Department of the Interior (Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1933).</p>&#13; </div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> Sun, 20 Nov 2022 19:36:54 +0000 Nick Johnson 3854 at http://coloradoencyclopedia.org Avalanche http://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/avalanche <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--title--encyclopedia-article.html.twig x field--node--title.html.twig * field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--title.html.twig * field--string.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--title.html.twig' --> <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Avalanche</span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--title.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: x field--node--field-article-image--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-article-image.html.twig * field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-article-image.html.twig * field--entity-reference.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--field-article-image--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div id="carouselEncyclopediaArticle" class="carousel slide" data-bs-ride="true"> <div class="carousel-inner"> <div class="carousel-item active"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'node' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * node--3771--article-detail-image.html.twig * node--3771.html.twig x node--image--article-detail-image.html.twig * node--image.html.twig * node--article-detail-image.html.twig * node.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/content/node--image--article-detail-image.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-encyclopedia-image--image.html.twig * field--node--field-encyclopedia-image.html.twig * field--node--image.html.twig * field--field-encyclopedia-image.html.twig * field--image.html.twig x field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-encyclopedia-image field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'image_formatter' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image-formatter.html.twig' --> <a href="/image/avalanche-path"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'image_style' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image-style.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'image' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image.html.twig' --> <img loading="lazy" src="/sites/default/files/styles/wide/public/Avalanche_SilentBob_0.jpg?itok=3UBTiH1t" width="1090" height="520" alt="" typeof="foaf:Image" class="image-style-wide" /> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image.html.twig' --> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image-style.html.twig' --> </a> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image-formatter.html.twig' --> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field.html.twig' --> <div class="carousel-caption d-none d-md-block"> <h5><a href="/image/avalanche-path" rel="bookmark"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--title--image.html.twig x field--node--title.html.twig * field--node--image.html.twig * field--title.html.twig * field--string.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--title.html.twig' --> <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Avalanche Path</span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--title.html.twig' --> </a></h5> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--body--image.html.twig * field--node--body.html.twig * field--node--image.html.twig * field--body.html.twig x field--text-with-summary.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--text-with-summary.html.twig' --> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>This photo shows the path of an avalanche that occurred near Frisco, Colorado in March 2019.</p> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--text-with-summary.html.twig' --> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/content/node--image--article-detail-image.html.twig' --> </div> <div class="carousel-item"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'node' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * node--3772--article-detail-image.html.twig * node--3772.html.twig x node--image--article-detail-image.html.twig * node--image.html.twig * node--article-detail-image.html.twig * node.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/content/node--image--article-detail-image.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-encyclopedia-image--image.html.twig * field--node--field-encyclopedia-image.html.twig * field--node--image.html.twig * field--field-encyclopedia-image.html.twig * field--image.html.twig x field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-encyclopedia-image field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'image_formatter' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image-formatter.html.twig' --> <a href="/image/beacon-checkpoint"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'image_style' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image-style.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'image' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image.html.twig' --> <img loading="lazy" src="/sites/default/files/styles/wide/public/Vail_Pass_Beacon_Checkpoint_20220325_0.jpg?itok=oadCDzvn" width="1000" height="750" alt="" typeof="foaf:Image" class="image-style-wide" /> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image.html.twig' --> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image-style.html.twig' --> </a> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image-formatter.html.twig' --> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field.html.twig' --> <div class="carousel-caption d-none d-md-block"> <h5><a href="/image/beacon-checkpoint" rel="bookmark"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--title--image.html.twig x field--node--title.html.twig * field--node--image.html.twig * field--title.html.twig * field--string.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--title.html.twig' --> <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Beacon Checkpoint</span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--title.html.twig' --> </a></h5> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--body--image.html.twig * field--node--body.html.twig * field--node--image.html.twig * field--body.html.twig x field--text-with-summary.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--text-with-summary.html.twig' --> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>A beacon checkpoint on Vail Pass, a backcountry area that sees lots of traffic in the winter. As&nbsp;the backcountry community is expanding in Colorado,&nbsp;the presence of beacon checkpoints serves as a reminder to all that a properly working beacon is always recommended in the backcountry.&nbsp;</p> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--text-with-summary.html.twig' --> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/content/node--image--article-detail-image.html.twig' --> </div> </div> <button class="carousel-control-prev" type="button" data-bs-target="#carouselEncyclopediaArticle" data-bs-slide="prev"> <span class="carousel-control-prev-icon" aria-hidden="true"></span> <span class="visually-hidden">Previous</span> </button> <button class="carousel-control-next" type="button" data-bs-target="#carouselEncyclopediaArticle" data-bs-slide="next"> <span class="carousel-control-next-icon" aria-hidden="true"></span> <span class="visually-hidden">Next</span> </button> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--field-article-image--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--uid--encyclopedia-article.html.twig x field--node--uid.html.twig * field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--uid.html.twig * field--entity-reference.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--uid.html.twig' --> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'username' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/user/username.html.twig' --> <span lang="" about="/users/yongli" typeof="schema:Person" property="schema:name" datatype="">yongli</span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/user/username.html.twig' --> </span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--uid.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--created--encyclopedia-article.html.twig x field--node--created.html.twig * field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--created.html.twig * field--created.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--created.html.twig' --> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'time' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/time.html.twig' --> <time datetime="2022-08-24T13:20:15-06:00" title="Wednesday, August 24, 2022 - 13:20" class="datetime">Wed, 08/24/2022 - 13:20</time> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/time.html.twig' --> </span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--created.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'addtoany_standard' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * addtoany-standard--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * addtoany-standard--node.html.twig x addtoany-standard.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'modules/contrib/addtoany/templates/addtoany-standard.html.twig' --> <span class="a2a_kit a2a_kit_size_32 addtoany_list" data-a2a-url="http://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/avalanche" data-a2a-title="Avalanche"><a class="a2a_dd addtoany_share" href="https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=http%3A%2F%2Fcoloradoencyclopedia.org%2Farticle%2Favalanche&amp;title=Avalanche"></a><a class="a2a_button_facebook"></a><a class="a2a_button_twitter"></a><a class="a2a_button_email"></a></span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'modules/contrib/addtoany/templates/addtoany-standard.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--body--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--body.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--body.html.twig * field--text-with-summary.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item" id="id-body"><p>Avalanches are quite common in Colorado’s <a href="http://www.coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/rocky-mountains"><strong>Rocky Mountains</strong></a>. They can occur anywhere there is a sizeable amount of <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/snow"><strong>snow</strong></a> and steep slopes, meaning most of Colorado’s High Country (from 10,000 to 13,000 feet) is prone to avalanches. The massive snow slides are extremely dangerous; between 1859 and 2006, avalanches killed at least 700 people in the state.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Although education and forecasting have greatly reduced the death rate in recent decades, avalanches remain a danger. The winter of 2020–21 tied for the deadliest avalanche season in the United States, with twelve of the year’s thirty-seven fatalities occurring in Colorado.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Avalanche research and forecasting in the state began with the rise of Colorado’s downhill <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/ski-industry"><strong>ski industry</strong></a> and the construction of public ski areas on <a href="http://www.coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/us-forest-service-colorado"><strong>National Forests</strong></a> along the <a href="file://users/williamwei/Desktop/Wei_LatestEdits%20/coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/front-range"><strong>Front Range</strong></a> in the 1930s. From its origin, avalanche research evolved from a niche field conducted primarily by US Forest Service staff to a state-funded, full-time avalanche forecasting center that helps us better understand the phenomena and plan accordingly.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Causes</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>On steep, snowy slopes, a variety of natural conditions, including temperature and type of snowpack, can create avalanche scenarios. Once the conditions are right, all that is needed is a trigger, which is usually a person or vehicle. Intense snowstorms with high winds can blow excessive amounts of snow from one side of a mountain to the other, creating a huge snowpack susceptible to gravity. Or, a layer of snow freezes and accumulates fresh snow on top that can easily be released.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Signs of avalanche conditions include cracks in the top layer of snow and snow that settles suddenly when walked upon, usually making a “whumpf” sound. Areas where avalanches have recently occurred are prone to more avalanches, as are areas that have recently received a lot of snow and then experienced rapidly warming temperatures.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>More than 90 percent of fatal avalanches are triggered by the victim or someone in the victim’s party. Avalanches can be triggered by a person walking or skiing on unstable snow, or by vibrations from vehicles such as snowmobiles and ATVs. Survival odds for those trapped in an avalanche plummet after about fifteen minutes. For this reason, experts recommend that backcountry-goers have a transceiver, shovel, and probe with them in case they need to find someone and dig them out or signal for help themselves.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>History</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>The Nuche (<a href="http://www.coloradoencyclopedia.org/search/google/ute"><strong>Ute people</strong></a>), who lived in the mountains of Colorado for centuries before the arrival of whites, were familiar with avalanches and referred to them as “yogöchaykw(a)” (yo-go-CHAI-ka). Generations of experience taught them how to avoid areas prone to destructive slides.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>By contrast, most white miners who flooded the Colorado High Country in the mid-nineteenth century had no experience with avalanches. That changed quickly. The first recorded avalanche fatality in <a href="http://www.coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/colorado-territory"><strong>Colorado Territory</strong></a> occurred on March 6, 1861, about twenty miles southwest of <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/georgetown%E2%80%93silver-plume-historic-district"><strong>Georgetown</strong></a><strong>. </strong>The following year, a man was killed when an avalanche hit his party near <strong>Cochetopa Pass</strong>. Between 1880 and 1890, when <a href="http://www.coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/precious-metal-mining-colorado"><strong>silver</strong></a> strikes drew thousands of people to the Colorado Rockies, avalanches killed more than 140 people.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>The heavy mining era between 1860 and 1900 was the deadliest avalanche period in Colorado history, with 442 recorded deaths. One of the worst instances occurred near Silver Plume in February 1899, when an avalanche bulldozed a group of miners’ cabins. Ten people were killed, including two children. Colorado’s deadliest avalanche season came in 1915-16, when twenty people were killed statewide.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>There were some close calls as well. In mid-May 1874, a miner named Charles Roach was carried some 1,300 feet down McClellan Mountain south of <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/georgetown%E2%80%93silver-plume-historic-district"><strong>Silver Plume</strong></a> by what the <em>Golden Weekly Globe </em>described as “an avalanche of snow, sixty feet wide[and] twenty feet deep.” Miraculously, he survived. So did Frank Ryan, a miner who, in January 1906, made the poor decision to cut across some deep snow above a mine on Bull Hill, west of <strong>Twin Lakes</strong>. According to the <em>Twin Lakes Miner</em>, Ryan triggered an avalanche that flung him down 600 feet and over several cliffs before embedding him in a snowbank, where he was rescued.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Avalanches not only killed people but were also industrial saboteurs, obliterating infrastructure and bringing all-important railroad traffic to a halt. In April 1885, a train carrying sixty workers on the <strong>Denver, South Park &amp; Pacific Railroad</strong> sped through a snow bank and triggered an avalanche that buried the train, killing at least one person aboard. Avalanches routinely delayed freight and passenger service in the winter; in February 1899, the <em>Eagle County Examiner </em>apologized for not getting issues to its readers on time, owing to “tremendous snowslides” that had blocked trains and killed workers across the High Country railways.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>While avalanches were considered a routine hazard of mountain mining and transportation, the growing popularity of skiing and other mountain-based activities in the twentieth century prompted state and federal authorities to do more to keep people safe in avalanche country.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Avalanche Research in Colorado</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>In the winter of 1937–38, during the construction of a ski lift in Alta, Utah, the US Forest Service funded an observer to monitor weather, snowfall, and avalanches. The field expanded to Colorado in 1949, when a survey by Swiss mountaineer and scientist <strong>Andr</strong><strong>é</strong><strong> Roch</strong> changed how the Forest Service researched avalanches in the American West. In his report, Roch found that the West has three different winter climate zones that produce different snowpacks and avalanche characteristics. Roch outlined how the Colorado High Country, ranging from 10,000 to 13,000 feet in elevation, reflected a distinct and more volatile avalanche environment than the mountains in Utah.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Realizing it needed avalanche stations in Colorado, the Forest Service established a weather observation station at <strong>Berthoud Pass</strong>, along the Front Range between <strong>Empire</strong> and <strong>Winter Park.</strong> Dick Stillman, a USFS Snow Ranger, and Whitney Borland, hydrologist and member of the National Ski Patrol, set up the station to monitor weather and climate patterns. Instruments recorded wind direction and speed, temperature, hourly and daily snowfall, the water content of snow, snow settlement, and depth of the snowpack. The researchers themselves recorded sky conditions, avalanche occurrence, and the size of avalanches.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>The rangers at Berthoud Pass documented the occurrence of “deep slab” and “delayed release” avalanches, which are characteristic of Colorado’s High-Alpine climate zone. In other states, excess weight from snowfall causes avalanches to occur sooner after a storm. But Colorado’s drier, less dense snowfall doesn’t often overpower a weak layer within the snowpack until multiple storms bring enough weight—or a winter recreationist ventures onto the slope. This means that in Colorado, the avalanche threat remains high even after a storm.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>The researchers at Berthoud Pass sent their findings to the Alta Avalanche Study Center, which was the hub for Forest Service avalanche research from the 1940s through the 1960s. After losing funding, however, the Alta station shifted to more of an administrative center that distributed information about avalanches to the public. In the early 1970s, the Rocky Mountain Research Station in <a href="http://www.coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/fort-collins"><strong>Fort Collins</strong></a> became the new hub of avalanche research. A growing cadre of snow rangers and scientists developed new ways of recording and broadcasting avalanche conditions.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Advances in Avalanche Research</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>From 1971 onward, avalanche research in Colorado looked characteristically different than the early snow ranger years. Ski patrollers largely took over avalanche mitigation in ski areas and resorts, so Forest Service staff and university researchers shifted their focus to protecting resort infrastructure and communicating avalanche hazards to protect recreationists. They did this through two major projects: the Forest Service’s Alpine Snow and Avalanche Research Project, and the San Juan Avalanche Project, run by the<strong> University of Colorado</strong>’s <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/institute-arctic-and-alpine-research-instaar"><strong>Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research (INSTAAR)</strong></a>.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>These projects created a concentration of avalanche experts in Colorado. The Alpine Snow and Avalanche Research Project, headed by veteran researcher Mario “Pete” Martinelli, expanded the network of weather stations in Colorado and recorded information with the help of longtime snow rangers, observers, and scientists like Ron Perla, Arthur Judson, Don Bachman, and Richard Sommerfeld.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>The San Juan Avalanche Project, headed by former Alta Snow Ranger Ed LaChapelle, employed Bachman’s expertise in monitoring avalanche conditions to observe the effects of increased snowfall on roadways and wildlife. These researchers also ushered in the next generation of avalanche experts: Knox Williams, a newly graduated meteorologist, joined Arthur Judson in Fort Collins, and Betsy and Richard Armstrong, students of LaChapelle, moved to <a href="http://www.coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/silverton-0"><strong>Silverton</strong></a> to participate in the San Juans project. By placing young and old researchers in the <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/san-juan-mountains"><strong>San Juan Mountains</strong></a>, a range notorious for avalanches, INSTAAR concentrated experts in a rich living laboratory that produced knowledge about a range of topics surrounding the hazard.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>In conjunction with avalanche research in other western states, these projects helped facilitate the growth of a small but crucial scientific community studying avalanches. Eventually, there was enough data to design a forecasting system.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Forecasting Avalanches</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>In the 1970s, snow ranger and Fort Collins avalanche specialist Arthur Judson envisioned using databases, statistics, and weather observations to create a state-specific avalanche forecasting center. Judson created a database called “The Westwide Network,” which stored past weather and avalanche data recorded at forty-two weather stations across Colorado and the West. This provided a baseline hub for mountain weather and climate data.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Judson understood that avalanche forecasting was a practice in statistics and probabilities. Collecting as much data as possible, he established the Colorado Avalanche Warning Program in 1973. This program monitored the same data as early snow rangers, but it was bolstered by a trove of new resources, such as the Westwide Network, field observers, National Weather Service (NWS) staff, industry stakeholders, and officials with the Colorado Highway Department (now the <strong>Colorado Department of Transportation</strong>).  </p>&#13; &#13; <p>The Colorado Avalanche Warning Program broadcasted warnings through the NWS communication network, reaching radio stations, newspapers, and television channels. The forecasts listed a time, location, projected end time, and a brief explanation of the warning’s nature. Judson’s statistical forecasting laid the foundation for future western avalanche forecasting centers.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>The Colorado Avalanche Information Center</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>Due to budget cuts and shifting priorities in the Forest Service in the early 1980s, the agency cut funding to the Colorado Avalanche Warning Program and the project dissolved in 1983. Later that year, however, Knox Williams, Betsy Armstrong, and Barbara Welles secured office space and grant funding to establish the <strong>Colorado Avalanche Information Center</strong> (CAIC), the nation’s first independent, state-specific avalanche forecasting center.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Taking theories developed by Judson and his peers, the CAIC expanded the avalanche research community’s ability to reach Colorado’s public. It maintained ties with industry, recreation stakeholders, and state and federal agencies. Through publicly broadcasted forecasts, literature, and outreach efforts to increase avalanche awareness, the CAIC established itself as an essential entity for public safety. This importance was reiterated in 1992 when CDOT snowplow driver Eddie Imel was killed in an avalanche on <strong>US Highway 550</strong> in the San Juans. The following year, CDOT partnered with the CAIC to keep its drivers in the know.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Today’s avalanche forecasts break up the state’s mountain ranges into three elevations: “below treeline,” “near treeline,” and “above treeline,” and highlight distinct hazards in all directions within these elevations, referred to as “avalanche problems.” Through this work, the CAIC has brought Judson’s vision of a Colorado-specific avalanche forecasting center into the present.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Effects of Research and Forecasting</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>Avalanche research and forecasting over the course of the twentieth century has undoubtedly made Colorado’s winter backcountry much safer. Technology, such as personal transceivers that can help locate people trapped under the snow, has also given recreators and rescuers more tools to mitigate the avalanche threat.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Avalanche fatalities have never returned to their mining-era peak, even though they spiked again during backcountry visitation booms in the 1980s and 1990s (at least 110 people were killed in that span). Annual avalanche fatalities dropped back down in the 2000s, reflecting the effectiveness of past research and modern education campaigns. Today, avalanches only kill around six people per year in Colorado and about two dozen nationwide.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>The history of avalanches in Colorado illustrates the uncontrollable and deadly nature of these events and the power of applied scientific research to make them less deadly over time. Even though there are far more people plying Colorado’s winter backcountry today than in 1860, the threat of death by an avalanche is much lower today.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>However, as the deadly 2020–21 season shows, people still trigger and die in avalanches in Colorado, often in the same ways they did in the past. No matter how much experience someone has, winter travelers to the High Country should always proceed with extreme caution.</p>&#13; </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-author--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-author.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-author.html.twig * field--entity-reference.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-author field--type-entity-reference field--label-above" id="id-field-author"> <div class="field__label" id="id-field-author">Author</div> <div class='field__items'> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-author"><a href="/author/miler-alex" hreflang="und">Miler, Alex</a></div> </div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-keyword--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-keyword.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-keyword.html.twig * field--entity-reference.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-keyword field--type-entity-reference field--label-above" id="id-field-keyword"> <div class="field__label" id="id-field-keyword">Keywords</div> <div class='field__items'> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/avalanche" hreflang="en">avalanche</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/avalanches-colorado" hreflang="en">avalanches in colorado</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/deadly-colorado-avalanches" hreflang="en">deadly colorado avalanches</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/deadliest-avalanche-season-colorado" hreflang="en">deadliest avalanche season in colorado</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/mining" hreflang="en">mining</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/mining-disasters" hreflang="en">mining disasters</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/railroads" hreflang="en">railroads</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/environmental-history" hreflang="en">environmental history</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/backcountry-skiing" hreflang="en">backcountry skiing</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/cross-country-skiing" hreflang="en">cross country skiing</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/ski-industry" hreflang="en">ski industry</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/ski-resorts" hreflang="en">ski resorts</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/us-forest-service-0" hreflang="en">US forest service</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/snow-rangers" hreflang="en">snow rangers</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/snow" hreflang="en">snow</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/snowpack" hreflang="en">snowpack</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/avalanche-research" hreflang="en">avalanche research</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/avalanche-forecasting" hreflang="en">avalanche forecasting</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/arthur-judson" hreflang="en">arthur judson</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/colorado-state-university" hreflang="en">Colorado State University</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/fort-collins" hreflang="en">fort collins</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/avalanche-science" hreflang="en">avalanche science</a></div> </div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'links__node' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * links--node.html.twig x links--inline.html.twig * links--node.html.twig * links.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/navigation/links--inline.html.twig' --> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/navigation/links--inline.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-references-html--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-references-html.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-references-html.html.twig * field--text-long.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-references-html field--type-text-long field--label-above" id="id-field-references-html"> <div class="field__label" id="id-field-references-html">References</div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-references-html"><p>“<a href="https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/?a=d&amp;d=SEM18850425-01.2.19&amp;srpos=1&amp;e=-------en-20--1--img-txIN%7ctxCO%7ctxTA-%22avalanche%22+%22train%22-------0------">A Fatal Snow Slide</a>,” <em>St. Elmo Mountaineer</em>, April 25, 1885.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>B.R. Armstrong, R.L. Armstrong et al., “<a href="https://nap.nationalacademies.org/read/1571/chapter/1">Snow Avalanche Hazards and Mitigation in the United States</a>” (Washington, DC: National Academy Press, 1990).</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Dale Atkins, “<a href="https://arc.lib.montana.edu/snow-science/objects/issw-2006-287-297.pdf">A History of Colorado Avalanche Accidents, 1859-2006</a>,” Proceedings of the 2006 International Snow Science Workshop, Telluride, CO, 2006.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Montgomery M. Atwater and Felix C. Koziol, “<a href="https://collections.lib.utah.edu/details?id=15380">Avalanche Handbook</a>” (Washington, DC: US Department of Agriculture, 1953).</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Jason Blevins, “<a href="https://coloradosun.com/2021/10/27/colorado-avalanche-backcountry-fatalities-caic/">Colorado’s 2020-21 avalanche season was tied for the deadliest. It’s helping forecasters hone warnings and outreach</a>,” <em>Colorado Sun</em>, October 27, 2021.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Miles Blumhardt, “<a href="https://www.coloradoan.com/story/news/2022/01/21/why-colorado-avalanche-deaths-persist-despite-improved-avalanche-forecasting-education/6531643001/">White Death: Avalanche deaths persist in Colorado, across US despite improved forecasting</a>,” <em>The Coloradoan </em>(Fort Collins, CO), January 21, 2022.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Arthur Judson, “A Pilot Study of Weather, Snow, and Avalanche Reporting for Western United States” (Calgary, AB: October 1970).</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Arthur Judson, “A typical sequence leading to issuance of an avalanche warning in Colorado,” paper presented at an avalanche warning workshop, Fort Collins, CO, October 8-10, 1974.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Arthur Judson, “<a href="https://www.google.com/books/edition/U_S_D_A_Forest_Service_Research_Note_RM/brcmAQAAMAAJ?hl=en&amp;gbpv=1&amp;dq=Arthur+Judson,+%E2%80%9CAvalanche+Warnings:+Content+and+Dissemination,%E2%80%9D&amp;pg=RA24-PA1&amp;printsec=frontcover">Avalanche Warnings: Content and Dissemination</a>,” US Department of Agriculture, US Forest Service, Research Note RM-291 (Fort Collins, CO: Rocky Mountain Forest and Range Experiment Station, June 1975).</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Arthur Judson, “<a href="https://westernsnowconference.org/sites/westernsnowconference.org/PDFs/1977Judson.pdf">The Avalanche Warning Program in Colorado</a>,” presented at the 45th Western Snow Conference, Albuquerque, NM, April 1977).</p>&#13; &#13; <p>“<a href="https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/?a=d&amp;d=TLM19060127.2.1&amp;srpos=18&amp;e=-------en-20--1--img-txIN%7ctxCO%7ctxTA-%22miners%22+%22avalanche%22-------0------">Miraculous Escape</a>,” <em>Twin Lakes Miner</em>, January 27, 1906.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>National Weather Service, “<a href="https://www.weather.gov/safety/winter-avalanche">Avalanche Safety</a>,” n.d.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>“<a href="https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/?a=d&amp;d=GWG18740516-01.2.7&amp;srpos=14&amp;e=-------en-20--1-byDA-img-txIN%7ctxCO%7ctxTA-%22miners%22+%2b+%22avalanche%22-------0------">New News</a>,” <em>Golden Weekly Globe, </em>May 16, 1874.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Ron Perla, “Remembering Arthur Judson: November 5, 1933-July 11, 2020,” <em>The Avalanche Review</em> 39, no. 1 (October 2020).</p>&#13; &#13; <p>“<a href="https://apnews.com/article/eb2b59c111667c36c458b0cd758225ac">Snowplow Driver Lauded as Hero After Dramatic Escape</a>,” <em>Associated Press, </em>March 6, 1992.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>“<a href="https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/?a=d&amp;d=ADV18990216.2.36&amp;srpos=7&amp;e=-------en-20--1--img-txIN%7ctxCO%7ctxTA-%22miners%22+%22avalanche%22-------0------">Ten Bodies Found. Victims of Two Avalanches</a>,” <em>The Julesburg Advocate</em>, February 16, 1899.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>“<a href="https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/?a=d&amp;d=ECE18990211-01.2.14&amp;srpos=3&amp;e=-------en-20--1--img-txIN%7ctxCO%7ctxTA-%22avalanche%22+%22train%22-------0------">The Storm</a>,” <em>Eagle County Examiner</em>, February 11, 1899.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Knox Williams, “A Concise History of the Colorado Avalanche Information Center,” attachment on the email message to author, March 28, 2020.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Knox Williams, “A Short Talk on the History of the Colorado Avalanche Information Center,” attachment on the email message to author, March 28, 2020.</p>&#13; </div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-additional-information-htm--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-additional-information-htm.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-additional-information-htm.html.twig * field--text-long.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-additional-information-htm field--type-text-long field--label-above" id="id-field-additional-information-htm"> <div class="field__label" id="id-field-additional-information-htm">Additional Information</div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-additional-information-htm"><p>Dale Atkins, “<a href="https://arc.lib.montana.edu/snow-science/objects/issw-2000-046-051.pdf">Human Factors in Avalanche Accidents</a>,” Colorado Avalanche Information Center (Boulder, CO), 2000.</p>&#13; &#13; <p><a href="https://avalanche.state.co.us/">Colorado Avalanche Information Center</a></p>&#13; &#13; <p>Colorado Department of Transportation, “<a href="https://www.codot.gov/travel/winter-driving/AvControl.html">Avalanche Control</a>.”</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Colorado Geological Survey, “<a href="https://coloradogeologicalsurvey.org/hazards/avalanche/">Avalanche</a>.”</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Alexander Miller, “<a href="https://mountainscholar.org/bitstream/handle/10217/232518/Miller_colostate_0053N_16526.pdf?sequence=1&amp;isAllowed=y">Spent a Little Time On The Mountain: Backcountry Ski Touring in Utah and Colorado</a>,” master’s thesis, Colorado State University, 2021.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>William Philpott, <em>Vacationland: Tourism and Environment in the Colorado High Country </em>(Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2014).</p>&#13; </div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> Wed, 24 Aug 2022 19:20:15 +0000 yongli 3773 at http://coloradoencyclopedia.org Precious Metal Mining in Colorado http://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/precious-metal-mining-colorado <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--title--encyclopedia-article.html.twig x field--node--title.html.twig * field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--title.html.twig * field--string.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--title.html.twig' --> <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Precious Metal Mining in Colorado</span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--title.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: x field--node--field-article-image--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-article-image.html.twig * field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-article-image.html.twig * field--entity-reference.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--field-article-image--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div id="carouselEncyclopediaArticle" class="carousel slide" data-bs-ride="true"> <div class="carousel-inner"> <div class="carousel-item active"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'node' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * node--3767--article-detail-image.html.twig * node--3767.html.twig x node--image--article-detail-image.html.twig * node--image.html.twig * node--article-detail-image.html.twig * node.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/content/node--image--article-detail-image.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-encyclopedia-image--image.html.twig * field--node--field-encyclopedia-image.html.twig * field--node--image.html.twig * field--field-encyclopedia-image.html.twig * field--image.html.twig x field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-encyclopedia-image field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'image_formatter' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image-formatter.html.twig' --> <a href="/image/gold-taken-colorado-mine"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'image_style' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image-style.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'image' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image.html.twig' --> <img loading="lazy" src="/sites/default/files/styles/wide/public/Gold_%28Dixie_Mine%2C_Idaho_Springs%2C_Colorado%2C_USA%29_3_%2817030135106%29_0.jpg?itok=RpPwBrd-" width="1090" height="757" alt="" typeof="foaf:Image" class="image-style-wide" /> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image.html.twig' --> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image-style.html.twig' --> </a> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image-formatter.html.twig' --> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field.html.twig' --> <div class="carousel-caption d-none d-md-block"> <h5><a href="/image/gold-taken-colorado-mine" rel="bookmark"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--title--image.html.twig x field--node--title.html.twig * field--node--image.html.twig * field--title.html.twig * field--string.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--title.html.twig' --> <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Gold Taken from Colorado Mine</span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--title.html.twig' --> </a></h5> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--body--image.html.twig * field--node--body.html.twig * field--node--image.html.twig * field--body.html.twig x field--text-with-summary.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--text-with-summary.html.twig' --> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>During the raising of the <a href="/article/rocky-mountains"><strong>Rocky Mountains</strong></a> millions of years ago, superheated fluids rose from deep within the Earth and pushed minerals such as gold and silver up through the Earth's crust. Erosion brought pieces of gold downstream in creeks (placer gold), while the deeper deposits (lode gold) could only be recovered by skilled labor and technology.