Mill at the Camp Bird Mine, October 1940. Photograph by Russell Lee.High-grade gold ore specimen from the mineChalcopyrite-Quartz specimen from the Camp Bird mine, 600' Stope, 2100' Level. Size: 5.2 x 3.6 x 2.7 cm. Click and scroll down for an enlargement.
It was discovered by Thomas F. Walsh in 1896, and is (or was) owned by the Federal Resources Corp. The mine produced about 1.5 million troy ounces of gold, and 4 million troy ounces of silver, from 1896 to 1990.[1] At 2009 prices, Camp Bird's production would be worth over US$1.5 billion. Walsh sold the property for US$5.2 million in 1902. Walsh's daughter, Evalyn Walsh McLean, later purchased the Hope Diamond. Walsh died in 1909. His daughter Evalyn Walsh McLean devotes several chapters to the mine in her autobiography "Father Struck It Rich".
Camp Bird is named after the "Camp Birds", probably Gray Jays,[2] that ate many a miner's lunch.[3] Western Colorado native David Lavender related his experiences working at the Camp Bird Mine in the 1930s in his classic memoir One Man's West.
C.W. McCall sang "Way out in Colorado, in the Camp Bird Mine, down deep in the darkness, on level nine..."[4] The song moved the mine's founding to 1892 to make the rhyme work and added a ghost.
The Camp Bird Mine filed for a permit to resume mining in late 2007,[5] but remains inactive as of August 2008.[6] In 2012, the mine received permits to rehabilitate existing mine workings. [7]
In August 2017, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the State of Colorado signed an Administrative Order on Consent with Caldera Mineral Resources, which purchased the property out of bankruptcy. The Order specifies on-site erosion control "to prevent the downstream migration of contaminated soil", with work to be accomplished in two phases. Phase 1, the EPA’s Time-Critical Removal Action, was started in August 2017, and was scheduled for completion in October 2018. [8]
The San Juan Mountains is a high and rugged mountain range in the Rocky Mountains in southwestern Colorado and northwestern New Mexico. The area is highly mineralized and figured in the gold and silver mining industry of early Colorado. Major towns, all old mining camps, include Creede, Lake City, Silverton, Ouray, and Telluride. Large scale mining has ended in the region, although independent prospectors still work claims throughout the range. The last large scale mines were the Sunnyside Mine near Silverton, which operated until late in the 20th century and the Idarado Mine on Red Mountain Pass that closed down in the 1970s. Famous old San Juan mines include the Camp Bird and Smuggler Union mines, both located between Telluride and Ouray.
The Colorado Mineral Belt (CMB) is an area of ore deposits from the La Plata Mountains in Southwestern Colorado to near the middle of the state at Boulder, Colorado and from which over 25 million troy ounces of gold were extracted beginning in 1858. The belt is a "northeast-striking zone defined by: a Proterozoic shear zone system ; a suite of Laramide-aged plutons and related ore deposits ; a major gravity low ; low-crustal velocities; and high heat flow ." Mining districts include:
San Miguel County is one of the 64 counties of the U.S. state of Colorado. As of the 2020 census, the population was 8,072. The county seat is Telluride. The county is named for the San Miguel River.
San Juan County is one of the 64 counties of the U.S. state of Colorado. As of the 2020 census, the population was 705, making it the least populous county in Colorado. The county seat and the only incorporated municipality in the county is Silverton. The county name is the Spanish language name for "Saint John", the name Spanish explorers gave to a river and the mountain range in the area. With a mean elevation of 11,240 feet (3426 meters), San Juan County is the highest county in the United States.
Ouray County is a county located in the U.S. state of Colorado. As of the 2020 census, the population was 4,874. The county seat is Ouray. Because of its rugged mountain topography, Ouray County is also known as the Switzerland of America.
Ouray is a home rule municipality that is the county seat of Ouray County, Colorado, United States. The city population was 1,000 as of the 2010 census. The Ouray Post Office has the ZIP Code 81427. Ouray's climate, natural alpine environment, and scenery has earned it the nickname, "Switzerland of America".
Yankee Boy Basin is an alpine basin in Ouray County, southwestern Colorado. It is in the San Juan Mountains, protected within Uncompahgre National Forest.
The San Juan Skyway Scenic and Historic Byway is a 236-mile (380 km) All-American Road, National Forest Scenic Byway, and Colorado Scenic and Historic Byway located in Dolores, La Plata, Montezuma, San Juan, and San Miguel counties, Colorado, USA. The byway forms a loop in southwestern Colorado traversing the heart of the San Juan Mountains. The San Juan Skyway reaches its zenith at Red Mountain Pass at elevation 11,018 feet (3,358 m). Mesa Verde National Park was one of the origonal UNESCO World Heritage Sites. The Silverton Historic District and the Telluride Historic District are National Historic Landmarks.
Imogene Pass is a 13,114 ft (3,997 m) high mountain pass in the San Juan Mountains in the southwest part of the US state of Colorado.
