We've been scurrying around, gathering information like busy pikas over the last couple weeks, and it's been quite the whirlwind. We’ve toured the mine site with a geologist, an archaeologist, a hydrologist, a physicist, an environmental engineer, and a wildlife (pika!) biologist; we’ve met with the county commissioners, the Youth Corps, the Lake Fork Valley Conservancy, a schoolteacher, a local artist, the town historian and newspaper publisher, the director of Lake City Arts, the owners of The Texan Resort, and a variety of other people from the community, both formally and informally. We have a local group of advisors we meet with weekly, and a public survey is finding its way around town. Needless to say, we have gathered a plethora of perspectives about Lake City and the Ute Ulay.
What now? Well, tonight, for the first time, we gathered together as a group to throw some ideas on the table. Don't get me wrong, ideas have been percolating all along. After all, we do have a refrigerator covered with "Ridiculous Ideas." But this was our first formal chance to share. With seven minutes each, we quickly covered a wall of paper with inspiration and creative thinking about how we might go about shaping place and providing opportunities for interaction with it.
It's an exciting moment, this halfway point, with so much in flux. And next? Some long days in the D.I.R.T. office, maybe some long nights, a lot more talk, big groups, small groups, dreaming, organizing, presenting... Two weeks down, two to go!
Sunday, July 31, 2011
Saturday, July 30, 2011
Pikas!
Pikas are small relatives of rabbits who live in the alpine habitats of the western US and Canada. They are damn cute. They are also an indicator species - kind of like canaries in the environmental coal mine - that can help us to understand the effects of climate change. Chris Ray, a biologist and pika researcher from the University of Colorado, came for dinner and a talk on Friday to give us the details.
It seems that in research done in the Great Basin in the Western US, pikas are disappearing from areas in California and Nevada where they were once plentiful. The hypothesis is that swings in temperature and snowpack attributable to climate change make it impossible for sensitive pikas, who don’t hibernate, to insulate themselves from cold and heat. Among the few places in the Great Basin study where pika populations remained robust were old mine tailings. There seems to be something about the habitat tailings provide that is beneficial to the pikas.
Before dinner, we trekked up to the Ute-Ulay with Dr. Ray in the midst of a downpour. While we waited out the storm in the car, the intrepid scientist donned her raincoat and went out to scout for pika pellets, which look like peppercorns, in the pouring rain. She found some.
What does this mean? Well, what’s clear is that at one time, pikas lived at the mine site. We don’t know if they still do but Dr. Ray’s suggestion is that as we are envisioning what the site could be, we consider the possibility of a research area where tailings could be arranged and rearranged in a controlled way to find out just what it is about these piles of mine left-overs that can help to sustain pikas when undisturbed areas in the same temperature range cannot.
The Ute-Ulay Center for Pika Research? We aren’t ruling anything out yet.
Man and Machine
Linda Wysong
Belt and wheel that turns the Ball Crusher
One aspect of industrial artifacts seems to be the simple fact that as the American landscape becomes more predictable, there is appreciation of structures outside of the strip mall vocabulary. The Mill is not a singular and predictable design but a product of process and adaptation. Its workings reflect times of boom, bust and morphing technology. There is value in this physical record of time and the discipline of making do and making it work.
Belt and wheel that turns the Ball CrusherWhen thinking about mining it is often difficult to adjust down from the industrial to the human scale. The Ute Ulay Mine is no exception. Yesterday, Becky wrote an informative account of the group’s visit to the Ute Ulay Mine with Matt Ingram. I would like to continue musing about that experience from a different perspective. How do historic industrial sites such as the Ute Ulay function symbolically within our culture.
In the west, the industrial age is definitely over. Much of our production and economy has been either altered by automation or moved off shore. As fewer and fewer of us do physical work, there is a romanticization of labor. The post-industrial age tends to look back to that time as an uncomplicated, golden age of clarity and hard work. This attitude often generates a view of history that can be best described as nostalgia. When history becomes a vehicle for escape and not a living covenant with past generations it is robbed of its richness and integrity.
Matt Ingram tour Guide extraordinaire
Our journey with Matt Ingram through the labyrinthine Ute Ulay Mill was a refreshing reminder that the mine is far more then a static icon. The stacked floors of wheels, belts and engines were the platform for an on-going performance. The choreography of people and machines was and continues to be an intricate dance. The Buck Eye might be a stunning engine but it took knowledge, precision, and a sense of humor to get it started. Mr. Ingram obviously loves his work and was able to communicate his engagement in the Mining industry.
The history of the Ute Ulay mine reaches back to the time of Manifest Destiny. It is an icon of resource extraction and the politics of power. Yet it is also a living place were the community can chart a course that embodies its shifting relationship with the land. As we move forward, it will be a challenge to honor the past and look toward the future.
Friday, July 29, 2011
Milling Process
By Becky
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| Ute Ulay Mill Building |
Today we were treated to a tour of the Ute Ulay Mill, guided by Matt Ingram who worked there in the mid-1990s. Matt explained the inner workings of the mill to us in depth.