</p> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--text-with-summary.html.twig' --> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/content/node--image--article-detail-image.html.twig' --> </div> <div class="carousel-item"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'node' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * node--3768--article-detail-image.html.twig * node--3768.html.twig x node--image--article-detail-image.html.twig * node--image.html.twig * node--article-detail-image.html.twig * node.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/content/node--image--article-detail-image.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-encyclopedia-image--image.html.twig * field--node--field-encyclopedia-image.html.twig * field--node--image.html.twig * field--field-encyclopedia-image.html.twig * field--image.html.twig x field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-encyclopedia-image field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'image_formatter' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image-formatter.html.twig' --> <a href="/image/argo-tunnel"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'image_style' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image-style.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'image' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image.html.twig' --> <img loading="lazy" src="/sites/default/files/styles/wide/public/6210103088_252254fdb0_k_0.jpg?itok=DjskRzJC" width="1090" height="726" alt="" typeof="foaf:Image" class="image-style-wide" /> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image.html.twig' --> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image-style.html.twig' --> </a> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image-formatter.html.twig' --> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field.html.twig' --> <div class="carousel-caption d-none d-md-block"> <h5><a href="/image/argo-tunnel" rel="bookmark"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--title--image.html.twig x field--node--title.html.twig * field--node--image.html.twig * field--title.html.twig * field--string.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--title.html.twig' --> <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Argo Tunnel</span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--title.html.twig' --> </a></h5> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--body--image.html.twig * field--node--body.html.twig * field--node--image.html.twig * field--body.html.twig x field--text-with-summary.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--text-with-summary.html.twig' --> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>The Argo Tunnel was part of the <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/precious-metal-mining-colorado"><strong>precious metal minin</strong></a>g operations in <a href="/article/gilpin-county"><strong>Gilpin</strong></a> and <a href="/article/clear-creek-county"><strong>Clear Creek County</strong></a> during the late nineteenth century. At more than four miles long, it connected a host of gold mines between <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/central-city%E2%80%93black-hawk-historic-district"><strong>Central City</strong></a> and <strong>Idaho Springs</strong> before it was shuttered following an accident in 1943.</p> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--text-with-summary.html.twig' --> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/content/node--image--article-detail-image.html.twig' --> </div> </div> <button class="carousel-control-prev" type="button" data-bs-target="#carouselEncyclopediaArticle" data-bs-slide="prev"> <span class="carousel-control-prev-icon" aria-hidden="true"></span> <span class="visually-hidden">Previous</span> </button> <button class="carousel-control-next" type="button" data-bs-target="#carouselEncyclopediaArticle" data-bs-slide="next"> <span class="carousel-control-next-icon" aria-hidden="true"></span> <span class="visually-hidden">Next</span> </button> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--field-article-image--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--uid--encyclopedia-article.html.twig x field--node--uid.html.twig * field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--uid.html.twig * field--entity-reference.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--uid.html.twig' --> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'username' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/user/username.html.twig' --> <span lang="" about="/users/yongli" typeof="schema:Person" property="schema:name" datatype="">yongli</span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/user/username.html.twig' --> </span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--uid.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--created--encyclopedia-article.html.twig x field--node--created.html.twig * field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--created.html.twig * field--created.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--created.html.twig' --> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'time' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/time.html.twig' --> <time datetime="2022-08-09T11:55:06-06:00" title="Tuesday, August 9, 2022 - 11:55" class="datetime">Tue, 08/09/2022 - 11:55</time> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/time.html.twig' --> </span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--created.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'addtoany_standard' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * addtoany-standard--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * addtoany-standard--node.html.twig x addtoany-standard.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'modules/contrib/addtoany/templates/addtoany-standard.html.twig' --> <span class="a2a_kit a2a_kit_size_32 addtoany_list" data-a2a-url="http://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/precious-metal-mining-colorado" data-a2a-title="Precious Metal Mining in Colorado"><a class="a2a_dd addtoany_share" href="https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=http%3A%2F%2Fcoloradoencyclopedia.org%2Farticle%2Fprecious-metal-mining-colorado&amp;title=Precious%20Metal%20Mining%20in%20Colorado"></a><a class="a2a_button_facebook"></a><a class="a2a_button_twitter"></a><a class="a2a_button_email"></a></span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'modules/contrib/addtoany/templates/addtoany-standard.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--body--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--body.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--body.html.twig * field--text-with-summary.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item" id="id-body"><p>From the 1850s to the 1920s, gold and silver mining drove Colorado’s economy, making it into an urbanized, industrial state. The rapid development of Colorado’s mineral resources had political, social, and environmental consequences. The mining of gold and silver in Colorado began in earnest during the <a href="http://www.coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/colorado-gold-rush"><strong>Colorado Gold Rush</strong></a> of 1858–59. The state’s first miners used metal pans to sift gold nuggets out of riverbeds. Prospecting these streams quickly outlined a mineral belt stretching diagonally across the state from <a href="http://www.coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/boulder-county"><strong>Boulder County</strong></a> to the <a href="http://www.coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/san-juan-mountains"><strong>San Juan Mountains</strong></a>. Colorado’s principal towns and mines were developed within this belt. Industrial mining followed, allowing for deeper extraction of gold and silver.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Gold and silver mining spurred many events in Colorado history, including the removal of <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/person/native-americans"><strong>Indigenous people</strong></a>, the development of commercial agriculture, the organization of the <a href="http://www.coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/colorado-territory"><strong>territory</strong></a> and state of Colorado, the <strong>Civil War</strong> in the West, the development of <strong>railroads,</strong> and heavy industry such as <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/coal-mining-colorado"><strong>coal mining</strong></a>, precious- and base-metal <strong>smelting</strong>, and<strong> steel production</strong>. Most of the state’s influential political figures from the late nineteenth through the early twentieth centuries had connections to the metal industry. That industry attracted immigrants, ideas, and technology from all over the world. Mining and smelting also led to the development of unions, strikes, and labor conflicts in Colorado.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Although it no longer underwrites the state economy, precious metal mining continues in Colorado today, the ongoing legacy of discoveries made more than 150 years ago.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Geology of Precious Metals</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>Colorado’s precious metals were embedded into the rocks of the northeastern <a href="http://www.coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/rocky-mountains"><strong>Rocky Mountains</strong></a> tens of millions of years ago. Superheated fluids transported dissolved minerals into fractures in pre-Cambrian and metamorphic rocks and into soluble Paleozoic limestone. As the solutions cooled, free metals and metallic compounds were deposited in the rock. Gold is generally found throughout veins of quartz-rich igneous rocks called “pegmatites” or compounded with another element called tellurium into “gold telluride.”</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Silver, meanwhile, is rarely found on its own. It is usually associated with lead, zinc, iron, and <strong>other metals,</strong> as well as non-metallic sulfur, carbonate, and chloride in minerals such as galena, cerussite, and sphalerite. These minerals formed the heavy, dark gray silver-lead ore found in <a href="http://www.coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/leadville"><strong>Leadville</strong></a> during the 1870s. And as the iron sulfide (also called pyrite or “fool’s gold”) was exposed to air, it was altered to form weak sulfuric acid that leaks out of mines and into local water sources, a phenomenon known as <strong>acid mine drainage</strong>.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>In the northeastern Colorado mineral belt, the mountains were uplifted at the end of the Cretaceous Period (65–70 million years ago). Fast-flowing water and glacial ice eroded these rocks and deposited the metals in the gravel and sand of stream channels, sand bars, and terraces. These streams were the first locations where gold was found in Colorado.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>The southwestern portion of the mineral belt was formed very differently. Around 25–35 million years ago, a long episode of volcanic eruptions deposited thick lava flows over the entire region. Some of these were super-sized, explosive volcanoes that created calderas similar to the Yellowstone caldera, only smaller. Superheated fluids containing dissolved metals, similar to the geysers in Yellowstone, flowed into fractures in these volcanic rocks and precipitated the metals as they cooled. These calderas—including the Silverton, Lake City, Creede, Bonanza, La Garita, and others—are now the locations of the principal San Juan mining districts.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Types of Mining</h2>&#13; &#13; <p><em>Placer Mining</em></p>&#13; &#13; <p>Panning gold from stream and terrace gravels is called <em>placer </em>mining, derived from the Spanish word <em>placer</em> or “pleasure”—the gold is available at one’s pleasure. Between 1858 and 1867, Colorado placer miners took out more than $14 million in gold (when gold was valued at about $20 per troy ounce) from creeks and streambeds. The early Colorado prospectors needed only a large pan that looked like a pie pan, a pick, and a shovel to pan for gold. Being denser than the sand around it, the gold settled to the bottom of the pan as the water and lighter sand swirled away.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>A strong magnet could then separate heavy black iron (magnetite) that would settle to the pan's bottom. A problem in some parts of Colorado was the presence of another heavy black mineral that was non-magnetic. During the early gold rush, this mineral was assayed as a lead compound, which was worthless to gold miners. Only later would it be found to contain silver as well as lead, zinc, and other metals.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>To process more gold-bearing sand than an individual with a pan, miners began working in teams using rockers, a cradle-like wooden box, and sluices—long, high-sided wooden flumes with numerous cross-pieces nailed to the bottom. Both techniques emulated the natural stream-sorting of the denser gold nuggets, flakes, and dust while carrying off the gravel and sand. Because a considerable flow of water was needed to separate the gold, this technology was little used in areas with seasonal stream flows.</p>&#13; &#13; <p><em>Hydraulic Mining</em></p>&#13; &#13; <p>When placer deposits ran out, miners in places such as <a href="http://www.coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/park-county"><strong>South Park</strong></a> and <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/breckenridge-historic-district"><strong>Breckenridge</strong></a> turned to hydraulic mining, in which highly pressurized water was used to blast thick terrace gravel away from hillsides, sending the metal-containing debris down into a series of sluices. However, the relative lack of water and hose materials, as well as the fact that many gulches had already been placer-mined to exhaustion, meant that hydraulic mining did not become as prevalent in Colorado as it had in California.</p>&#13; &#13; <p><em>Hard-Rock Mining</em></p>&#13; &#13; <p>Instead of hydraulic mining, most of Colorado’s gold and silver were taken out by mining the bedrock. Miners started using this method in the early 1860s. Lode or hard-rock mining required digging shafts and tunnels into the mountains, following the veins downward from the surface. Recoverable gold and silver in the lodes is called <em>ore</em>.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>At first, hard-rock miners used hand drills, sharpened pieces of steel like long chisels, that were hit with hammers to drill holes for black powder. The explosive would blow apart the ore-bearing rock, allowing the ore to be shoveled into ore cars for the trip to the surface. By the 1890s, when the <a href="http://www.coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/cripple-creek"><strong>Cripple Creek</strong></a> gold rush and silver booms in <a href="http://www.coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/aspen"><strong>Aspen</strong></a> and <strong><a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/creede">Creede</a> </strong>were in full swing, hand drills began to be replaced by steam-powered or compressed-air drills.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Processing Precious Metals</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>In the early days of the Colorado Gold Rush, placer miners borrowed the Spanish process of using mercury to extract gold; the two heavy metals were bound together in an amalgam and would sink to the bottom of the sluice. The amalgam was then heated in a retort until the mercury vaporized, leaving the gold and retorted mercury to be collected.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>In the 1860s, before successful smelting in Colorado, ore was taken from a mine to a stamp mill, where it was crushed into sand and then washed over copper plates embedded with mercury, or simply into sluice boxes to recover the gold. The use of mercury posed a threat to miners, mill workers, and local wildlife, as documented by the gold seeker-turned-naturalist <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/edwin-carter"><strong>Edwin Carter</strong></a>.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Early stamp milling was relatively inefficient, with as little as 25 percent of the gold content recovered. The inefficiency came because milling is only a physical separation process and does not break the chemical bonds between the rock and gold. As mines became deeper, lower-grade ore and ore laden with sulfides made profitable milling difficult. The result was the first “bust” in Colorado’s gold “boom.”</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Advent of Smelting</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>In the late 1860s, entrepreneurial chemistry professor <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/nathaniel-p-hill"><strong>Nathaniel P. Hill</strong></a> applied a process he learned in Wales to build the state’s first successful smelter in <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/central-city%E2%80%93black-hawk-historic-district"><strong>Black Hawk</strong></a>. Smelters use heat to melt milled ore and chemically separate the precious metals. The advent of smelting not only revived the struggling mining industry in Colorado but also launched the potential extraction of silver from complex ores.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Smelting also galvanized the <a href="file:///C:/Users/yongli/Downloads/coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/coal-mining-colorado"><strong>coal industry</strong></a>, as large amounts of coke—an industrial fuel derived from coal—were needed to fuel the smelters. By 1890 Leadville had fourteen smelters, <a href="http://www.coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/pueblo"><strong>Pueblo</strong></a> and Denver had three, and <a href="http://www.coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/golden"><strong>Golden</strong></a>, <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/salida"><strong>Salida</strong></a>, Aspen, and <strong>Durango</strong> each had one.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>A new gold-extraction process gained traction in Colorado during the Cripple Creek gold boom of the 1890s. Using cyanide to separate gold was, as mining historian Jay Fell writes, “far more efficient than stamp milling and far less expensive than smelting.” Like earlier stamp milling, the process involved crushing the gold ore into sand, but instead of running it over copper plates or through sluices, the cyanide mills sent the sand into vats of a cyanide solution which dissolved gold for extraction.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Like smelting, cyanide milling was developed overseas; it was used extensively in South Africa during the 1880s before being implemented in Colorado mining operations at <a href="http://www.coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/crestone"><strong>Crestone</strong></a> and Cripple Creek. Despite the success of cyanide in gold processing, silver-lead-zinc ores still had to be smelted. Many Colorado silver-lead-zinc smelters operated until the 1920s, and one each in Denver and Leadville operated until the 1960s.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Timeline of Precious Metal Mining in Colorado</h2>&#13; &#13; <p><em>Early History</em></p>&#13; &#13; <p>The 1849 California Gold Rush set off the search for precious metals across the American West. On their way to California, various groups traveling across the Rockies began finding small amounts of gold in <strong>Cherry Creek</strong> and other streams near present-day Denver. These early findings attracted little attention after the 1851 <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/treaty-fort-laramie"><strong>Treaty of Fort Laramie</strong></a> made the area more accessible to non-Natives and an economic depression in 1857 led many eastern Americans to seek their fortunes in the West. In 1858 the party of <strong>William Green Russell</strong>, prospectors with experience from gold rushes in Georgia and California, made a minor gold discovery in Cherry Creek.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>The ensuing Colorado Gold Rush saw thousands of people cross the <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/colorado%E2%80%99s-great-plains"><strong>Great Plains</strong></a> to newly established towns such as <a href="http://www.coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/denver"><strong>Denver</strong></a>, <a href="http://www.coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/boulder"><strong>Boulder</strong></a>, Cañon City, and Golden; by 1860, the non-Native population of Colorado—which was then still controlled mainly by Indigenous people and officially part of western Kansas Territory—numbered over 34,000. The following year, with the Civil War looming, Congress organized Colorado Territory in part to safeguard the gold-producing region from the emerging Confederacy.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Colorado’s population swiftly declined in the early 1860s, as many of the most popular gold streams were panned out and hard rock mining began. People left the area to join the Union or Confederate armies and to seek their fortunes in the Idaho and Montana gold rushes that began in 1862.</p>&#13; &#13; <p><em>Spread Across the Rockies</em></p>&#13; &#13; <p>In the mid-to-late 1860s, the violent removal of the <strong>Arapaho</strong> and <strong>Cheyenne</strong>, as well as treaties with the <a href="http://www.coloradoencyclopedia.org/search/google/ute"><strong>Ute</strong></a> people of the Rocky Mountains and the importing of stamp milling and smelting, revived Colorado’s gold-mining industry. This was followed in the 1870s by the development of railroads in the mining districts and discoveries of gold and silver in the San Juan Mountains, the <a href="http://www.coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/gunnison-county"><strong>Gunnison Valley</strong></a>, and Leadville. The forced removal of much of Colorado’s Ute population in 1881 made industrial mining possible in places such as Aspen (silver) and the San Juan Mountain towns of <strong>Ouray</strong>, <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/silverton-0"><strong>Silverton</strong></a>, and <a href="http://www.coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/telluride"><strong>Telluride</strong></a> (gold and silver).</p>&#13; &#13; <p><em>Silver’s Rise and Fall</em></p>&#13; &#13; <p>The fates of Colorado’s gold and silver mining industries were always bound to national events. Beginning in the late 1850s, during the Colorado Gold Rush, the rapid development of the Comstock Lode, a massive silver deposit in Nevada, sent the price of silver tumbling. The price drop continued when Colorado’s silver industry came alive in Leadville in the late 1870s, prompting those invested in western silver to lobby Congress for support. The Bland-Allison Act, passed in 1878, compelled the government to purchase a set amount of silver each year and was a boon for Colorado mines.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Later, the Sherman Silver Purchase Act of 1890 increased the government’s silver-buying obligation and further stimulated silver production in Colorado. During the ensuing debate over which precious metals would back US currency, most Coloradans supported silver because Colorado’s silver mines, anchored by booming Leadville and Aspen, were producing some $20 million in silver each year.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>The overproduction of silver had already caused its price to drop by about a quarter when another <a href="http://www.coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/panic-1893"><strong>economic depression hit in 1893</strong>.</a> That year, the US government sought to protect its diminishing gold reserves by halting its silver purchases. After the repeal of the Sherman Silver Purchase Act, the price of silver dropped even further, to about sixty-three cents per ounce by 1894.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Although the repeal was intended to stimulate the national economy, it devastated Colorado’s. Of the silver mining towns, Leadville suffered the most, with ninety mines closed and 2,500 unemployed. Aspen’s silver boom effectively ended, and the town later had to reinvent itself as a <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/ski-industry"><strong>ski</strong></a> destination to survive. Altogether, more than 9,500 jobs dried up in mining towns across the state. Colorado’s silver industry never recovered, with production dwindling to below $10 million per year after the turn of the century.</p>&#13; &#13; <p><em>Cripple Creek and Consolidation</em></p>&#13; &#13; <p>Although the bane of Colorado’s silver industry, repealing the Sherman Act was a boon for mining gold and other metals. Many out-of-work silver miners flocked to new discoveries in the Cripple Creek gold mines.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>The Cripple Creek district was on the western flank of <a href="http://www.coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/pikes-peak"><strong>Pikes Peak</strong></a>, where local rancher Bob Womack found gold in 1890. With the repeal of the Sherman Act, the value of gold in Colorado increased by about $4 million (40 percent) from 1894 to 1895 and reached a peak of $28 million in 1900, due primarily to Cripple Creek production.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>As in other industries—such as railroads, steel, and petroleum—the precious metals industry began to consolidate in the 1890s. This led to the creation of large companies that controlled both mines and smelters. Formed in 1899, the <strong>American Smelting and Refining Company</strong> (ASARCO) was the most significant of these companies in Colorado, operating the <strong>Globe smelter</strong> in Denver, the Arkansas Valley smelter in Leadville, and the <strong>Colorado smelter</strong> in <a href="http://www.coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/pueblo"><strong>Pueblo</strong></a>, as well as dozens of mines across the state. Several years later, ASARCO also acquired the Guggenheim family’s smelters at those locations, creating a near-monopoly in Colorado’s smelting industry.</p>&#13; &#13; <p><em>Twentieth Century</em></p>&#13; &#13; <p>Thereafter, the amount of gold produced in Colorado began to taper off, dropping from 20 million ounces in 1900 to 8.5 million by 1910, then down to 5.4 million ounces in 1920. Gold’s value, however, remained steady throughout the 1910s, hovering around $20 million for the better part of the decade. Its value declined as English investors pulled out of Colorado mines to support their home nation during <a href="http://www.coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/colorado-world-war-i"><strong>World War I</strong></a>.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>In the 1910s, dredging provided hope for gold mining outfits in five Colorado counties. Dredging used a mechanical chain of buckets attached to a boom on a huge flat-bottom barge floating on a self-dug pond. The dredge buckets scooped large volumes of riverbed gravel into an onboard sluice, where gold was separated. The “waste” gravel was then stacked by a conveyor belt in huge dredge piles still visible along the Blue River near Breckenridge and southeast of <a href="/article/fairplay"><strong>Fairplay</strong></a>. Although it did not bring gold mining back to its heyday, dredging yielded modest gold production in <a href="http://www.coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/summit-county"><strong>Summit</strong></a> and <a href="http://www.coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/park-county"><strong>Park</strong></a> Counties through the early 1940s, when the federal government halted gold mining during <strong>World War II</strong>.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Meanwhile, with mine production continuing to fall, most Colorado silver-lead-zinc smelters had been shut down by the late 1920s, leaving only one Leadville and one Denver facility in operation. Fewer smelters meant higher costs for transporting ore, making it even harder to turn a profit on the lower-grade ore that remained. Gold and silver production and values dwindled. To compensate, the US Mint stopped coining gold in 1933 and raised the price from $20 per troy ounce to $35 per troy ounce, where it remained until 1972.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>After the war, gold and silver became mere nuggets in the state’s mining stream, which was dominated by <strong>molybdenum </strong>and <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/uranium-mining"><strong>uranium</strong></a>. The last underground mine in the Cripple Creek District shut down in 1964. By 1975, when US citizens could again own gold bullion, Colorado still produced some $5.4 million in gold annually. However, along with silver, gold was primarily a by-product of mining for other, more profitable metals. Colorado’s molybdenum production, for instance, was $183 million that year.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Labor Strife</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>As the precious-metal mining industry consolidated in the late nineteenth century, the era of the individual prospector rushing to strike it rich came to an end, replaced by the grueling drudgery of workers mining for a company. Hard-rock mining was dangerous, with daily hazards including rock falls, injuries from drills and other equipment, and dynamite blasts. As mining historian Duane Smith put it, many accidents and injuries stemmed from “general rashness and lack of care” on behalf of the companies and fellow workers. In addition, many miners developed silicosis, a deadly lung disease caused by inhaling tiny rock particles all day. By 1900 miners braved all these risks for an average of about three dollars per eight-hour day, paltry earnings compared to those of the company bosses.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Disgruntled hard-rock miners joined the <a href="http://www.coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/western-federation-miners"><strong>Western Federation of Miners</strong></a> (WFM), which lobbied for better pay and working conditions and organized strikes in such places as <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/leadville-strike-1896%E2%80%9397"><strong>Leadville</strong></a>, <strong>Cripple Creek</strong>, and <strong>Telluride</strong>. The tensions that stemmed from the miners’ exploited condition sometimes boiled over into outright labor conflict, such as when WFM members in Cripple Creek blew up a train platform where strikebreakers arrived in 1894 or when striking miners shot at and bombed strikebreakers in Leadville in 1896. For all their organizing and sacrifice, miners’ gains in this period were relatively small; slight pay increases, as well as the state’s implementation of an eight-hour workday in 1899, were among their victories—although subsequent strikes proved necessary to get mine owners to follow the law.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Today</h2>&#13; &#13; <p><em>Production</em></p>&#13; &#13; <p>Although it is far from being as profitable as it was in the nineteenth century, gold and silver mining continues in Colorado today. After a brief hiatus in the 1960s, gold and silver mining resumed at the Cripple Creek and Victor Mine in the late 1970s. Today the mine produces about 322,000 ounces of gold and silver each year. While this is nothing compared to the 25 million ounces pulled out of Colorado mines in 1893, its value—some $580 million at a rate of roughly $1,800 per troy ounce—is still substantial.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Mine operators still use milling technology to crush the ore to a usable size. From there, the Cripple Creek and Victor Mine now use a process called <em>heap-leaching </em>to recover gold from ore instead of cyanide vats. In heap-leaching, the ore is crushed into sand, piled up, and dripped with a cyanide solution that causes the metals to dissolve and leach into a catchment pond, where the gold can be recovered, and the cyanide reused.</p>&#13; &#13; <p><em>Legacy</em></p>&#13; &#13; <p>Gold and silver mining played an essential role in the development of modern Colorado, but it also touched off a statewide environmental crisis that is ongoing today. Acid mine drainage—the breakdown and leaching of sulfide metals from mine workings, mine waste rock, and mill tailings into local water sources—became a concern in the late twentieth century due to the Clean Water Act and similar environmental laws. This has resulted in lawsuits against mining companies and the creation of several <strong>Superfund sites in Colorado</strong> where the US <strong>Environmental Protection Agency</strong> (EPA) has worked to contain and treat contaminated water from mining districts.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Although the EPA is tasked with cleaning up mines with acidic drainage, the agency has sometimes caused further damage. In 2015, EPA crews <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/gold-king-mine-spill"><strong>accidentally released</strong></a> some 3 million gallons of metal-contaminated water into the <a href="http://www.coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/animas-river"><strong>Animas River</strong></a>. That spill, originating from the <strong>Gold King Mine</strong> north of Durango, demonstrated the risk of modern environmental disasters arising from nineteenth-century gold and silver mining in Colorado.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>In addition to the mines themselves, processing precious metals also produced environmental problems. Emissions from smelters caused localized acid rain; the emissions, as well as the waste material from smelting called <em>slag</em>, contained high levels of arsenic and lead, both harmful to human health. Multiple smelter locations across the state, including in Denver’s <strong>Globeville</strong> neighborhood and in Pueblo, became Superfund cleanup sites in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries, with the EPA and in some cases, the smelting company working to remove contaminated soil and slag piles.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>However, the legacy of Colorado’s precious-metal mines also continues in other, more positive ways. As a result of its durability and malleability, much of the gold mined in Colorado during the 1800s is still in use today, whether in jewelry, electronics, space probes, or the treasury reserves of nations across the globe. And the silver, used in US coins until 1972 and in film processing until the 1990s, is now found in jewelry and high-conductivity electronic circuits. Although more than 160 years have passed since the Colorado Gold Rush began, the sun’s gleam off the <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/colorado-state-capitol"><strong>State Capitol</strong></a>’s gold dome continues to reflect the state’s mining heritage.</p>&#13; </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-author--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-author.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-author.html.twig * field--entity-reference.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-author field--type-entity-reference field--label-above" id="id-field-author"> <div class="field__label" id="id-field-author">Author</div> <div class='field__items'> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-author"><a href="/author/encyclopedia-staff" hreflang="und">Encyclopedia Staff</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-author"><a href="/author/hart-steve" hreflang="und">Hart, Steve</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-author"><a href="/author/fell-james-e" hreflang="und">Fell, James E.</a></div> </div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-keyword--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-keyword.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-keyword.html.twig * field--entity-reference.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-keyword field--type-entity-reference field--label-above" id="id-field-keyword"> <div class="field__label" id="id-field-keyword">Keywords</div> <div class='field__items'> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/gold-mining-colorado" hreflang="en">gold mining colorado</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/silver-mining-colorado" hreflang="en">silver mining colorado</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/metal-mining" hreflang="en">metal mining</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/mining" hreflang="en">mining</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/acid-mine-drainage" hreflang="en">acid mine drainage</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/telluride" hreflang="en">Telluride</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/black-hawk" hreflang="en">Black Hawk</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/cripple-creek" hreflang="en">Cripple Creek</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/aspen" hreflang="en">Aspen</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/leadville" hreflang="en">Leadville</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/railroads" hreflang="en">railroads</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/smelter" hreflang="en">smelter</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/colorado-springs" hreflang="en">colorado springs</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/breckenridge" hreflang="en">Breckenridge</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/boulder" hreflang="en">boulder</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/boulder-county" hreflang="en">boulder county</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/niwot" hreflang="en">Niwot</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/cheyenne" hreflang="en">cheyenne</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/arapaho" hreflang="en">arapaho</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/indian-removal" hreflang="en">indian removal</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/hosa" hreflang="en">hosa</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/ute" hreflang="en">ute</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/brunot-agreement" hreflang="en">Brunot Agreement</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/san-juan-mountains" hreflang="en">San Juan Mountains</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/silverton" hreflang="en">Silverton</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/durango" hreflang="en">Durango</a></div> </div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'links__node' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * links--node.html.twig x links--inline.html.twig * links--node.html.twig * links.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/navigation/links--inline.html.twig' --> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/navigation/links--inline.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-references-html--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-references-html.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-references-html.html.twig * field--text-long.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-references-html field--type-text-long field--label-above" id="id-field-references-html"> <div class="field__label" id="id-field-references-html">References</div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-references-html"><p>American Museum of Natural History, “<a href="https://www.amnh.org/exhibitions">Forming Deposits</a>,” n.d.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Vladimir Basov, “<a href="https://www.mining.com/heap-leach-minings-breakthrough-technology/">Heap Leach: Mining’s breakthrough technology</a>,” Mining.com, August 20, 2015.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>“<a href="http://www.asarco.com/about-us/company-history/">Company History</a>,” ASARCO, n.d.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>“<a href="https://www.newmont.com/operations-and-projects/global-presence/north-america/cripple-creek-victor-us/default.aspx">Cripple Creek &amp; Victor</a>,” Newmont Mining, updated 2019.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>James E. Fell and Eric Twitty, “<a href="https://www.historycolorado.org/sites/default/files/media/document/2017/651.pdf">The Mining Industry in Colorado</a>,” National Register of Historic Places Multiple Property Documentation Form, OMB No. 1024-0018 (March 1992).</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Charles W. Henderson, “<a href="https://pubs.usgs.gov/pp/0138/report.pdf">Mining in Colorado: A History of Discovery, Development and Production</a>,” USGS Professional Paper 138 (Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1926).</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Hobart M. King, “<a href="https://geology.com/minerals/silver.shtml">Silver</a>,” Geology.com, n.d.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Terry Norgate and Nawshad Haque, “Using life cycle assessment to evaluate some environmental impacts of gold production,” <em>Journal of Cleaner Production</em> 29-30 (July 2012).</p>&#13; &#13; <p>“<a href="https://www2.census.gov/library/publications/decennial/1860/population/1860a-38.pdf">Population of the United States in 1860: Territory of Colorado</a>,” US Census Bureau, 1860.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>“<a href="https://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/hac/coloradoslag.html#:~:text=The%20waste%20materials%20were%20then,the%20only%20ones%20at%20risk.">Pueblo, CO Exposure Investigation Success Story</a>,” Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, updated April 11, 2018.