Stampede to Timberline: The Ghost Towns and Mining Camps of ColoradoThis book includes the story of 240 of Colorado's mining camps, with emphasis on the human side. The men who swarmed to the mountains to find precious metal came in successive waves from the late 1850s on, combing the gulches, scrambling over the passes and climbing the peaks. Their story is full of adventurous chances, lucky strikes, boom conditions, reckless spending, banditry, claim jumping, railroad wars and labor troubles. The author searched the Colorado Rockies from the time she saw and sketched her first ghost town until she had rediscovered and painted the vanishing mining camps. Twenty-two maps give the location of each one and serve as a guide for those who want to reach them by car or jeep, by horseback or on foot. The hardships of the early prospectors, the strikes they made, the gold and silver mines they uncovered, the towns they established, and the rise and fall of their fortunes are vividly recorded. Names and dates are given of the earliest finds, of the most important mines and the money they made, of the newspapers printed, and of the hotels, churches and theaters erected. The difficult supply routes into the rocky fastnesses are also clearly traced. But all these facts are humanized by an author who is an artist rather than a historian, and to whom all this mining in the Colorado Rockies is essentially the story of heroic pioneer effort-the men and women behind the deeds. The book contains 212 separate sketches made by the artist-author on the spot at the oftentimes remote and completely deserted mining camps. These pictures, as well as her 1200 other lithographic sketches of Colorado towns, form an invaluable record of places which are rapidly disappearing under the ravages of fire, wind and snow. |
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Page 126
... side could be reached by auto road and I could then look up at Argentine Pass and see its summit from the western side . We were now over 12,600 feet , the trail was rough and every step was an effort . I decided therefore to go on to ...
... side could be reached by auto road and I could then look up at Argentine Pass and see its summit from the western side . We were now over 12,600 feet , the trail was rough and every step was an effort . I decided therefore to go on to ...
Page 364
... side , his weight splintering and cracking the logs with each step . That left me no choice - I had to take the other side , even though it had more holes in it through which I could see the raging creek twenty feet below . I jumped ...
... side , his weight splintering and cracking the logs with each step . That left me no choice - I had to take the other side , even though it had more holes in it through which I could see the raging creek twenty feet below . I jumped ...
Page 514
... side of the gulch road . Some of the cabins were in good repair , but others were caved in ; and one , whose walls had fallen outwards like the sides of a water - soaked box , was full of empty medicine bottles . This must have been the ...
... side of the gulch road . Some of the cabins were in good repair , but others were caved in ; and one , whose walls had fallen outwards like the sides of a water - soaked box , was full of empty medicine bottles . This must have been the ...
Contents
Gold in the Hills | 1 |
Central City Starts a Hobby | 2 |
Leadville the Cloud City of the Rockies | 3 |
Copyright | |
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asked Aspen became began boom brought buildings built cabins called camp carried church City claims Cliff climbed close Colorado completely continued Creek crossed developed discovered district drive drove early feet fire Forks four gold gulch half highway hill horses hundred Lake later lead Leadville leaving lived located looked miles mill miners mines morning mountain never night once opened Park Pass peaks population produced prospectors railroad range reached returned River road rock saloons shaft showed side silver Silver Cliff Silverton sketch smelter snow soon spring standing started stood stopped stream street summer told took town trail train trees trip tunnel turned valley wagon winter