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| Matt and Buckeye |
‘Buckeye’ the 5 cylinder diesel engine ran all the mill equipment until the manifold blew. It is certainly an imposing and glorious piece of engineering.
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| Coarse Ore Bin |
Once the ore had been mined it was put through a grizzly into the coarse ore bin. If it didn’t fit, it was further crushed (with the help of Steve ‘Doublejack’ Jackson and his 8/16lb hammer) until it did. Doublejack was also a fruit forager, and shared the spoils of raspberries with his co-workers.
The coarse ore was taken along a surge belt (2 steps forward, one step back) into the crusher room to the Jaw Crusher and Cone Crusher, and from there, into an elevator up to the fine ore bin.
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| Ball Mill |
This fine ore was sent along belts to the Ball Mill, where it was mixed with water and further reduced in size, 30 gallons at a time. The Ball Mill used steel balls inside a cylindrical drum to break down the ore, the balls started at 6” diameter but wore down to around 1”.
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| Classifier |
Next the ore fed into the classifier, which, with the addition of more water, turned the ore into slurry that felt slightly sandy to the touch. It was important that the particles were of a consistent size for the following stages, so the screw would take any larger particles back up and into the Ball Mill.
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| Frother Cells |
The slurry was fed into the flotation cells. The froth floatation method mixes pine oil with the slurry and blows water through it to create bubbles. Then Xanthate salts enable the metals to stick to the bubbles, and the skimmers took a little bit of this mix off the top in each cell. By the time the mixture reached the last cell it had a metallic appearance, which would coat your hand if you put it in. I have made this sound simple, thanks to Matt’s excellent explanation, but in reality this process requires constant adjustment, with the addition of tiny amounts of different chemicals (44, 350, 3501) according to the precise make up of the particular ore.
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| Filter Paddles with Cotton Covers |
Once the mixture had been through the floatation cells, it was called concentrate. The next stage was to remove the water. The concentrate sat in a tank and was picked up by disc filters that allowed the sediment to stick to a cotton bag, whilst the water drained down a channel on the inside. This semi-dried material was then subjected to the ‘flame thrower’ to dry it a little more.
Finally the resulting dry concentrate was sent off to the smelter. Phew.
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| Draughty Walls in the Mill |
Thanks to Matt (please let me know if I have got anything wrong...) for the wonderful tour.
Thursday, July 28, 2011
Envisioning Entropy
By Bland
-A transdisciplinary strategy is developing, like a cloud materializing into a nebulous form. As one must anticipate, this cloud will continue to shift from shape to shape-
While describing the Hard Rock Revision project to locals and tourists alike, it is frequently stated that the team of seven artists are not here to simply paint the site or create a sculpture. Essential to our process is the creative problem solving abilities each of us brings to the table. However, it is becoming apparent that sculpture, installations and other creative elements can serve as tools for both understanding the potential of the project, and possibly generating buy-in for the team’s vision. A sculpture or painting may be understood as an object of contemplation in a gallery setting, but within a transdisciplinary strategy, art can create a powerful impression or memory to compliment and support the resulting vision.
As a result of this thinking, a series of creative interventions is beginning to precipitate. The Artposium may see projects that evoke a sense of wonder, tug on the urge for preservation, or demonstrate the usefulness of toxic materials. One example is a video project, using one of the most dilapidated buildings as a projection screen. The building was hit by a snowplow this past winter, and the roof is falling in quickly. Within the community, the building is frequently mentioned for why action must be taken on behalf of the rest of the Ute Ulay site. The projection (a sketch at this point) may accelerate and make visible the inevitable implosion of the building – an emotional sight with so many historical assets at stake.
-A transdisciplinary strategy is developing, like a cloud materializing into a nebulous form. As one must anticipate, this cloud will continue to shift from shape to shape-
While describing the Hard Rock Revision project to locals and tourists alike, it is frequently stated that the team of seven artists are not here to simply paint the site or create a sculpture. Essential to our process is the creative problem solving abilities each of us brings to the table. However, it is becoming apparent that sculpture, installations and other creative elements can serve as tools for both understanding the potential of the project, and possibly generating buy-in for the team’s vision. A sculpture or painting may be understood as an object of contemplation in a gallery setting, but within a transdisciplinary strategy, art can create a powerful impression or memory to compliment and support the resulting vision.
As a result of this thinking, a series of creative interventions is beginning to precipitate. The Artposium may see projects that evoke a sense of wonder, tug on the urge for preservation, or demonstrate the usefulness of toxic materials. One example is a video project, using one of the most dilapidated buildings as a projection screen. The building was hit by a snowplow this past winter, and the roof is falling in quickly. Within the community, the building is frequently mentioned for why action must be taken on behalf of the rest of the Ute Ulay site. The projection (a sketch at this point) may accelerate and make visible the inevitable implosion of the building – an emotional sight with so many historical assets at stake.
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
Monday 25th July 2011.
Meeting with Advisory Board @ D.I.R.T, offices, Lake City, Colorado.
