The Camp Bird Mine, between Ouray and Telluride, Colorado, was a highly productive old gold mine in the San Juan Mountains. Thomas F. Walsh discovered gold here in 1896.
An immigrant from Ireland, Thomas Walsh came to the United States as a young man in 1869 and first settled in Massachusetts. In the early 1870s, Walsh headed west, settling in Colorado, where he was paid well for his carpentry skills. However, he was attracted to the opportunities that came with the gold rush, including trading goods and services at inflated prices, as opposed to gold mining itself. Gradually, he became increasingly interested in the gold industry and soon traded mining equipment to prospectors in exchange for their mining claims. He also studied mining technology at night.
I didn't read that the mine stopped producing gold. So, if mined today is there still gold there? If so, it seems people would be sneaking in.
ReplyDeleteIf there is, it's probably ore, not raw gold. Gold ore's value is usually measured in cents per ton, so it's not worth stealing, especially if you don't have the means to process it.
ReplyDeleteI've got a big chunk of gold ore in my room. It looks like a piece of brick.