Hiking in Creede

Creede was established in a small opening amid rugged and beautiful rocky hills.

At the far end of the town, the opening in the rocks that you see below lead into a canyon cut by a stream. Caves were cut into the rock walls in the miners' hunt for silver ore.  Today those caves house the community center and meeting rooms.

We walked through the narrow part of the canyon where the caves are found and it opened into more beautiful views.

After a short walk we came to evidence of mining and a mill to process the ore.

This is the small stream flowing through the canyon.  To the left above the stream you can see the supporting structure for a rail line to bring the processed ore out of the canyon.

Here are more of the mining structures and what I think are called slag piles from all the rock brought our in the mining operation.

We had hiked up the canyon on a previous visit and it was good to see and appreciate these mountains and their history again.

Flowers in Silverton

Wednesday, we drove over the Million Dollar Highway from Ouray to Silverton.  The road is called by that name because of the cost paid to bill it.  Today, it also refers to the views.  I will show some of those views in another post.

Silverton is an old silver mining camp located an an elevation of 9,307 ft.  It was founded in 1885. 

We again saw flowers in a walk around Silverton.  I thought this wagon  was creative.

Look at all this different colors.

We saw a window box on the second story of this old building.  Very pretty, from inside and out.

More lupine and daisies.

The blue columbine is Colorado's state flower and we see them often.

I had never seen white columbine before.

On Our Way South

We have headed south into New Mexico. On the way we drove over two mountain passes, Monarch and Raton. After having our truck repaired at the Chevy dealer in Gunnison, we drove over 11,312 ft Monarch pass. We are grateful for our diesel truck which handles the grade just fine. Here is the summit of the pass.

The scenery is wonderful.

Last year we when we left Colorado we drove the Million Dollar Highway from Ouray to Durango. We were nearly 2 weeks earlier this year an on a different pass and this is about the only fall color we saw.

Compare that to what we saw last year.

Near the top of Monarch we saw some mining activity. Some internet searching showing they are mining for gray limestone, used as flux in the iron ore smelting in Pueblo at what used to be called CF&I.

We spent some time in Canon City after our drive over Monarch, visiting John's sister who is in a nursing home there. Then we drove to Raton, New Mexico, where we are spending a few days at the NRA Whittington Center campground. Our trip took us over Raton Pass, only 7834 ft high. On this pass we saw some interesting warning signs:

Across the country we've seen a lot of crossing warnings about deer, tractors and horses and even Amish horse and buggies. But bear and elk crossing signs are unusual.

Born Too Early

We were born too early for this town.  Or decades too late.  Last week we drove to Telluride, a mining town turned tourist destination not too far from Ridgway State Park.  The town today hosts skiiers, avid mountain bikers and young families.  And dogs, lots to dogs.  We were there on a Saturday and walking down the sidewalk could be hazardous, dodging young children, bikes and dogs.  We thought it would be better to visit during the week, rather than on the weekend before Labor Day.

We were born long after the heyday of silver mining in Telluride.  Mining began here in 1880 and since then 350 miles of tunnels have been dug through the mountains, enough to reach from San Francisco to Los Angeles.  Billions of dollars of silver, gold, copper, lead and zinc have been taken from these mountains and mining continues today.

The drive to Telluride provides spectacular views of the Colorado Rockies.  This is one of the reasons we came to Colorado every summer.

Many of the old buildings in town have been restored and repurposed.  This is the New Sheridan Hotel, now housing a restaurant.  I have a phone app called History Here and as we approached Telluride, I received a text telling me the New Sheridan Hotel was 5 miles away.  At first I thought it meant a new hotel, but no.

This is the San Miguel County Courthouse.  Very impressive.

Hanging baskets are seen in most mountain tourist towns.  These are especially lush.

Telluride is nestled in a narrow mountain valley and the ski area provides a backdrop on one side of town.  Talk about ski in and ski out from your hotel.

We often see a left turn lane in the center of a two-way road.  But in this town, flower containers black the end of each block’s yellow-striped center lane.  In the next block you can see one of those signs that read “your speed is…..”  These lanes also allow 10-minute parking by permit only.  I imagine shop owners get those permits so they can bring in merchandise.  UPS and FedEx may also use them.  Much better than double-parking for deliveries.