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Laura Shunk, “<a href="https://www.westword.com/restaurants/globeville-was-a-superfund-site-could-we-garden-there-10767357">Here’s the Dirt on Gardening in Globeville</a>,” <em>Westword</em>, September 12, 2018. Virginia McConnell Simmons, <em>The Ute Indians of Utah, Colorado, and New Mexico </em>(Boulder: University Press of Colorado, 2000).</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Duane A. Smith, <em>The Trail of Gold &amp; Silver: Mining in Colorado, 1859–2009 </em>(Boulder: University Press of Colorado, 2009).</p>&#13; &#13; <p>US Environmental Protection Agency, “<a href="https://www.epa.gov/enforcement/case-summary-epa-funded-sites-and-communities-asarco-bankruptcy-settlement">Case Summary: EPA Funded Sites and Communities in the ASARCO Bankruptcy Settlement</a>,” n.d.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>US Environmental Protection Agency, “<a href="https://semspub.epa.gov/work/08/312995.pdf">Fact Sheet: Yak Tunnel Cleanup—California Gulch Superfund Site</a>,” April 1989.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>US Environmental Protection Agency, “<a href="https://cumulis.epa.gov/supercpad/SiteProfiles/index.cfm?fuseaction=second.cleanup&amp;id=0802700">Superfund Site: Colorado Smelter—Pueblo, CO—Cleanup Activities</a>,” n.d.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Elliott West, <em>The Contested Plains: Indians, Goldseekers, and the Rush to Colorado </em>(Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1998).</p>&#13; </div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-additional-information-htm--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-additional-information-htm.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-additional-information-htm.html.twig * field--text-long.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-additional-information-htm field--type-text-long field--label-above" id="id-field-additional-information-htm"> <div class="field__label" id="id-field-additional-information-htm">Additional Information</div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-additional-information-htm"><p>Carl Abbott, Stephen J. Leonard, and Thomas J. Noel, <em>Colorado: A History of the Centennial State </em>5th ed. (Boulder: University Press of Colorado, 2013).</p>&#13; &#13; <p>James E. Fell, <em>Ores to Metals: The Rocky Mountain Smelting Industry </em>(Boulder: University Press of Colorado, 2009).</p>&#13; &#13; <p>William Henry Jackson and John Fielder, <em>Colorado: 1870–2000 </em>(Silverthorne, CO: John Fielder Publishing, 2015).</p>&#13; </div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> Tue, 09 Aug 2022 17:55:06 +0000 yongli 3721 at http://coloradoencyclopedia.org Lena Stoiber http://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/lena-stoiber <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--title--encyclopedia-article.html.twig x field--node--title.html.twig * field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--title.html.twig * field--string.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--title.html.twig' --> <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Lena Stoiber</span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--title.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--uid--encyclopedia-article.html.twig x field--node--uid.html.twig * field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--uid.html.twig * field--entity-reference.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--uid.html.twig' --> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'username' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/user/username.html.twig' --> <span lang="" about="/users/yongli" typeof="schema:Person" property="schema:name" datatype="">yongli</span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/user/username.html.twig' --> </span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--uid.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--created--encyclopedia-article.html.twig x field--node--created.html.twig * field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--created.html.twig * field--created.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--created.html.twig' --> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'time' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/time.html.twig' --> <time datetime="2021-10-28T11:36:58-06:00" title="Thursday, October 28, 2021 - 11:36" class="datetime">Thu, 10/28/2021 - 11:36</time> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/time.html.twig' --> </span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--created.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'addtoany_standard' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * addtoany-standard--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * addtoany-standard--node.html.twig x addtoany-standard.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'modules/contrib/addtoany/templates/addtoany-standard.html.twig' --> <span class="a2a_kit a2a_kit_size_32 addtoany_list" data-a2a-url="http://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/lena-stoiber" data-a2a-title="Lena Stoiber"><a class="a2a_dd addtoany_share" href="https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=http%3A%2F%2Fcoloradoencyclopedia.org%2Farticle%2Flena-stoiber&amp;title=Lena%20Stoiber"></a><a class="a2a_button_facebook"></a><a class="a2a_button_twitter"></a><a class="a2a_button_email"></a></span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'modules/contrib/addtoany/templates/addtoany-standard.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--body--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--body.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--body.html.twig * field--text-with-summary.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item" id="id-body"><p>Lena Alma Allen Webster Stoiber Rood Ellis (1862–1935) was the “Bonanza Queen” of <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/silverton-0"><strong>Silverton</strong></a>. Known as “Captain Jack” or “Jack Pants” to the miners who worked for her, she was a tough boss who worked in conjunction with her second husband, Edward G. Stoiber, at the Silver Lake Mine. He managed the mine and she managed the miners, outswearing them and ruling with an iron first. She has become a mythicized figure in Colorado history, often sensationalized for her four marriages and her colorful life, which did not correspond with cultural expectations for elite women at the time.</p> <h2>Early Life</h2> <p>Lena Alma Allen was born on April 2, 1862, to Mary Jane and George Washington Allen in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Little is known about her childhood. Lena Allen’s first husband was Frederick Charles Webster, a Yale graduate and successful lawyer. They married in Minneapolis on August 7, 1877. The Websters moved west to Colorado after their marriage and settled in <strong><a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/leadville">Leadville</a></strong>, then at the start of its silver boom, where Frederick Webster served as city attorney. The marriage did not last, and the couple divorced on April 9, 1887. Frederick Webster moved to Montana, while Lena remained in Colorado, supporting herself for a time by working at <strong>Joslin’s Dry Goods</strong> in <strong><a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/denver">Denver</a></strong>.</p> <h2>Edward Stoiber</h2> <p>After relocating to Silverton, Lena Webster met Edward George Stoiber, a <a href="/article/precious-metal-mining-colorado"><strong>mining</strong></a> engineer. The couple wed on March 29, 1888, in Illinois. Stoiber was originally from New York, where he was born to German immigrant parents in 1855. After attending Columbia College in New York, he began working in the mining industry by the late 1870s. He relocated first to Leadville, then to <strong><a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/san-juan-county">San Juan County</a></strong>. By 1885 he was working there with his brother, Gustavus. Around that time, the brothers purchased the Silver Lake mine near Silverton. About two years later, the brothers had a disagreement and divided their mutual assets. Edward retained ownership of the Silver Lake mine.</p> <h2>Marriage and Mining</h2> <p>Edward and Lena Stoiber spent their honeymoon at the <strong><a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/hotel-de-paris">Hotel de Paris</a></strong> in <strong><a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/georgetown%E2%80%93silver-plume-historic-district">Georgetown</a></strong>. The couple then settled in Silverton. It was in this first residence that Lena Stoiber became known for constructing “spite fences.” She had disagreements with her Silverton neighbors, and to spite them she built a two-story fence around her house to obstruct her neighbors’ views.</p> <p>Her neighbors were probably not surprised to learn that Stoiber was also a tough mining boss. While her husband managed the Silver Lake mine, she managed the miners. There are many outlandish stories about her time overseeing the Silver Lake miners. Some of the tales are myths, but Stoiber was in fact notorious for going from bar to bar to round up her miners and send them back to work. She also held parties and arranged entertainment for them, managed their boardinghouse, and helped look after their families. Owing to her impressive work in the mining industry, in 1894 Stoiber was named an associate member of the American Society of Mining and Metallurgical Engineers—a high honor, particularly for a woman of her time. The Stoibers were tough bosses, but they were respected by their employees and their mining interests saw great success.</p> <p>During the <strong><a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/panic-1893">Panic of 1893</a></strong>, which shuttered many mines, the Stoibers approached the crisis with clear heads and were able to survive by reducing the cost per ton and continuing to produce profitable low-grade ores. Thanks to their frugality and business savvy, the Stoibers retained their mine and their wealth. In the late 1890s, they decided to build a new house near their mine. Their three-story brick residence, called Waldheim, was completed in 1897 and had all the modern conveniences: electricity, plumbing, and a furnace.</p> <h2>Philanthropy</h2> <p>When Lena Stoiber wasn’t busy managing the Silver Lake miners, she was actively involved in the Silverton community. During the holiday season, she would deliver presents to every child in town. In 1898 she hosted a group from the <strong>Denver Woman’s Club </strong>at Waldheim as part of their biennial meeting.</p> <p>Around 1901 Edward Stoiber sold Silver Lake to the <strong>American Smelting and Refining Company</strong>. After the sale, the Stoibers relocated to Denver and began to travel the world. Lena Stoiber remained active in local charitable organizations after the move to Denver. She furnished rooms at the YWCA home and was a trustee and incorporator of the Colorado Cliff Dwellings Association in 1900. She played a major role in the <strong>movement</strong> to establish <strong><a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/mesa-verde-national-park">Mesa Verde</a></strong> as a national park in 1906.</p> <h2>Edward’s Death</h2> <p>In Denver the Stoibers planned a large mansion at Tenth and Humboldt Streets, next to <strong><a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/cheesman-park">Cheesman Park</a></strong>. Edward Stoiber never saw it completed, as he passed away suddenly after contracting typhoid fever while abroad in Paris. After his death, Lena Stoiber continued with the existing plans and her new mansion, <strong>Stoiberhof</strong>, was finished in 1907. Later, the property boasted another spite fence. To honor her late husband, in 1906 Lena Stoiber established the Edward Stoiber Prize at the <strong>Colorado School of Mines</strong> to honor the best senior thesis involving the concentration of ores and the separation of metals. The prize was awarded annually until at least 1916.</p> <h2>Rood Marriage</h2> <p>Stoiber continued to live alone at Stoiberhof until January 1909, when she married Hugh Roscoe Rood in Vancouver, Washington. A lumber baron from Seattle, Rood was president of the Pacific Coast Creosoting Company. After their marriage, the Roods split their time between Washington and Colorado.</p> <p>In 1912 the couple was in Europe when Hugh Rood decided to sail back to the United States. Lena decided to stay behind in Europe, while her husband booked passage home on the <em>Titanic</em>. He perished when it sank on April 14, 1912. Apparently in disbelief that her third husband had died, Lena Stoiber Rood placed advertisements in newspapers searching for her husband. Rumors swirled that he had survived the sinking, but he was never found.</p> <h2>Fourth Marriage</h2> <p>After the death of her third husband, Lena Stoiber Rood sold Stoiberhof to <strong><a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/verner-zevola-reed">Verner Z. Reed</a></strong> and spent some time in Paris. In 1918 she married for a fourth time to Commander Mark St. Clair Ellis of the US Navy. The couple did not have a happy marriage and separated after only a year. After their separation, Lena began spending most of her time in Europe. She bought a villa in Stresa, Italy, and remained there for the rest of her life.</p> <h2><strong>Legacy</strong></h2> <p>Lena Alma Allen Stoiber Rood Ellis passed away on March 27, 1935 in Stresa, Italy. Her body was brought back to Colorado and buried with her second husband, Edward Stoiber, in his mausoleum at <strong><a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/fairmount-cemetery">Fairmount Cemetery</a></strong>. Her name is not inscribed on the mausoleum.</p> <p>Stoiber left a large estate upon her death and had no direct heirs. In her will, she named her siblings, nephews, Stoiber family members, employees, and friends as inheritors. Shortly after her death, a woman named Magdalena Domínguez came forward with a claim that Stoiber had adopted her and that she was therefore heir to the Stoiber estate. According to Domínguez’s story, Lena Stoiber agreed to adopt Dominguez as a child and to bequeath Domínguez a share of her estate upon her death. Domínguez took her claims to court, but in the end there was no evidence of an adoption and her claims were dismissed.</p> <p>Myths have surrounded the life of Lena Stoiber since her death. Supposedly, she once refused an offer to become the Queen of Serbia. She has also been painted as a “black widow” since two of her husbands died and many believed that her first husband also died or disappeared instead of relocating to Montana. The truth seems to be that Lena Stoiber stood apart from her contemporaries as a modern woman who pushed the boundaries of what was considered appropriate for a woman of her time.</p> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-author--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-author.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-author.html.twig * field--entity-reference.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-author field--type-entity-reference field--label-above" id="id-field-author"> <div class="field__label" id="id-field-author">Author</div> <div class='field__items'> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-author"><a href="/author/carr-shelby" hreflang="und">Carr, Shelby</a></div> </div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-keyword--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-keyword.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-keyword.html.twig * field--entity-reference.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-keyword field--type-entity-reference field--label-above" id="id-field-keyword"> <div class="field__label" id="id-field-keyword">Keywords</div> <div class='field__items'> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/lena-stoiber" hreflang="en">Lena Stoiber</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/edward-stoiber" hreflang="en">Edward Stoiber</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/silver-lake-mine" hreflang="en">Silver Lake mine</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/silverton" hreflang="en">Silverton</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/frederick-webster" hreflang="en">Frederick Webster</a></div> </div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'links__node' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * links--node.html.twig x links--inline.html.twig * links--node.html.twig * links.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/navigation/links--inline.html.twig' --> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/navigation/links--inline.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-references-html--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-references-html.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-references-html.html.twig * field--text-long.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-references-html field--type-text-long field--label-above" id="id-field-references-html"> <div class="field__label" id="id-field-references-html">References</div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-references-html"><p>“Death of E. G. Stoiber,” <em>Las Animas Leader</em>, April 27, 1906.</p> <p><em>“</em>Frederick Charles Webster,” <em>Obituary Record of Graduates Deceased During the Year Ending July 1, 1927 </em>(New Haven, CT: Yale University, 1927).</p> <p>Larry Goodwin, “Silver Lake Basin: A Mining Chronicle,” <em>Mining History Association Journal </em>(2016).</p> <p>Lena Stoiber Papers, Mss. 3121, History Colorado Center, Denver, n.d..</p> <p>“Magnitude of Disaster Shocks Whole World: Hugh Rood of Denver Lost, Mrs. J.J. Brown Is Rescued,” <em>Rocky Mountain News, </em>April 17, 1912.</p> <p>Constance Merrill Primus, <em>Victorian Visitors at the Hotel de Paris in Georgetown, Colorado </em>(Virginia Beach: Donning Company, 2014).</p> <p>Agnes Wright Spring, “Silver Queen of the San Juans,” <em>Frontier Times</em>, January 1967.</p> <p>Karen A. Vendl and Mark A. Vendl with the San Juan County Historical Society, <em>Mines Around Silverton</em> (Charleston, SC: Arcadia Publishing, 2015).</p> <p>“Widow of Colorado Mining Magnate Dies,” <em>Daily Oklahoman</em>, March 28, 1935.</p> </div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-additional-information-htm--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-additional-information-htm.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-additional-information-htm.html.twig * field--text-long.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-additional-information-htm field--type-text-long field--label-above" id="id-field-additional-information-htm"> <div class="field__label" id="id-field-additional-information-htm">Additional Information</div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-additional-information-htm"><p>Thomas J. Noel and Nicholas J. Wharton, <em>Denver Landmarks and Historic Districts, </em>2nd ed. (Boulder: University Press of Colorado, 2016).</p> </div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> Thu, 28 Oct 2021 17:36:58 +0000 yongli 3624 at http://coloradoencyclopedia.org California Gulch Superfund Site http://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/california-gulch-superfund-site <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--title--encyclopedia-article.html.twig x field--node--title.html.twig * field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--title.html.twig * field--string.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--title.html.twig' --> <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">California Gulch Superfund Site</span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--title.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--uid--encyclopedia-article.html.twig x field--node--uid.html.twig * field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--uid.html.twig * field--entity-reference.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--uid.html.twig' --> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'username' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/user/username.html.twig' --> <span lang="" about="/users/yongli" typeof="schema:Person" property="schema:name" datatype="">yongli</span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/user/username.html.twig' --> </span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--uid.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--created--encyclopedia-article.html.twig x field--node--created.html.twig * field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--created.html.twig * field--created.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--created.html.twig' --> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'time' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/time.html.twig' --> <time datetime="2021-10-11T16:52:37-06:00" title="Monday, October 11, 2021 - 16:52" class="datetime">Mon, 10/11/2021 - 16:52</time> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/time.html.twig' --> </span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--created.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'addtoany_standard' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * addtoany-standard--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * addtoany-standard--node.html.twig x addtoany-standard.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'modules/contrib/addtoany/templates/addtoany-standard.html.twig' --> <span class="a2a_kit a2a_kit_size_32 addtoany_list" data-a2a-url="http://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/california-gulch-superfund-site" data-a2a-title="California Gulch Superfund Site"><a class="a2a_dd addtoany_share" href="https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=http%3A%2F%2Fcoloradoencyclopedia.org%2Farticle%2Fcalifornia-gulch-superfund-site&amp;title=California%20Gulch%20Superfund%20Site"></a><a class="a2a_button_facebook"></a><a class="a2a_button_twitter"></a><a class="a2a_button_email"></a></span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'modules/contrib/addtoany/templates/addtoany-standard.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--body--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--body.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--body.html.twig * field--text-with-summary.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item" id="id-body"><p>Established by the US <strong>Environmental Protection Agency</strong> (EPA) in 1983, the California Gulch Superfund Site encompasses about eighteen square miles in central <a href="http://www.coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/lake-county"><strong>Lake County</strong></a>, including the city of <a href="http://www.coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/leadville"><strong>Leadville</strong></a>. One of the nation’s first Superfund sites, it was created to clean up heavy-metal pollution caused by mining and smelting in the area during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>California Gulch is a tributary of the <strong><a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/arkansas-river">Arkansas River</a>, </strong>whose headwaters are located near Leadville. The California Gulch Site is divided into twelve “operable units” (OUs), or individual areas requiring cleanup. They include abandoned mines, tailings piles (waste materials leftover from mining), residential areas, and <strong>smelter</strong> sites. In addition to the EPA, multiple federal, state, and local agencies are involved in managing the site, including the <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/bureau-reclamation-colorado"><strong>Bureau of Reclamation</strong></a>, <strong>Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment</strong> (CDPHE), and the Lake County Commissioners. Throughout the site’s history, cleanup activity has included the construction of catchment ponds, rock-and-soil plugs in abandoned mines, soil removal from residential areas, and the establishment of two water treatment plants that ensure safe drinking water for Leadville.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Shortly after it was created, the EPA placed California Gulch on the National Priorities List (NPL), which prioritizes cleanup activities among the nation’s Superfund sites. Since then, nine of the twelve OUs have been partially removed from the NPL, though cleanup and remediation continue to the present. As of 2021, the EPA reports that “cleanup is complete at over 90 percent of the site.”</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Background</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>Mining in California Gulch dates to 1860, but heavy industrial mining and smelting did not begin until a silver boom kicked off there in the late 1870s. Silver mining fell off after the price of silver <a href="http://www.coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/panic-1893"><strong>crashed in 1893</strong></a>, but mining of <strong>base and industrial metals</strong> such as lead, copper, zinc, and molybdenum continued in the area through the twentieth century. The <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/climax-molybdenum-mine"><strong>Climax Molybdenum Mine</strong></a> still operates today and is the county’s largest employer, though it is located well outside the Superfund site and will eventually require its own environmental remediation.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Throughout the area’s mining history, dozens of mines were opened, exposing tons of metal-bearing rock to open air. This change began the natural process of acid mine drainage, where oxygen reacts with sulfides in mineral-bearing rocks to produce sulfuric acid and dissolved iron that then flow into local water sources. The acid further dissolves other metals, such as copper and lead, and the metal-laden water poses a threat to wildlife, ecosystems, and in some cases, human water supplies.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>In addition, smelters—facilities where ore is made molten to extract <strong>precious metals</strong>—produced a waste product called <em>slag</em>, which consists of unwanted heavy metals that contaminate soil and water. The first smelter in California Gulch was built in 1875; additional smelters went up in 1878 and 1879, with a maximum of sixteen eventually operating in the area (though most closed in 1880 after the arrival of the <strong>Denver &amp; Rio Grande Railroad</strong>). The <strong>American Smelting and Refining Company</strong> (ASARCO) began operating smelters in Leadville in the early twentieth century and, owing to multiple lawsuits in the mid-2000s, has assumed responsibility for cleanup activities at several OUs in the California Gulch Site.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Site History</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>In 1983 a local rancher, Bernard Smith, reported orange water in the Arkansas River that made his livestock sick and stunted his hay crop. Media reports got the attention of the EPA, and the agency quickly designated Leadville as a Superfund site. From the beginning, the designation irked locals, many of whom believed that a Superfund site would cause property values to plummet, destroy the area’s mining heritage, and damage the town’s ability to recover economically from the mining era. It did not help that the EPA arrived at the same time as the <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/climax-molybdenum-mine"><strong>Climax Molybdenum Mine</strong></a>—outside the Superfund site—was drastically reducing its operations and laying off many residents. The lengthy timespan of cleanup—several decades—has only exacerbated residents’ resentment of the site.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Upon establishing the California Gulch Site, the EPA identified the “most serious water quality problem” as “acid mine drainage from the Yak Tunnel,” a 3.4-mile drainage tunnel connected to seventeen abandoned mines, which empties into California Gulch. The tunnel was leaching water containing “high concentrations of dissolved metals, including iron, lead, zinc, manganese, and cadmium.” The agency noted that this water could potentially contaminate “domestic ground water supplies” as well as have “adverse impacts on fish in the Arkansas River, and livestock and crops grown” on land irrigated by the river. As such, the Yak Tunnel was designated “OU1” at the California Gulch Site.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>To remedy the dirty flow from the Yak Tunnel, in 1992 the EPA built the Yak water treatment plant. The plant continues to treat water today, removing some 200 tons of metal each year. It is operated by the <strong>Newmont Mining Company</strong>, which was identified as a responsible party for the pollution. The EPA also built retention ponds beneath some 2,000 piles of waste rock to catch heavy-metal runoff from abandoned mines before it enters local water sources.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>In 1991, following a lawsuit by the <strong>Sierra Club</strong>, the US Bureau of Reclamation built a water treatment plant at the north end of the Leadville Mine Drainage Tunnel, which carries contaminated water from the Superfund site to the east fork of the Arkansas River north of Leadville (the plant is not part of the Superfund site). The tunnel made headlines in 2008, when multiple underground cave-ins caused the blockage and buildup of more than 1 billion gallons of metals-laden water that threatened to burst out and inundate the city. The event prompted a state of emergency declaration by the EPA and county officials but was remedied before a major blowout occurred.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>With financial assistance from ASARCO, soil remediation in residential and former industrial areas, including smelter sites and the old Denver &amp; Rio Grande Railroad yard, began in 1995 and was mostly complete by 2011. Soil cleanup involved moving, consolidating, and containing more than 350,000 cubic yards of dirt contaminated with lead and other heavy metals. This process decontaminated some 500 residences. Beginning in 1995, ASARCO- and county-sponsored education programs helped raise resident awareness of soil contamination and the risks of lead poisoning, though there were no documented cases of health effects among locals.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>As cleanup efforts dragged on at the beginning of the twenty-first century, Leadville residents started to come up with ideas to help their community rebound from the psychological and economic toll of living amid a Superfund site. For example, the Mineral Belt Trail, a scenic bike trail that loops around Leadville, was dedicated in 2000 to improve the quality of life in the city and cover contaminated soil. In 2009, with more than $1.2 million from grants (including some from the EPA) and individual donations, the city of Leadville built a youth sports complex on the site of a former ASARCO zinc smelter.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>By 2007 an estimated $150 million had been spent on cleanup efforts at the California Gulch Site, and in 2008 the state and federal agencies, including the EPA, reached a settlement with Newmont and ASARCO for another $138.5 million.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Today</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>Although it angered residents and has taken decades, cleanup at the California Gulch Superfund Site has nonetheless helped renew interest in Leadville real estate and allowed outdoor recreation to become an important pillar of the local economy. The median sale price for houses in Lake County jumped from $163,000 in 2014 to $254,000 in 2017, and sales volume increased during that period as well. Today the average home price in Lake County is around $272,000. On the site of the old D&amp;RG railroad yard, a new development is under construction that will include dozens of single-family houses and townhomes, as well as an apartment building and several commercial buildings.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Meanwhile, cleanup at the California Gulch site has also sparked renewed tourism to Leadville. By 2012, when site cleanup passed 90 percent, overnight travel spending in Lake County generated $30.5 million in revenue. The two water treatment plants have allowed for the recovery of <strong>trout</strong> populations in the Arkansas River, which draw hundreds of anglers each year, and annual outdoor events such as the <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/leadville-trail-100-run"><strong>Leadville Trail 100 Run</strong></a> and the <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/leadville-trail-100-mtb"><strong>Leadville MTB 100</strong></a>, a bike race, draw thousands of visitors. From 2013 to 2018, Lake County saw job growth in the retail, arts and recreation, and accommodation and food services industries, and the county population has increased from 7,261 in 2013 to more than 8,000 in 2021.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>As of early 2021, the Union Milling company is attempting to secure permits to revive the Leadville Mill to process waste rock piles left outside many of the area’s mines. Although considered waste rock at the time they were taken out, these gravel piles contain trace amounts of precious metals that can be extracted using newer mining technology. After removing the waste rock, Union Milling would then remediate the sites with vegetation planting and erosion control measures. If approved, the activity would be the first precious metal extraction in the Leadville area since the declaration of the Superfund site. </p>&#13; </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-author--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-author.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-author.html.twig * field--entity-reference.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-author field--type-entity-reference field--label-above" id="id-field-author"> <div class="field__label" id="id-field-author">Author</div> <div class='field__items'> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-author"><a href="/author/encyclopedia-staff" hreflang="und">Encyclopedia Staff</a></div> </div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-keyword--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-keyword.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-keyword.html.twig * field--entity-reference.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-keyword field--type-entity-reference field--label-above" id="id-field-keyword"> <div class="field__label" id="id-field-keyword">Keywords</div> <div class='field__items'> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/california-gulch-superfund-site" hreflang="en">california gulch superfund site</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/california-gulch" hreflang="en">California Gulch</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/leadville-superfund-site" hreflang="en">leadville superfund site</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/climax-mine" hreflang="en">Climax Mine</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/colorado-environment" hreflang="en">colorado environment</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/colorado-environmental-history" hreflang="en">colorado environmental history</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/lake-county" hreflang="en">Lake County</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/environmental-protection-agency" hreflang="en">Environmental Protection Agency</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/epa" hreflang="en">EPA</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/mining" hreflang="en">mining</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/mining-history" hreflang="en">mining history</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/lake-county-history" hreflang="en">lake county history</a></div> </div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'links__node' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * links--node.html.twig x links--inline.html.twig * links--node.html.twig * links.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/navigation/links--inline.html.twig' --> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/navigation/links--inline.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-references-html--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-references-html.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-references-html.html.twig * field--text-long.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-references-html field--type-text-long field--label-above" id="id-field-references-html"> <div class="field__label" id="id-field-references-html">References</div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-references-html"><p>Jason Blevins, “<a href="https://www.denverpost.com/2017/08/27/leadville-colorado-real-estate-boom/">Real Estate Boom Turns Up Heat on Leadville—‘The Last Frontier Mountain Town,’</a>” <em>The Denver Post</em>, August 27, 2017.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Colorado Data Expert Group, “<a href="https://files.constantcontact.com/304af9ce001/00cd8bf4-4582-49a6-b44d-8a5f34ef7dbb.pdf">Emsi Economy Overview: Lake County, CO</a>,” Colorado Workforce Development Council, 2019.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Charles W. Henderson, <a href="https://pubs.usgs.gov/pp/0138/report.pdf" title="Find in a library with WorldCat"><em>Mining in Colorado: A History of Discovery, Development, and Production</em></a>, US Geological Survey (Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1926).</p>&#13; &#13; <p>“<a href="https://www.zillow.com/lake-county-co/home-values/">Lake County Home Values</a>,” Zillow.com, n.d.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Steve Lipsher, “<a href="https://www.denverpost.com/2008/02/14/feds-fear-toxic-blowout-flood-in-leadville/">Feds Fear Toxic Blowout, Flood in Leadville</a>,” <em>The Denver Post</em>, February 14, 2008.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Steve Lipsher, “<a href="https://www.denverpost.com/2007/03/12/leadville-still-cleaning-up/">Leadville Still Cleaning Up</a>,” <em>The Denver Post</em>, March 12, 2007.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Colleen O’Connor, “<a href="https://www.denverpost.com/2009/04/26/leadville-dreams-of-sports-field/">Leadville Dreams of Sports Field</a>,” <em>The Denver Post</em>, April 26, 2009.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Katie Redding, “<a href="https://www.coloradoindependent.com/2009/09/30/house-orders-feds-to-deal-with-leadville-tunnel/">House Orders Feds to Clean-Up Leadville Tunnel</a>,” <em>Colorado Independent</em>, September 30, 2009.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>“<a href="https://www.denverpost.com/2008/07/01/settlement-finalized-in-leadville-superfund-site/">Settlement Finalized in Leadville Superfund Site</a>,” <em>The Denver Post</em>, July 1, 2008.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Laura Stark, “<a href="https://www.railstotrails.org/trailblog/2018/october/15/colorado-s-mineral-belt-trail/">Colorado’s Mineral Belt Trail</a>,” Rails to Trails (blog), October 15, 2018.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Sean Summers, “<a href="https://www.leadvilleherald.com/article_614809e2-08a7-11eb-b8b8-73769f06a254.html">The Railyard Begins Vertical Construction</a>,” <em>Leadville Herald Democrat</em>, October 7, 2020.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Sean Summers, “<a href="https://www.leadvilleherald.com/article_b77cd4da-6c1d-11eb-b6ce-034716c9e1b9.html">Union Milling Seeks to Restore Local Mill</a>,” <em>Leadville Herald Democrat</em>, February 10, 2021.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>US Bureau of Reclamation, “<a href="https://www.usbr.gov/gp/ecao/leadville/leadville.html">Leadville Mine Drainage Tunnel and Treatment Plant Information</a>,” Missouri Basin and Arkansas-Rio Grande-Texas Gulf Regions, updated December 15, 2020.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>US Department of the Interior, “<a href="https://www.cerc.usgs.gov/orda_docs/CaseDetails?ID=37">California Gulch Superfund Site</a>,” n.d.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>US Environmental Protection Agency, “<a href="https://semspub.epa.gov/work/08/100000194.pdf">NPL Site Narrative for California Gulch</a>,” n.d.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>US Environmental Protection Agency, “<a href="https://semspub.epa.gov/work/08/100000256.pdf">Recreation and Tourism Reuse and the Benefit to Community: California Gulch Superfund Site</a>,” October 2014.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>US Environmental Protection Agency, “<a href="https://cumulis.epa.gov/supercpad/SiteProfiles/index.cfm?fuseaction=second.Cleanup&amp;id=0801478#bkground">Superfund Site: California Gulch, Leadville, CO, Cleanup Activities</a>,” n.d.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>US Geological Survey, “<a href="https://www.usgs.gov/special-topics/water-science-school/science/mining-and-water-quality?qt-science_center_objects=0">Mining and Water Quality</a>,” Water Science School, n.d.</p>&#13; </div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-additional-information-htm--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-additional-information-htm.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-additional-information-htm.html.twig * field--text-long.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-additional-information-htm field--type-text-long field--label-above" id="id-field-additional-information-htm"> <div class="field__label" id="id-field-additional-information-htm">Additional Information</div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-additional-information-htm"><p>Christian G. Buys, <em>A Quick History of Leadville</em> (Montrose, CO: Western Reflections, 2004).</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Susan Dunlap, “<a href="https://mtstandard.com/natural-resources/tailings-of-two-cities-best-of-times-worst-of-times/article_830571b3-ef24-5a3f-9807-eb5d93cd5444.html">Tailings of Two Cities: Best of Times, Worst of Times</a>,” <em>Montana Standard</em>, October 9, 2016.