Learning About Ancestors' Lives

Since Mueller State Park is so close to where my mother and grandparents lived (John and Kylie's great grandmother and great-great grandparents), we wanted them to learn a little about that part of their history. My grandfather and uncle had both been miners in Victor and Cripple Creek, so we took them on a tour of the Mollie Kathleen Gold Mine.

We went down 1,000 feet into the mountain in a metal cage. That was after we all donned helmets and Kylie put on one of the mine's canvas jackets. (She said it was very warm. That was good because she was wearing short shorts.)

Our guide Chico, who obviously has worked in the mines, led us through the tunnels on level 10 and explained the evolution of drills and other details of underground mining for gold. As we walked through the tunnels, we went in single file, staying between the rails that ore carts used to travel on.

All of us were really interested in the tour and the life of the miners. The Molly Kathleen was in operation from 1891 to 1961. (Four years after the mine closed, in 1965, John and I toured the mine on our honeymoon. The tour today is much, much better than that early one.) I am glad I don't have to work 10- to 12-hour shifts undergound in the wet and cold, hefting heavy drills and hammers and shovels and surrounded by the loud noise of drills and blasting.

The job that looked the worst was to climb up this long ladder and spend the day sitting on a board that bridged an opening, all the while drilling and digging overhead. The miner stayed up there his entire shift. And no miner dared complain. There was always someone waiting to take his job if he expressed any dissatisfaction. Double click on the photos to get a better view.

When we were back above ground, we had some lunch at the diner on the mine grounds. The food was surprisingly good. John I and Kylie had burgers, John II had grilled cheese and I had fish and chips. Everything was tasty.

John II had to smell these flowers outside the gift shop.

Both Kylie and John thought about getting miners' helmets with lights.

Next we took a ride on the Cripple Creek and Victor Railroad. When mining was at its peak, numerous trains a day came and went between the towns of the mining district, carrying passengers and shipping gold ore to mills, both in the district and in Colorado Springs and other places. This tourist train is all that is left of all the infrastructure.

The train's engineer also worked as the fireman, shoveling coal into the fire box, and as our tour guide, narrating our trip.

After the train ride, we showed Kylie and John where their great grandmother attended high school and took them to see where their great-great grandfather is buried, in the Elk's plot in Victor's Sunnyside Cemtery.

Monday evening was the only dry night of their visit, so dessert had to be smores over the campfire, didn't it? We had such a good time sitting around the fire and talking to Kylie and John. They are really growing up and becoming wonderfully interesting people to be with.

Camping With Nana and Papa

Sunday evening, our grandchildren from Littleton came for a 3-day visit.  Kylie is 13 and John is 8.  Their parents, our son Eric and his wife Liz, had dinner with us, then returned home.  It has been raining every day for 2 weeks or more so it was inevitable that we ended up eating inside after John grilled the hamburgers in the rain.

We still had a good visit before they left.  Then it was time to make sleeping arrangements.  Our RV doesn't have a couch.  We have two La-z-boy chairs and one other chair.  So Kylie and John brought a small cot and an inflatable mattress.  We moved around the furniture and worked at assembling the cot and blowing up the mattress.  This is what it looked like the next morning before the grandchildren woke up.

We really enjoyed exploring the area, going to a gold mine and riding a train and looking at dinosaurs, and spending time with Kylie and John. Those details will be included in future posts.

Yesterday afternoon, Eric returned to spend the night, then take his children home this morning. Of course, it rained again. So John again cooked outside in the rain, brats this time. Eric had originally planned to sleep in his tent, but conveniently forgot to bring it, so Nana and Papa's inside campground became a little more crowded. He, too, had an inflatable mattress. We found a way to fit all three beds in our living room-kitchen. This is what that area looked like at bedtime last night.

Nana and Papa's campground may have a hard floor, but it is dry and warm.

The Past Is Past

Earlier this week, I drove through the neighborhood we lived in from 1992 until we became full-time RVers in January 2009.  I remembered our good times there, including lots of family dinners, entertaining family and friends, long walks on the paths through the subdivision.  I thought back to the times we walked from the house to the nearby playground with our oldest granddaughter, Kylie, when she was 4 and 5 years old.  And I had a clear memory of the first time I saw the neighborhood and called our real estate agents, asking if he could find us a house there.