There is another cute mountain town nearby, Ouray.  If we go there it will be mid-week, not Saturday or Sunday.

Mines and Thomas Edison

I've been around mines and mining towns all my life. My earliest memory, from the age of 2 or 3, is  taking a bath in the kitchen sink of my grandmother's apartment in Victor, Colorado. My mother was raised in Victor and nearby Goldfield and my grandfather was a gold miner there. About once a year my mother and I would visit my grandmother there until 1949 when she moved to Denver near where we lived. The image of mine headframes was fixed in my memory.

Butte, Montana, is also a mining town. Whereas Victor is nearly a ghost town--except for the casinos--Butte is a well preserved, clean, attractive city filled with evidence of the mining history.

Between 1864 and 1875 placer mining or gold panning was used to collect gold. By 1875 that ore was exhausted but before the town was abandoned, silver was discovered and the underground mining period began. They brought up not only silver but also copper, lead, zinc and manganese. Underground mining is very dangerous and one mine fire led to the deaths of 168 miners. In 1955 they began open pit mining of copper.

The Berkeley Pit mine is still in limited operation.

We didn't get a good photo of the huge open pit, but here is a link to a photo I found on the internet.


We were able to get a good view of the water that has accumulated in the pit. It is a very pretty view but the water is terrible polluted. Efforts are being made to treat and clean the water.

So, what has Thomas Edison got to do with all this?  As you know, he developed the electric light bulb and he found that copper makes excellent wire to conduct electricity.  The demand for copper for wire spurred the mining of copper.  Also, my last blog was about the Milwaukee Road trail.  The section of the Milwaukee Road rail line near Butte was one of the first sections of railroad to be electrified.  Edison came to Butte to view that project.

The city of Butte has done a good job of maintaining the historic buildings and reusing them in creative ways.

All those mine headframes supported pulleys that brought people and ore in and out of the mines. The pulleys were run by engines houses in engine houses like this. Today the building houses the Butte Senior Center.

Some of the old buildings have great signs painted on the sides.

Not everything is preserved in excellent condition. Look at this old door.

Many of the miners in Butte in the late 19th century were Irish Catholics. That heritage is reflected in this Butte welcome center.

How many of you know what this flower is called? It must grow about a mile above sea level because I remember lots of them near my Denver home.

It's a holly hock.

One last note on Butte. We get our TV through Dish Network and every time we move some distance I have to call and have our service address changed so we get local stations. When we arrived in Butte I called to do that. When I gave the customer service rep the zip code, he said,"Your're in a town named but?" No, we're not. I had to tell him how to pronounce "Butte."

Aspen Leaves and Mining Towns

Yesterday we drove to the mountains between Colorado Springs and Cripple Creek. The aspen trees painted the hillsides with gold and orange.















These colors never last long so we are glad we had the opportunity to see them this year. It has been several years since we last had the time or opportunity to see them. We could see the nearby hillsides well, but the longer vistas are covered with a haze of smoke. Fires in Wyoming, Idaho, Montana and Washington are really filling the Colorado skies.



The smoke makes the sun glow red in the morning and evening. When I take a picture of it, the sun shines through and the smoke looks red.



Cripple Creek and the nearby mining towns of Victor and Goldfield are important to me because this is where my mother grew up. This sign at the edge of Cripple Creek is new.



A tourist train operates in town and this engine is named Goldfield, for the town where my mother was born.



Buildings in town were constructed right next to one another. This shows what is left when one building is torn down.



Some of the buildings have been spruced up, usually to house one of the casinos. This is the home of the Brass Ass.



This sign is very appropriate for one of the richest gold mining districts in the country.



We walked through a combination antique store and ice cream parlor. We saw this old advertising sign.



Anybody need a foot bath?



This is the high school my mother graduated from in Victor, about 7 miles beyond Cripple Creek. You can also see some of the smoke in the picture.



A few people still live in nearby Goldfield, but this house has seen better days.



The day was both a beautiful drive and a walk down memory lane.