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Nichelle Frank, “<a href="https://scholarsbank.uoregon.edu/xmlui/handle/1794/25614">Sanitizing History: Environmental Cleanup and Historic Preservation in U.S. West Mining Communities</a>” (PhD diss., University of Oregon, 2020).</p>&#13; &#13; <p><a href="https://www.mineralbelttrail.com/">Mineral Belt Trail</a>.</p>&#13; &#13; <p><a href="https://www.railyardleadville.com/">Railyard Leadville</a>.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>US Environmental Protection Agency, “<a href="https://cumulis.epa.gov/supercpad/SiteProfiles/index.cfm?fuseaction=second.docdata&amp;id=0801478">Superfund Site: California Gulch, Leadville, CO, Site Documents and Data</a>.”</p>&#13; &#13; <p>US Geological Survey, “<a href="https://www.usgs.gov/faqs/how-does-mine-drainage-occur?qt-news_science_products=0#qt-news_science_products">How Does Mine Drainage Occur?</a>” </p>&#13; </div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> Mon, 11 Oct 2021 22:52:37 +0000 yongli 3609 at http://coloradoencyclopedia.org Gold King Mine Spill http://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/gold-king-mine-spill <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--title--encyclopedia-article.html.twig x field--node--title.html.twig * field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--title.html.twig * field--string.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--title.html.twig' --> <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Gold King Mine Spill</span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--title.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--uid--encyclopedia-article.html.twig x field--node--uid.html.twig * field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--uid.html.twig * field--entity-reference.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--uid.html.twig' --> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'username' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/user/username.html.twig' --> <span lang="" about="/users/yongli" typeof="schema:Person" property="schema:name" datatype="">yongli</span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/user/username.html.twig' --> </span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--uid.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--created--encyclopedia-article.html.twig x field--node--created.html.twig * field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--created.html.twig * field--created.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--created.html.twig' --> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'time' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/time.html.twig' --> <time datetime="2021-06-18T17:06:56-06:00" title="Friday, June 18, 2021 - 17:06" class="datetime">Fri, 06/18/2021 - 17:06</time> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/time.html.twig' --> </span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--created.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'addtoany_standard' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * addtoany-standard--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * addtoany-standard--node.html.twig x addtoany-standard.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'modules/contrib/addtoany/templates/addtoany-standard.html.twig' --> <span class="a2a_kit a2a_kit_size_32 addtoany_list" data-a2a-url="http://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/gold-king-mine-spill" data-a2a-title="Gold King Mine Spill"><a class="a2a_dd addtoany_share" href="https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=http%3A%2F%2Fcoloradoencyclopedia.org%2Farticle%2Fgold-king-mine-spill&amp;title=Gold%20King%20Mine%20Spill"></a><a class="a2a_button_facebook"></a><a class="a2a_button_twitter"></a><a class="a2a_button_email"></a></span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'modules/contrib/addtoany/templates/addtoany-standard.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--body--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--body.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--body.html.twig * field--text-with-summary.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item" id="id-body"><p>Around 10:30 am on August 5, 2015, an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) crew ruptured a plug of rock and soil at the Gold King Mine north of <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/silverton-0"><strong>Silverton</strong></a>, releasing an estimated 3 million gallons of contaminated wastewater. This water ran into Cement Creek, a tributary of the <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/animas-river"><strong>Animas River</strong></a>, and was washed downstream through <strong>Durango</strong> to the <strong>San Juan River</strong> and eventually to Lake Powell. The contaminated runoff turned the normally green waters of the Animas River a bright orange-brown and brought national attention to southwest Colorado and the hazardous legacy of <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/precious-metal-mining-colorado"><strong>mining</strong></a> in the <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/san-juan-mountains"><strong>San Juan Mountains</strong></a>.</p> <h2>The Spill</h2> <p>In the summer of 2015, the EPA was working to divert water contained within the Gold King Mine, an abandoned mine about ten miles north of Silverton. Contractors had advised the EPA that accessing the mine could result in a blowout, and the EPA’s on-scene coordinator, Steve Way, had postponed the job until the site could be inspected by the <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/bureau-reclamation-colorado"><strong>Bureau of Reclamation</strong></a>. While Way was away on vacation, his acting replacement, Hays Griswold, ordered the work resumed.</p> <p>On the morning of August 5, a contracting crew ruptured a plug of rock and soil while using heavy equipment to access the mine, causing the contaminated water within to pour out. It is believed that the water had accumulated in the Gold King Mine after the Sunnyside Gold Corporation inserted a series of bulkheads in the nearby American Tunnel Mine between 1996 and 2003. As natural runoff flowed into the plugged mine, it began to spill into adjacent mines, including the Gold King. Sunnyside Gold maintains that its mines are not connected to the Gold King, but the federal government still considers the company as a potentially responsible party.</p> <p>Three million gallons of wastewater poured from the mine into nearby Cement Creek. The wastewater contained high levels of lead, iron, arsenic, aluminum, cadmium, copper, and calcium, equivalent of what is released by the hundreds of mining sites around Silverton over a typical 300-day span. The spillage caused the water in the Animas River to rapidly become more acidic, dropping from 7.8 to 5.8 on the pH scale.</p> <p>The bright orange wastewater took roughly twenty-four hours to reach the Animas River valley, just north of the city of Durango. At this point Durango and surrounding <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/la-plata-county"><strong>La Plata County</strong></a> ordered the river closed to public use and stopped pumping water for city use. The river’s pH returned to near normal levels about a day later, but the water remained a bright orange color due to sediment that had been deposited along the river and was still leaking into the river; the mine was still draining contaminated water into Cement Creek at an estimated rate of 800 gallons per minute.</p> <h2>Immediate Response</h2> <p>The EPA held its first public meeting about the accident on August 7 in Durango. The agency accepted responsibility for the disaster and explained its initial plan for containment. It would build settling ponds where sediment could settle to the bottom and water could be treated before it ran into the Animas River.</p> <p>The EPA opened an interim water treatment plant eight miles north of Silverton on October 19, 2015. Designed to treat runoff from Gold King and other mining sites in the area, the plant cost $1.5 million to open and more than $2.4 million per year to operate. As of January 2021, the interim treatment plant is still in operation and filters the estimated 300 gallons per minute of contaminated water that still drains from the Gold King Mine.</p> <p>An internal investigation at the EPA, published on August 26, 2015, identified a lack of analysis of the water pressure within the Gold King Mine as the critical factor that led to the spill. Rather than drill directly into the blockage, the crew should have drilled vertically into the access tunnel from a different location to ascertain the water pressure. The report stated that proper drilling and testing could have prevented the sudden release.</p> <h2>Effects</h2> <p><em>Environmental</em></p> <p>In the days immediately following the disaster, <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/colorado-parks-and-wildlife"><strong>Colorado Parks and Wildlife</strong></a> placed cages of fish into the Animas River to assess the potential damage to aquatic life. Somewhat surprisingly, few of the fish in the cages died. In fact, studies of the waterway have shown that the spill had little to no long-term effect on the river, largely because it already contained high levels of heavy metals from thousands of old mines in the region. This contamination causes stretches of the river to be virtually devoid of aquatic life and renders the fish populations inhabiting the river near Durango incapable of reproducing.</p> <p>The disaster provided the impetus for the creation of the Bonita Peak Mining District Superfund Site, which facilitates access to federal funding and resources, to help deal with the problem of mine drainage. Silverton had previously opposed attempts to create a Superfund site, which it feared would dissuade companies from reopening mines that had been the foundation of the town's early economy, but this time the Silverton City Council and <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/san-juan-county"><strong>San Juan County</strong></a> Commission unanimously approved the designation in February 2016. The Superfund designation focuses on forty-eight mining sites in the mountains surrounding Silverton, with the goals of improving downstream water quality, stabilizing sites that contribute contaminants, and minimizing risks of future blowouts. As of August 5, 2020, more than $75 million had been spent on the site, but there were still no meaningful improvements to the Animas River’s water quality or aquatic life because the sources of contamination are so widespread.</p> <p>Future remediation options in the Bonita Peak Mining District include the placement of additional plugs in discharging mines or the creation of a permanent water-treatment facility. Locals are concerned that the placement of additional plugs will only postpone the problem, potentially leading to another large discharge if a plugged mine becomes overly pressurized.</p> <p><em>Tourism</em></p> <p>Local rafting companies in the Durango area were forced to close down for eight days while the contaminated water worked its way downstream. Regional politicians quickly tried to restore public confidence in the safety of the water and restore tourism to the affected communities. On August 12, 2015, Governor <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/john-hickenlooper"><strong>John Hickenlooper</strong></a> famously drank from the Animas River in an attempt show that the water was safe. "If that shows that Durango is open for business, I'm happy to help," Hickenlooper said.</p> <p>Even after the water was cleared for public use, tourists were hesitant to return to the river and its communities. Local businesses filed millions of dollars’ worth of lost-income claims and lawsuits. None of these claims has been paid out, because the EPA claimed governmental immunity, but several lawsuits are still pending in federal court.</p> <p><em>Navajo</em></p> <p>The contaminated runoff from the Gold King Mine spill reached the <strong>Navajo</strong> Nation, which flanks the San Juan River in New Mexico, Arizona, and Utah, in the middle of the growing season. It caused both physical damage (lost crops) and cultural damage, as the waters of the Animas carry a spiritual significance. The federal government provided tanker trucks filled with potable water for use by affected farmers, but for many this came too late as crops had already dried up without access to clean water for irrigation.</p> <p>Some Indigenous communities, such as in Shiprock, New Mexico, refused to use irrigation water from the Animas River for the following year even after it had been cleared by federal officials. They harbored a long-standing distrust of the federal government owing to its history of mistreating the land and breaking treaties with Native Americans. Consumers also showed reluctance to purchase produce grown in the area. The Shiprock Farmers Market was shuttered for three years after the disaster. Upon its reopening, the market showcased flyers with both local and EPA-sponsored data demonstrating the safety of the crops.</p> <h2>Legacy</h2> <p>The Gold King Mine Spill provided a graphic, high-profile reminder of the problem of acid mine drainage, an ongoing process that annually leaks more contaminants into the Animas River than were released by the disaster. The forty-eight sites designated in the Bonita Peak Mining District are the primary culprits. Five years after the disaster, the EPA is still studying the area and proposing remediation efforts. Cleanup remains years away. Across Colorado, many other waterways are similarly affected by this toxic legacy of the state’s largely unregulated nineteenth-century rush for mineral wealth.</p> <p>In January 2021, Sunnyside Gold reached “no fault” settlements with New Mexico and the Navajo Nation for $11 million and $10 million, respectively. The cases were filed under the assumption the Gold King Mine was filled with overflow water from the American Tunnel Mine, and Sunnyside Gold settled to avoid the cost of ongoing litigation. Cases against the EPA and its contractor are pending in federal court and are expected to go to trial in 2022. New Mexico is seeking $130 million and the Navajo Nation $162 million. A similar case was settled between the state of Utah and the EPA for $3 million in clear water projects and $360 million in abandoned-mine remediation projects.</p> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-author--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-author.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-author.html.twig * field--entity-reference.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-author field--type-entity-reference field--label-above" id="id-field-author"> <div class="field__label" id="id-field-author">Author</div> <div class='field__items'> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-author"><a href="/author/perkins-luke" hreflang="und">Perkins, Luke</a></div> </div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-keyword--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-keyword.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-keyword.html.twig * field--entity-reference.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-keyword field--type-entity-reference field--label-above" id="id-field-keyword"> <div class="field__label" id="id-field-keyword">Keywords</div> <div class='field__items'> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/gold-king-mine" hreflang="en">gold king mine</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/silverton" hreflang="en">Silverton</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/cement-creek" hreflang="en">Cement Creek</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/animas-river" hreflang="en">Animas River</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/animas-river-spill" hreflang="en">animas river spill</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/acid-mine-drainage" hreflang="en">acid mine drainage</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/epa" hreflang="en">EPA</a></div> </div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'links__node' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * links--node.html.twig x links--inline.html.twig * links--node.html.twig * links.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/navigation/links--inline.html.twig' --> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/navigation/links--inline.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-references-html--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-references-html.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-references-html.html.twig * field--text-long.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-references-html field--type-text-long field--label-above" id="id-field-references-html"> <div class="field__label" id="id-field-references-html">References</div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-references-html"><p>Dan Elliot, "<a href="https://durangoherald.com/lms/loading.html#rotftwetu=aHR0cHMlM0EvL3d3dy5nb29nbGUuY29tLw%3D%3D&amp;ibothsahtrtd=aHR0cHMlM0EvL2R1cmFuZ29oZXJhbGQuY29tL2FydGljbGVzLzIzNTI2NS0zLXllYXJzLWFmdGVyLWdvbGQta2luZy1taW5lLXNwaWxsLXZpY3RpbXMtYXdhaXRpbmctcGF5bWVudA%3D%3D&amp;shtlp=aHR0cHMlM0EvL2R1cmFuZ29oZXJhbGQuY29tL3Nl">3 Years After Gold King Mine Spill, Victims Awaiting Payment</a>,” <em>Durango Herald</em>, August 5, 2018.</p> <p>“<a href="https://durangoherald.com/lms/loading.html#rotftwetu=aHR0cHMlM0EvL3d3dy5nb29nbGUuY29tLw%3D%3D&amp;ibothsahtrtd=aHR0cHMlM0EvL2R1cmFuZ29oZXJhbGQuY29tL2FydGljbGVzLzE0NzQtaW50ZXJpb3ItZGVwYXJ0bWVudC10by1pbnZlc3RpZ2F0ZS1nb2xkLWtpbmctbWluZS1hY2NpZGVudA%3D%3D&amp;shtlp=aHR0cHMlM0EvL2R1cmFuZ29oZXJhbGQuY29tL3NlYXJj">Interior Department to Investigate Gold King Mine Accident</a>,” <em>Durango Herald</em>, August 18, 2015.</p> <p>Peter Marcus, “<a href="https://durangoherald.com/lms/loading.html#rotftwetu=aHR0cHMlM0EvL3d3dy5nb29nbGUuY29tLw%3D%3D&amp;ibothsahtrtd=aHR0cHMlM0EvL2R1cmFuZ29oZXJhbGQuY29tL2FydGljbGVzLzE1MjctZXBhLXRha2VzLWJsYW1lLWZvci1hbmltYXMtcml2ZXItY29udGFtaW5hdGlvbg%3D%3D&amp;shtlp=aHR0cHMlM0EvL2R1cmFuZ29oZXJhbGQuY29tL3NlYXJjaCUzRnV0ZjglM0Ql">EPA Takes Blame for Animas River Contamination</a>,” <em>Durango Herald</em>, August 7, 2015.</p> <p>Peter Marcus, “<a href="https://durangoherald.com/lms/loading.html#rotftwetu=aHR0cHMlM0EvL3d3dy5nb29nbGUuY29tLw%3D%3D&amp;ibothsahtrtd=aHR0cHMlM0EvL2R1cmFuZ29oZXJhbGQuY29tL2FydGljbGVzLzk0Njc4LWdvbGQta2luZy1taW5lLXdhdGVydHJlYXRtZW50LXBsYW50LW9wZXJhdGlvbmFs&amp;shtlp=aHR0cHMlM0EvL2R1cmFuZ29oZXJhbGQuY29tL3NlYXJjaCUzRnV0ZjglM0QlMjVF">Gold King Mine Water-Treatment Plant Operational</a>,” <em>Durango Herald</em>, October 19, 2015.</p> <p>Peter Marcus, “<a href="https://durangoherald.com/lms/loading.html#rotftwetu=aHR0cHMlM0EvL3d3dy5nb29nbGUuY29tLw%3D%3D&amp;ibothsahtrtd=aHR0cHMlM0EvL2R1cmFuZ29oZXJhbGQuY29tL2FydGljbGVzLzk0MDM0LWhpY2tlbmxvb3Blci1kcmlua3MtYW5pbWFzLXJpdmVyLXdhdGVyLXRvLW1ha2UtYS1wb2ludA%3D%3D&amp;shtlp=aHR0cHMlM0EvL2R1cmFuZ29oZXJhbGQuY29tL3NlYXJjaCUz">Hickenlooper Drinks Animas River Water to Make a Point</a>,” <em>Durango Herald</em>, August 12, 2015.</p> <p>Peter Marcus, “<a href="https://durangoherald.com/lms/loading.html#rotftwetu=aHR0cHMlM0EvL3d3dy5nb29nbGUuY29tLw%3D%3D&amp;ibothsahtrtd=aHR0cHMlM0EvL2R1cmFuZ29oZXJhbGQuY29tL2FydGljbGVzLzIwMjQtaW5zdWZmaWNpZW50LXBsYW5uaW5nLWNpdGVkLWluLWVwYS1pbnZlc3RpZ2F0aW9uLW9mLWdvbGQta2luZy1taW5lLXNwaWxs&amp;shtlp=aHR0cHMlM0EvL2R1cmFuZ29oZXJhbGQu">‘Insufficient’ Planning Cited in EPA Investigation of Gold King Mine Spill</a>,” <em>Durango Herald</em>, August 26, 2015.</p> <p>Chase Olivarius-Mcallister, Mary Shinn, and Shane Benjamin, “<a href="https://durangoherald.com/lms/loading.html#rotftwetu=aHR0cHMlM0EvL3d3dy5nb29nbGUuY29tLw%3D%3D&amp;ibothsahtrtd=aHR0cHMlM0EvL2R1cmFuZ29oZXJhbGQuY29tL2FydGljbGVzLzE1MjgtY2F0YXN0cm9waGUtb24tdGhlLWFuaW1hcw%3D%3D&amp;shtlp=aHR0cHMlM0EvL2R1cmFuZ29oZXJhbGQuY29tL3NlYXJjaCUzRnV0ZjglM0QlMjVFMiUyNTlDJTI1OTMlMjZxdWVy">Catastrophe on the Animas</a>,” <em>Durango Herald</em>, August 6, 2015.</p> <p>Jonathan Romeo, “<a href="https://durangoherald.com/lms/loading.html#rotftwetu=aHR0cHMlM0EvL3d3dy5nb29nbGUuY29tLw%3D%3D&amp;ibothsahtrtd=aHR0cHMlM0EvL2R1cmFuZ29oZXJhbGQuY29tL2FydGljbGVzLzMzNDIzNi1maXZlLXllYXJzLWFmdGVyLWdvbGQta2luZy1taW5lLXNwaWxsLXdhdGVyLXF1YWxpdHktcmVtYWlucy1hLWNvbmNlcm4%3D&amp;shtlp=aHR0cHMlM0EvL2R1cmFuZ29oZXJhbG">Five Years After Gold King Mine Spill, Water Quality Remains a Concern</a>,” <em>Durango Herald</em>, August 5, 2020.</p> <p>Jonathan Romeo, “<a href="https://durangoherald.com/lms/loading.html#rotftwetu=aHR0cHMlM0EvL3d3dy5nb29nbGUuY29tLw%3D%3D&amp;ibothsahtrtd=aHR0cHMlM0EvL2R1cmFuZ29oZXJhbGQuY29tL2FydGljbGVzLzM2MDQzMS1uZXctbWV4aWNvLXJlYWNoZXMtMTEtbWlsbGlvbi1zZXR0bGVtZW50LXdpdGgtbWluaW5nLWNvbXBhbnktb3Zlci1nb2xkLWtpbmctc3BpbGw%3D&amp;shtlp=aHR0cHMlM0EvL2">New Mexico Reaches $11 Million Settlement With Mining Company Over Gold King Spill</a>,” <em>Durango Herald</em>, January 13, 2021.</p> <p>Jonathan Romeo, “<a href="https://durangoherald.com/lms/loading.html#rotftwetu=aHR0cHMlM0EvL3d3dy5nb29nbGUuY29tLw%3D%3D&amp;ibothsahtrtd=aHR0cHMlM0EvL2R1cmFuZ29oZXJhbGQuY29tL2FydGljbGVzLzMxMTU5MS1vd25lci1vZi1nb2xkLWtpbmctbWluZS1ub3QtaGFwcHktd2l0aC1wcm9wb3NlZC1jbGVhbnVwLXNvbHV0aW9u&amp;shtlp=aHR0cHMlM0EvL2R1cmFuZ29oZXJhbGQuY29tL3Nl">Owner of Gold King Mine Not Happy With Proposed Cleanup Solution</a>,” <em>Durango Herald</em>, January 24, 2020.</p> <p>Jonathan Romeo, “<a href="https://durangoherald.com/lms/loading.html#rotftwetu=aHR0cHMlM0EvL3d3dy5nb29nbGUuY29tLw%3D%3D&amp;ibothsahtrtd=aHR0cHMlM0EvL2R1cmFuZ29oZXJhbGQuY29tL2FydGljbGVzLzI2NTE2Mi1zdW5ueXNpZGUtZ29sZC1zYXlzLWVwYS1zaG91bGQtYmUtcmVjdXNlZC1mcm9tLWxlYWRpbmctc2lsdmVydG9uLXN1cGVyZnVuZC1jbGVhbnVw&amp;shtlp=aHR0cHMlM0EvL2R1">Sunnyside Gold Says EPA Should Be Recused From Leading Silverton Superfund Cleanup</a>,” <em>Durango Herald</em>, February 25, 2019.</p> <p>Jonathan Romeo, “<a href="https://durangoherald.com/lms/loading.html#rotftwetu=aHR0cHMlM0EvL3d3dy5nb29nbGUuY29tLw%3D%3D&amp;ibothsahtrtd=aHR0cHMlM0EvL2R1cmFuZ29oZXJhbGQuY29tL2FydGljbGVzLzI4NTAzMS1zdW5ueXNpZGUtZ29sZC1zYXlzLW5vLXRvLWVwYXMtd29yay1vcmRlci1hdC1zdXBlcmZ1bmQ%3D&amp;shtlp=aHR0cHMlM0EvL2R1cmFuZ29oZXJhbGQuY29tL3NlYXJjaCUzRn">Sunnyside Gold Says 'No' to EPA's Work Order at Superfund</a>,” <em>Durango Herald</em>, July 10, 2019.</p> <p>Jonathan Romeo, “<a href="https://durangoherald.com/lms/loading.html#rotftwetu=aHR0cHMlM0EvL3d3dy5nb29nbGUuY29tLw%3D%3D&amp;ibothsahtrtd=aHR0cHMlM0EvL2R1cmFuZ29oZXJhbGQuY29tL2FydGljbGVzLzI2NzY0Ni13aGF0LWFyZS10aGUtdWx0aW1hdGUtZ29hbHMtZm9yLXN1cGVyZnVuZC1jbGVhbnVwLWFyb3VuZC1zaWx2ZXJ0b24%3D&amp;shtlp=aHR0cHMlM0EvL2R1cmFuZ29oZXJhbGQuY2">What Are the Ultimate Goals for Superfund Cleanup Around Silverton?</a>” <em>Durango Herald</em>, March 13, 2019.</p> <p>Jonathan Thompson, “<a href="https://www.google.com/url?client=internal-element-cse&amp;cx=016503085263777864607:rznav6saqcq&amp;q=https://www.hcn.org/issues/48.7/silvertons-gold-king-reckoning&amp;sa=U&amp;ved=2ahUKEwj6v56mgMLuAhXXB80KHUIJAV4QFjAAegQIABAC&amp;usg=AOvVaw3lhAEB0W9QxJl999iWRXkj">Silverton’s Gold King Reckoning</a>,” <em>High Country News</em>, May 2, 2016.</p> </div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-additional-information-htm--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-additional-information-htm.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-additional-information-htm.html.twig * field--text-long.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-additional-information-htm field--type-text-long field--label-above" id="id-field-additional-information-htm"> <div class="field__label" id="id-field-additional-information-htm">Additional Information</div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-additional-information-htm"><p>Teresa Montoya, “Yellow Water: Rupture and Return One Year After the Gold King Mine Spill,” <em>Anthropology Now</em> 9, no. 3 (2017).</p> <p>Kelly Roberts, “A Legacy That No One Can Afford to Inherit: The Gold King Disaster and the Threat of Adbandoned Hardrock Legacy Mines,” <em>Journal of the National Association of Administrative Law Judiciary</em> 36 (2016).</p> <p>Jonathan Thompson, <em>River of Lost Souls: The Science, Politics, and Greed Behind the Gold King Mine Disaster</em> (Salt Lake City: Torrey House Press, 2018).</p> </div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> Fri, 18 Jun 2021 23:06:56 +0000 yongli 3575 at http://coloradoencyclopedia.org Columbine Mine Massacre http://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/columbine-mine-massacre-0 <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--title--encyclopedia-article.html.twig x field--node--title.html.twig * field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--title.html.twig * field--string.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--title.html.twig' --> <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Columbine Mine Massacre</span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--title.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--uid--encyclopedia-article.html.twig x field--node--uid.html.twig * field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--uid.html.twig * field--entity-reference.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--uid.html.twig' --> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'username' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/user/username.html.twig' --> <span lang="" about="/users/yongli" typeof="schema:Person" property="schema:name" datatype="">yongli</span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/user/username.html.twig' --> </span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--uid.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--created--encyclopedia-article.html.twig x field--node--created.html.twig * field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--created.html.twig * field--created.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--created.html.twig' --> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'time' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/time.html.twig' --> <time datetime="2021-02-16T13:13:08-07:00" title="Tuesday, February 16, 2021 - 13:13" class="datetime">Tue, 02/16/2021 - 13:13</time> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/time.html.twig' --> </span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--created.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'addtoany_standard' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * addtoany-standard--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * addtoany-standard--node.html.twig x addtoany-standard.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'modules/contrib/addtoany/templates/addtoany-standard.html.twig' --> <span class="a2a_kit a2a_kit_size_32 addtoany_list" data-a2a-url="http://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/columbine-mine-massacre-0" data-a2a-title="Columbine Mine Massacre"><a class="a2a_dd addtoany_share" href="https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=http%3A%2F%2Fcoloradoencyclopedia.org%2Farticle%2Fcolumbine-mine-massacre-0&amp;title=Columbine%20Mine%20Massacre"></a><a class="a2a_button_facebook"></a><a class="a2a_button_twitter"></a><a class="a2a_button_email"></a></span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'modules/contrib/addtoany/templates/addtoany-standard.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--body--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--body.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--body.html.twig * field--text-with-summary.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item" id="id-body"><p>On November 21, 1927, members of a Colorado militia fired into a crowd of hundreds of striking miners in the <a href="http://www.coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/weld-county"><strong>Weld County</strong></a> town of <strong>Serene</strong>, killing six and wounding twenty. The Columbine Massacre showed that little had changed in Colorado in terms of relations between workers and companies, as well as between labor and the state, in the thirteen years since the <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/ludlow-massacre"><strong>Ludlow Massacre</strong></a>, the deadliest labor conflict in state history.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Coal Mining in Colorado</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>Mining in Colorado is often associated with <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/precious-metal-mining-colorado"><strong>precious metals</strong></a> such as gold and silver, but by the late nineteenth century, coal had become the state’s most important commodity. It underwrote the entire industrial economy, from gold mining and smelting to construction and railroads. Coal also heated hundreds of homes in cities such as <a href="/article/denver"><strong>Denver</strong></a>. Unlike coal operations in the eastern United States, coal mining in Colorado was dominated by only a handful of large companies, with the two most prominent being <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/colorado-fuel-iron"><strong>Colorado Fuel &amp; Iron</strong></a> and the <strong>Rocky Mountain Fuel Company</strong>.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Working in coal mines was dirty and dangerous. Even in the 1920s, after decades of labor activism had resulted in some gains for workers, coal miners still worked up to twelve hours a day, six days a week. They inhaled coal dust all day long, which led to the devastating respiratory disease known as black lung. Mine shafts could collapse or flood. Rock slides and fires were also common. Flammable methane gas released from coal beds often built up in the mines, and each morning an inspector had to check the air quality before work could begin. If this was not done properly, explosions could occur, such as when the <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/jokerville-mine-explosion"><strong>Jokerville Mine exploded</strong></a> near <a href="http://www.coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/crested-butte"><strong>Crested Butte</strong></a> in 1884 or when the <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/vulcan-mine-explosions"><strong>Vulcan Mine</strong></a> in <a href="http://www.coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/garfield-county"><strong>Garfield County</strong></a> blew up three times between 1896 and 1918.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Rise of the Colorado Wobblies</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>Given the slew of accidents, injuries, and deaths at the state’s coal mines, it is no wonder that many miners turned to unions to advocate for better working conditions in the early twentieth century. At Ludlow in 1914, workers were represented by the <strong><a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/united-mine-workers-america">United Mine Workers of America</a></strong> (UMWA). The UMWA largely withdrew from Colorado by the 1920s after its lack of success in the previous decade. In its place came a more radical union, the <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/industrial-workers-world"><strong>Industrial Workers of the World</strong></a> (IWW), whose members were known as “Wobblies” and explicitly embraced Communism. This position made the union a major target of local newspapers and state officials during the late 1910s and 1920s, when anti-Communist sentiment ran rampant across the country. In 1919, for instance, famous IWW leader <strong><a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/william-dudley-haywood">William “Big Bill” Haywood</a></strong> was jailed along with several other union leaders; these actions, however, only resulted in other members stepping into the leadership void.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Strike of 1927</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>In 1927 the catalyst for union activity in Colorado actually came from far beyond the state’s borders. On August 23, two Italian immigrants and anarchists, Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti, were wrongfully executed for murder in Massachusetts. In response, the IWW—made up of immigrant workers from dozens of nations—urged coal miners in Colorado to go on a strike in solidarity with Sacco and Vanzetti. Some 10,000 responded in a daylong walkout, indicating that conditions were ripe for further union activity in the state. Mine owners and state officials retaliated by firing some of the solidarity strikers and closing common meeting grounds for miners, such as pool halls.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Despite those measures, in early September IWW leaders met in Aguilar, in southern Colorado, to finalize demands for a strike. They wanted wages upped from about $6 to $7.50 per day, employment of union check weigh men (who verified each miner’s tonnage, which figured into how much they were paid), and the recognition of pit committees (groups of employer and worker representatives who dealt with labor problems at mines).</p>&#13; &#13; <p>The strike officially got under way in October, with some 8,400 workers leaving mines across the state. Governor <strong>William H. “Billy” Adams</strong> refused to recognize the IWW and declared the strike illegal.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Conflict at the Columbine Mine</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>While the bulk of the state’s coal industry was crippled by the walkouts, the Columbine Mine near Lafayette was able to remain in operation by hiring 150 strikebreakers. Opened by the Rocky Mountain Fuel Company in 1919, the Columbine had quickly become one of the largest and most productive coal mines in the state, employing hundreds and leading Colorado in tonnage by 1923. Such production came at a price, however: by 1927 workers had experienced dozens of accidents there, many of them fatal.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>During the strike, conditions at the Columbine quickly grew tense. To protect the strikebreakers and keep out union agitators, armed company guards converted the Columbine Mine town of Serene into “an armed camp,” complete with barbed-wire fencing and gates. Meanwhile, to recruit more workers to its cause, the IWW sent out carloads of singing agitators from Lafayette who made the rounds of the state’s coalfields, belting out the union’s anthem, “Solidarity Forever.”</p>&#13; &#13; <p>On the morning of November 14, the quiet of Serene was broken by a demonstration of, according to the Longmont <em>Daily Times</em>, “four hundred striking miners, led by their wives, who waved flags and sang patriotic airs.” They then piled into fifty cars and drove around the coalfields of Boulder County in a show of solidarity. With no end to the strike in sight and a diminishing coal supply as winter approached, the Longmont <em>Daily Times </em>gravely noted that “the situation is getting serious, to say the least.”</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Massacre</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>The disputed events of the next week would prove the <em>Daily Times </em>tragically correct. On the morning of November 21, a crowd of about 500 striking miners and their wives marched to the gates of Serene, intending to go on to the Columbine Mine to prevent strikebreakers from working. They were met by armed mine guards, and, at mine owners’ request, members of the Colorado Rangers—also known then as the Colorado State Police—a volunteer law enforcement group modeled after the Texas Rangers and ordered to Serene by Governor Adams.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>When Colorado Rangers leader Louis Scherf ordered the crowd to halt, IWW leader Adam Bell went to the gate and asked it to be unlocked. Instead, he was taunted and struck with a club, and a sixteen-year-old boy next to him had an American flag ripped out of his hand. The strikers surged forward, with some climbing over the gate, and Rangers launched tear gas canisters into the crowd, striking one woman in the back. A bloody brawl ensued, with strikers wielding rocks, fists, and knives and Rangers swinging clubs and firing tear gas. The state police then fell back and opened fire on the crowd, which had intentionally left its firearms behind. Miners claimed a mounted machine gun also created a crossfire. Two men were killed instantly, while four more later died of their wounds and some twenty additional men and women were injured. Several guards and state policemen were also hurt.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>The slain miners were John Eastenes, Nick Spanudakhis, Rene Jacques, Frank Kovich, Mike Vidovich, and Jerry Davis. The last names reflect the varied nationalities and backgrounds of the miners, all of whom pledged solidarity to one another under an American flag that was now, as one 1989 account of the massacre put it, “riddled with bullets and stained with blood.”</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Aftermath</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>The massacre prompted Governor Adams to organize the National Guard in preparation for a statewide battle, similar to the aftermath of Ludlow. However, the guard never left Denver; somewhat surprisingly, there were no reprisal attacks in the northern or southern coalfields, suggesting strikers had tired of violence. Thereafter, the strike lost momentum, as workers and other unions distanced themselves from the IWW and resumed negotiations with the state’s industrial board. The board had refused to recognize the IWW but otherwise recognized miners’ right to petition. After several more outbursts of violence between the state police and IWW strikers across Colorado’s southern coalfields, the strike finally ended in May 1928. New Rocky Mountain Fuel owner <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/josephine-roche"><strong>Josephine Roche</strong></a> was a prominent union sympathizer, and she instituted a $7 wage and recognized the UMWA as the company’s official union.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Legacy</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>The strike that led to the Columbine Massacre shows that coal miners’ working conditions had changed little despite decades of organizing, while the massacre itself indicates that state officials’ contempt for organized labor had not dissipated in the roughly fourteen years since Ludlow. The events of 1927–28 were in many ways a reprise of Ludlow, except without much retaliatory aggression by miners. Still, no Rangers or mine guards were held responsible for their actions on November 21. The massacre also sounded the death knell for the IWW in Colorado, as workers came to realize that the union did not have the political sway to get them what they needed.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Today, a sign at a rest area east of Lafayette off State Highway 7 pays tribute to the events of November 21, 1927. In 1989 local historical societies and labor organizations dedicated a memorial to the massacre victims at the Lafayette Cemetery. Left out of most Colorado history books, the Columbine Mine Massacre nonetheless remains one of the most tragic events in the state’s long and brutal struggle between workers and their corporate exploiters.</p>&#13; </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-author--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-author.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-author.html.twig * field--entity-reference.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-author field--type-entity-reference field--label-above" id="id-field-author"> <div class="field__label" id="id-field-author">Author</div> <div class='field__items'> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-author"><a href="/author/encyclopedia-staff" hreflang="und">Encyclopedia Staff</a></div> </div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-keyword--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-keyword.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-keyword.html.twig * field--entity-reference.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-keyword field--type-entity-reference field--label-above" id="id-field-keyword"> <div class="field__label" id="id-field-keyword">Keywords</div> <div class='field__items'> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/columbine-mine" hreflang="en">columbine mine</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/columbine-mine-massacre" hreflang="en">columbine mine massacre</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/labor-history-colorado" hreflang="en">labor history colorado</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/coal-mining" hreflang="en">coal mining</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/coal-miners" hreflang="en">coal miners</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/serene" hreflang="en">serene</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/lafayette" hreflang="en">Lafayette</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/boulder-county" hreflang="en">boulder county</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/boulder-county-history" hreflang="en">boulder county history</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/louisville" hreflang="en">louisville</a></div> </div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'links__node' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * links--node.html.twig x links--inline.html.twig * links--node.html.twig * links.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/navigation/links--inline.html.twig' --> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/navigation/links--inline.html.twig' --> Tue, 16 Feb 2021 20:13:08 +0000 yongli 3537 at http://coloradoencyclopedia.org Coal Mining in Colorado http://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/coal-mining-colorado <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--title--encyclopedia-article.html.twig x field--node--title.html.twig * field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--title.html.twig * field--string.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--title.html.twig' --> <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Coal Mining in Colorado</span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--title.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--uid--encyclopedia-article.html.twig x field--node--uid.html.twig * field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--uid.html.twig * field--entity-reference.