( Downtown Improvement & Revitalisation Team) Anna Macleod
This evening we met with members of the Lake City community who have given up their time to work with the Hardrock Revision group as an advisory board. The ethos of volunteerism in this small community is very strong. It is a mechanism through which most small communities function the world over but here in Lake City the energy and enthusiasm is particularly vibrant.
This initial meeting was an ice breaking exercise where we each introduced ourselves and talked about our interest in community problem solving. Access to the cross range of experiences present in the advisory group is a valuable resource for our group as we begin to separate the wild and ridiculous ideas for the revision of the Ute Ulay mine site from the daring but possible!
We determined how the Hardrock Revision team would utilise the expertise of the advisory board as our process of ideation unfolds over the next couple of weeks culminating in the Artposium on August 13th.
Ute Ulay History
- Julia Lewandoski
Tonight in the park in downtown Lake City at 8:30, the Hardrock Revision team will be projecting images of the mine and our work so far. Grant Pound will be talking about our project, and I'll be speaking about the history of the Ute Ulay mine.
Credit goes to VISTA Casey Carrigan, who put together a very nice history of the mine this spring, which I am drawing from heavily in this synopsis.
Prehistory of the Ute Ulay
Before the two veins at the Ute Ulay were first claimed in 1871, a great deal had already taken place. Present-day Colorado had long been Ute territory. Trade and conflict between the Utes and the Spanish began around 1600, and continued into the 19th century, when Mexico won its independence from Spain in 1821. The United States claimed the Northern Rockies in the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, and southern Colorado after the Mexican War in 1848.
In the 1830s, the first prospectors were exploring the American West, and the gold rush hit Colorado in 1859. Silver was also discovered in Colorado in the 1860s, but prices were low and silver mining was nowhere near as profitable and exciting as the search for gold.
U.S. expansion, mineral extraction, and displacement of Native Americans were concurrent in the West in this era. In 1861, Colorado became a U.S. territory, and soon after fought a war largely on the eastern plains against the Kiowa, Comanche, Arapaho, and Cheyenne.
Seeking to recover from its Civil War debt and drive Western expansion, the Federal Government introduced the 1866 Lode Law, which opened federal lands to private lode mining and mineral claims. Just two years later, in 1868, they signed a treaty with the Utes, marking the western third of Colorado as reservation land.
1871 to 1900: Boom and Bust
Mining took off in Southern Colorado after the 1873 Brunot Treaty, which ceded the San Juans from the Utes to the U.S. In 1874, the Ute Ulay claims were formally located, and just two years later, as Colorado became a state in 1876, the mine received its first influx of eastern investment when the Crooke Brothers bought the mine. Its economy tied to the mine, Lake City boomed as well, boasting a population of 4,000 downtown, and another 2,000 in the "suburbs" that year.
In 1878, the value of silver went up with the passage of the Bland-Allison Act, requiring the U.S. Treasury to buy silver coinage. At the Ute Ulay, the mill was constructed, as well as miner's quarters and other structures on the property. Yet a bust came soon after, as the ore was not as deep as originally thought. Meanwhile, the Colorado silver boom officially began in 1879 with the discovery of the lode at Leadville.
In the 1880s, the Ute Ulay boomed and busted. The hopes of a railroad coming in spurred the construction of a larger mill and the dam on Henson Creek, before the company defaulted on their mortgage in 1884 and sold the mine to the Lake City Mining Company. It reopened in 1887 and boomed again in 1889 when the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad came to Lake City.
The 1890s followed the same cycles of boom and bust, more severely as the value of silver was artificially elevated in 1890, then crashed in the panic and depression of 1893. The Ute Ulay was sold, leased, defaulted, and leased again before 1899, when 80 Italian miners, unionized under the Western Federation of Miners, went on strike. After they surrendered, they were promptly fired. In all of this tumult, between 1874 and 1900, the Ute Ulay had produced $12 million in silver and lead.
20th Century to the Present
The life of the mine in the 20th century was marked by changes in ownership and improvements to the property, but very little mining. Between 1900 and 1933, when the Denver and Rio Grande railroad abandoned Lake City as the U.S. plunged deeper into the Great Depression, the Ute Ulay was bought and leased twice.
The increased need for minerals brought by World War II lead to the mining of the Ute shaft in 1939, but the cycles of turnover continued into the 1950s, when the flume from the dam collapsed, and the mine was closed and much of the equipment transported to Ouray. Finally, in 1983, the mine site was purchased for milling purposes by its current owner, LKA International, Inc.
In 2009, the Division of Reclamation, Mining, and Safety did a $1.2 million cleanup of the tailings piles above Henson Creek. In July 2011, the Hardrock Revision team arrived in Lake City.
Tonight in the park in downtown Lake City at 8:30, the Hardrock Revision team will be projecting images of the mine and our work so far. Grant Pound will be talking about our project, and I'll be speaking about the history of the Ute Ulay mine.
Credit goes to VISTA Casey Carrigan, who put together a very nice history of the mine this spring, which I am drawing from heavily in this synopsis.
