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 138
... winter snows began to collect on the mountainside , Gassy had an original idea which , if carried out , would save him and his partner lots of work . Instead of pushing the tunnel through hard quartz rock he suggested building the ...
... winter snows began to collect on the mountainside , Gassy had an original idea which , if carried out , would save him and his partner lots of work . Instead of pushing the tunnel through hard quartz rock he suggested building the ...
Page 209
... winter without coming out . Once a week some fool miner would slide down to Pittsburgh on snowshoes at the risk of his life to get the mail . Sometimes he didn't make it . " It was snow more than anything else that crippled the ...
... winter without coming out . Once a week some fool miner would slide down to Pittsburgh on snowshoes at the risk of his life to get the mail . Sometimes he didn't make it . " It was snow more than anything else that crippled the ...
Page 376
... winter is gained by going down an opening in the snow like a ground - hog . The track from the mouth of the tunnel to the waste dump is covered by a shed . Every winter , for from two to four months , the only air which penetrates the ...
... winter is gained by going down an opening in the snow like a ground - hog . The track from the mouth of the tunnel to the waste dump is covered by a shed . Every winter , for from two to four months , the only air which penetrates 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