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Gold was
discovered in Colorado in 1859, and drew over
100,000 men and women to the state in hope of
finding their fortune. These became the gold rush
days of Colorado; the days of the instant
millionaire, like Horace and Baby Doe Tabor,
Colorado’s Glory Days.
The earliest gold
deposits found were the placer deposits in the
gravels along the streams. Gold was mixed among the
stream alluvium and in some cases could be literally
picked from the streambed. At first, the gold was
washed from the gravels by using a shallow gold pan.
Later, the sections of streams that yielded gold
from panning were staked as placer claims under the
Mining Law of 1872. To wash larger amounts of gravel
and find more gold, water was diverted from the
stream for use with sluice boxes. Large amounts of
gravel were put into the upper end of the sluice box
and water washed the gravels down the sluice box
back into the stream. As in the smaller gold pan,
the heaver gold settled out of the gravels into the
bottom of the sluice box along boards on the bottom
called riffles. Many of these placer deposits played
out quickly.
Later, minerals
like lead, zinc and silver, as well as gold, were
discovered in mineralized outcrops, ledges and small
surface veins in the higher peaks of the Colorado
Rocky Mountains. These mineral outcrops were often
the source of the downstream placer deposits, and
when the miners found this out, the race to find the
mother-lode was on. With each discovery, boom towns
like Central City, Georgetown, Leadville, Cripple
Creek, Chihuahua and Telluride sprang up overnight.
Populations swelled and then rapidly fell as the
veins were found and then played out.
Small mines and
prospect holes dot almost every high peak in
Colorado. Each one is the result of the dream of
finding wealth under the ground. The work was often
brutal and back breaking. Many were at high
elevation, where the weather was both cold and snowy
much of the year. John L. Jerome Hart notes in his
1931 booklet entitled Fourteen Thousand Feet, A
History of the Naming and Early Ascents of the High
Colorado Peaks;
“Miners will
go to any place where they think they will find
ore; A fact which is shown by the finding of
prospect holes on almost every mountain in the
state.”
Many of these
small workings and prospects were not accessible by
road. Developed before automobiles, the miners used
horses, mules or walked to their claims. Because of
the transportation difficulty, they spent a lot of
lonely hours at a small cabin or tent near their
mines. Some of the more productive mines had the
money to upgrade the transportation to allow wagons
to access the mine and haul the valuable ore to a
mill or smelter.
Despite the
difficult working and living conditions at many of
these small mines and prospects in the high peaks,
the beauty was often spectacular. Shaped by wind,
water or glaciers, these high mountain basins were
very rocky, steep and rugged. The gray granite
slopes are resplendent with red and yellow streaks
indicating the presence of valuable minerals below
the surface. The high mountain peaks shine in the
sun under a clear blue sky. The air was crisp and
clean and the silence was deafening. Many of these
prospects were located above timberline or on very
steep, rocky slopes and the views were incredible.
In the spring, summer and fall, the high mountain
meadows were alive with the color of mountain
flowers like the Colorado columbine, Indian
paintbrush and primrose.
As a geologist and
mining engineer, my dad came to Colorado after World
War II. Looking for mining opportunities, he and a
partner discovered one of the many small mines in
the Rocky Mountains which was discovered in the
1880’s. This small mine was located at 12,000 feet
in a small, glaciated mountain basin near the
Continental Divide. The first year, Dad and his
partner walked into the mine, just like many of the
prospectors of Colorado’s gold rush days. They
wanted to make sure the ore values were as described
by earlier reports prior to spending limited capitol
resources on rebuilding the old wagon road. Once
they reopened the old workings, they found a very
rich vein of lead, zinc and silver and rebuilt the
original wagon road so trucks could haul the ore to
smelters in Leadville or Denver. Reopening the mine,
Dad and his partner worked the Orphan Boy for 4
years amid some of the most spectacular scenery in
the world.
My family and I
visit this mine during the summer or fall each year.
It is a way of reconnecting with a past generation
as well as being an excellent day trip into the
Colorado mountains. Looking out from the dump of the
Orphan Boy, a camera just does not reflect the true
beauty I see with my eyes and my soul.
I worked with my
dad for over 20 years, and we visited the Orphan Boy
numerous times. Our discussions about his days
working at the mine conveyed his true love of
mining. He visited most of the small prospects and
mines in the area because of his fascination with
mining. Dad loved life and the Colorado mountains,
and like many before him, felt at peace in them. My
dad and his partner, while working the Orphan Boy
mine, were able to experience some of the same
feelings, emotions and joys the first miners did who
came to Colorado during Colorado’s Glory Days.
H. Court Young, Geologist,
author and publisher
©February, 2007, The Orphan Boy, A Love Affair
with Mining
http://www.orphanboymine.com |
The
Orphan Boy mine was started in Colorado's glory days. It was reopened in
1948 by one man, Herbert T. Young, who had a passion for mining. He was
a member of the "greatest generation."