Prehistory of the Ute Ulay
Before the two veins at the Ute Ulay were first claimed in 1871, a great deal had already taken place. Present-day Colorado had long been Ute territory. Trade and conflict between the Utes and the Spanish began around 1600, and continued into the 19th century, when Mexico won its independence from Spain in 1821. The United States claimed the Northern Rockies in the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, and southern Colorado after the Mexican War in 1848.
In the 1830s, the first prospectors were exploring the American West, and the gold rush hit Colorado in 1859. Silver was also discovered in Colorado in the 1860s, but prices were low and silver mining was nowhere near as profitable and exciting as the search for gold.
U.S. expansion, mineral extraction, and displacement of Native Americans were concurrent in the West in this era. In 1861, Colorado became a U.S. territory, and soon after fought a war largely on the eastern plains against the Kiowa, Comanche, Arapaho, and Cheyenne.
Seeking to recover from its Civil War debt and drive Western expansion, the Federal Government introduced the 1866 Lode Law, which opened federal lands to private lode mining and mineral claims. Just two years later, in 1868, they signed a treaty with the Utes, marking the western third of Colorado as reservation land.
1871 to 1900: Boom and Bust
Mining took off in Southern Colorado after the 1873 Brunot Treaty, which ceded the San Juans from the Utes to the U.S. In 1874, the Ute Ulay claims were formally located, and just two years later, as Colorado became a state in 1876, the mine received its first influx of eastern investment when the Crooke Brothers bought the mine. Its economy tied to the mine, Lake City boomed as well, boasting a population of 4,000 downtown, and another 2,000 in the "suburbs" that year.
In 1878, the value of silver went up with the passage of the Bland-Allison Act, requiring the U.S. Treasury to buy silver coinage. At the Ute Ulay, the mill was constructed, as well as miner's quarters and other structures on the property. Yet a bust came soon after, as the ore was not as deep as originally thought. Meanwhile, the Colorado silver boom officially began in 1879 with the discovery of the lode at Leadville.
In the 1880s, the Ute Ulay boomed and busted. The hopes of a railroad coming in spurred the construction of a larger mill and the dam on Henson Creek, before the company defaulted on their mortgage in 1884 and sold the mine to the Lake City Mining Company. It reopened in 1887 and boomed again in 1889 when the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad came to Lake City.
The 1890s followed the same cycles of boom and bust, more severely as the value of silver was artificially elevated in 1890, then crashed in the panic and depression of 1893. The Ute Ulay was sold, leased, defaulted, and leased again before 1899, when 80 Italian miners, unionized under the Western Federation of Miners, went on strike. After they surrendered, they were promptly fired. In all of this tumult, between 1874 and 1900, the Ute Ulay had produced $12 million in silver and lead.
20th Century to the Present
The life of the mine in the 20th century was marked by changes in ownership and improvements to the property, but very little mining. Between 1900 and 1933, when the Denver and Rio Grande railroad abandoned Lake City as the U.S. plunged deeper into the Great Depression, the Ute Ulay was bought and leased twice.
The increased need for minerals brought by World War II lead to the mining of the Ute shaft in 1939, but the cycles of turnover continued into the 1950s, when the flume from the dam collapsed, and the mine was closed and much of the equipment transported to Ouray. Finally, in 1983, the mine site was purchased for milling purposes by its current owner, LKA International, Inc.
In 2009, the Division of Reclamation, Mining, and Safety did a $1.2 million cleanup of the tailings piles above Henson Creek. In July 2011, the Hardrock Revision team arrived in Lake City.
Monday, July 25, 2011
First (Full) Day Off
We had a for-real day off on Sunday, and a contingent of us hiked up what was the first fourteener for all of us: Handies Peak. We gasped our way through the gorgeous American Basin to the top (pictured: me, Bland, Lydia). Bland brought a kite, but, miraculously, there wasn't a breath of wind on top of this 14,000-foot mountain!
A very cold dip in a lake of snowmelt:
who has better form?
Me?Or... Bland?
The myriad colorful wildflowers in American Basin were a reminder of scale: against the backdrop of the grandiose Rocky Mountains, are smaller, more intricate beauties deeply worthy of attention.
Sunday, July 24, 2011
First (half) day off
Julia at the alleged tailings beach
As we learn more about mining and the telltale signs of abandoned sites, we’re starting to see indicators everywhere, even places they don’t exist. During our afternoon at Lake San Cristobel just outside Lake City, several of us came across a beach that we were convinced was made up of tailings or the fine remains of milled ore which is often laden with toxic heavy metals. Turns out it was just part of the Slumgullian Slide, a naturally occurring phenomenon that has nothing to do with mining.
We’re already seeing the landscape differently, if a bit too vigilantly.
Saturday, July 23, 2011
Up the mountain
Kat Benier, butterfly researcher hanging out with cow bell truck.
You always know when it is just around the bend!
Today we took a very bumpy but wonderfully scenic ride along the
Alpine Loop to Engineer’s Pass. At the top we visited the Hough mine site. The mine situated in the stunningly beautiful alpine meadow is emitting 86% of the pollution in Henson Creek –
aluminum, zinc, cadmium, magnesium and iron. As you follow Henson Creek up the mountain, you see the crystal clear water and white rapids swirling around and jumping over the boulders. It is difficult to imagine the environmental hazard. This juxtaposition is definitely one of the Hardrock Revision challenges.