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--uid.html.twig' --> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'username' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/user/username.html.twig' --> <span lang="" about="/users/yongli" typeof="schema:Person" property="schema:name" datatype="">yongli</span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/user/username.html.twig' --> </span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--uid.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--created--encyclopedia-article.html.twig x field--node--created.html.twig * field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--created.html.twig * field--created.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--created.html.twig' --> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'time' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/time.html.twig' --> <time datetime="2021-02-16T13:06:10-07:00" title="Tuesday, February 16, 2021 - 13:06" class="datetime">Tue, 02/16/2021 - 13:06</time> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/time.html.twig' --> </span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--created.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'addtoany_standard' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * addtoany-standard--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * addtoany-standard--node.html.twig x addtoany-standard.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'modules/contrib/addtoany/templates/addtoany-standard.html.twig' --> <span class="a2a_kit a2a_kit_size_32 addtoany_list" data-a2a-url="http://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/coal-mining-colorado" data-a2a-title="Coal Mining in Colorado"><a class="a2a_dd addtoany_share" href="https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=http%3A%2F%2Fcoloradoencyclopedia.org%2Farticle%2Fcoal-mining-colorado&amp;title=Coal%20Mining%20in%20Colorado"></a><a class="a2a_button_facebook"></a><a class="a2a_button_twitter"></a><a class="a2a_button_email"></a></span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'modules/contrib/addtoany/templates/addtoany-standard.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--body--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--body.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--body.html.twig * field--text-with-summary.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item" id="id-body"><p>In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, coal mining was the most important industry in Colorado. Coal mines served as the crucibles of empire, churning out the fuel needed to power the railroads, <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/precious-metal-mining-colorado"><strong>precious-metal mines</strong></a>, and smelters that helped develop the region. They were also contested sites of worker resistance and rebellion where the power dynamics of industrial capitalism were acted out in tragic ways.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Although it is no longer mined in Colorado at the rates it once was, coal has maintained its relative importance to the state’s energy economy through the present. Today, coal mining remains an important industry in the <a href="http://www.coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/moffat-county"><strong>Moffat County</strong></a>, and coal-fueled power plants provide electricity to hundreds of thousands of residents along the <a href="http://www.coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/front-range"><strong>Front Range</strong></a>. These coal mines and power plants are sources of air and water pollution, and the industries coal helped fuel are equally pollutive.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Formation of Coal</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>About 70 million years ago, during the late Cretaceous Period, much of Colorado was covered by a shallow, tropical sea. When the uplift of the <a href="http://www.coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/rocky-mountains"><strong>Rocky Mountains</strong></a> began about a million years later, it pushed up the inundated land, giving rise to many swampy bogs. It was in these bogs that Colorado’s coal began to form as millions of years of the sun’s energy became trapped in vegetation that died and decomposed on top of itself. The plant material was gradually compressed into a primordial muck that eventually hardened into coal.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>When engineer <strong>Ferdinand V. Hayden</strong> surveyed the geology of Colorado in the late 1860s and early 1870s, he identified several areas that held vast coal reserves. These included the Raton Basin in southern Colorado, whose coal Hayden described as being “inexhaustible and of excellent quality,” as well as the northwest part of what was then <a href="http://www.coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/colorado-territory"><strong>Colorado Territory</strong></a>.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>The Advent of Industrial Coal</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>The earliest coal mining in Colorado took place in the late 1850s near the fledgling town of <a href="/article/denver"><strong>Denver</strong></a>, but industrial development of the state’s coal resources awaited the arrival of <a href="http://www.coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/william-jackson-palmer"><strong>William Jackson Palmer</strong></a> in the late 1860s. Over the next two decades, Palmer turned coal into Colorado’s most important commodity. In addition to founding the tourist town of <a href="/article/colorado-springs"><strong>Colorado Springs</strong></a> in 1871, Palmer opened dozens of new coal mines in southern Colorado, and his <strong>Denver &amp; Rio Grande Railroad</strong> (D&amp;RG) brought that coal to market in Denver. To manage his new coal empire, Palmer started Colorado Coal &amp; Iron, which eventually became <a href="http://www.coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/colorado-fuel-iron"><strong>Colorado Fuel and Iron</strong></a> (CF&amp;I), arguably the state’s most powerful coal company. The southern Colorado towns of <strong>Trinidad</strong> and <strong>Walsenburg</strong> became important hubs of coal mining and transport, with the latter known as “The City Built on Coal.”</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Coke and Industry</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>Coal mining in Colorado developed alongside precious-metal mining. In addition to providing the fuel needed to transport gold and silver ore, coal also warmed the homes of residents in Denver and other mushrooming Front Range cities.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>By the 1860s, as gold and silver miners left behind panned-out streambeds and began extracting more metal-bearing ore from the mountains, it became apparent that extreme heat was needed to separate gold and silver from the rock that held it. Coal would provide that heat, but not just any coal would do. Smelters, the heat-driven facilities that melted gold and silver ore to extract the metals, required coal that would burn hot enough to melt rock. This type of coal, a densely layered type called <em>coking coal</em>, was formed by the supercompression of underground coal seams. When heated without oxygen, coking coal turns into <em>coke</em>, a fuel that burns hot enough to melt rock and forge steel.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>In the 1880s, coke became even more essential in Colorado, as it fueled William Jackson Palmer’s <strong>steel mill</strong> in <a href="http://www.coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/pueblo"><strong>Pueblo</strong></a>. Coking coal was most commonly found in Colorado’s southern coalfields, making those fields even more important to the state’s industrial economy in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Major Coal Mining Locations</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>As Palmer’s southern coalfields coalesced in <a href="http://www.coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/las-animas-county"><strong>Las Animas</strong></a> and <a href="http://www.coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/huerfano-county"><strong>Huerfano</strong></a> Counties, railroad expansion allowed other parts of the state to become major coal producers as well. In 1881 the D&amp;RG reached <a href="http://www.coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/crested-butte"><strong>Crested Butte</strong></a>, in northern <a href="http://www.coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/gunnison-county"><strong>Gunnison County</strong></a>, which would contain some of the most productive mines in the state; it was also the site of the grisly <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/jokerville-mine-explosion"><strong>Jokerville Mine Explosion</strong></a> that killed fifty-nine workers in 1884. Toward the end of that decade miners began tapping coalfields in <a href="/article/boulder-county"><strong>Boulder County</strong></a>, which fueled the growth of towns such as <strong>Louisville</strong> and <strong>Lafayette</strong> in the 1890s.</p>&#13; &#13; <p><a href="http://www.coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/garfield-county"><strong>Garfield County</strong></a> in western Colorado also held productive mines, including the volatile Vulcan Mine, which suffered <strong>three deadly explosions</strong> between 1896 and 1918. In the early 1900s, thanks to the completion of the <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/denver-northwestern-pacific-railway-hill-route-moffat-road"><strong>Moffat Road</strong></a> rail line, a relatively smaller coal industry developed in <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/routt-county"><strong>Routt County</strong></a> in the northwest part of the state. After the Moffat Road reached Craig in 1913, the coal beds of Moffat County could be tapped, too.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>By 1917 Colorado had 238 coal mines operating throughout the state, most of which were divided between three companies: CF&amp;I, <strong>Rocky Mountain Fuel Company</strong>, and <strong>Victor American Fuel Company</strong>. That year, the state’s coal mines produced a total of some 12.5 million tons of coal, an increase of nearly 2 million tons from the previous year.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Even as it gradually lost market share to oil and natural gas, coal mining continued throughout the twentieth century in Colorado. In Moffat County, for instance, production reached more than 100,000 tons annually between 1943 and 1951. Mining in the state also shifted during this period from deep mining, the kind that sent miners far belowground, to open-pit mining, where heavy machinery is used to excavate shallower coal seams. By the 1960s, coal production had dwindled to the point where the industry had only a small fraction of its earlier power and influence.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Work in the Coal Mines</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>Working in coal mines was dirty and dangerous, and labor conditions were dismal and underregulated. Most coal mines grouped together men from more than a dozen different nations and backgrounds, including Austria, Britain, Greece, Italy, Mexico, Poland, and the United States. In the 1880s, coal miners worked from fourteen to sixteen hours per day for paltry wages that were often paid in scrip, a kind of currency that could be used only at company stores. Since many coal camps were remote, these stores were often the sole local source of food and supplies, keeping miners tethered to the company. Moreover, coal companies such as CF&amp;I often built whole company towns, where workers paid rent to live. Along with company stores, company housing ensured that most wages were returned to the company.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>In the mines, workers inhaled coal dust all day long, which led to the devastating respiratory disease known as black lung. Mine shafts could collapse or flood. Rock slides and fires were also common; in 1917 the state mine inspector reported that sixty-six miners died from routine accidents, including “falls of rock, falls of coal, mine cars and motors, explosives,” and “electricity.” In addition, methane and other flammable gases released from coal beds often built up in the mines, and each morning an inspector had to check the air quality before work could begin. Employed since the early 1800s, safety lamps, whose flames burned differently when held close to flammable gases, helped determine whether a mine’s air quality was safe. Davy lamps with longer wicks were also used to burn off harmful gases.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Most mines employed inspectors to monitor safety conditions, but even a slight mistake could spell instant death for dozens of miners. This was the case in the <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/hastings-mine-explosion"><strong>Hastings Mine Explosion</strong></a>, Colorado’s deadliest mining disaster, which occurred north of Trinidad in 1917. For unknown reasons, the mine inspector took apart his safety lamp and attempted to relight it with a match, triggering a gas-fueled explosion that killed 121 workers. In addition, some mines exploded despite being declared safe; this occurred in the Jokerville Mine blast of 1884, which killed fifty-nine miners. A total of eighty-five workers perished during the three explosions of the Vulcan Mine between 1896 and 1918. These disasters reflected the troubling trend of Colorado miners dying at a rate of twice the national average between 1884 and 1912.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Labor Strife</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>Coal miners were victims of owner exploitation and hazardous working conditions, and they often tried to improve their lot. As early as the 1870s, they organized strikes and walkouts, and later they joined unions such as the <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/united-mine-workers-america"><strong>United Mine Workers of America</strong></a> (UMWA), formed in 1890. The first UMWA local in Colorado was formed in the Boulder County town of Erie that year, and the union organized its <strong>first major strike</strong> during the <strong><a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/panic-1893">financial calamity</a> </strong>of 1893-94. Thousands of coal miners across the state walked off the job, hoping to produce a coal shortage that would force owners to meet their demands of abolishing company stores and paying workers in cash. In the end, however, there were not enough walkouts to produce a shortage, so miners went back to work under prestrike conditions. By 1900 similar actions had earned some hard-won improvements, including a state law mandating an eight-hour workday, but coal miners had to pressure companies such as CF&amp;I to follow the laws.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Recognizing the power of strikes, mine owners and companies took them seriously, employing both economic oppression and violence to stop them. Owners fired striking workers and hired strikebreakers to work for lower wages than strikers were demanding, hoping to end the strikes. When these approaches failed, mine owners and companies raised citizen militias or petitioned the state to call in the National Guard to force miners back to work.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>In Colorado the UMWA was most active in the early twentieth century, with thousands of members joining strikes in the southern coalfields of <a href="http://www.coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/fremont-county"><strong>Fremont</strong></a>, Huerfano, and Las Animas Counties. A <strong>strike in 1903–4</strong> again called for the abolition of scrip and company stores, as well as implementation of the state’s eight-hour workday law. The failure of that strike led to rising tensions that exploded again in the spring of 1913. The UMWA led a strike in the southern coalfields that involved about 90 percent of the state’s coal workers and resulted in the <a href="/article/ludlow-massacre"><strong>Ludlow Massacre</strong></a> when National Guard members fired on striking miners and set the strikers’ tent colony on fire. It was the deadliest labor conflict in state history.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Coal mining conditions were hardly improved for miners by the time another major conflict broke out in the late 1920s. In 1927, during a strike in the northern coalfields of <a href="http://www.coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/weld-county"><strong>Weld County</strong></a>, the Colorado State Police (then known as the Colorado Rangers) <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/columbine-mine-massacre-0"><strong>opened fire on strikers</strong></a> and their wives at the Rocky Mountain Fuel company town of Serene, killing six and wounding twenty.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Strikes and labor conflict became less common after the passage of the federal Wagner Act in 1935, which recognized workers’ rights to unionize. Still, there remained periods of strife, such as in 1978, when miners at the Allen and Maxwell Mines in Las Animas County walked off the job for three months as part of a national strike organized by the United Mine Workers.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Environmental Effects</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>In addition to the injuries and health hazards to workers, coal mining has produced a number of negative environmental effects that Coloradans continue to deal with today. Air pollution is the largest environmental cost of coal production. To make the air in coal mines breathable, methane and other harmful gases are vented out into the atmosphere, contributing to local smog and global climate change. The West Elk Mine in Gunnison County is the largest methane emitter in Colorado, belching out emissions in 2017 that equaled those of 98,000 cars. Abandoned coal mines also release methane. Nationwide, coal mines account for almost 10 percent of all methane emissions.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>In addition, mines often need to be expanded to maintain their profitability, which leads to deforestation and other forms of habitat destruction. As such, environmental groups often take the coal industry to court over mine expansion as well as pollution. At the West Elk Mine, for example, a proposed expansion into a designated roadless forest resulted in years of litigation before it was ultimately blocked in 2020—but only after the company illegally bulldozed a road through the area.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Coal-fueled power plants are another major source of pollution. In 2020 <strong><em>The Denver Post</em></strong> named Colorado’s six coal-fired power plants among the state’s top ten greenhouse gas emitters. Coal-fired power can contaminate water sources, too; in 2019 an investigation by the <strong>Platte River Power Authority </strong>found that groundwater near the Rawhide Energy Station in <a href="/article/larimer-county"><strong>Larimer County</strong></a> was contaminated with selenium, a chemical that can harm both humans and wildlife. Aware of coal’s ongoing potential to harm air and water quality and wildlife, environmental groups such as the <strong>Sierra Club</strong> and <strong>WildEarth Guardians</strong> have repeatedly sued to stop the expansion of the coal industry in the state.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Today</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>Despite its environmental effects, coal mining continues in Colorado today. In Moffat County, coal still underwrites the local economy. As much as 46 percent of the total property value in the county is generated from its two major coal mines, the Colowyo and Trapper Mines. The Craig Station power plant, completed in the early 1980s and operated by the <strong>Westminster</strong>-based Tri-State Generation and Transmission company, provides hundreds of jobs in Moffat County and supplies power to some 250,000 square miles in Colorado, Nebraska, New Mexico, and Wyoming. Despite its importance to local economies in places like Craig, Tri-State has decided to shut down the company’s coal-fired plants in Colorado and New Mexico by 2030.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Even though production has declined almost every year since 2012, Colorado remains the eleventh-largest producer of coal in the country, with nearly one-quarter of its coal exported to other countries. The West Elk Mine remains one of the state’s largest, employing around 220 people and producing nearly 4 million tons of coal in 2016. Coal from within and beyond the state provides more than half of Colorado’s net electricity generation. This means that coal will play a part in Colorado’s economy for at least the next decade, even as state and industry leaders move toward less pollutive and renewable energy sources.</p>&#13; </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-author--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-author.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-author.html.twig * field--entity-reference.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-author field--type-entity-reference field--label-above" id="id-field-author"> <div class="field__label" id="id-field-author">Author</div> <div class='field__items'> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-author"><a href="/author/encyclopedia-staff" hreflang="und">Encyclopedia Staff</a></div> </div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-keyword--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-keyword.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-keyword.html.twig * field--entity-reference.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-keyword field--type-entity-reference field--label-above" id="id-field-keyword"> <div class="field__label" id="id-field-keyword">Keywords</div> <div class='field__items'> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/coal-mining" hreflang="en">coal mining</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/coal-mining-colorado" hreflang="en">coal mining in colorado</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/coal-miners" hreflang="en">coal miners</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/coal" hreflang="en">coal</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/coal-mines" hreflang="en">coal mines</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/moffat-county" hreflang="en">Moffat County</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/craig" hreflang="en">Craig</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/energy" hreflang="en">energy</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/smelter" hreflang="en">smelter</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/railroads" hreflang="en">railroads</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/colowyo" hreflang="en">colowyo</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/routt-county" hreflang="en">routt county</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/west-elk-mine" hreflang="en">west elk mine</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/crested-butte" hreflang="en">crested butte</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/jokerville-mine" hreflang="en">jokerville mine</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/garfield-county" hreflang="en">Garfield County</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/vulcan-mine" hreflang="en">vulcan mine</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/hastings-mine-explosion" hreflang="en">hastings mine explosion</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/boulder-county" hreflang="en">boulder county</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/weld-county" hreflang="en">weld county</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/las-animas-county" hreflang="en">Las Animas County</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/ludlow-massacre" hreflang="en">Ludlow Massacre</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/ludlow" hreflang="en">ludlow</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/colorado-fuel-iron" hreflang="en">colorado fuel &amp; iron</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/pueblo" hreflang="en">pueblo</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/coking-coal" hreflang="en">coking coal</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/huerfano-county" hreflang="en">huerfano county</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/walsenburg" hreflang="en">walsenburg</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/lafayette" hreflang="en">Lafayette</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/louisville" hreflang="en">louisville</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/strike" hreflang="en">Strike</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/labor-history" hreflang="en">labor history</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/united-mineworkers-america" hreflang="en">united mineworkers of america</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/umwa" hreflang="en">umwa</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/unions" hreflang="en">unions</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/columbine-mine-massacre" hreflang="en">columbine mine massacre</a></div> </div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'links__node' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * links--node.html.twig x links--inline.html.twig * links--node.html.twig * links.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/navigation/links--inline.html.twig' --> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/navigation/links--inline.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-references-html--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-references-html.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-references-html.html.twig * field--text-long.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-references-html field--type-text-long field--label-above" id="id-field-references-html"> <div class="field__label" id="id-field-references-html">References</div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-references-html"><p>John Aguilar, “<a href="https://www.denverpost.com/2020/06/18/west-elk-mine-court-ruling-poania/">State Orders Coal Company to Cease Expansion of West Elk Mine Into Roadless Area Near Paonia</a>,” <em>The Denver Post</em>, June 18, 2020.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Thomas G. Andrews, <em>Killing for Coal: America’s Deadliest Labor War </em>(Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2008).</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Aspire Mining Limited, “<a href="https://aspiremininglimited.com/what-is-coking-coal/">What Is Coking Coal</a>,” n.d.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Allen Best, “Amid the Pandemic, Can Colorado Still Lead on a Just Transition From Coal?” <em>Energy News Network</em>, August 5, 2020.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Sam Brasch, “<a href="https://www.cpr.org/2020/03/05/craig-colorado-believes-in-coal-now-it-needs-a-plan-to-reinvent-itself/">Craig, Colorado Believes in Coal. Now It Needs a Plan to Reinvent Itself</a>,” <em>Colorado Public Radio</em>, March 5, 2020.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Center for Biological Diversity, “<a href="https://biologicaldiversity.org/w/news/press-releases/lawsuit-launched-over-illegal-air-pollution-colorado-coal-mine-2019-12-17/">Lawsuit Launched Over Illegal Air Pollution at Colorado Coal Mine</a>,” December 17, 2019.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Tessa Cheek, “<a href="https://www.coloradoindependent.com/2015/05/14/environmentalists-are-targeting-colorado-coal-successfully/">Environmentalists Are Targeting Colorado Coal, Successfully</a>,” <em>Colorado Independent</em>, May 14, 2015.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Tamara Chuang, “<a href="https://coloradosun.com/2019/03/19/colorado-coal-ash-water-contamination/">Chemical Contamination From 7 Colorado Coal-Fired Power Plants Found During Groundwater Monitoring</a>,” <em>Colorado Sun</em>, March 19, 2019.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>City of Lafayette, Colorado, “<a href="https://www.lafayetteco.gov/DocumentCenter/View/152/Coal-Mining-Heritage-of-Lafayette?bidId=">The Coal Mining Heritage of Lafayette</a>,” n.d.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>“<a href="https://www.craigdailypress.com/news/craig-station-works-to-supply-the-demand/">Craig Station Works to Supply the Demand</a>,” <em>Craig Press</em>, October 14, 2014.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>James Dalrymple, <a href="https://spl.cde.state.co.us/artemis/nrserials/nr930010internet/nr9300101917internet.pdf"><em>Fifth Annual Report of the State Inspector of Coal Mines—1917</em></a> (Denver: Eames Brothers, 1917).</p>&#13; &#13; <p>“<a href="https://www.denverpost.com/2017/09/08/feds-approve-west-elk-mine-expansion/">Feds Approve Expansion of West Elk Mine in Western Colorado Against Environmental Group Objections</a>,” <em>Grand Junction Daily Sentinel</em> (via <em>The Denver Post</em>), September 8, 2017.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Ferdinand V. Hayden, <a href="https://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2003/0384/report.pdf"><em>Preliminary Field Report of the United States Geological Survey of Colorado and New Mexico</em></a> (Washington, DC: US Government Printing Office, 1869).</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Bruce Finley, “<a href="https://www.denverpost.com/2020/01/19/colorado-air-pollution/">What’s Polluting Colorado’s Air? 125 million Tons a Year of Heat-Trapping and Hazardous Gases</a>,” <em>The Denver Post</em>, January 19, 2020.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Mark Jaffe, “<a href="https://www.denverpost.com/2015/05/11/colorado-mine-approvals-failed-to-look-at-environmental-impacts/">Colorado Mine Approvals Failed to Look at Environmental Impacts</a>,” <em>The Denver Post</em>, May 11, 2015.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>“<a href="https://www.sierraclub.org/press-releases/2020/05/lawsuit-targets-arch-coal-s-illegal-air-pollution-colorado-coal-mine">Lawsuit Targets Arch Coal’s Illegal Air Pollution at Colorado Coal Mine</a>,” Sierra Club, May 14, 2020.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Noré V. Winter et al., <a href="https://www.treadofpioneers.org/pdf/Routt_County_Historic_Context_1994.pdf"><em>Historic Context of Routt County</em></a> (Boulder, CO: Winter and Company, 1994).</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Kelsey Ray, “<a href="https://www.coloradoindependent.com/2016/05/03/colorados-worst-methane-polluter-is-an-arch-coal-mine-west-elk-john-hickenlooper/">Colorado’s Worst Methane Polluter Is an Arch Coal Mine</a>,” <em>Colorado Independent</em>, May 3, 2016.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Christopher J. Schreck, “<a href="https://scalar.usc.edu/works/the-colorado-fuel-and-iron-company/strikes-and-other-labor-disputes">Strikes and Other Labor Disputes</a>,” Labor Relations in the Industrial West, updated December 14, 2016.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Brian K. Trembath, “<a href="https://history.denverlibrary.org/news/remembering-colorados-coal-warsand-coal-miners">Remembering Colorado’s Coal Wars  . . . And Coal Miners</a>,” Denver Public Library Western History and Genealogy Department, September 2, 2015.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>University of Denver, “<a href="https://www.du.edu/ludlow/cfhist.html">A History of the Colorado Coal Field War</a>,” Colorado Coal Field War Project, n.d.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>US Energy Information Administration, “<a href="https://www.eia.gov/energyexplained/coal/mining-and-transportation.php">Coal Explained: Mining and Transportation of Coal</a>,” updated October 28, 2019.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>US Energy Information Administration, “<a href="https://www.eia.gov/state/analysis.php?sid=CO">Colorado: Profile Analysis</a>,” updated March 19, 2020.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>US Environmental Protection Agency, “<a href="https://www.epa.gov/cmop/sources-coal-mine-methane">Coal Mine Methane Sources</a>,” n.d.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Bian Zhengfu et al., “Environmental Issues From Coal Mining and Their Solutions,” <em>Mining Science and Technology </em>20 (2010).</p>&#13; </div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-additional-information-htm--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-additional-information-htm.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-additional-information-htm.html.twig * field--text-long.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-additional-information-htm field--type-text-long field--label-above" id="id-field-additional-information-htm"> <div class="field__label" id="id-field-additional-information-htm">Additional Information</div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-additional-information-htm"><p>Earthjustice.org, “<a href="https://earthjustice.org/features/colorado-forests-and-coal">Coal’s Toll on Colorado’s Forests</a>,” updated June 8, 2017.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Ferdinand V. Hayden, <a href="https://pubs.usgs.gov/publication/70038931"><em>Seventh Annual Report of the United States Geological and Geographical Survey of the Territories, embracing Colorado</em></a> (Washington, DC: US Government Printing Office, 1873).</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Fawn-Amber Montoya, ed., <em>Making an American Workforce: The Rockefellers and the Legacy of Ludlow</em> (Boulder: University Press of Colorado, 2014).</p>&#13; &#13; <p>F. Darrell Munsell, <em>From Redstone to Ludlow: John Cleveland Osgood’s Struggle Against the United Mine Workers of America </em>(Boulder: University Press of Colorado, 2009).</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Randall H. McGuire and Paul Reckner, “<a href="https://users.clas.ufl.edu/davidson/Historical%20archaeology%20fall%202015/Week%204/McGuire%20&amp;amp;%20Reckner%202003.pdf">Building a Working-Class Archaeology: The Colorado Coal Field War Project</a>,” <em>Industrial Archaeology Review</em> 25, no. 2 (2003).</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Jonathan H. Rees, <em>Representation and Rebellion: The Rockefeller Plan at the Colorado Fuel and Iron Company, 1914–1942 </em>(Boulder: University Press of Colorado, 2010).</p>&#13; </div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> Tue, 16 Feb 2021 20:06:10 +0000 yongli 3536 at http://coloradoencyclopedia.org Colorado Fuel and Iron Strike of 1959 http://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/colorado-fuel-and-iron-strike-1959 <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--title--encyclopedia-article.html.twig x field--node--title.html.twig * field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--title.html.twig * field--string.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--title.html.twig' --> <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Colorado Fuel and Iron Strike of 1959</span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--title.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--uid--encyclopedia-article.html.twig x field--node--uid.html.twig * field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--uid.html.twig * field--entity-reference.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--uid.html.twig' --> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'username' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/user/username.html.twig' --> <span lang="" about="/users/yongli" typeof="schema:Person" property="schema:name" datatype="">yongli</span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/user/username.html.twig' --> </span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--uid.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--created--encyclopedia-article.html.twig x field--node--created.html.twig * field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--created.html.twig * field--created.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--created.html.twig' --> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'time' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/time.html.twig' --> <time datetime="2020-10-16T11:15:59-06:00" title="Friday, October 16, 2020 - 11:15" class="datetime">Fri, 10/16/2020 - 11:15</time> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/time.html.twig' --> </span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--created.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'addtoany_standard' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * addtoany-standard--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * addtoany-standard--node.html.twig x addtoany-standard.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'modules/contrib/addtoany/templates/addtoany-standard.html.twig' --> <span class="a2a_kit a2a_kit_size_32 addtoany_list" data-a2a-url="http://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/colorado-fuel-and-iron-strike-1959" data-a2a-title="Colorado Fuel and Iron Strike of 1959"><a class="a2a_dd addtoany_share" href="https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=http%3A%2F%2Fcoloradoencyclopedia.org%2Farticle%2Fcolorado-fuel-and-iron-strike-1959&amp;title=Colorado%20Fuel%20and%20Iron%20Strike%20of%201959"></a><a class="a2a_button_facebook"></a><a class="a2a_button_twitter"></a><a class="a2a_button_email"></a></span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'modules/contrib/addtoany/templates/addtoany-standard.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--body--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--body.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--body.html.twig * field--text-with-summary.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item" id="id-body"><p>In 1959 union members at the <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/colorado-fuel-iron"><strong>Colorado Fuel and Iron Company</strong></a> (CF&amp;I) in <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/pueblo-0"><strong>Pueblo</strong></a> participated in a nationwide strike for better job security. The strike led to a nationwide shortage of American-made steel, while the suspension of mining operations and steel production at CF&amp;I caused Pueblo to enter an economic depression. After 110 days, President Eisenhower invoked the Taft-Hartley Act to order steelworkers to return to their jobs for an eighty-day cooling-off period. On January 15, 1960, the <strong>United Steel Workers of America</strong> (USWA) reached an agreement that met union demands, and CF&amp;I resumed normal operations.</p> <h2>Origins</h2> <p>The <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/ludlow-massacre"><strong>Ludlow Massacre</strong></a> of 1914 shocked the nation and forced CF&amp;I to alter some of its labor practices. Owner John D. Rockefeller, Jr., brought in Canadian labor-relations expert MacKenzie King to improve working conditions and develop one of the first company-dominated trade unions to combat the negative publicity generated by Ludlow. The company union they created, called the Employee Representation Plan (ERP), aimed to avoid the emergence of outside union formation—a strategy later outlawed by the National Labor Relations Act of 1935. In the meantime, the ERP gave the company’s coal miners and other workers a voice but with company oversight. This was a step forward for workers, but CF&amp;I employees still wanted to unionize throughout this period, leading to two decades of minor labor disputes.</p> <p>The ERP remained a dominant force and voice of the workers until CF&amp;I’s mine employees gained the power to organize themselves under the National Industrial Recovery Act of 1933. As part of President Franklin Roosevelt’s <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/new-deal-colorado"><strong>New Deal</strong></a>, the act created the National Recovery Administration (NRA) to encourage collaboration among industry, labor, and government to create fair labor practices and set fair market prices. The act also allowed employees to bargain with unions without the fear of company retaliation or bullying. The <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/united-mine-workers-america"><strong>United Mine Workers of America</strong></a> (UMWA) took advantage of this new law by starting to organize at CF&amp;I mines. Within a month, 95 percent of company miners joined the UMWA, effectively ending the ERP. The company’s steelworkers unionized a decade later, joining the United Steelworkers of America (USWA) in 1942.</p> <h2>Colorado Fuel and Iron 1959 Strike</h2> <p>Despite unionization, occasional labor disputes continued at CF&amp;I. Nothing grew out of these frequent scuffles until 1959, when CF&amp;I steelworkers took part in a nationwide strike. The USWA wanted a work-rules clause in its contracts to keep companies from introducing new machinery, rules, or practices that would result in a reduction in the number of steelworkers or their hours. When a deal could not be reached, the USWA authorized a nationwide strike on July 15, 1959.</p> <p>The strike closed CF&amp;I for 110 days, affecting all aspects of production from mining to the forging of steel. Because CF&amp;I was central to Pueblo’s economy, the city entered an economic depression. Nationally, other industries suffered, too, especially the automobile industry, because the strike caused a steel shortage at a time when many things were still made of steel. Many companies that needed steel to manufacture their goods started to look to foreign producers to meet their steel needs.