August Report

Well, here it is almost the middle of August, and I am not sure if the rain is ever going to ease off. July was the rainiest in 20 years, and we have had some magnificent lightning storms pass over the cabin. A number of people are killed every year in Colorado by lightning, so one has to watch the weather closely when up on the high peaks. After Florida, more people are killed by lightning in Colorado than any other state. It all has to do with the severe weather that is generated when cold mountain air collides with the warm humid air of the flatlands.

The locals are not happy about the wet weather. It not only drives out the tourists, but at 8500 feet the summer is short, and the locals need all the sun they can get.

NEDERLAND

Because I live in the middle of one of the richest gold producing areas in the US, I am reading about mining history. One thing that you learn is that discoveries in a remote part of a mountain range can change the whole world. Here is an example:

Four miles away is the town of Nederland. It boasts a population of about 1,000. Currently it’s main claim to fame is a rusty steam shovel that was once used to build the Panama Canal. It is also the gateway to the nearby Indian Peaks Wilderness area, and home of the Frozen Dead Guy Festival. But Nederland’s history is much more interesting.

In the 1860s, Nederland was just a cluster of small cabins on a homestead. Then in a high mountain valley, only four miles from the Continental Divide, a boom camp grew. The reason: silver.

This strike was called the Caribou Mine. It was named after the elk that roamed the area, which the miners mistook for caribou. At its peak, it was the richest silver mine in the world. The mine, which gave Nederland its start in life, lasted for 35 years. Today it is a ghost.

In 1890 a gold strike was made in Eldora Valley, west of town. Unfortunately Eldora’s gold boom had a short history. Surface veins yielded high profits, but as greater depths were reached all they found was low grade ore. That is the nature of gold ore, huge variations in quality from foot to foot.

In 1900, a semi-precious metal was waiting to be discovered…a rare metal that would make Nederland world famous. Kicked aside by gold seekers as a worthless nuisance, tungsten lay in plain sight on the mountain slopes. Nederland happened to sit on the edge of a small area, four miles by nine, called the tungsten lode. The area lacked gold and silver, but contained millions of dollars worth of rare tungsten.

Tungsten, alloyed with steel, produces a metal that holds its strength in high temperatures. Because tungsten has the highest melting point of all metals, it makes the steel much tougher. It is a metal particularly adapted to internal combustion engines. Automobile manufacturers found that cylinders, pistons and rings were far superior if made from tungsten. For decades almost all of the tungsten mined in the world came from tiny Nederland, and turned the automobile from a hobby into a sophisticated form of transportation.

GOLD HILL

In 1859 gold was discovered at a place eventually called Gold Hill, which is close to where I live. Last weekend the locals put on a gold mine tour and a big crowd showed up. It was lead by an old-timer who spent 25 years in the mines. We went to some of the original diggings and then visited the Hidee Mine, which was the last hard rock gold mine operating in Colorado. When a miner makes a claim, they have to give it a name. This mine was named after the miner’s favorite “saloon girl.”

After a 700 foot walk into the mine, we finally reached the “pay streak” of gold mixed with silver, lead and pyrite. In the photo you will see a one ton ore car. This ore needs to be crushed, and then pulverized (to the consistency of flour if possible) to get the gold out. An average yield for a ton of ore is 2 ounces of gold, about the size of a walnut.

Of course the miners always hoped to find nuggets in the streams, but that payed out years ago. The largest gold nugget ever discovered is from Australia. Some guy found it in his back yard with a metal detector. It is not round, but flattened out. About the size of a long clipboard, it is now on display at the Gold Nugget Casino in Fabulous Las Vegas.

Twenty miles south is the old mining town of Central City. It was founded during the Pike’s Peak Gold Rush and produced so much gold that it was named the “Richest Square Mile on Earth.” The US is still a big producer of gold. We are number four after Australia, South Africa and China. Most of the this gold comes from huge open pit mines in Nevada.

What most people don’t realize is how incredibly rare gold is. If you took all the gold mined by all of the civilizations the world over, it would not even fill two Olympic sized swimming pools. The largest gold consuming nation is India. There, the custom is to buy gold and allow local jewelers to mold it into beautiful necklaces that the ladies wear with pride.

Around the cabin where I live are a lot of old prospecting holes, and some deep shafts that you would not want to fall into. As I take my daily hike, I walk across, literally, millions of dollars worth of gold. This gold, however, will never be mined due to environmental restrictions. Now, instead of miners, the area is populated by deer, elk, fox, coyote, mountain lion and, of course, bear.

BEAR REPORT

Life in the Mountains…June…..Sandy was chased by a bear, a couple of days ago.

Mitch, Sandy and I live in a cabin on top of a ridge. A couple of days ago, Sandy was taking a walk along the stream below our cabin. She was walking with Clauda, her dog. Clauda suddenly started barking, and ran down the trail. She had seen a sow bear and her two cubs. While Clauda approached the mother bear, the cubs went up a tree.

Then what happened is what always happens when a dog chases down a bear. The dog suddenly realizes it is going to be killed. It stops barking, turns around and runs back to the human. Clauda ran back to Sandy, and Sandy began running back up the trail. They were both chased by the bear. The next time Sandy looked back, the bear had returned to her cubs. Sandy returned to the trailhead with a pounding heart, and an understandable reluctance to return to the area. Usually black bears are not aggressive, but this was different. First of all, the bear had recently come out of hibernation and was hungry and irritable. Secondly it was a sow with cubs, which is always a dangerous proposition.

Bears, and even mountain lions, are not an uncommon sight in the area. Bears will raid the garbage piles, and the lions come into town for easy snacks of house pets. Any pet left out after dark is a potential meal. Sometimes the loud growling of the lions will keep townies awake at night.

I first came to Colorado last May to visit my friend Harv. 35 years ago we shared a cabin in the area, while I attended the University of Colorado. When I first arrived, Harv advised me to lock my car every night. Not because there was a problem with burglary, but because bears had learned how to open car doors. Then they climb in the car looking for food, while the door shuts. Being trapped in the car annoys the bear, who might tear up the interior, or bust out a window. Cars have been totaled in this way. People have been known to find a bear sleeping in their car when they start to work in the morning.

UPDATE: Bear in the Car

Mitch was over at his son’s mountain house last weekend, and decided to spend the night. Unfortunately he had forgotten to roll up the car window, and during the night a bear crawled in. There were distinct muddy paw prints on the side of the door and inside the car. The bear ate a bag of dog treats that was in the back seat. Besides tearing up the upholstery a bit with its claws, there was no further damage.

In September I will be leaving Colorado. I will drive first to Jackson Hole Wyoming to visit a kayaking friend. Then I will drive to eastern Oregon. My old school chum, Marc, has rented a fishing cabin close to Bend. Marc and I did a lot of skiing together while attending the University of Colorado. When we got to the ski area, Marc would eat a bunch of speed, and I would spend the rest of the day trying to keep up with him. Marc has been an economics professor at Ohio State for the last 25 years. After Oregon I will visit friends in the Seattle area before returning to California.

So that is what is going on in the mountains above Boulder Colorado……

Cheers Rob