Wild flowers in the alpine meadow
Arriving at the Hough Mine Site
Where would we be without our fearless advisors who help us see beneath the surface with patience and humor? Dave Stiller (left) is a hydrologist, geologist and author of Wounding the West: Montana, Mining, and the Environment. Joseph Ryan is a professor of Environmental Engineering at the University of Colorado and co-author of the Center for the American West’s Cleaning Up Abandoned Hardrock Mines in the West.
Hannah appreciating the moment.
Friday, July 22, 2011
Entropy
Today we went to the Lake Fork Valley Land & Water Workshop at the Mary Stigall Theater.
Kevin Alexander gave a presentation about using macroinvertebrates as bio-indicators for water quality. He counts the number of species of ‘critters’ in the water at various points, and this data is used to determine how polluted the water is. On Henson Creek, near the Ute Ule mine site, apparently the water isn’t too bad, though Henson Creek as a whole, accounts for 65% of instances of exceeding pollutant standards in the Lake Fork watershed. Most of the pollutants consist of various metals.
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| Tailings Pile at the Ute Ule |
Part of the bio-indicator measurement process involves taking “beautiful complex data, and turn[ing] it into one number”. I wondered what beauty was lost in that process, and it struck me that this seems to be the opposite of entropy. Entropy has been under discussion in the Hardrock Revision team. One of the ideas involved in the concept of entropy is that nature tends from order to disorder in isolated systems (hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/therm/entrop.html). This topic seems particularly pertinent given the group meeting this morning regarding the processes involved in this project, and the resultant 'ridiculous ideas' board.
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| Hardrock Revision Team Meeting |
Thursday, July 21, 2011
Golden Sea Squirts
(Image courtesy of National Geographic)
Moose Cabin is host to a constant flow of scientists over the course of the Hard Rock Revision project. Apart from the in-depth and engaging conversations that take place during the day, it is a treat to stay late into the evening to chat about miscellanea with intellectuals. Recently, the geologist Rob Blair stayed a night. By day the team learned about the geology of the San Juan’s on a micro and macro scale. By night, sitting under the placid stare of a mounted moose head above the fireplace, Rob opened up another avenue of thought to ponder – sea squirts.
Apparently sea squirts are the only creature with vanadium coursing through their circulatory system. Vanadium as you might or might not know is a heavy metal, and in the ocean this element can only be detected using finely tuned scientific equipment. Somehow the feeble sea squirt has evolved as a magnet in a haystack, in some cases concentrating vanadium to a level one million times that of the surrounding sea water. Why should anyone care about the feeble sea squirt? In gold country I have learned about new technologies and methods to extract gold from ore. The latest strategy is cyanide heap leach mining, in which a large area is prepared with a liner, ore piled high inside, and cyanide pumped over the top of the pile to leach out the gold. In tragic instances, this method fails with grave environmental consequences.
Back to the evening conversations - Rob Blair is describing in detail the sea squirt in all it’s glory and I am questioning where the conversation is going. He then began to describe how much gold was present in the oceans, suspended as microscopic particles. If the feeble sea squirt was capable of absorbing vanadium, perhaps a similar organism could be engineered to attract gold from its surrounding saline environment. Maybe it is a plant, or another type of organism. How much value would this creature capture? Gold is currently priced at $1,600/oz, while one square mile of ocean can contain as much as 25 tons of gold. The value of a miracle organism with an appetite for gold could yield almost 1.3 billion dollars, however the unintended consequences might be considerable, perhaps even comparable to dripping cyanide through ore.
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
The Texan and Geology
Tuesday, July 19th, 2011.
Today we began the first of our series of community interviews, right here at home at the Texan. The Texan Resort has been around since 1946 when the first round-log cabins were built, up here in the "Alps of Texas," where even tourism is historic, with the first Texans coming up here in the 1920s.
I'm hoping to get my hands on The Tourist Guide to the Mines, published in 1877.
In the afternoon, we visited the mine in a series of thunderstorms with geologist Rob Blair and put Hinsdale County's mining history, which began around 1870, into a larger historical perspective. For example: 25 to 28 million years ago, the volcanic calderra of Lake City was created.
Core samples of granite-like rock from the Ute Ulay's shaft and adits.
The remains of the end of the flume that powered the mill with three waterwheels. Though static, it reminds me of artist Theo Jansen's kinetic sculptures.
Monday, July 18, 2011
Hard Mine
Joe Ryan with hazard notice.Monday 18th July 2011.
Hard Mines
An archaeological walk of the Ute Ulay mine with Liz Francisco, Bureau of Land Management, Gunnison Field Office.
Not a complete account: Human entrophy set in…
Hot day, scorchio. 11 am meet at 'Moose'.
Grant says ‘ Put sunscreen on’ ‘Drink plenty of water’. Liz says ‘Hi, I’m Liz’ and the adventure begins.