</p> <p>As other industries faced layoffs, the uncompromising attitude of both parties in the strike led President Dwight Eisenhower to intervene. Invoking the Taft-Hartley Act, a 1947 law designed to restrict the power of unions, Eisenhower forced striking steelworkers to return to work for an eighty-day arbitration period, commonly known as a cooling-off period, intended to bring the parties together to reach an agreement within a set timeframe. CF&amp;I employees returned to work on November 7, 1959. In response, the USWA challenged the law in the Supreme Court and lost.</p> <p>Since 1960 was an election year, however, both political parties were worried that a resumption of the strike might lead to a recession that could harm them with voters, and they proved unwilling to support the steelmakers. With the backing of Vice President Richard Nixon, who planned to run for president that year, the USWA pressured steelmakers to concede to union demands. On January 15, 1960, the USWA won, and the union received wage increases, a cost-of-living adjustment clause, and better health and pension benefits. There would not be <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/colorado-fuel-and-iron-strike-1997"><strong>another significant strike at CF&amp;I until 1997</strong></a>.</p> <h2>Legacy</h2> <p>For workers, the successful strike of 1959 demonstrated unity and accentuated the bargaining power the steel union possessed. For the American steel industry as a whole, however, the strike marked the start of several difficult decades. By causing a shortage of domestic steel production, the strike led many American companies to start to import steel from foreign competitors. This had a lasting influence on all US steel producers. In the years after the strike, American companies such as CF&amp;I had to rely on their steel quality to maintain a competitive edge against lower-priced foreign steel. Foreign competition, continual modernization of equipment, increasing environmental regulations, and rising labor costs caused the US steel industry to struggle in the latter half of the twentieth century. CF&amp;I eventually declared bankruptcy in the early 1990s and was bought by Oregon Steel in 1993.</p> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-author--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-author.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-author.html.twig * field--entity-reference.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-author field--type-entity-reference field--label-above" id="id-field-author"> <div class="field__label" id="id-field-author">Author</div> <div class='field__items'> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-author"><a href="/author/martinez-daniel-victor" hreflang="und">Martinez, Daniel Victor </a></div> </div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-keyword--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-keyword.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-keyword.html.twig * field--entity-reference.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-keyword field--type-entity-reference field--label-above" id="id-field-keyword"> <div class="field__label" id="id-field-keyword">Keywords</div> <div class='field__items'> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/colorado-fuel-iron-history" hreflang="en">colorado fuel &amp; iron history</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/colorado-fuel-and-iron" hreflang="en">Colorado Fuel and Iron</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/colorado-fuel-iron" hreflang="en">colorado fuel &amp; iron</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/cfi" hreflang="en">cf&amp;i</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/colorado-labor-history" hreflang="en">colorado labor history</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/labor" hreflang="en">labor</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/strikes" hreflang="en">strikes</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/colorado-fuel-and-iron-strike-1959" hreflang="en">Colorado Fuel and Iron Strike of 1959</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/united-mine-workers-america" hreflang="en">united mine workers of america</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/united-steel-workers-america" hreflang="en">United Steel Workers of America</a></div> </div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'links__node' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * links--node.html.twig x links--inline.html.twig * links--node.html.twig * links.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/navigation/links--inline.html.twig' --> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/navigation/links--inline.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-references-html--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-references-html.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-references-html.html.twig * field--text-long.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-references-html field--type-text-long field--label-above" id="id-field-references-html"> <div class="field__label" id="id-field-references-html">References</div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-references-html"><p>Gregory Howell, “<a href="http://www.gregoryhowell.com/colorado-fuel-iron-company">Colorado Fuel &amp; Iron Company</a>,” n.d.</p> <p>Rosemary Laughlin, <em>The Ludlow Massacre of 1913–14 </em>(Greensboro, NC: Morgan Reynolds Publishing, 2006).</p> <p>&nbsp;“<a href="https://socialwelfare.library.vcu.edu/eras/great-depression/u-s-national-recovery-administration/">National Recovery Administration</a>,” Social Welfare History Project, Virginia Commonwealth University Libraries, January 21, 2011.</p> <p>Edward B. Shils, “Arthur Goldberg: Proof of the American Dream,” <em>Monthly Labor Review</em> 120, no. 1 (1997).</p> </div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-additional-information-htm--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-additional-information-htm.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-additional-information-htm.html.twig * field--text-long.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-additional-information-htm field--type-text-long field--label-above" id="id-field-additional-information-htm"> <div class="field__label" id="id-field-additional-information-htm">Additional Information</div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-additional-information-htm"><p><a href="https://www.evrazna.com/LocationsFacilities/RockyMountainSteelMills/tabid/71/Default.asp" title=" (external link)">EVRAZ Rocky Mountain Steel</a>.</p> <p><a href="https://www.steelworks.us/">Steelworks Center of the West</a>.</p> </div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> Fri, 16 Oct 2020 17:15:59 +0000 yongli 3439 at http://coloradoencyclopedia.org Leadville Strike of 1896–97 http://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/leadville-strike-1896-97 <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--title--encyclopedia-article.html.twig x field--node--title.html.twig * field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--title.html.twig * field--string.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--title.html.twig' --> <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Leadville Strike of 1896–97</span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--title.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: x field--node--field-article-image--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-article-image.html.twig * field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-article-image.html.twig * field--entity-reference.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--field-article-image--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div id="carouselEncyclopediaArticle" class="carousel slide" data-bs-ride="true"> <div class="carousel-inner"> <div class="carousel-item active"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'node' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * node--3214--article-detail-image.html.twig * node--3214.html.twig x node--image--article-detail-image.html.twig * node--image.html.twig * node--article-detail-image.html.twig * node.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/content/node--image--article-detail-image.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-encyclopedia-image--image.html.twig * field--node--field-encyclopedia-image.html.twig * field--node--image.html.twig * field--field-encyclopedia-image.html.twig * field--image.html.twig x field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-encyclopedia-image field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'image_formatter' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image-formatter.html.twig' --> <a href="/image/camp-mcintire"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'image_style' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image-style.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'image' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image.html.twig' --> <img loading="lazy" src="/sites/default/files/styles/wide/public/Leadville%20Strike%20of%201896%E2%80%9397%20Media%204_1.png?itok=W54e5FMt" width="480" height="406" alt="" typeof="foaf:Image" class="image-style-wide" /> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image.html.twig' --> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image-style.html.twig' --> </a> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image-formatter.html.twig' --> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field.html.twig' --> <div class="carousel-caption d-none d-md-block"> <h5><a href="/image/camp-mcintire" rel="bookmark"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--title--image.html.twig x field--node--title.html.twig * field--node--image.html.twig * field--title.html.twig * field--string.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--title.html.twig' --> <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Camp McIntire</span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--title.html.twig' --> </a></h5> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--body--image.html.twig * field--node--body.html.twig * field--node--image.html.twig * field--body.html.twig x field--text-with-summary.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--text-with-summary.html.twig' --> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>Encampment of the Colorado National Guard at "Camp McIntire," during the Leadville miners' strike of 1896-1897.</p> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--text-with-summary.html.twig' --> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/content/node--image--article-detail-image.html.twig' --> </div> </div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--field-article-image--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--uid--encyclopedia-article.html.twig x field--node--uid.html.twig * field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--uid.html.twig * field--entity-reference.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--uid.html.twig' --> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'username' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/user/username.html.twig' --> <span lang="" about="/users/yongli" typeof="schema:Person" property="schema:name" datatype="">yongli</span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/user/username.html.twig' --> </span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--uid.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--created--encyclopedia-article.html.twig x field--node--created.html.twig * field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--created.html.twig * field--created.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--created.html.twig' --> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'time' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/time.html.twig' --> <time datetime="2020-04-10T11:41:33-06:00" title="Friday, April 10, 2020 - 11:41" class="datetime">Fri, 04/10/2020 - 11:41</time> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/time.html.twig' --> </span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--created.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'addtoany_standard' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * addtoany-standard--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * addtoany-standard--node.html.twig x addtoany-standard.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'modules/contrib/addtoany/templates/addtoany-standard.html.twig' --> <span class="a2a_kit a2a_kit_size_32 addtoany_list" data-a2a-url="http://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/leadville-strike-1896-97" data-a2a-title="Leadville Strike of 1896–97"><a class="a2a_dd addtoany_share" href="https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=http%3A%2F%2Fcoloradoencyclopedia.org%2Farticle%2Fleadville-strike-1896-97&amp;title=Leadville%20Strike%20of%201896%E2%80%9397"></a><a class="a2a_button_facebook"></a><a class="a2a_button_twitter"></a><a class="a2a_button_email"></a></span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'modules/contrib/addtoany/templates/addtoany-standard.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--body--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--body.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--body.html.twig * field--text-with-summary.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item" id="id-body"><p>The <a href="/article/leadville"><strong>Leadville</strong></a> strike of 1896–97 was a nine-month labor conflict pitting the <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/western-federation-miners"><strong>Western Federation of Miners (WFM)</strong></a> against the owners of the district’s <a href="/article/precious-metal-mining-colorado"><strong>mines</strong></a>. The strike began in June 1896, when miners requested higher wages and were rejected, and reached a violent climax in September, when strikers attacked two mines that had reopened with low-wage strikebreakers. <strong>Governor Albert W. McIntire</strong> promptly sent in the state militia to protect the mines, allowing owners to resume production. With no leverage remaining, the strikers limped along for several months before capitulating in March 1897. The strike marked the start of a new, more militant phase of conflict between western US miners and management.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>After the Panic</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>The Leadville strike of 1896–97 had its origins with the <a href="/article/panic-1893"><strong>Panic of 1893</strong></a>, an economic depression<strong>,</strong> and the repeal of the Sherman Silver Purchase Act, which sent the mining industry into a tailspin across Colorado. In Leadville, five smelters and every large silver mine closed. The Knights of Labor, which had organized some local miners before the <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/leadville-strike-1880"><strong>strike of 1880</strong></a> and again after 1884, agreed to a districtwide wage cut as a way of reopening some of the mines that had shuttered and getting men back to work.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>By 1895, however, the mining district had recovered from the effects of the panic. Thanks to diversified production in gold, lead, copper, and zinc, Leadville returned to its position as Colorado’s top mining town, with a level of production not seen since 1889. Many mines returned to the $3.00 daily wage that had prevailed before 1893, yet roughly one-third of local miners remained tied to the $2.50 daily wage that was originally intended as a stopgap measure. Owners claimed that a lower cost of living made the wage comparable to earlier rates, but workers increasingly struggled to support their families.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Strike</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>The Cloud City Miners’ Union believed the revival of Leadville mining meant it was time to fully retire the emergency wage scale from 1893. Formed in May 1895, the union was Local No. 33 of the Western Federation of Miners (WFM), a new organization that was both more powerful and more aggressive than the old Knights of Labor. Within a year, it counted more than 800 local miners as members. On May 25, 1896, union representatives requested that mine owners set a base rate of at least $3.00 per day for all miners in the district. The owners rejected the request. Three weeks later, on June 19, union representatives asked again. By this time, union membership had tripled to more than 90 percent of the mining camp. The owners still said no.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>On the evening of June 19, about 1,200 union members met to discuss the repeated rejections of what seemed to them a reasonable request. They voted almost unanimously to go on strike in all mines that paid workers $2.50 per day. The next day, they followed through, with 968 miners walking off the job at thirteen mines. In response, mine owners decided to shut down all mines in the district and lock their employees out, tossing another 1,332 men out of work. Mining in Leadville—and, as a result, much of the town’s economic activity—ground to a halt.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Both sides felt themselves to be in a position of strength, and neither proved willing to compromise. The union represented nearly all of Leadville’s miners and had the backing of the WFM, which had just seen a notable success in the <strong>Cripple Creek strike of 1894</strong>. Meanwhile, Leadville mine owners, fearful of the growing strength of the WFM, had formed a secret agreement not to negotiate with or even to recognize the union; their responses were invariably addressed to “the miners of Leadville" instead of the union.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Despite the stalemate, tensions never boiled over during the early months of the strike. In July, Governor Albert W. McIntire checked in with the sheriff and heard that all was well. That began to change on August 13, when owners offered the $3.00 wage during any month when the price of silver exceeded 75 cents an ounce as long as striking miners went back to work immediately. When the union rejected the offer, owners retracted it on August 18 and declared that if strikers did not return to their jobs by August 22, the mines would be reopened using strikebreakers.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Now both sides were on edge. The union, which had recently received a shipment of 100 rifles, dispatched guards to all routes into <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/lake-county"><strong>Lake County</strong></a> to repel any incoming strikebreakers. News of armed workers policing the county’s borders predictably alarmed Leadville’s property-owning class, who started to whisper worriedly about possible attacks on area mines. Some mines used local strikebreakers to reopen (paying $2.50 a day), but others simply shut down their pumps and allowed their tunnels to flood, a clear indication that they did not plan to resume production anytime soon.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Turning Point</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>Long-feared violence finally broke out at one in the morning on September 21, when a group of a few hundred strikers marched to the reopened Coronado Mine, just a short walk from downtown. Angered by the use of strikebreakers, the armed strikers opened fire on the mine and tossed three dynamite bombs at its surface structures. As an oil tank broke open, strikers and strikebreakers engaged in a half-hour shootout. When the oil tank eventually caught fire, the strikebreakers fled the mine, having suffered no losses. On the union side, three men were fatally wounded. The confrontation caused another casualty when one of the firefighters working to douse the oil fire was shot and killed. Despite the late hour and their reduced numbers, the strikers left the Coronado and walked a mile outside of town to the Robert Emmet, another reopened mine, to take on strikebreakers there. Again, they tossed bombs and attempted to damage the mine’s surface structures, but this time shots from the strikebreakers turned them away after fatally wounding one union worker. By dawn on September 21, the early morning riot had resulted in five deaths and roughly $50,000 in property damage.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>In a reprise of the Leadville strike of 1880, local businessmen and mine owners quickly formed their own militia and appealed to the governor for support from the state. Governor McIntire agreed, and the first state militia troops arrived on the evening of September 21, with more following over the next two days. They were housed in barracks made from the wooden structure of the <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/leadville-ice-palace"><strong>Leadville Ice Palace</strong></a>, built the previous winter in an attempt to stimulate the local economy. Protected by hundreds of troops posted at the mines, owners imported trainloads of strikebreakers from Missouri to resume production.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Back to Work</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>As in 1880, the strikers had little chance once the state decided to back the owners. Unlike 1880, however, when the strike had collapsed as soon as the militia arrived, this time the WFM provided the moral, economic, and organizational support for the strikers to hold the line for months. But their only real leverage—their ability to stop production by withholding labor—was gone. As the strike continued, union ranks gradually decreased as miners either left Leadville or went back to work. Meanwhile, tensions remained high between strikebreakers and the remaining strikers; local newspapers carried reports of harassment and violence, sometimes even shootings.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Despite its besieged position, the union held on through the fall and into the new year. As late as January 1897, strikers rejected a deal from owners, signaling that they believed they could hold out for something better. As winter dragged on, that optimism faded. On March 9, the union voted to end the strike and return to work at the old wage scale. The state militia left Leadville the next day.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Legacy</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>The strike of 1896–97 significantly reduced production in the Leadville mining district, which declined by more than 20 percent in those years because of closed and flooded mines. After the strike, however, Leadville’s mines boomed for a decade, consistently hitting production levels not seen since the 1880s. The Cloud City Miners’ Union survived and continued to recruit workers, but it never regained the strength it had before the strike. The owners had won a decisive victory. Leadville miners did not go on strike again for more than twenty years.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Leadville miners may have lost, but their strike reverberated far beyond Lake County. Historian William Philpott has called it “a pivotal point for the WFM” because “it was in 1896 and 1897—when the miners’ struggle in Leadville was fought and lost—that the unrelenting hostility of management became unmistakably clear to western union miners.” In Leadville, the WFM witnessed owners’ new strength and organization. Faced with such an entrenched opposition, the WFM was forced to revise its tactics.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>After Leadville, Philpott argues that the WFM “turned left.” It split from eastern counterparts such as the American Federation of Labor, which had notably failed to provide support to strikers at Leadville, and started to see itself not only as protecting workers’ rights but as representing workers as a class against the antagonistic class of owners and managers. It rejected conservative goals and conciliatory positions in favor of building a militant labor union that could effectively take on an organized and hostile opposition. This position only reinforced owners’ conviction that the WFM was dangerously radical and must be destroyed. The next major battle between the two sides would come in the violent <strong>1903–4 Colorado labor wars</strong>.</p>&#13; </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-author--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-author.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-author.html.twig * field--entity-reference.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-author field--type-entity-reference field--label-above" id="id-field-author"> <div class="field__label" id="id-field-author">Author</div> <div class='field__items'> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-author"><a href="/author/encyclopedia-staff" hreflang="und">Encyclopedia Staff</a></div> </div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-keyword--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-keyword.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-keyword.html.twig * field--entity-reference.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-keyword field--type-entity-reference field--label-above" id="id-field-keyword"> <div class="field__label" id="id-field-keyword">Keywords</div> <div class='field__items'> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/leadville" hreflang="en">Leadville</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/leadville-strike-1896-97" hreflang="en">Leadville Strike of 1896–97</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/colorado-labor-history" hreflang="en">colorado labor history</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/labor" hreflang="en">labor</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/western-federation-miners" hreflang="en">Western Federation of Miners</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/albert-w-mcintire" hreflang="en">Albert W. McIntire</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/cloud-city-miners-union" hreflang="en">Cloud City Miners&#039; Union</a></div> </div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'links__node' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * links--node.html.twig x links--inline.html.twig * links--node.html.twig * links.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/navigation/links--inline.html.twig' --> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/navigation/links--inline.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-references-html--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-references-html.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-references-html.html.twig * field--text-long.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-references-html field--type-text-long field--label-above" id="id-field-references-html"> <div class="field__label" id="id-field-references-html">References</div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-references-html"><p>K. Jean Harvey, “The History of Leadville, Colorado, to 1900” (MA thesis, University of Southern California, 1933).</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Merrill Hough, “Leadville and the Western Federation of Miners,” <em>Colorado Magazine</em> 49, no. 1 (Winter 1972).</p>&#13; &#13; <p>William Philpott, <em>The Lessons of Leadville: Or, Why the Western Federation of Miners Turned Left</em>, Essays and Monographs in Colorado History 10 (Denver: Colorado Historical Society, 1995).</p>&#13; </div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-additional-information-htm--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-additional-information-htm.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-additional-information-htm.html.twig * field--text-long.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-additional-information-htm field--type-text-long field--label-above" id="id-field-additional-information-htm"> <div class="field__label" id="id-field-additional-information-htm">Additional Information</div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-additional-information-htm"><p>Christian G. Buys, <em>A Quick History of Leadville</em> (Montrose, CO: Western Reflections, 2004).</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Don L. Griswold and Jean Harvey Griswold, <em>History of Leadville and Lake County, Colorado: From Mountain Solitude to Metropolis</em>, 2 vols. (Denver: Colorado Historical Society, 1996).</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Mark Wyman, <em>Hard Rock Epic: Western Miners and the Industrial Revolution, 1860–1910</em> (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1979).</p>&#13; </div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> Fri, 10 Apr 2020 17:41:33 +0000 yongli 3212 at http://coloradoencyclopedia.org Leadville Strike of 1880 http://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/leadville-strike-1880 <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--title--encyclopedia-article.html.twig x field--node--title.html.twig * field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--title.html.twig * field--string.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--title.html.twig' --> <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Leadville Strike of 1880</span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--title.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: x field--node--field-article-image--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-article-image.html.twig * field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-article-image.html.twig * field--entity-reference.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--field-article-image--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div id="carouselEncyclopediaArticle" class="carousel slide" data-bs-ride="true"> <div class="carousel-inner"> <div class="carousel-item active"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'node' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * node--3314--article-detail-image.html.twig * node--3314.html.twig x node--image--article-detail-image.html.twig * node--image.html.twig * node--article-detail-image.html.twig * node.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/content/node--image--article-detail-image.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-encyclopedia-image--image.html.twig * field--node--field-encyclopedia-image.html.twig * field--node--image.html.twig * field--field-encyclopedia-image.html.twig * field--image.html.twig x field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-encyclopedia-image field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'image_formatter' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image-formatter.html.twig' --> <a href="/image/camp-mcintire-0"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'image_style' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image-style.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'image' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image.html.twig' --> <img loading="lazy" src="/sites/default/files/styles/wide/public/Leadville-Strike-of-1880-Media-1_0.jpg?itok=EZE3AjdN" width="900" height="564" alt="" typeof="foaf:Image" class="image-style-wide" /> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image.html.twig' --> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image-style.html.twig' --> </a> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image-formatter.html.twig' --> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field.html.twig' --> <div class="carousel-caption d-none d-md-block"> <h5><a href="/image/camp-mcintire-0" rel="bookmark"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--title--image.html.twig x field--node--title.html.twig * field--node--image.html.twig * field--title.html.twig * field--string.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--title.html.twig' --> <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Camp McIntire</span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--title.html.twig' --> </a></h5> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--body--image.html.twig * field--node--body.html.twig * field--node--image.html.twig * field--body.html.twig x field--text-with-summary.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--text-with-summary.html.twig' --> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>When troops arrived in Leadville in fall 1896, they repurposed parts of the Leadville Ice Palace to build their camp. The troops remained in town until March 1897, when the union voted to end the strike and return to work.</p> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--text-with-summary.html.twig' --> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/content/node--image--article-detail-image.html.twig' --> </div> </div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--field-article-image--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--uid--encyclopedia-article.html.twig x field--node--uid.html.twig * field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--uid.html.twig * field--entity-reference.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--uid.html.twig' --> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'username' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/user/username.html.twig' --> <span lang="" about="/users/yongli" typeof="schema:Person" property="schema:name" datatype="">yongli</span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/user/username.html.twig' --> </span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--uid.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--created--encyclopedia-article.html.twig x field--node--created.html.twig * field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--created.html.twig * field--created.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--created.html.twig' --> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'time' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/time.html.twig' --> <time datetime="2020-04-10T10:49:27-06:00" title="Friday, April 10, 2020 - 10:49" class="datetime">Fri, 04/10/2020 - 10:49</time> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/time.html.twig' --> </span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--created.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'addtoany_standard' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * addtoany-standard--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * addtoany-standard--node.html.twig x addtoany-standard.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'modules/contrib/addtoany/templates/addtoany-standard.html.twig' --> <span class="a2a_kit a2a_kit_size_32 addtoany_list" data-a2a-url="http://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/leadville-strike-1880" data-a2a-title="Leadville Strike of 1880"><a class="a2a_dd addtoany_share" href="https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=http%3A%2F%2Fcoloradoencyclopedia.org%2Farticle%2Fleadville-strike-1880&amp;title=Leadville%20Strike%20of%201880"></a><a class="a2a_button_facebook"></a><a class="a2a_button_twitter"></a><a class="a2a_button_email"></a></span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'modules/contrib/addtoany/templates/addtoany-standard.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--body--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--body.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--body.html.twig * field--text-with-summary.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item" id="id-body"><p>The <a href="/article/leadville"><strong>Leadville</strong></a> strike of 1880 was the first major labor conflict in the central Colorado silver boomtown, shutting down most of the area’s mining district from May 26 to mid-June as miners pressed owners and managers for higher wages, an eight-hour workday, and more control over their working conditions. Owners and managers successfully resisted workers’ demands until a local citizens’ committee convinced <strong>Governor Frederick Pitkin</strong> to send in military support to get the mines reopened. The unsuccessful strike helped mark Leadville’s shift from boomtown to stable city as miners accepted existing power relations after their failure. The city went more than fifteen years before its next major labor conflict.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>End of the Boom</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>Leadville’s silver boom started after the town’s first smelter, the Harrison Reduction Works, was built in 1877. Tens of thousands of miners, speculators, merchants, and others flocked to the town, turning it quickly into the state’s second largest city. A few people found their fortunes in mines such as the <strong>Little Pittsburg</strong>, Chrysolite, Little Chief, and <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/matchless-mine"><strong>Matchless</strong></a>, while many others found that a day’s labor in those mines paid anywhere from $2 for surface work up to $3.50 for underground mining. As it grew, Leadville still had many of the characteristics of a rough mining camp, with murders, <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/lynching-colorado"><strong>lynchings</strong></a>, disease, and more brothels than restaurants, but it also retained its buoyant boomtown atmosphere while the mines poured forth what seemed like an endless stream of silver.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>That boom ended in 1880. One sign that the boom was over came in the consolidation of local mines under a small group of companies controlled by an even smaller handful of friendly owners. By 1880 only eleven companies were responsible for more than 80 percent of Leadville’s silver production. Around that time, it also became apparent that the dreams launched by Leadville may have outpaced the reality of what was available in the hills. In February there were whispers that the famous Little Pittsburg mine, the source of <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/horace-tabor"><strong>Horace Tabor</strong></a>’s fortune, was exhausted; soon the stock price declined, and dividend payments stopped. Similar fates awaited the Chrysolite and the Little Chief, which had been mismanaged and underdeveloped such that production had to stop until new ore bodies could be opened. These mines were not played out—they still had plenty of silver in them—but their public stumbles led to the collapse of many Leadville mining stocks as confidence in the region plummeted.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Strike of 1880</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>Some historians believe the Leadville miners’ strike of 1880, which started in May, might have been intentionally provoked by the Chrysolite Company as a way of hiding the company’s other problems. Whether true or not, the claim reflects the fact that changes at the struggling Chrysolite provided the immediate source of miners’ grievances. First, the company attempted to take $1 per month from employees to fund a kind of compulsory medical insurance before backing off the plan in the face of opposition. Next, the company banned talking and smoking during working hours, presumably in the name of safety. Finally, the company replaced several underground foremen, claiming that the foremen had been allowing miners to slack off. This action was the last straw. On the morning of Wednesday, May 26, night shift workers at the Chrysolite prevented their day shift replacements from going into the mine. Leadville’s first strike had begun.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>It remains unclear whether the strike was spontaneous or planned. More than a year earlier, in January 1879, Leadville miners had banded together in the Miners’ Cooperative Union, which joined the <strong>Knights of Labor</strong> as Local No. 1005. There is no evidence that the union planned the strike ahead of time, but local president <strong>Michael Mooney</strong> did lead the strikers as they marched from the Chrysolite to the Little Chief, which shared the same management. At the Little Chief, strikers presented manager George Daly with their demands: a raise to $4 for an eight-hour workday. Daly said he would have to consult the mining company’s owners back east. The strikers promptly fanned out across the mining district spreading word of their labor stoppage and gaining followers. By the end of the day, more than 2,000 miners had walked off the job, bringing mining activity (and most other business activity) in Leadville to a halt.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Collective bargaining between the striking miners and the mine managers and owners began on the second day of the strike. After a morning parade through town, the miners agreed on their official demands: $4 per day, an eight-hour day, the right to choose their own shift bosses, and formal recognition of their organization, which they now named the Miners, Mechanics and Laborers’ Protective Union. The managers rejected those demands that afternoon and appealed to the county to help guard the mines even though the strikers had remained peaceful. Further negotiations over the next few days led nowhere.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>As mine owners and managers maintained their resolve during the second week of the strike, it became increasingly difficult for Mooney and other local labor leaders to sustain the strict discipline that had characterized the strike’s early days. Provocations started piling up: first, the <a href="http://www.coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/lake-county"><strong>Lake County</strong></a> commissioners declared that citizens could potentially be called on to serve as mine guards; then, Daly and fellow manager W. S. Keyes reopened the Chrysolite, Little Chief, and Iron Silver mines, offering room and board to anyone willing to work; finally, on June 1, a deputy sheriff shot at a group of strikers, injuring three. Rumors spread of drunk strikers marauding through town and harassing anyone trying to work at a mine.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>As the strike went on, tensions mounted. Anonymous letters threatened violence to property and people. Meanwhile, the rest of the community grew increasingly frustrated, feeling as if they were living through a siege. Finally, on June 8, Mayor John Humphreys implored both sides to make one final effort to compromise. In the bargaining that followed, both sides did move slightly from their opening positions, but wage increases remained a sticking point.