Those were good memories.  And I still have good thoughts about the house every month when we receive a check from the couple who has been renting it since May of 2009.  But do I have any desire to live there again?  NO.  I don't want all that space.  I have no interest in the lifestyle we had then.  As nice as the house is, the view out the windows never changes.  I don't miss keeping up the yard and cleaning gutters and shoveling snow. We spent most of our time around the house, not exploring the area.  And I have absolutely no need for all that space.  A 36 ft RV  (soon to be a 34 ft RV) is all I need or want.  I love our life on the road and have no desire to change it at this point.

Seeing our old house and neighborhood really affirmed how right this lifestyle is.  And John agrees.

Surrounded by Beauty

We are so blessed to be able to spend our summer surrounded by so much beauty. We are in the middle of a forest so we have spruce, ponderosa and limber pine and aspen all around us. We have had lots of rain and the wildflowers are just spectacular.

From 2013 July

We have also seen quite a few butterflies.

From 2013 July

There are lots of deer in the park, but they don't come through the campground very often. We did recently have several in our front yard, including the great mule deer buck.



A young buck came into the yard under the fence.

From 2013 July

Another one decided to jump a fence.

What Else Do We Do?

We don't have cabins to clean every day we work. So, how do we fill our time? We spent a lot of time the first month or so helping clean vault toilets and restrooms. After all the summer seasonal workers arrived, we cleaned and organized the maintenance shop and cabin storage areas.

For the last month we have been refurbishing some wooden signs that are posted at hiking trail junctions. We remove the signs and sand off the old finish, then John repaints the letters.

I varnish the front of the signs and sometimes the back. Then we go out and reattach the sign to its post.

One of those poles had rotted out and had to be replaced. That meant we had to dig a new hole. John used a heavy bar to break up the ground, then we took turns with the post hole digger.

In some cases, the edges and back of the sign are painted to match the pole, so I touch up the brown paint on the sign after we put it back on the pole.

We have enjoyed the task. Not only can we do the work whenever we have free time, it allows us to hike the trails, picking up the signs and putting them back in place. We only have a couple more to do, however. So we will be looking for more new tasks in the next two months.

Gold Rush

The Pikes Peak Gold Rush began in 1859 with news of the discovery of gold along Clear Creek in the mountains west of what is now Denver. In 1890 and 1891, major gold strikes were made in the Cripple Creek-Victor area on the southwest side of Pikes Peak. By 1907, my family participated in this gold fever. That is the first year my grandfather, George E. Polhill, is listed as a miner in the area. By that time, the gold production was declining, but the family lived there until the early to mid 1940s. My mother, Dorothy Polhill Robinson, graduated from Victor High School as valedictorian in 1932.

What has that got to do with my life now, or this blog? We are spending our summer at Mueller State Park, 16 miles from Victor. Sunday afternoon, we attended Gold Rush Days in Victor. This weekend event was better attended than the first special event we attended in Cripple Creek on June 15. There were only two chuck wagons that participated in the Chuck Wagon Cook-off that weekend.

The main streets were lined with booths offering many different items for sale. There was live and recorded music, a parade, bicycle races and a chili supper.

Children were trying their hand at panning for gold.

We knew the Elks Club would be open during the event. My grandfather was a member of the Elks and is buried in their plot in the local cemetery. We knew his name is listed on the wall in the lodge meeting room and wanted to see it.

Although it's no longer being used as a school, the high school my mother graduated from is still standing. Imagine climbing these stairs to get to class.

We checked out the old Isis theater, which is now a vintage clothing shop. I think I went to a movie there once when I was very young and I know my mom would have watched movies there.

The Victor Lowell Thomas Museum contains lots of information about early gold mining in the area. This picture shows how the miners got down into the mine to work. I would have found another way to earn a living.

This is how the ore cars were put into the mine shafts.

A couple of weeks ago, we were able to see the inside of the building where my grandmother, Lydia Doolin Polhill, lived when I was very young. The building now houses the offices of the Cripple Creek and Victor Mining Company (CC&V). It had once been an office building, before being converted to apartments. A window like this was in one of the two rooms in her apartment. The space had originally been used as a doctor's office. And the bathroom was down the hall!

There is a great, wide staircase leading up from street level.

Miners no longer go underground to find gold in this area. Instead, the CC&V has a massive open pit mine above the city. We drove up to the overlook to see what goes on there. It is an impressive operation.