WARNING: Hanta virus, DEADLY mouse droppings, cyanide, lead, asbestos, cadmium, did I forget something.
Illegal dumping by unknown suspect(s)
Full steam ahead after Brunot Treaty in 1873, but without the steam.
Almost continuous use 1873 - 1912, high quality Silver and Lead, some Gold and Zinc before 1900’s.
12 MILLION $$$$$$$$$$$$
Historical integrity of buildings lost after layers of development, like a cake. At 50 years archaeological significance begins. Must strip back for integrity.
Listed as historical site? No, well, maybe.
Environmental Status? BLM capped 5 ‘tailings’ , the ones not on private property. The rest: slurry pits, mountains of ‘tailings’ remain.
Climbing……
3 hold mine, shaft head, Sheave wheel, Ford tractor driven. Hoist up and down
1926 Red Wood Water tower storage tank, SUPER COOL . Unique. Later metal additions, not 50 years old….
Climbing……
Surface tram, too steep for animal power. Mine no: 1: 1890 -1904 other 3 concurrently mined 1870 – 1880’s.
Tipple – cart loading bay.
Grizzle - Slatted metal platform sorts ore into grades.
Waste tracks
Carcass of Coal fired boiler - massive heap of coke.
Metal pieces of unidentified machinery strewn about, good elevated view of mine site.
Descending…..careful!
3 buildings, 2 old log constructions and ‘dunny’ for 4. Intimate. Good view of hills.
Newer bunk house. 1970’s lounge chair covered in dust and cobwebs.
Crossing road…..Rain,: shelter in 1960’s buildings. Blacksmiths….engine room?
1874 Hydro electric dam, decommissioned in 1951, Flume broke down, or the wooden structure holding it up disintegrates?
Flume feeds water tank, metal pipes drive turbines to power the mill. Completed in 1882. Hydro powers town too.
After this diesel engine powers new mill.( huge) Inaccessible but with pretty exterior detail of pressed copper(?) hold on tarp in grid formation. Diametric wooden slatted construction.
Bunk houses. Assay office. Smelting for value.
Crushing plant, dust, froth floatation tanks, mixed with mercury, slime, squeeze out water, dry and smelt.
Car, home, tired. Thunder storm.
Sunday, July 17, 2011
First Day on Site
Boom. Bust. Boom. Bust. This, said Grant Houston—Lake City historian and owner of the local paper—was largely the story of the city prior to the steady rise in tourism that began in the 1920s and 30s. Although Lake City’s mining heyday was brief (1876-77) it’s population at that time, four thousand, was ten times what it is today. Now few mines remain active. But on a beautiful summer Sunday like today, the surrounding mountains look down on a town lively with both tourists and residents: a few take softball practice in the park; cafes and restaurants enjoy a steady flow of clientele; bicycles, motorcycles, and Jeeps pass each other on the streets; and a laughing crowd of parishioners tumbles out of the picturesque Presbyterian church.
Grant led us through a tour of downtown, imparting to us a fraction of his vast knowledge of the town’s history and architecture. Perhaps one of the most important things we learned from him was that this is a community that, ever since its inception in the 1870s, has maintained a deep sense of pride throughout its ups and downs. Unlike some makeshift mining towns, Lake City was a place where people intended to stay. Evidence of this attitude lines the very streets: majestic cottonwoods planted over a hundred years ago form shady promenades, the wind sighing through their leaves and tossing around remnants of this year’s snowy seeds. You don’t plant trees if you don’t intend to make a place of where you live, a place that grows and changes as you do.
After our tour, we drove the winding three miles of dusty gravel road to the site of the Ute Ule mine, named after the area’s first inhabitants, the Ute Indian tribe. (The first prospectors were trespassing, but they quickly convinced the government to buy the land from the Utes.) It is a hauntingly beautiful place. The mountains, the reddish earth, the blue-green river, the scent of wild roses blooming along a dry, rocky hillside. Layered over that, a sunken roof, shattered windows, crumbling buildings still filled with stuff dating from various decades. Tall wooden structures, once part of the mill, looming over the rushing river below an old dam. It all looks both precarious and settled—like the structures have grown into and out of the landscape, while the landscape, the river and rocks and scrub, has slowly begun to digest it.
I walked past an open mine shaft with the date 1926 etched above it. A wide exhalation of cold air flowed out of its dark mouth. I looked up at the cliff face, and suddenly I saw what my eyes hadn’t yet picked out of this complicated landscape: the mountain pocked with holes, all of them, like this one, breathing.
Artist and Scientist Presentations
You are invited to meet and hear the seven artists and seven scientists speak about their work, areas of expertise, and experiences as they relate the the Hardrock Revision Project!
July 17, 7:30pm Meet The Artists (First Four) Hannah Fries, Massachusetts poet and associate editor of Orion Magazine
Bland Hoke, Wyoming transdisciplinary artist and sculptor
Julia Lewandoski, Public historian, writer, and musician
Anna Macleod, Irish sculptor, curator, and environmental artist
July 19, 7:30pm, The the San Juan Mountains: a Dance of Rocks, Energy and Time. Come learn how geology, water, climate, life interact to create this mountain system
Rob Blair, Ph.D. has a degree in geology from the Colorado School of Mines, and is Professor emeritus of Fort Lewis College. He is the editor of Western San Juan Mountains: their geology, ecology and human history, and is the co-founder and president of the Mountain Studies Institute in Silverton, Colorado.