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>With negotiations stalled again, local businessmen and other residents suffering from the city’s stalled economy decided to take matters into their own hands. They formed a citizens’ committee and on Friday June 11, declared that they would organize an armed militia to protect any miners willing to go back to work on the old wage scale. They also sent a request to Governor Frederick Pitkin to send arms and ammunition. This activity got the union’s attention. The next day saw marches and countermarches by the strikers and the citizens’ committee, with each side leading hundreds of men through the streets of Leadville. Local law enforcement declined to intervene (perhaps because it was wildly outnumbered), prompting the citizens’ committee to complain to Governor Pitkin that the sheriff had sided with the strikers and could no longer be trusted “to protect life and property.”</p>&#13; &#13; <p>After a brief moment of hesitation, Pitkin yielded to the property owners and declared martial law in Leadville on Sunday June 13. Major General David Cook arrived the next day and organized sixteen companies of volunteers. With the state firmly on the side of mine owners and managers, the strike’s final act came quickly. Most mines resumed work on June 15. At a mass meeting on June 17 featuring mine managers, labor leaders, citizens, and the military, the union consented to return to the prestrike status quo. In addition, although it was not formally part of the agreement, influential mine managers Daly and Keyes agreed to implement an eight-hour day at their mines and to try to convince others to do the same. After the miners went back to work, their union soon dissolved, with many of its leaders leaving town voluntarily or by force.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Legacy</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>The Leadville strike of 1880 hurt many businesses in town, several folding as a result of nearly three weeks of little economic activity. The mines themselves did not suffer much; despite the stoppage, annual production in 1880 improved on the previous year.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>The strike can be seen as just one more in the series of events that helped Leadville shift from a boomtown to a stable city. Coming on the heels of consolidation and the stock crash, the strike raised the important question of who would control Leadville’s mining economy. The answer came loud and clear: mine owners and managers, with the backing of the state if necessary. Mine workers accepted their failure, perhaps in part because the arrival of the first railroad to Leadville in July led to a surge in productivity and profits, which mostly benefited owners but also buoyed the city as a whole. The combination of that prosperity and the consolidation of power among mine owners and managers meant that Leadville would not see another major labor disturbance until the <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/leadville-strike-1896%E2%80%9397"><strong>Western Federation of Miners’</strong> <strong>strike in 1896–97</strong></a>.</p>&#13; </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-author--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-author.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-author.html.twig * field--entity-reference.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-author field--type-entity-reference field--label-above" id="id-field-author"> <div class="field__label" id="id-field-author">Author</div> <div class='field__items'> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-author"><a href="/author/encyclopedia-staff" hreflang="und">Encyclopedia Staff</a></div> </div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-keyword--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-keyword.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-keyword.html.twig * field--entity-reference.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-keyword field--type-entity-reference field--label-above" id="id-field-keyword"> <div class="field__label" id="id-field-keyword">Keywords</div> <div class='field__items'> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/leadville" hreflang="en">Leadville</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/leadville-strike-1880" hreflang="en">Leadville Strike of 1880</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/colorado-labor-history" hreflang="en">colorado labor history</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/labor" hreflang="en">labor</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/mining" hreflang="en">mining</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/frederick-pitkin" hreflang="en">frederick pitkin</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/michael-mooney" hreflang="en">Michael Mooney</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/knights-labor" hreflang="en">Knights of Labor</a></div> </div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'links__node' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * links--node.html.twig x links--inline.html.twig * links--node.html.twig * links.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/navigation/links--inline.html.twig' --> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/navigation/links--inline.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-references-html--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-references-html.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-references-html.html.twig * field--text-long.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-references-html field--type-text-long field--label-above" id="id-field-references-html"> <div class="field__label" id="id-field-references-html">References</div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-references-html"><p>Carl Abbott, Stephen J. Leonard, and Thomas J. Noel, <em>Colorado: A History of the Centennial State</em>, 5th ed. (Boulder: University Press of Colorado, 2013).</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Paul T. Bechtol Jr., “The 1880 Labor Dispute in Leadville,” <em>Colorado Magazine</em> 47, no. 4 (Fall 1970).</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Don L. Griswold and Jean Harvey Griswold, <em>The Carbonate Camp Called Leadville</em> (Denver: University of Denver Press, 1951).</p>&#13; &#13; <p>K. Jean Harvey, “The History of Leadville, Colorado, to 1900” (MA thesis, University of Southern California, 1933).</p>&#13; &#13; <p> </p>&#13; </div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-additional-information-htm--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-additional-information-htm.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-additional-information-htm.html.twig * field--text-long.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-additional-information-htm field--type-text-long field--label-above" id="id-field-additional-information-htm"> <div class="field__label" id="id-field-additional-information-htm">Additional Information</div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-additional-information-htm"><p>Don L. Griswold and Jean Harvey Griswold, <em>History of Leadville and Lake County, Colorado: From Mountain Solitude to Metropolis</em>, 2 vols. (Denver: Colorado Historical Society, 1996).</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Richard E. Lingenfelter, <em>The Hardrock Miners: A History of the Mining Labor Movement in the American West, 1863–1893</em> (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1974).</p>&#13; &#13; <p>William Philpott, <em>The Lessons of Leadville: Or, Why the Western Federation of Miners Turned Left</em>, Essays and Monographs in Colorado History 10 (Denver: Colorado Historical Society, 1995).</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Mark Wyman, <em>Hard Rock Epic: Western Miners and the Industrial Revolution, 1860–1910</em> (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1979).</p>&#13; </div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> Fri, 10 Apr 2020 16:49:27 +0000 yongli 3211 at http://coloradoencyclopedia.org Sand Wash Basin Tool Stone Sites http://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/sand-wash-basin-tool-stone-sites <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--title--encyclopedia-article.html.twig x field--node--title.html.twig * field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--title.html.twig * field--string.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--title.html.twig' --> <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Sand Wash Basin Tool Stone Sites</span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--title.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--uid--encyclopedia-article.html.twig x field--node--uid.html.twig * field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--uid.html.twig * field--entity-reference.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--uid.html.twig' --> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'username' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/user/username.html.twig' --> <span lang="" about="/users/yongli" typeof="schema:Person" property="schema:name" datatype="">yongli</span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/user/username.html.twig' --> </span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--uid.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--created--encyclopedia-article.html.twig x field--node--created.html.twig * field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--created.html.twig * field--created.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--created.html.twig' --> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'time' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/time.html.twig' --> <time datetime="2020-03-18T22:34:26-06:00" title="Wednesday, March 18, 2020 - 22:34" class="datetime">Wed, 03/18/2020 - 22:34</time> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/time.html.twig' --> </span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--created.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'addtoany_standard' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * addtoany-standard--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * addtoany-standard--node.html.twig x addtoany-standard.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'modules/contrib/addtoany/templates/addtoany-standard.html.twig' --> <span class="a2a_kit a2a_kit_size_32 addtoany_list" data-a2a-url="http://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/sand-wash-basin-tool-stone-sites" data-a2a-title="Sand Wash Basin Tool Stone Sites"><a class="a2a_dd addtoany_share" href="https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=http%3A%2F%2Fcoloradoencyclopedia.org%2Farticle%2Fsand-wash-basin-tool-stone-sites&amp;title=Sand%20Wash%20Basin%20Tool%20Stone%20Sites"></a><a class="a2a_button_facebook"></a><a class="a2a_button_twitter"></a><a class="a2a_button_email"></a></span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'modules/contrib/addtoany/templates/addtoany-standard.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--body--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--body.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--body.html.twig * field--text-with-summary.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item" id="id-body"><p align="left">Located northwest of Craig in <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/moffat-county"><strong>Moffat County</strong></a>, the Sand Wash Basin is an area of Bridger Formation rock outcrops that prehistoric peoples mined extensively as a source for stones to make tools with. Bridger Formation chert is typically light to dark brown, though some of the chert in the basin is referred to as “tiger chert” because of its distinct alternating light and dark brown banding. Tiger cherts have been found across Colorado and in both Utah and Wyoming. The distinct patterning of tiger chert has allowed archaeologists to trace the movement of prehistoric people in and out of northwestern Colorado.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2 align="left">Geology</h2>&#13; &#13; <p align="left">The Sand Wash Basin is the southern portion of the Green River Basin system in Wyoming, which is an Eocene-aged lake system that drained south into the Piceance Basin of Colorado and the Uinta Basin of Utah. Deposits in the Sand Wash Basin are sedimentary and contain many fossils, including well-preserved vertebrate, invertebrate, and plant fossils. Because of high silica content in the region’s geology, the Sand Wash Basin contains layers of chert bedrock, chert nodules, petrified wood, and fossilized stromatolites that lend themselves to striped banding.</p>&#13; &#13; <p align="left">There are different varieties of chert tool-<a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/prehistoric-stone-quarrying-colorado"><strong>stone quarries</strong></a> in the Sand Wash Basin. The basin’s center contains bedrock layers of chert. The basin’s perimeter contains more nodules of petrified wood and stromatolites that are available as eroded gravel deposits and isolated clusters. Whether quarried from layers of chert bedrock or collected from erosional deposits, all the stone material in the basin was usable for tool blanks and is typically identified as Bridger Formation chert.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2 align="left">Archaeology</h2>&#13; &#13; <p align="left">In 1976 Richard Stucky did an archaeological survey of the Sand Wash Basin. Stucky noted that the basin’s Bridger Formation cherts had a long history of use and can be associated with the bison-hunting <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/paleo-indian-period"><strong>Paleo-Indian</strong></a> and <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/clovis"><strong>Clovis</strong></a> populations of 13,000 years ago as well as later <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/archaic-period-colorado"><strong>Archaic</strong></a>, <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/formative-period-prehistory"><strong>Formative</strong></a>, and historical groups, including the Shoshone and <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/northern-ute-people-uintah-and-ouray-reservation"><strong>Ute</strong></a>. In some places in the basin one can still see the large quantities of stone that were quarried and tested by prehistoric inhabitants of the area. One additional piece of evidence for a long period of use of the basin’s cherts comes from the <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/image/boulder-artifacts"><strong>Mahaffy cache</strong></a> site in <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/boulder"><strong>Boulder</strong></a>, with its impressive tiger chert artifacts. Stucky suggested that prehistoric families camped around the periphery of the Sand Wash Basin while mining resources in the middle of it, which was supported by a subsequent archaeological study in 2010. Stucky’s work resulted in a collection of pristine materials now housed at the <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/denver-museum-nature-science-0"><strong>Denver Museum of Nature and Science</strong></a>, including a fourteen-centimeter-long cold-worked copper knife found at the Cathedral Butte site, which is similar to knives found in Oklahoma and the Great Lakes region.</p>&#13; &#13; <p align="left">Bridger Formation chert artifacts have been found in archaeological sites in neighboring states, such as the John Gale Cache in Wyoming and <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/fremont-culture"><strong>Fremont</strong></a> villages in western Colorado and Utah, and archaeologists are studying their chemical structure to connect these artifacts to specific quarries in the Sand Wash Basin. Interestingly, heating the Bridger Formation chert in a fire alters its structure and makes it easier to shape into a tool. While this can create sharper tools, it can also crack the chert and make it more brittle. The heat-treating of cherts has been shown to occur more often around the periphery of the Sand Wash Basin than in the heart of the Sand Wash Basin, though it is unknown how heat-treating alters the ability of scientists to source the Bridger Formation chert to specific quarries.</p>&#13; &#13; <p align="left">Bridger Formation cherts from the Sand Wash Basin help archaeologists understand the way prehistoric families lived and moved through Colorado over the last 13,000 years. Beyond that strong archaeological value, tiger chert artifacts can be beautiful examples of prehistoric craftsmanship. Thus, in addition to being utilitarian tools that now serve as markers of trade and antiquity, they were likely admired and appreciated for their striking visual characteristics as much in the past as they are today.</p>&#13; </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-author--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-author.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-author.html.twig * field--entity-reference.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-author field--type-entity-reference field--label-above" id="id-field-author"> <div class="field__label" id="id-field-author">Author</div> <div class='field__items'> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-author"><a href="/author/landt-matthew" hreflang="und">Landt, Matthew</a></div> </div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-keyword--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-keyword.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-keyword.html.twig * field--entity-reference.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-keyword field--type-entity-reference field--label-above" id="id-field-keyword"> <div class="field__label" id="id-field-keyword">Keywords</div> <div class='field__items'> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/archaeology" hreflang="en">archaeology</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/prehistoric-native-americans" hreflang="en">prehistoric Native Americans</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/stone-tools" hreflang="en">stone tools</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/chert" hreflang="en">chert</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/bridger-formation" hreflang="en">Bridger formation</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/geology" hreflang="en">geology</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/colorado-geology" hreflang="en">colorado geology</a></div> </div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'links__node' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * links--node.html.twig x links--inline.html.twig * links--node.html.twig * links.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/navigation/links--inline.html.twig' --> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/navigation/links--inline.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-references-html--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-references-html.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-references-html.html.twig * field--text-long.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-references-html field--type-text-long field--label-above" id="id-field-references-html"> <div class="field__label" id="id-field-references-html">References</div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-references-html"><p align="left"><a name="_ENREF_1" id="_ENREF_1">H. P. Buchheim, L. R. Brand, and H. T. Goodwin, “Lacustrine to fluvial floodplain deposition in the Eocene Bridger Formation,” <em>Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology</em> 162 (September 2000).</a></p>&#13; &#13; <p align="left">Neil Hauser, “Sourcing Bridger Chert With Laser Breakdown Spectroscopy, Technical report, Advanced Technical Solutions for Archaeology and Anthropology, Centennial, Colorado” (Montrose, CO: Alpine Archaeological Consultants, 2013).</p>&#13; &#13; <p align="left"><a name="_ENREF_3" id="_ENREF_3">Brian R. Ingalls and Lisa E. Park, “Biotic and Taphonomic Response to Lake-Level Fluctuations in the Greater Green River Basin (Eocene), Wyoming,” <em>Palaios</em> 25 (May 2010).</a></p>&#13; &#13; <p align="left">Matthew J. Landt, “Class III Survey of Select Areas in Sand Wash Basin, Moffat County, Colorado, Technical report, Alpine Archaeological Consultants, Inc., Montrose, Colorado” (Craig: Vermillion Chapter, Colorado Archaeological Society, and Bureau of Land Management, Little Snake Field Office, 2011).</p>&#13; &#13; <p align="left">Matthew J. Landt and Robyn Watkins Morris, “Lithic Procurement in the Sand Wash Basin of Northwestern Colorado: How Unpredictability Highlights Adaptations,” <em>Plains Anthropologist</em> 63 (February 2018).</p>&#13; &#13; <p align="left">Byron Loosle, “The Acquisition of Nonlocal Lithic Material by the Uinta Fremont,” <em>Journal of California and Great Basin Anthropology</em> 22, no. 2 (2000).</p>&#13; &#13; <p align="left"><a name="_ENREF_4" id="_ENREF_4">James C. Miller, “Lithic Resources,” in <em>Prehistoric Hunters of the High Plains</em>, ed. George C. Frison (San Diego: Academic Press, 1991).</a></p>&#13; &#13; <p align="left">Mark E. Miller, Michael D. Stafford, and George W. Brox, “The John Gale Site Biface Cache,” <em>Plains Anthropologist</em> 36 (February 1991).</p>&#13; &#13; <p align="left"><a name="_ENREF_5" id="_ENREF_5">Paul C. Murphey and David Daitch, “</a><a href="https://publications.anl.gov/anlpubs/2009/02/63538.pdf">Paleontological Overview of Oil Shale and Tar Sands Areas in Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming</a>,” Technical report for US Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management (Argonne, IL: Argonne National Laboratory, December 2007).</p>&#13; &#13; <p align="left"> </p>&#13; &#13; <p align="left"><a name="_ENREF_6" id="_ENREF_6">M. Elliot Smith, Alan R. Carroll, and Brad S. Singer, “Synoptic Reconstruction of a Major Ancient Lake System: Eocene Green River Formation, Western United States,” GSA Bulletin 120 (January–February 2008).</a></p>&#13; &#13; <p align="left"><a name="_ENREF_7" id="_ENREF_7">Richard K. Stucky, et al., “Magnetic Stratigraphy, Sedimentology, and Mammalian Faunas of the Early Uintan Washakie Formation, Sand Wash Basin, Northwestern Colorado,” in <em>The Terrestrial Eocene-Oligocene Transition in North America</em>, ed. Donald R. Prothero (New York: Cambridge University Press,1996).</a></p>&#13; &#13; <p><a name="_ENREF_8" id="_ENREF_8">Richard Keith Stucky, “Archaeological Survey of the Sand Wash Basin, Northwestern Colorado” (MA thesis, University of Colorado–Boulder, 1977).</a></p>&#13; </div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-additional-information-htm--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-additional-information-htm.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-additional-information-htm.html.twig * field--text-long.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-additional-information-htm field--type-text-long field--label-above" id="id-field-additional-information-htm"> <div class="field__label" id="id-field-additional-information-htm">Additional Information</div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-additional-information-htm"><p>Claire Cleveland, “<a href="https://www.cpr.org/2020/03/16/gunnison-county-effectively-shutting-down-public-life-to-fight-covid-19/">Gunnison County Effectively Shutting Down Public Life To Fight COVID-19</a>,” Colorado Public Radio, March 16, 2020.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Shaun Yuan, “<a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/3/17/in-china-life-returning-to-normal-as-coronavirus-outbreak-slows">In China, life returning to normal as coronavirus outbreak slows</a>,” <em>Al Jazeera</em>, March 17, 2020.</p>&#13; </div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> Thu, 19 Mar 2020 04:34:26 +0000 yongli 3196 at http://coloradoencyclopedia.org Barger Gulch Site http://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/barger-gulch-site <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--title--encyclopedia-article.html.twig x field--node--title.html.twig * field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--title.html.twig * field--string.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--title.html.twig' --> <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Barger Gulch Site</span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--title.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--uid--encyclopedia-article.html.twig x field--node--uid.html.twig * field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--uid.html.twig * field--entity-reference.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--uid.html.twig' --> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'username' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/user/username.html.twig' --> <span lang="" about="/users/yongli" typeof="schema:Person" property="schema:name" datatype="">yongli</span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/user/username.html.twig' --> </span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--uid.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--created--encyclopedia-article.html.twig x field--node--created.html.twig * field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--created.html.twig * field--created.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--created.html.twig' --> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'time' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/time.html.twig' --> <time datetime="2020-01-15T15:28:06-07:00" title="Wednesday, January 15, 2020 - 15:28" class="datetime">Wed, 01/15/2020 - 15:28</time> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/time.html.twig' --> </span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--created.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'addtoany_standard' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * addtoany-standard--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * addtoany-standard--node.html.twig x addtoany-standard.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'modules/contrib/addtoany/templates/addtoany-standard.html.twig' --> <span class="a2a_kit a2a_kit_size_32 addtoany_list" data-a2a-url="http://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/barger-gulch-site" data-a2a-title="Barger Gulch Site"><a class="a2a_dd addtoany_share" href="https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=http%3A%2F%2Fcoloradoencyclopedia.org%2Farticle%2Fbarger-gulch-site&amp;title=Barger%20Gulch%20Site"></a><a class="a2a_button_facebook"></a><a class="a2a_button_twitter"></a><a class="a2a_button_email"></a></span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'modules/contrib/addtoany/templates/addtoany-standard.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--body--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--body.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--body.html.twig * field--text-with-summary.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item" id="id-body"><p>There are few places in western North America richer in <a href="/article/paleo-indian-period"><strong>Paleo-Indian</strong></a> archaeology than <a href="/article/grand-county"><strong>Middle Park</strong></a>, the valley that forms the headwaters of the <a href="http://www.coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/colorado-river"><strong>Colorado River</strong></a> in <a href="/article/grand-county"><strong>Grand County</strong></a>. Within Middle Park, the Barger Gulch area preserves an impressive amount of evidence from early humans, with sites dating from roughly 12,900 to 10,000 years ago. Barger Gulch is a small, spring-fed tributary of the Colorado River, flowing south to north, draining an area east of Junction Butte, and joining the Colorado River about four miles east of <strong>Kremmling</strong>. In all, eleven Paleo-Indian localities have been documented along this drainage. Artifacts in the Barger Gulch area span the Paleo-Indian period with one exception— no <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/clovis"><strong>Clovis</strong></a> archaeology has yet been found in Middle Park, though <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/folsom-people"><strong>Folsom</strong></a>, the period that follows Clovis, is abundant.</p> <h2>Natural History</h2> <p>If you were to visit the Barger Gulch area today, you would find it to be a nondescript and fairly uninviting area. The high, flat surface that begins on the margins of the Colorado River Valley and slowly slopes upward to the south is covered with a sea of <a href="/article/sagebrush"><strong>sagebrush</strong></a> and grass with an occasional isolated <a href="/article/conifers"><strong>juniper or Douglas fir</strong></a> on north-facing slopes. It is one of the driest parts of Middle Park. Barger Gulch has a modest flow and has cut deeply through Miocene Troublesome Formation bedrock. As inhospitable as the place appears today, the archaeology suggests that it was a good place to live more than 10,000 years ago because people in that period returned to the area time and again. One of the attractions comes straight from the bedrock—Troublesome Formation chert, used to make stone tools.</p> <p>During the Miocene, approximately 20 to 5 million years ago, the valley of Middle Park was filling with sediments, and one major source of sedimentation was volcanism. Some of the ashy sediments that filled the basin later were transformed into a fine-grained silicate rock called chert, ideal for the manufacture of stone tools. Large amounts of Troublesome Formation chert, also known as Kremmling Chert, can be found in the Barger Gulch area, and all of the nearby archaeological localities are dominated by this material. Chert was one clear attraction.</p> <h2>Ancient Camp</h2> <p>The most intensively studied part of the Barger Gulch site is called Locality B, a large Folsom campsite dating to around 12,760 years ago. Locality B is remarkable for its large numbers of chipped stone artifacts, with an assemblage totaling more than 75,000 pieces. The types of nonlocal lithic raw materials recovered show that people moved into Barger Gulch from areas east and west of the <a href="/article/rocky-mountains"><strong>Rocky Mountains</strong></a>.</p> <p>Paleo-Indian peoples are renowned for the distances they moved in their seasonal rounds, but occasionally, and likely seasonally, they settled down in one spot for an extended duration of time. Barger Gulch is one of a handful of sites that show this less mobile side of early Paleo-Indian life. In the winter, large mammals are snowed out of high-elevation regions, and their density in winter grazing areas in valley bottoms increases dramatically. Current evidence suggests that the Barger Gulch site represents one or multiple cold-season occupations by Folsom hunter-gatherers, who probably camped in the valley bottom for several weeks to take advantage of <a href="/article/bison"><strong>bison</strong></a> herds wintering in Middle Park. During the winter, Folsom hunter-gatherers camping in the Barger Gulch area would have had easy access to water, stone, wood, and large game.</p> <h2>Research Findings</h2> <p>Because the Barger Gulch site has a relatively high density of artifacts and well-preserved spatial patterning, archaeologists have used it to examine several poorly studied aspects of human lifeways at the end of the last Ice Age in the Rocky Mountains. The site preserves at least four hearth features, three of which sat within households. This allows for studies of the differences in the use of interior and exterior space. For example, it was found that early-stage flintknapping—the removal of large flakes from the outer portions of chert nodules—mostly took place in exterior spaces. Later-stage knapping, such as the <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/fluted-points-0"><strong>fluting of projectile points</strong></a> and resharpening of tools, occurred inside. There is also evidence for artifacts produced by novice flintknappers at the site, most likely children.</p> <p>The Barger Gulch site was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2009.</p> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-author--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-author.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-author.html.twig * field--entity-reference.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-author field--type-entity-reference field--label-above" id="id-field-author"> <div class="field__label" id="id-field-author">Author</div> <div class='field__items'> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-author"><a href="/author/surovell-todd" hreflang="und">Surovell, Todd A.</a></div> </div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-keyword--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-keyword.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-keyword.html.twig * field--entity-reference.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-keyword field--type-entity-reference field--label-above" id="id-field-keyword"> <div class="field__label" id="id-field-keyword">Keywords</div> <div class='field__items'> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/archaeology" hreflang="en">archaeology</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/prehistoric-archaeology" hreflang="en">prehistoric archaeology</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/folsom" hreflang="en">Folsom</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/colorado-folsom-sites" hreflang="en">colorado folsom sites</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/prehistoric-native-americans" hreflang="en">prehistoric Native Americans</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/stone-tools" hreflang="en">stone tools</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/chert" hreflang="en">chert</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/geology" hreflang="en">geology</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/colorado-geology" hreflang="en">colorado geology</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/grand-county" hreflang="en">Grand County</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/troublesome-formation" hreflang="en">Troublesome formation</a></div> </div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'links__node' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * links--node.html.twig x links--inline.html.twig * links--node.html.twig * links.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/navigation/links--inline.html.twig' --> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/navigation/links--inline.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-references-html--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-references-html.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-references-html.html.twig * field--text-long.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-references-html field--type-text-long field--label-above" id="id-field-references-html"> <div class="field__label" id="id-field-references-html">References</div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-references-html"><p>Marcel Kornfeld, <em>The First Rocky Mountaineers: Coloradans Before Colorado</em> (Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 2013).</p> <p>Todd A. Surovell and Nicole M. Waguespack, “Folsom Hearth-Centered Use of Space at Barger Gulch, Locality B,” in <em>Frontiers in Colorado Paleoindian Archaeology: From the Dent Site to the Rocky Mountains</em>, ed. Robert H. Brunswig and Bonnie L. Pitblado (Boulder: University of Colorado Press, 2007).</p> <p>Nicole M. Waguespack and Todd A. Surovell, “A Simple Method for Identifying Households Using Lithic Assemblages: A Case Study From a Folsom Campsite in Middle Park, Colorado,” in <em>Lithics in the West: Using Lithic Analysis to Solve Archaeological Problems in Western North America</em>, ed. Douglas H. MacDonald, William Andrefsky Jr., and Pei-Lia Yu (Missoula: University of Montana Press, 2014).</p> </div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-additional-information-htm--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-additional-information-htm.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-additional-information-htm.html.twig * field--text-long.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-additional-information-htm field--type-text-long field--label-above" id="id-field-additional-information-htm"> <div class="field__label" id="id-field-additional-information-htm">Additional Information</div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-additional-information-htm"><p>Bob Raynolds and James Hagadorn, “<a href="https://www.coloradostratigraphy.org/strat-chart/main-strat-chart">Colorado Stratigraphy: Main Strat Chart</a>,” updated October 30, 2018.</p> <p>Todd A. Surovell, <em>Toward a Behavioral Ecology of Lithic Technology</em>: <em>Cases From Paleoindian Archaeology</em> (Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 2009).</p> </div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> Wed, 15 Jan 2020 22:28:06 +0000 yongli 3122 at http://coloradoencyclopedia.org Alferd Packer http://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/alferd-packer <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--title--encyclopedia-article.html.twig x field--node--title.html.twig * field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--title.html.twig * field--string.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--title.html.twig' --> <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Alferd Packer</span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--title.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: x field--node--field-article-image--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-article-image.html.twig * field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-article-image.html.twig * field--entity-reference.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--field-article-image--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div id="carouselEncyclopediaArticle" class="carousel slide" data-bs-ride="true"> <div class="carousel-inner"> <div class="carousel-item active"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'node' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * node--3228--article-detail-image.html.twig * node--3228.html.twig x node--image--article-detail-image.html.twig * node--image.html.twig * node--article-detail-image.html.twig * node.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/content/node--image--article-detail-image.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-encyclopedia-image--image.html.twig * field--node--field-encyclopedia-image.html.twig * field--node--image.html.twig * field--field-encyclopedia-image.html.twig * field--image.html.twig x field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-encyclopedia-image field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'image_formatter' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image-formatter.html.twig' --> <a href="/image/alferd-packer"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'image_style' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image-style.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'image' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image.html.twig' --> <img loading="lazy" src="/sites/default/files/styles/wide/public/Alferd-Packer-Media-1_0.jpg?itok=nZR769Zv" width="216" height="226" alt="" typeof="foaf:Image" class="image-style-wide" /> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image.html.twig' --> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image-style.html.twig' --> </a> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image-formatter.html.twig' --> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field.html.twig' --> <div class="carousel-caption d-none d-md-block"> <h5><a href="/image/alferd-packer" rel="bookmark"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--title--image.html.twig x field--node--title.html.twig * field--node--image.html.twig * field--title.html.twig * field--string.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--title.html.twig' --> <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Alferd Packer</span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--title.html.twig' --> </a></h5> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--body--image.html.twig * field--node--body.html.twig * field--node--image.html.twig * field--body.html.twig x field--text-with-summary.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--text-with-summary.html.twig' --> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>In one of Colorado's most grisly episodes, prospector Alferd Packer confessed to eating the bodies of his dead companions after the group got lost in the snowy San Juan Mountains in 1874.</p> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--text-with-summary.html.twig' --> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/content/node--image--article-detail-image.html.twig' --> </div> </div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--field-article-image--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--uid--encyclopedia-article.html.twig x field--node--uid.html.twig * field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--uid.html.twig * field--entity-reference.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--uid.html.twig' --> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'username' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/user/username.html.twig' --> <span lang="" about="/users/yongli" typeof="schema:Person" property="schema:name" datatype="">yongli</span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/user/username.html.twig' --> </span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--uid.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--created--encyclopedia-article.html.twig x field--node--created.html.twig * field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--created.html.twig * field--created.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--created.html.twig' --> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'time' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/time.html.twig' --> <time datetime="2019-09-03T15:23:16-06:00" title="Tuesday, September 3, 2019 - 15:23" class="datetime">Tue, 09/03/2019 - 15:23</time> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/time.html.twig' --> </span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--created.