The Mining community of the Gunnison Valley

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The Mining community of the Gunnison Valley

• A Community of tough people

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A brief History of Mining in the Gunnison Valley

• Mining was not an easy occupation in the
  Gunnison Valley due to the rough landscape (high
  mountains) and long cold winters. Despite these
  hardships, people came into the valley with hopes
  of striking it rich. Some did and some did not
  but the overall effect was long lasting on the
  Valley. Even today evidence of the mining
  community still dots the mountains of the upper
  Gunnison Valley.

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Why did the mining community come to the Gunnison
Valley?

• The mining community came in search of gold and
  silver. Starting in the early 1860s miners came
  into the valley with hopes of finding gold and
  silver. But because of the mountains and the
  location of the Gunnison Valley early miners
  found it hard to strike it rich. The Following
  quote demonstrates this idea.

• I am very sorry to see such excitement and so
  many people flocking to our mining regions- some
  with barley enough money to pay their way to
  their places of destination for many must be
  disappointed, and there may be still more suffer
  from want but it said, and we are having the
  fact illustrated, that there is nothing more
  captivating to the imagination. Denver Tribune
  June 2, 1879

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Early mining in the Gunnison Valley

• The first miners in the valley were in search of
  gold and were called placer miners or hard
  rock miners. Hard rock mining was the reason
  people came to the valley but not the reason they
  stayed. The gold and silver people found was
  short lived. Towns that were built around hard
  rock mining were called boom towns because they
  seemed to grow over night and die over night when
  silver could know longer be found. Examples of
  boom towns include, Ruby-Irwin, Elkton,
  Pittsburgh, and Cloud City. These towns were
  located in the upper Gunnison Valley north of
  present day Crested Butte.
• In 1893 the government stopped using silver in
  the production of money. This caused the demand
  for silver to drop, thus causing the end of the
  Great silver panic.
• As Gold and silver became hard to find in area,
  coal was discovered in the area. The only
  problems with coal was the high cost to ship it
  out of the valley.
• By November 24, 1881 the rail road finally
  reached Crested Butte and made it possible for
  coal to be shipped out of the Valley for a profit
  and to provide energy for people in and out of
  the valley.
• By 1885 coal became the major mining product of
  the Gunnison Valley.

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As coal became King

• As levels of hard rock mining decreased the
  amount of coal mining increased. New towns were
  established around large deposits of coal. Most
  of these towns went the way of the silver and
  gold boom towns and disappeared as the deposits
  of coal were removed. The town of Crested Butte
  began as a supply town for the hard rock mining
  towns to the north but coal was soon discovered
  in and around town. The town grew quickly with
  the arrival of the Denver Rio Grand railroad
  in 1881. Because of the railroad large amounts of
  coal were shipped out of the valley and provided
  money for the Gunnison Valley. The coal industry
  lasted until 1952 when the price of coal dropped
  and mining it became to expensive.

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How much money did the miners make?

• In 1862 over one million dollars worth of gold
  was said to have been taken from the valley
• In 1879 mines in the Ruby-Irwin boomtown where
  selling for as much as 100,000 dollars.
• Coal miners wages were between 1.00 to 4.50 a
  day.

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This picture is an example of hard rock miners in
the late 1800s
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Reasons why mining was hard in the Gunnison Valley

• Getting themselves and equipment into the
  Gunnison Valley
• The mountains of the Gunnison Valley and its
  location on the western slope of the Colorado
  Rockies made it hard for people to get to the
  area.
• Location and environment
• The elevation of the Gunnison Valley ranges from
  8000 to 14,000 feet. The high elevation causes
  the winters to be long and harsh.
• The winter weather of the Gunnison Valley is long
  and harsh. Subzero temperatures and deep snow and
  kept miners out of the mountains until the summer
  month.
• The actual location of the mines in the mountains
  made them easy targets for destruction from large
  avalanches.
• The Ute Indians lived in the area and were
  considered hostile.

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Example of a high mining camp
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How the Mining Community lived in the Gunnison
Valley

• Because the minerals that the miners were after
  were located high in the mountains the life of a
  miner was not easy. They had to set up camp in
  very high locations. The famous boom town of
  Ruby-Irwin was located at an elevation that is
  above 10,000 feet and experiences very harsh
  winters with large amounts of snow.
• Getting equipment to this upper elevations was
  not an easy task. Deep snow kept miners from
  reaching the boom towns until the middle summer
  months. Because of this miners would ski into
  these areas with as much as 100 pounds on their
  backs. Avalanches were a terrible hazard to the
  miners because of the location of their towns.
  Near the boom town of Pittsburgh located north of
  present day Crested Butte avalanches would
  regularly destroy the town and became the reason
  the mine was deserted by 1896.

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How the Mining Community lived in the Gunnison
Valley

• Hard rock miners worked on there own for the most
  part and the money they made was dependant on the
  amount of ore (silver) they could find.
• During the age of coal miners worked for a coal
  mining company. The Colorado Coal and Iron
  Company ran the coal mining operations in the
  area of present day Crested Butte. Miners were
  paid between 1.00 to 4.50 a day to work in the
  mines.
• The work days were long and hard and dangerous.
  A lot of the work was done by hand, which means
  that miners used their bodies to do the work
  instead of relying on machinery.

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The dangers of coal mining

• Coal mining was a dangerous job. Miners dug
  shafts into the earth in search of coal.
  Sometimes the mine shafts collapsed crushing the
  miners that were inside them.
• Other times mines had explosions in side them
  caused by the release of natural gas that is in
  the ground.
• On such disaster occurred on January 24, 1884 in
  the Jokerville mine out side of present day
  Crested Butte. 54 Crested Butte miners were
  killed when natural gas was released from the
  coal beds and exploded.
• Avalanches and cold weather were always a danger
  to the miners in the Gunnison Valley.

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Why the Mining Community is not in the Gunnison
Valley any more.

• Hard rock mining ended by the early 1900s
  because minerals became hard to find and
  because the demand for silver had declined.
• Coal mining ended by 1952 because of its distance
  from Pueblo Colorado were the coal mills were
  located and because coal was discovered in areas
  that were less remote and closer to the mills.
• In 1952 with the end of coal mining, the Denver
  and Rio Grand railroad pulled there railroad out
  of the valley.

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Contributions the mining community has had on the
Gunnison valley.

• Mining is what first brought people to the
  Valley.
• If gold and silver would not have been found
  in the 1850s, the large amounts of people that
  came to the valley would not have come.
• The railroads
• Because of the need to transport large loads
  of gold, silver and coal, the railroad was
  brought into the valley which in turn brought
  more people.
• Ranching
• Because people of the mining community
  needed to eat, cattle ranchers began to thrive by
  raising cattle to feed the miners.

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Contributions the mining community has had on the
Gunnison valley

• Roads
• The mining community built roads all over the
  Gunnison Valley. Many of these roads still exist
  and are used by all of us. The United States
  Forest service has kept the condition of many of
  these roads up so they can be used by us to drive
  into the high country. Roads like Washington
  Gulch, Slate River, Scholfield Pass, Paradise
  Divide, and many more are all here today because
  of the mining community.
• Pollution and environmental destruction
• The mining community cut down large amounts
  of trees to build their houses and for roads.
  They dug large mines all over the mountains that
  are still present today in the form of old
  abandon mining structures. These areas are
  littered with old trash and machinery. Mining
  itself produces mine tailings that can get into
  the water and can be harmful when consumed by
  humans.