July 19, 8:30pm, Meet The Artists (Remaining 3 Team Artists)
Lydia Moyer, Videographer, Documentarian, And Educator
Becky , Landscape Architect From Manchester, England
Linda Wysong, Oregon Public Artist And Community Collaborator
July 20, 2:00pm, AMD&Art: How Art was used in a Coal Mine Reclamation
T. Allan Comp, Ph.D., holds a doctorate in history and leads the OSM/VISTA Team and Brownfields Initiatives at the Office of Surface Mining in the U.S. Department of the Interior. He founded AMD&ART, a non-profit that integrates the Arts and the Sciences in environmental remediation.
July 22, 7:30pm, Can - And Will - Western Communities Clean up Abandoned Mines? The experience of the people of Jamestown, CO, who resisted EPA intervention and found it to be difficult to do a stakeholder-initiated cleanup.
Joseph Ryan, Ph.D. is a Professor of Environmental Engineering at the University of Colorado and co-author of the Center for the American West’s Cleaning Up Abandoned Hardrock Mines in the West
July 22, 8:30pm, How’d We Get Here: A Story of Hardrock Mining and Its Aftermath in the American West
David Stiller, Ph.D., author of Wounding the West: Montana, Mining, and the Environment, is a hydrologist, geologist, water resources consultant, educator, nurseryman, and former executive director of the North Fork River Improvement District. He splits his time between Hotchkiss and Denver.
Ulay Mine Site
Grant Pound and Hardrock Revision Team. Grant is the co-founder and exectutive director of Colorado Art Ranch. He has a background in biology and art.
July 27, 3:00pm, The Latest Poop On Mine Reclamation: Reducing Acid Mine Drainage
Ronald Cohen, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Environmental Science and Engineering at the Colorado School of Mines, is an expert in the development and optimization of micro-biological treatment systems for mine drainage.
July 29, 7:30pm, Rock Rabbits: The Life Of The Pika
Chris Ray, Ph.D., is a researcher at the University of Colorado, studying threatened plants and animals. The author of many scientific papers, her role in most research collaborations is primarily analytical, focused on modeling other people’s data. However, she has conducted her own long-term research on the American pika, a “rock rabbit” that inhabits natural rock-piles and often colonizes the tailings of hard-rock mining operations. Her analyses have demonstrated that the pika’s recent decline in some locations can be explained by climate, and her models suggest that climate change will soon affect pikas everywhere, unless…the microclimate within a rock-pile can shelter pikas from changing atmospheric conditions.
Saturday, July 16, 2011
Greetings from beautiful Lake City!
Texas in Colorado
dinner under the moosehead
Wednesday, July 6, 2011
Schedule Update
Another update with more interviews, more advisor talks, and more site visits! Go to the Hardrock Revision Google Calendar for more details. Email catherine@coloradoartranch.org if you would like to be able to view the Google Calender.
Fri Jul 15 Resident Team Arrives in Denver
Sat Jul 16 Depart for Lake City early in the morning. Stop at Farmer’s Market in Gunnison. Arrive at Texan Resort in late afternoon.
Sun Jul 17
10am - 12pm History tour with Grant Houston
2pm Site Visit, Group hike
7:30pm - 10pm Meet the Artists (First Four) at Stigall Theater
Mon Jul 18
11am - 3pm Liz Francisco, Archaeologist
6pm - 7pm Dinner with Rob Blair-Moose
7:30pm - 9:30pm Rob Blair talk + Meet the Artists (Remaining Three) at Stigall Theater
Tue Jul 19
9:30am - 10:30am Interview Arlen Barksdale
6:30pm - 8:30pm Team Meeting at DIRT offices with Community Advisory
Committee
Wed Jul 20
8:30am - 9:30am Meeting with Commissioners
10:30am - 12pm Mine Tour with Allan Comp, PhD, Founder/Director AMD&ART
2pm - 3:30pm Allan Comp talk at Stigall Theater
Thu Jul 21
2pm - 6pm Joe Ryan, PhD, Environmental Engineering
6:30pm - 10:30pm Dave Stiller, hydrologist
Fri Jul 22
7:30pm - 9:30pm Joe Ryan and Dave Stiller talk at Stigall Theater
July 21-22 Lake Valley Land and Water Conference
Sat Jul 23 Day off
Sun Jul 24
Mon Jul 25
Tue Jul 26
9:30am - 10:30am Interview John Smith
11am – 12pm Interview Community member
8:30pm - 9:30pm Hardrock Revision talk at Stigall Theater
Wed Jul 27
9:30am – 12pm Interview Community members
3pm - 4:30pm Ron Cohen Talk at Stigall Theater
5:30pm - 6:30pm Carol Ozaki cooking 27-30
Thu Jul 28
9:30am – 10:30am Interview Community Member
11am – 12pm Interview Community Member
Fri Jul 29
9:30-10:30 Interview Grant Houston
11:00-12:00 Interview P. David Smith
2pm – 6pm Chris Ray
7:30pm - 9pm Chris Ray Talk at Stigall Theater
Sat Jul 30 Day off
Sun Jul 31
Mon Aug 1
9:30am - 10:30am Interview Community Member
11:00am-12:00pm Interview Community Member
1pm – 5pm Todd Bryan, Environmental Mediator
6:30pm - 8:30pm Team Meeting at DIRT offices with Community Advisory
Committee and Todd Bryan
Tue Aug 2
9:30am - 10:30am Interview Community Member
11:00am-12:00pm Interview Community Member
Wed Aug 3
9:30am - 10:30am Interview Community Member
11:00am-12:00pm Interview Community Member
Thu Aug 4 Team Ideation
Fri Aug 5 Team Ideation
Sat Aug 6 Day off
Sun Aug 7 Team Ideation
Mon Aug 8
12pm – 2pm Test ideas with survey group
6pm – 7:30pm Team meeting with Community Advisory Committee
Tue Aug 9
12pm – 2pm Test ideas with survey group.