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'addtoany_standard' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * addtoany-standard--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * addtoany-standard--node.html.twig x addtoany-standard.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'modules/contrib/addtoany/templates/addtoany-standard.html.twig' --> <span class="a2a_kit a2a_kit_size_32 addtoany_list" data-a2a-url="http://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/alferd-packer" data-a2a-title="Alferd Packer"><a class="a2a_dd addtoany_share" href="https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=http%3A%2F%2Fcoloradoencyclopedia.org%2Farticle%2Falferd-packer&amp;title=Alferd%20Packer"></a><a class="a2a_button_facebook"></a><a class="a2a_button_twitter"></a><a class="a2a_button_email"></a></span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'modules/contrib/addtoany/templates/addtoany-standard.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--body--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--body.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--body.html.twig * field--text-with-summary.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item" id="id-body"><p>Alferd E. Packer (1842–1909), also “Alfred,” was a prospector who became famous after confessing to eating his dead comrades while trapped in the <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/san-juan-mountains"><strong>San Juan Mountains</strong></a> in February 1874. With the group starving and disoriented, it appears likely that Packer killed another prospector in self-defense and then began gnawing on the corpses of those who had already died. Packer’s story of cannibalism highlights the dangers faced by nearly every nineteenth-century prospector who ventured into the Rocky Mountains, and has become one of the West’s most grisly and enduring legends and murder mysteries.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Lost in the Wilderness</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>Packer had been part of a larger band of twenty gold seekers who had left Utah and split up into two groups. On February 9, 1874, Al Packer and five other prospectors departed the Ute leader <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/ouray"><strong>Ouray</strong></a>’s winter camp. Ignoring the chief’s warning and declining his gracious offer to let them stay, the would-be miners foolishly headed into deep <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/snow"><strong>snow</strong></a>.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Al Packer later stated, “Three or four days after our provisions were all consumed, we took our moccasins, which were made of raw hide, and cooked them. . . . Our trail was entirely drifted over. In places, the snow had blown away from patches of wild rose bushes, and we were gathering the buds from these bushes, stewing them and eating them.”</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Packer left Utah with few provisions and no weapons. Nine weeks later he arrived at the <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/los-pi%C3%B1os-indian-agency"><strong>Los Piños Indian Agency</strong></a> south of present-day <strong>Gunnison</strong> with a Winchester rifle, a skinning knife, and a coffee pot containing live coals. Though haggard and worn, he was otherwise fit.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Escape and Capture</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>Packer played high-stakes poker at Dolan’s saloon and bought a $70 horse. Another member of the original gold seekers arrived and questioned where Packer had gotten his spending money. Packer reluctantly admitted that the small band had starved in the San Juans, that the group’s oldest member, Israel Swan, had died from hunger and exposure, and that Packer had eaten him.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Jailed in <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/saguache-0"><strong>Saguache</strong></a>, Packer escaped, changed his identity, and was arrested in Wyoming before being returned to <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/hinsdale-county"><strong>Hinsdale County</strong></a> for trial. The area northeast of <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/lake-city-0"><strong>Lake City</strong></a> where Packer’s party got lost is listed on maps as “Cannibal Plateau.” The site where the bodies were found five miles beyond town is known as Deadman’s Gulch.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>After being re-captured, Packer stated that while the group attempted to find the Indian Agency, Shannon Bell killed James Humphrey, George Noon, and Frank Miller as they slept around the campfire. Packer had been out searching for food and when he returned to camp a raging Shannon Bell accosted him with a hatchet. Packer fired twice with a pistol, shooting Bell in self-defense.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>He explained that after killing Bell, “I tried to get away every day, but could not, so I lived on the flesh of these men the greater part of the sixty days I was out. Then the snow began to have a crust and I started out up the creek … .” His lawyer mounted a spirited defense, but Packer went to prison for seventeen years before <strong><em>The Denver Post</em></strong> petitioned to have him released.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>In the penitentiary he made horsehair bridles, one of which is displayed at the <strong>Museum of Western Colorado </strong>in <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/grand-junction">Grand Junction</a>. He also built elaborate Victorian dollhouses. Alferd Packer died in 1907, but his misspelled name and his unique reputation lives on. He has evolved from Old West infamy to New West celebrity.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Later Investigation</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>In the 1950s, a rusted 1862 Colt Police Model .32 five-shot revolver was found on the Cannibal Plateau with two shots missing. Analysis at Mesa State College’s Electron Microscopy Facility proved that bullet fragments exhumed from the burial site matched lead from the old pistol, suggesting that Packer did shoot Shannon Bell in self-defense. Museum curator David Bailey believes that “Alferd didn’t deny he ate the bodies, but he killed only in self defense. It’s never too late for the truth. He was wrongly convicted.” Packer’s pistol is now on display at the Museum of Western Colorado.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Legacy</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>Packer’s memory is alive and well in <strong>Lake City</strong>, where “Al Packer Days,” the Packer Burger at the Cannibal Grill, and a large wooden historical marker proclaiming the Alferd Packer Massacre Site are popular attractions. Travel magazines state that the Hinsdale County Museum houses “the largest collection of Packer memorabilia known,” “including “skull fragments and clothing buttons from victims, as well as the shackles used when he was imprisoned.” Tourists are advised, “Don’t miss the actual burial site, just five minutes from town.”</p>&#13; &#13; <p>In 1968 students at the <strong>University of Colorado</strong> in <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/boulder"><strong>Boulder</strong></a> renamed the student union restaurant the Alferd E. Packer Memorial Grill, and in 1998 author James E. Bank penned <em>Alferd Packer’s Wilderness Cookbook</em>. In addition, CU film students Matt Stone and Trey Parker, who would later create the hit TV show <strong><em>South Park</em></strong>, produced <em>Cannibal! The Musical </em>in 1993. Like Packer’s companions, the film was short-lived.</p>&#13; </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-author--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-author.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-author.html.twig * field--entity-reference.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-author field--type-entity-reference field--label-above" id="id-field-author"> <div class="field__label" id="id-field-author">Author</div> <div class='field__items'> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-author"><a href="/author/gulliford-andrew-0" hreflang="und">Gulliford, Andrew</a></div> </div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-keyword--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-keyword.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-keyword.html.twig * field--entity-reference.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-keyword field--type-entity-reference field--label-above" id="id-field-keyword"> <div class="field__label" id="id-field-keyword">Keywords</div> <div class='field__items'> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/al-packer" hreflang="en">al packer</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/alfred-packer" hreflang="en">alfred packer</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/alferd-packer" hreflang="en">alferd packer</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/hinsdale-county" hreflang="en">hinsdale county</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/cannibal" hreflang="en">cannibal</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/cannibalism" hreflang="en">cannibalism</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/lake-city" hreflang="en">Lake City</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/san-juan-mountains" hreflang="en">San Juan Mountains</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/history-lake-city" hreflang="en">history of lake city</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/ouray" hreflang="en">ouray</a></div> </div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'links__node' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * links--node.html.twig x links--inline.html.twig * links--node.html.twig * links.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/navigation/links--inline.html.twig' --> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/navigation/links--inline.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-references-html--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-references-html.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-references-html.html.twig * field--text-long.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-references-html field--type-text-long field--label-above" id="id-field-references-html"> <div class="field__label" id="id-field-references-html">References</div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-references-html"><p>Andrew Gulliford, “<a href="https://www.durangoherald.com/articles/805">Hunger for the Truth: Alferd Packer took to cannibalism in 1874 – was he also a killer</a>?” <em>Durango Herald</em>, February 8, 2009.</p></div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-additional-information-htm--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-additional-information-htm.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-additional-information-htm.html.twig * field--text-long.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-additional-information-htm field--type-text-long field--label-above" id="id-field-additional-information-htm"> <div class="field__label" id="id-field-additional-information-htm">Additional Information</div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-additional-information-htm"><p>James Banks, <em>Alferd Packer’s Wilderness Cookbook </em>(Palmer Lake, CO: Filter Press, 1969).</p><p>Robert Fenwick, <em>Alfred Packer: The True Story of the Man-Eater </em>(N.L.: The Timberline Craftsmen, 1989).</p><p>Harold Schechter, <em>Man-Eater: The Life and Legend of an American Cannibal </em>(New York: Little A, 2015).</p></div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-4th-grade--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-4th-grade.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-4th-grade.html.twig * field--text-with-summary.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-4th-grade field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item" id="id-field-4th-grade"><p>Alferd E. Packer (1842–1909) was a prospector. He became famous after eating his dead comrades while trapped in the San Juan Mountains in February 1874. The group was starving and disoriented. It appears Packer killed another prospector in self-defense. He began gnawing on the corpses of those who had already died. Packer’s story of cannibalism highlights the dangers faced by nearly every nineteenth-century prospector who ventured into the Rocky Mountains. It has become one of the West’s most grisly legends and murder mysteries.</p><h2>Lost in the Wilderness</h2><p>Packer had been part of a band of twenty gold seekers. The group left Utah and split up into two. On February 9, 1874, Al Packer and five other prospectors departed the Ute leader Ouray’s winter camp. They Ignored the chief’s warning and declined his offer to let them stay. Instead, the would-be miners headed into deep snow.</p><p>Al Packer later stated, “Three or four days after our provisions were all consumed, we took our moccasins, which were made of raw hide, and cooked them. . . . Our trail was entirely drifted over. In places, the snow had blown away from patches of wild rose bushes, and we were gathering the buds from these bushes, stewing them and eating them.”</p><p>Packer left Utah with few provisions and no weapons. Nine weeks later he arrived at the Los Piños Indian Agency south of present-day Gunnison with a Winchester rifle, a skinning knife, and a coffee pot containing live coals. Though haggard and worn, he was fit.</p><h2>Escape and Capture</h2><p>Packer played high-stakes poker at Dolan’s saloon. He bought a $70 horse. Another member of the original gold seekers arrived. He questioned where Packer had gotten his spending money. Packer admitted that the small band had starved in the San Juans. The group’s oldest member, Israel Swan, had died from hunger and exposure. Packer had eaten him.</p><p>Packer was jailed in Saguache. He escaped and changed his identity. Packer was then arrested in Wyoming. He was returned to Hinsdale County for trial. The area northeast of Lake City where Packer’s party got lost is listed on maps as “Cannibal Plateau.” The site where the bodies were found five miles beyond town is known as Deadman’s Gulch.</p><p>Packer stated Shannon Bell killed James Humphrey, George Noon, and Frank Miller as they slept around the campfire. Packer had been out searching for food.&nbsp; When he returned to camp a raging Shannon Bell attacked him with a hatchet. Packer shot Bell in self-defense.</p><p>He explained that after killing Bell, “I tried to get away every day, but could not, so I lived on the flesh of these men the greater part of the sixty days I was out. Then the snow began to have a crust and I started out up the creek … .” His lawyer mounted a spirited defense. However, Packer went to prison for seventeen years. The Denver Post eventually petitioned to have him released.</p><p>In prison, Packer made horsehair bridles. One of them is displayed at the Museum of Western Colorado in Grand Junction. He also built elaborate Victorian dollhouses. Alferd Packer died in 1907. He has evolved from Old West infamy to New West celebrity.</p><h2>Later Investigation</h2><p>In the 1950s, a rusted 1862 Colt Police Model .32 five-shot revolver was found on the Cannibal Plateau with two shots missing. Analysis at Mesa State College’s Electron Microscopy Facility proved that bullet fragments taken from the burial site matched lead from the old pistol. They suggested that Packer did shoot Shannon Bell in self-defense. Packer’s pistol is now on display at the Museum of Western Colorado.</p><h2>Legacy</h2><p>Packer’s memory is alive and well in Lake City. “Al Packer Days” and a large wooden marker proclaiming the Alferd Packer Massacre Site are popular attractions. Travel magazines state that the Hinsdale County Museum houses “the largest collection of Packer memorabilia known. Tourists are advised, “Don’t miss the actual burial site, just five minutes from town.”</p><p>In 1968 students at the University of Colorado in Boulder renamed the student union restaurant the Alferd E. Packer Memorial Grill. In 1998 author James E. Bank penned Alferd Packer’s Wilderness Cookbook. In addition, CU film students Matt Stone and Trey Parker, who would later create the hit TV show South Park, produced Cannibal! The Musical in 1993. Like Packer’s companions, the film was short-lived.</p></div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-8th-grade--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-8th-grade.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-8th-grade.html.twig * field--text-with-summary.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-8th-grade field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item" id="id-field-8th-grade"><p>Alferd E. Packer (1842–1909) was a prospector. He became famous after eating his dead comrades while trapped in the San Juan Mountains in February 1874. The group was starving and disoriented. It appears Packer killed another prospector in self-defense. He began gnawing on the corpses of those who had already died. Packer’s story of cannibalism highlights the dangers faced by nearly every nineteenth-century prospector who ventured into the Rocky Mountains. It has become one of the West’s most grisly legends and murder mysteries.</p><h2>Lost in the Wilderness</h2><p>Packer had been part of a band of twenty gold seekers. The group left Utah and split up into two. On February 9, 1874, Al Packer and five other prospectors departed the Ute leader Ouray’s winter camp. They Ignored the chief’s warning and declined his offer to let them stay. Instead, the would-be miners headed into deep snow.</p><p>Al Packer later stated, “Three or four days after our provisions were all consumed, we took our moccasins, which were made of raw hide, and cooked them. . . . Our trail was entirely drifted over. In places, the snow had blown away from patches of wild rose bushes, and we were gathering the buds from these bushes, stewing them and eating them.”</p><p>Packer left Utah with few provisions and no weapons. Nine weeks later he arrived at the Los Piños Indian Agency south of present-day Gunnison with a Winchester rifle, a skinning knife, and a coffee pot containing live coals. Though haggard and worn, he was fit.</p><h2>Escape and Capture</h2><p>Packer played high-stakes poker at Dolan’s saloon. He bought a $70 horse. Another member of the original gold seekers arrived. He questioned where Packer had gotten his spending money. Packer admitted that the small band had starved in the San Juans. The group’s oldest member, Israel Swan, had died from hunger and exposure. Packer had eaten him.</p><p>Jailed in Saguache, Packer escaped, changed his identity, and was arrested in Wyoming before being returned to Hinsdale County for trial. The area northeast of Lake City where Packer’s party got lost is listed on maps as “Cannibal Plateau.” The site where the bodies were found five miles beyond town is known as Deadman’s Gulch.</p><p>After being re-captured, Packer stated that while the group attempted to find the Indian Agency, Shannon Bell killed James Humphrey, George Noon, and Frank Miller as they slept around the campfire. Packer had been out searching for food and when he returned to camp a raging Shannon Bell accosted him with a hatchet. Packer fired twice with a pistol, shooting Bell in self-defense.</p><p>He explained that after killing Bell, “I tried to get away every day, but could not, so I lived on the flesh of these men the greater part of the sixty days I was out. Then the snow began to have a crust and I started out up the creek … .” His lawyer mounted a spirited defense, but Packer went to prison for seventeen years before The Denver Post petitioned to have him released.</p><p>In the penitentiary he made horsehair bridles, one of which is displayed at the Museum of Western Colorado in Grand Junction. He also built elaborate Victorian dollhouses. Alferd Packer died in 1907, but his misspelled name and his unique reputation lives on. He has evolved from Old West infamy to New West celebrity.</p><h2>Later Investigation</h2><p>In the 1950s, a rusted 1862 Colt Police Model .32 five-shot revolver was found on the Cannibal Plateau with two shots missing. Analysis at Mesa State College’s Electron Microscopy Facility proved that bullet fragments exhumed from the burial site matched lead from the old pistol, suggesting that Packer did shoot Shannon Bell in self-defense. Museum curator David Bailey believes that “Alferd didn’t deny he ate the bodies, but he killed only in self-defense. It’s never too late for the truth. He was wrongly convicted.” Packer’s pistol is now on display at the Museum of Western Colorado.</p><h2>Legacy</h2><p>Packer’s memory is alive and well in Lake City, where “Al Packer Days,” the Packer Burger at the Cannibal Grill, and a large wooden historical marker proclaiming the Alferd Packer Massacre Site are popular attractions. Travel magazines state that the Hinsdale County Museum houses “the largest collection of Packer memorabilia known,” “including “skull fragments and clothing buttons from victims, as well as the shackles used when he was imprisoned.” Tourists are advised, “Don’t miss the actual burial site, just five minutes from town.”</p><p>In 1968 students at the University of Colorado in Boulder renamed the student union restaurant the Alferd E. Packer Memorial Grill, and in 1998 author James E. Bank penned Alferd Packer’s Wilderness Cookbook. In addition, CU film students Matt Stone and Trey Parker, who would later create the hit TV show South Park, produced Cannibal! The Musical in 1993. Like Packer’s companions, the film was short-lived.</p></div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-10th-grade--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-10th-grade.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-10th-grade.html.twig * field--text-with-summary.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-10th-grade field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item" id="id-field-10th-grade"><p>Alferd E. Packer (1842–1909) was a prospector who became famous after confessing to eating his dead comrades while trapped in the San Juan Mountains in February 1874. With the group starving and disoriented, it appears likely that Packer killed another prospector in self-defense and then began gnawing on the corpses of those who had already died. Packer’s story of cannibalism highlights the dangers faced by nearly every nineteenth-century prospector who ventured into the Rocky Mountains, and has become one of the West’s most grisly and enduring legends and murder mysteries.</p><h2>Lost in the Wilderness</h2><p>Packer had been part of a larger band of twenty gold seekers who had left Utah and split up into two groups. On February 9, 1874, Al Packer and five other prospectors departed the Ute leader Ouray’s winter camp. Ignoring the chief’s warning and declining his gracious offer to let them stay, the would-be miners foolishly headed into deep snow.</p><p>Al Packer later stated, “Three or four days after our provisions were all consumed, we took our moccasins, which were made of raw hide, and cooked them. . . . Our trail was entirely drifted over. In places, the snow had blown away from patches of wild rose bushes, and we were gathering the buds from these bushes, stewing them and eating them.”</p><p>Packer left Utah with few provisions and no weapons. Nine weeks later he arrived at the Los Piños Indian Agency south of present-day Gunnison with a Winchester rifle, a skinning knife, and a coffee pot containing live coals. Though haggard and worn, he was otherwise fit.</p><h2>Escape and Capture</h2><p>Packer played high-stakes poker at Dolan’s saloon and bought a $70 horse. Another member of the original gold seekers arrived and questioned where Packer had gotten his spending money. Packer reluctantly admitted that the small band had starved in the San Juans, that the group’s oldest member, Israel Swan, had died from hunger and exposure, and that Packer had eaten him.</p><p>Jailed in Saguache, Packer escaped, changed his identity, and was arrested in Wyoming before being returned to Hinsdale County for trial. The area northeast of Lake City where Packer’s party got lost is listed on maps as “Cannibal Plateau.” The site where the bodies were found five miles beyond town is known as Deadman’s Gulch.</p><p>After being re-captured, Packer stated that while the group attempted to find the Indian Agency, Shannon Bell killed James Humphrey, George Noon, and Frank Miller as they slept around the campfire. Packer had been out searching for food and when he returned to camp a raging Shannon Bell accosted him with a hatchet. Packer fired twice with a pistol, shooting Bell in self-defense.</p><p>He explained that after killing Bell, “I tried to get away every day, but could not, so I lived on the flesh of these men the greater part of the sixty days I was out. Then the snow began to have a crust and I started out up the creek … .” His lawyer mounted a spirited defense, but Packer went to prison for seventeen years before The Denver Post petitioned to have him released.</p><p>In the penitentiary he made horsehair bridles, one of which is displayed at the Museum of Western Colorado in Grand Junction. He also built elaborate Victorian dollhouses. Alferd Packer died in 1907, but his misspelled name and his unique reputation lives on. He has evolved from Old West infamy to New West celebrity.</p><h2>Later Investigation</h2><p>In the 1950s, a rusted 1862 Colt Police Model .32 five-shot revolver was found on the Cannibal Plateau with two shots missing. Analysis at Mesa State College’s Electron Microscopy Facility proved that bullet fragments exhumed from the burial site matched lead from the old pistol, suggesting that Packer did shoot Shannon Bell in self-defense. Museum curator David Bailey believes that “Alferd didn’t deny he ate the bodies, but he killed only in self-defense. It’s never too late for the truth. He was wrongly convicted.” Packer’s pistol is now on display at the Museum of Western Colorado.</p><h2>Legacy</h2><p>Packer’s memory is alive and well in Lake City, where “Al Packer Days,” the Packer Burger at the Cannibal Grill, and a large wooden historical marker proclaiming the Alferd Packer Massacre Site are popular attractions. Travel magazines state that the Hinsdale County Museum houses “the largest collection of Packer memorabilia known,” “including “skull fragments and clothing buttons from victims, as well as the shackles used when he was imprisoned.” Tourists are advised, “Don’t miss the actual burial site, just five minutes from town.”</p><p>In 1968 students at the University of Colorado in Boulder renamed the student union restaurant the Alferd E. Packer Memorial Grill, and in 1998 author James E. Bank penned Alferd Packer’s Wilderness Cookbook. In addition, CU film students Matt Stone and Trey Parker, who would later create the hit TV show South Park, produced Cannibal! The Musical in 1993. Like Packer’s companions, the film was short-lived.</p></div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> Tue, 03 Sep 2019 21:23:16 +0000 yongli 3077 at http://coloradoencyclopedia.org Empire Chief Mine and Mill http://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/empire-chief-mine-and-mill <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--title--encyclopedia-article.html.twig x field--node--title.html.twig * field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--title.html.twig * field--string.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--title.html.twig' --> <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Empire Chief Mine and Mill</span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--title.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--uid--encyclopedia-article.html.twig x field--node--uid.html.twig * field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--uid.html.twig * field--entity-reference.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--uid.html.twig' --> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'username' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/user/username.html.twig' --> <span lang="" about="/users/yongli" typeof="schema:Person" property="schema:name" datatype="">yongli</span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/user/username.html.twig' --> </span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--uid.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--created--encyclopedia-article.html.twig x field--node--created.html.twig * field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--created.html.twig * field--created.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--created.html.twig' --> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'time' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/time.html.twig' --> <time datetime="2017-05-17T15:18:38-06:00" title="Wednesday, May 17, 2017 - 15:18" class="datetime">Wed, 05/17/2017 - 15:18</time> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/time.html.twig' --> </span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--created.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'addtoany_standard' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * addtoany-standard--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * addtoany-standard--node.html.twig x addtoany-standard.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'modules/contrib/addtoany/templates/addtoany-standard.html.twig' --> <span class="a2a_kit a2a_kit_size_32 addtoany_list" data-a2a-url="http://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/empire-chief-mine-and-mill" data-a2a-title="Empire Chief Mine and Mill"><a class="a2a_dd addtoany_share" href="https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=http%3A%2F%2Fcoloradoencyclopedia.org%2Farticle%2Fempire-chief-mine-and-mill&amp;title=Empire%20Chief%20Mine%20and%20Mill"></a><a class="a2a_button_facebook"></a><a class="a2a_button_twitter"></a><a class="a2a_button_email"></a></span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'modules/contrib/addtoany/templates/addtoany-standard.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--body--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--body.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--body.html.twig * field--text-with-summary.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item" id="id-body"><p>The Empire Chief Mine and Mill site is an abandoned nineteenth-century metal mining complex in <a href="/article/hinsdale-county">Hinsdale County</a>, located several miles west of <a href="/article/lake-city-0"><strong>Lake City</strong> </a>on the southern slope of Sheep Mountain (83 Sunny Ave, Empire, CO 80438). The mine was established in 1885 after the discovery of the Bonanza Lode, a deposit of gold, silver, copper, and lead. Plagued by bad owners, bad timing, and just plain bad luck, the mining complex had only a few good years of production between 1901 and 1930, when it closed. It is representative of many mining operations in Colorado that held great promise and repeatedly attracted interest and investment, only to sputter and close time after time.</p> <p>Because of its contributions to mining history in the <a href="/article/san-juan-mountains">San Juan Mountains</a>, the Empire Chief site was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1999. Today remnants of the complex’s 150-ton flotation mill, mine tunnel, and many associated structures still stand on the steep slopes of Sheep Mountain.</p> <h2>Establishment</h2> <p>The Empire Mine and Mill complex was built during the late nineteenth-century mining boom in the San Juan Mountains. Prospectors had visited and set up mining camps in the region as early as 1860, but <a href="/search/google/ute">Utes</a> and harsh winters drove them away. They returned in the early 1870s and made more significant discoveries, but large-scale mining would not occur until after 1873, when the region’s Ute population was removed under the <a href="/article/brunot-agreement">Brunot Agreement</a>.</p> <p>On August 27, 1871, prospectors Harry Henson, Joel Mullen, Albert Meade, and Charles Godwin discovered the <strong>Ute Ulay</strong> vein five miles above the mouth of Henson Creek. Because of the Ute presence, they could not safely develop the vein at the time, but they returned in 1874 and established the first mining claim in what soon became Hinsdale County. <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/otto-mears"><strong>Otto Mears</strong></a> had a toll road built through the area, and the town of Lake City was incorporated the following year. For the next decade, metal mining—especially silver—drove a booming Hinsdale County economy.</p> <p>The Bonanza Lode was discovered in 1885, but the mine disappears from the historical record until 1901, when the Henson Creek Lead Mines Company owned it. By that time, the mine employed four miners (paid $3.50 per eight-hour shift), a tram operator (paid $3.00 per shift), and a supervisor (paid $5.00 per shift). The miners extracted gold, silver, and copper ore valued at $18–20 per ton.</p> <h2>Ownership Issues</h2> <p>Sometime between 1901 and 1903, a forty-by-eighty-foot mill was built near the mine to crush raw ore and extract metal. Despite the addition of several new mining claims, development was slow. In 1904 the Hinsdale Tunnel and Reduction Company bought the complex but had solvency issues, as it had to pay a large sum of back wages to a night watchman and lost a lawsuit filed by another company in 1905. Later that year a group of Boston investors contributed $40,000 each toward the development of the company’s mine properties and payment of its debts. In 1906 the mine’s payroll expanded to six miners and the drifts—underground tunnels that follow a vein of ore—were extended to 3,725 feet. In addition to gold and silver, the mine began producing zinc ore.</p> <p>Structures added to the complex during this time included a two-story log boarding house, an office building, a blacksmith shop, and a powerhouse on Henson Creek that used a waterwheel to generate electricity for the mine and its buildings. However, even with new capital and new buildings, the complex was still subject to the ebb and flow of Colorado’s fickle mining industry—production dropped precipitously in 1907, and the mine went dormant.</p> <p>After failing to keep the mine afloat from 1907–9, the Hinsdale Tunnel and Reduction Company finally had to sell the Empire Chief properties to H. A. Avery in 1910. Avery owned the property until his death in 1925 but did little with it. Upon his death, Avery’s widow, Mary, sold the mine to R.E.L. Townsend, who incorporated the Empire Chief Mining Company, giving the complex its current name.</p> <h2>Empire Chief Era</h2> <p>The Empire Chief Mining Company was in considerably better financial shape than any of the mine’s previous owners, and it immediately set to work repairing the complex and preparing the mine shafts for reopening. Mining processes and technology had changed significantly since the mine last produced anything of note, and the company’s improvements reflected those changes.</p> <p>Nowhere was this more evident than in the company’s new mill, built in 1928–29. The mill used the new flotation method of mineral extraction, in which loads of poor- or medium-quality ore were crushed and dumped into a solution of water and chemical agents that encouraged the minerals to separate from the waste rock, attach to air bubbles, and rise to the surface in a froth that was then skimmed off. This method, developed in Australia around 1905, allowed for the profitable extraction of lower-quality ores at a time when most of the world’s higher-quality ores had been mined out.</p> <p>By early 1929, with a new flotation mill, electric lighting and telephone connections in all its tunnels and buildings, new ventilation infrastructure, and a stable supply of capital for support, the Empire Chief Mine and Mill were finally ready to begin producing again.</p> <p>Alas, the complex’s long-awaited reopening was again delayed, this time by tragedy. In March, a devastating <a href="/article/avalanche"><strong>avalanche</strong></a> buried two bunkhouses and the complex’s office building. Six miners were killed in the slide, which remains the deadliest avalanche in Hinsdale County history. Luckily for the Empire Chief, the avalanche spared the new mill, and the mine only had to endure one more setback—a nearby hydroelectric plant was temporarily dormant—until production finally began later in 1929.</p> <h2>Closure and Sale</h2> <p>However—and perhaps predictably—even the revamped Empire Chief Mine did not produce at a sustainable rate. The complex brought in just $3,078 in ore sales in 1929 against the $10,000 the company had spent on improvements over the previous few years. Then came the stock market crash of that year, which plunged the nation into the <strong>Great Depression</strong>. Amid coal shortages, payroll turmoil, and tumbling investments nationwide, the Empire Chief Mine and Mill were shut down permanently in 1930.</p> <p>After its closure, the Empire Chief complex passed through a series of owners from the 1930s through the 1970s until Vickers Enterprises eventually acquired it in 1977. The company obtained the property by paying only $484.45 in back taxes.</p> <h2>Today</h2> <p>Today the Empire Chief complex is accessible via a rough gravel road leading west from Lake City along Henson Creek. Remaining structures include the flotation mill building, powerhouse, tram, pipeline, water tank, and other ancillary structures. The mill building, the tallest and most prominent structure at the site, is visibly dilapidated, with holes punched in the walls and roof and timber debris littered around its base.</p> <p>In 2000 the <strong>State Historical Fund</strong> awarded the Hinsdale County Historical Society a $105,473 grant to improve various historical structures throughout the county; in 2001 some of that money went toward the stabilization of the Empire Chief’s mill building, as it was near collapse. Since then, no other preservation work has been performed at the site.</p> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-author--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-author.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-author.html.twig * field--entity-reference.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-author field--type-entity-reference field--label-above" id="id-field-author"> <div class="field__label" id="id-field-author">Author</div> <div class='field__items'> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-author"><a href="/author/encyclopedia-staff" hreflang="und">Encyclopedia Staff</a></div> </div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-keyword--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-keyword.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-keyword.html.twig * field--entity-reference.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-keyword field--type-entity-reference field--label-above" id="id-field-keyword"> <div class="field__label" id="id-field-keyword">Keywords</div> <div class='field__items'> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/empire-chief-mine-and-mill" hreflang="en">empire chief mine and mill</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/empire-chief-mine" hreflang="en">empire chief mine</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/lake-city-history" hreflang="en">lake city history</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/lake-city" hreflang="en">Lake City</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/hinsdale-county" hreflang="en">hinsdale county</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/hinsdale-county-history" hreflang="en">hinsdale county history</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/san-juan-mountains" hreflang="en">San Juan Mountains</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/flotation-mill" hreflang="en">flotation mill</a></div> </div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'links__node' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * links--node.html.twig x links--inline.html.twig * links--node.html.twig * links.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/navigation/links--inline.html.twig' --> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/navigation/links--inline.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-references-html--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-references-html.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-references-html.html.twig * field--text-long.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-references-html field--type-text-long field--label-above" id="id-field-references-html"> <div class="field__label" id="id-field-references-html">References</div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-references-html"><p>Dawn Bunyak, “<a href="http://www.mininghistoryassociation.org/Journal/MHJ-v7-2000-Bunyak.pdf">To Float or Sink: A Brief History of Flotation Milling</a>,” <em>Mining History </em>7 (2000).</p> <p>Julie Coleman-Fike, “Empire Chief Mine and Mill,” National Register of Historic Places Nomination Form (1999).</p> <p>Carl E. Conner, “<a href="https://www.historycolorado.org/sites/default/files/files/OAHP/crforms_edumat/pdfs/631.pdf" title=" (external link)">Hinsdale County Metal Mining</a>,” National Register of Historic Places Multiple Property Documentation Form (1999).</p> </div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-additional-information-htm--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-additional-information-htm.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-additional-information-htm.html.twig * field--text-long.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-additional-information-htm field--type-text-long field--label-above" id="id-field-additional-information-htm"> <div class="field__label" id="id-field-additional-information-htm">Additional Information</div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-additional-information-htm"><p>Duane Smith, <em>Song of the Hammer and Drill: The Colorado San Juans, 1860–1914 </em>(Golden: Colorado School of Mines Press, 1982).</p> </div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> Wed, 17 May 2017 21:18:38 +0000 yongli 2577 at http://coloradoencyclopedia.org