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Gold/Mining/Energy : Gold Price Monitor -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: goldsnow who wrote (37307)	7/18/1999 7:44:00 PM
From: long-gone	Respond to of 116764

Where history meets today's gold price or "what they do with those mines now". A must read for all: Hard-rock tours capture history By Claire Walter Special to The Denver Post Visit www.claire-walter.com for more info July 18 - The history of the West in general and Colorado in particular is intertwined with mining. Gold fever, the seductiveness of silver and industrializing 19th-century America's hunger for zinc, copper, molybdenum and other minerals resulted in the exploration and exploitation of remote and rugged mountain areas. The earth was tunneled, drilled, churned, blasted, dug and hosed with water cannons. In the 140 years since gold was discovered in Colorado, fortunes were made and lost, mining camps mushroomed and wilted and railroads were built and abandoned. Miners employed stunning ingenuity and energy to extract minerals from hard rock. Mine hoists, headframes, tailings, rail routes and ghost towns dot the landscape. Even if you've driven or hiked past these relics, your understanding of the mines and the men who created them will be enhanced by a tour. You'll see the workings, learn something of miners' lives and increase your vocabulary. Tommyknockers, for example, were the elves that superstitious miners blamed for such mischief as blown-out lights and rockslides, while jackwack were workers who hammered spikes into rock walls to make holes for dynamite sticks. Don't even think about entering an abandoned mine tunnel or shaft. Most are sealed and also private property, but the illegality pales beside the danger of fooling around in a longabandoned mine. The only sane way to explore is on a tour of a stabilized and lighted mine, state-inspected for safety. A handful are being prospected or worked on a limited basis, but with the low price of gold and silver, large-scale mining is not economically feasible in Colorado. That means your tour guide may be a certified miner who really knows his stuff. Such a tour fits nicely into a road trip, is an excellent excursion with out-oftown guests and makes a nice family outing from the Front Range. Some sites also offer gold panning, others are open year-round, but summer is prime time to visit. Even on the hottest days, it's always cool underground.(cont) denverpost.com a good picture and some other links for local travel denverpost.com