The Idarado Mine was a mining operation in the San Juan Mountains of Ouray County, Colorado near the now-ghost town of Guston, producing primarily lead, silver and zinc along with lesser amounts of gold and copper. The mine is within the Sneffels-Red Mountain-Telluride mining district. The remains of the operation are visible from the Million Dollar Highway, north of Red Mountain Pass, between Ouray and Silverton, Colorado. The tunnels of the Idarado extend some 5 miles (8 km) west under 13,000 foot mountains to the Pandora Mill near Telluride, a trip of more than 60 miles (100 km) by highway.
Thomas Francis Walsh was an Irish-American miner who discovered one of the largest gold mines in America.
Gold mining in Colorado, a state of the United States, has been an industry since 1858. It also played a key role in the establishment of the state of Colorado.
The Castle Dome Mountains are a mountain range in Yuma County, Arizona, within the Kofa National Wildlife Refuge. Castle Dome Peak, the high point of the range, is a prominent butte and distinctive landmark. The peak is 3,776 feet (1,151 m) high, and is located at 33°05′04″N114°08′36″W. Castle Dome was named by American soldiers at old Fort Yuma in the 1880s. Early Spanish explorers called the same peak Cabeza de Gigante, "Giant's Head."
The Cripple Creek & Victor Gold Mine, formerly and historically the Cresson Mine, is an active gold mine located near the town of Victor, in the Cripple Creek mining district in the US state of Colorado. The richest gold mine in Colorado history, it is the only remaining significant producer of gold in the state, and produced 322,000 troy ounces of gold in 2019, and reported 3.45 million troy ounces of Proven and Probable Reserves as at December 31, 2019. It was owned and operated by AngloGold Ashanti through its subsidiary, the Cripple Creek & Victor Gold Mining Company (CC&V), until 2015, when it sold the mine to Newmont Mining Corporation.
Camp Bird is an unincorporated community in Ouray County, Colorado, United States. It lies between the present towns of Ouray and Telluride. Camp Bird is west of Thistledown and reached by CO Road 361.
Sneffels was a town in Ouray County, Colorado, United States named after Mount Sneffels. It lay west of Camp Bird.
Walsh-McLean House is a Gilded Age mansion in the Dupont Circle neighborhood of Washington, D.C., located at 2020 Massachusetts Avenue NW. Built in 1901, it is now the Embassy of Indonesia.
Potosi Peak is a 13,786-foot-elevation mountain summit located in Ouray County of Colorado, United States. It is situated five miles southwest of the community of Ouray, on land managed by Uncompahgre National Forest. It is part of the Sneffels Range which is a subset of the San Juan Mountains, which in turn is part of the Rocky Mountains. It is situated west of the Continental Divide, 2.2 miles south of Whitehouse Mountain, and 2.5 miles southeast of Mount Sneffels. Potosi ranks as the 113th-highest peak in Colorado, and the fourth-highest in the Sneffels Range. Recreation enthusiasts heading for Yankee Boy Basin traverse below the southern base of the mountain. Topographic relief is significant as the southeast aspect rises 4,000 feet (1,220 meters) above the Camp Bird Mine in approximately 1.5 mile. The mining activity in the immediate area produced significant amounts of gold and silver. "Potosi" in Quechuan language translates to "great wealth.". The mountain's name, which has been officially adopted by the United States Board on Geographic Names, was in use before 1899 when Henry Gannett published it in A Dictionary of Altitudes in the United States.
United States Mountain is a 13,036-foot-elevation mountain summit located in Ouray County of southwest Colorado, United States. It is situated six miles southwest of the community of Ouray, on land managed by Uncompahgre National Forest. It is part of the Sneffels Range which is a subset of the San Juan Mountains, which in turn is part of the Rocky Mountains. It is set west of the Continental Divide, 2.3 miles south of Potosi Peak, and 2.5 miles southeast of Stony Mountain. Recreation enthusiasts heading for Yankee Boy Basin traverse below the northern base of the mountain. Topographic relief is significant as the north aspect rises 3,300 feet (1,000 meters) above the Camp Bird Mine in approximately one mile. Mining activity in the immediate area produced significant amounts of gold and silver. The Hidden Treasure Mine is a gold mine located on the south slope at 11,759-feet elevation.
Chicago Peak is a 13,385-foot-elevation mountain summit located on the shared boundary of San Miguel County with Ouray County in southwest Colorado, United States. It is situated four miles (6.4 km) east of the community of Telluride, on land managed by Uncompahgre National Forest. It is part of the Sneffels Range which is a subset of the San Juan Mountains, which in turn are part of the Rocky Mountains. It is set above the ghost town of Tomboy, one mile (1.6 km) south of United States Mountain, and one mile northwest of Imogene Pass. Topographic relief is significant as the east aspect rises 2,000 feet (610 meters) above Imogene Basin in approximately one mile, and the west aspect rises 2,000 feet above Savage Basin in less than one mile. Mining activity in the immediate area produced significant amounts of gold and silver.
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