7pm – 8pm Field talk in Silverton
Wed Aug 10 Prepare for Artposium
Thu Aug 11 Prepare for Artposium
Fri Aug 12 Prepare for Artposium
Sat Aug 13 9am – 5pm Artposium. Open to the public.
Sun Aug 14 Clean/Pack
Mon Aug 15 Team Departs Lake City
Fri Jul 15 Resident Team Arrives in Denver
Sat Jul 16 Depart for Lake City early in the morning. Stop at Farmer’s Market in Gunnison. Arrive at Texan Resort in late afternoon.
Sun Jul 17
10am - 12pm History tour with Grant Houston
2pm Site Visit, Group hike
7:30pm - 10pm Meet the Artists (First Four) at Stigall Theater
Mon Jul 18
11am - 3pm Liz Francisco, Archaeologist
6pm - 7pm Dinner with Rob Blair-Moose
7:30pm - 9:30pm Rob Blair talk + Meet the Artists (Remaining Three) at Stigall Theater
Tue Jul 19
9:30am - 10:30am Interview Arlen Barksdale
6:30pm - 8:30pm Team Meeting at DIRT offices with Community Advisory
Committee
Wed Jul 20
8:30am - 9:30am Meeting with Commissioners
10:30am - 12pm Mine Tour with Allan Comp, PhD, Founder/Director AMD&ART
2pm - 3:30pm Allan Comp talk at Stigall Theater
Thu Jul 21
2pm - 6pm Joe Ryan, PhD, Environmental Engineering
6:30pm - 10:30pm Dave Stiller, hydrologist
Fri Jul 22
7:30pm - 9:30pm Joe Ryan and Dave Stiller talk at Stigall Theater
July 21-22 Lake Valley Land and Water Conference
Sat Jul 23 Day off
Sun Jul 24
Mon Jul 25
Tue Jul 26
9:30am - 10:30am Interview John Smith
11am – 12pm Interview Community member
8:30pm - 9:30pm Hardrock Revision talk at Stigall Theater
Wed Jul 27
9:30am – 12pm Interview Community members
3pm - 4:30pm Ron Cohen Talk at Stigall Theater
5:30pm - 6:30pm Carol Ozaki cooking 27-30
Thu Jul 28
9:30am – 10:30am Interview Community Member
11am – 12pm Interview Community Member
Fri Jul 29
9:30-10:30 Interview Grant Houston
11:00-12:00 Interview P. David Smith
2pm – 6pm Chris Ray
7:30pm - 9pm Chris Ray Talk at Stigall Theater
Sat Jul 30 Day off
Sun Jul 31
Mon Aug 1
9:30am - 10:30am Interview Community Member
11:00am-12:00pm Interview Community Member
1pm – 5pm Todd Bryan, Environmental Mediator
6:30pm - 8:30pm Team Meeting at DIRT offices with Community Advisory
Committee and Todd Bryan
Tue Aug 2
9:30am - 10:30am Interview Community Member
11:00am-12:00pm Interview Community Member
Wed Aug 3
9:30am - 10:30am Interview Community Member
11:00am-12:00pm Interview Community Member
Thu Aug 4 Team Ideation
Fri Aug 5 Team Ideation
Sat Aug 6 Day off
Sun Aug 7 Team Ideation
Mon Aug 8
12pm – 2pm Test ideas with survey group
6pm – 7:30pm Team meeting with Community Advisory Committee
Tue Aug 9
12pm – 2pm Test ideas with survey group.
7pm – 8pm Field talk in Silverton
Wed Aug 10 Prepare for Artposium
Thu Aug 11 Prepare for Artposium
Fri Aug 12 Prepare for Artposium
Sat Aug 13 9am – 5pm Artposium. Open to the public.
Sun Aug 14 Clean/Pack
Mon Aug 15 Team Departs Lake City
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