The Burleigh Tunnel at Silver Plume
“This was a one-hundred-ton mill, 100 tons of rock to be crushed and refined during an 8-hour shift. The boss was pushing into the heavy crushers. Asking for a job, I got one right now. I took over. It was only a few days before he put me to work sorting ore on a moving belt.”
Rollers: “The heavy rollers. The mixed ore was run through the heavy rollers before being sent to the concentration tables. These tables were leaned two ways so the concentrate would tend to slant on the table at an angle, thus allowing the ore to separate according to its specific gravity. All their ore, of course, was automatically being washed, and fell into cups according to their specific weight of the rock. One rubber belt table took care of the very fine ore that floated on the surface tension of water.”
Broken cable: “A new job was attained and accepted. The bucket with cable had five men (in it) and started down the shaft. At the bottom of the shaft (250ft) the bucket filled with ore, and then hoisted to surface just as the trap doors closed. The cable broke. Wood splinters began falling. Finally, we all climbed out of the shaft. A brand-new cable was quickly ordered. We received it the next day out of Denver.”
The Burleigh Mine at Silver Plume
“Was doing some work outside. A twelve to fourteen foot by 8-inch piece of railroad tie was being pulled up the side of the mountain, a steep slope. I never allowed myself to permit the other man to pull ahead of me. That was a simple question of leverage in physics. The poor fellow was cursed for not keeping up with me. He never knew why.”
“The company surveyed the lower tunnel with the idea of tapping the bottom shaft of the seven-hundred-thirty-foot mine at the bottom. The shaft of 730 mine was full of water. Work was begun to drill or tap the water so as to drain all the water in the shaft and open the mine for further work. The survey missed the water at the bottom of the shaft. Probably a good thing for all the workers might have been drowned or killed by the very high-water pressure.”
Moffat Road Mine
“The Moffat Road mine was under construction, driving tunnels through the mountains. Forest Head, a school friend of mine, and myself found a job here. We slept with a tent in there were fourteen Mexicans. The Greek and Italians slept elsewhere. They always seemed to be arguing. One day a Mexican came in with his guitar. All the Mexican men stopped working until midnight when all the Mexicans went to work. The size of the Railroad Tunnel was sixteen feet by twenty-five feet. The gas engine chugged along all night.”
1908- “With the arrival of my School of Mines Pardner (partner), a student companion and myself latched in a small two-room cabin beside the railroad track in Victor. Water was ten cents a bucket. One morning while going to work, a drunk was sliding down the dump of the railroad track. He awoke and slid further down as I passed by. That evening, being Sunday my pardner and I took a walk downtown. Of course, the first thing we saw was a couple a more miners at a gambling table. The silver dollars were piled pretty high. Each player had his revolver handy. We decided we had seen enough so we moved on.”
Workday:
“We had dinner pails with a long cylinder tube. We did not drink coffee, but we took a glass of milk and other food and filled the bucket with breakfast foods and went to work. At noon all men were hoisted to the surface to eat. Time allowed, one-half hour.”
“One time, in an open slope on a 500-foot level, several men were working in a large room where the muck or broken rock ore was sighted about fifteen by eight foot deep and had an open space through the center. One day we had all been hoisted to eat dinner, but on returning after dinner we found this open space had covered in and filled with new rock. No one was killed or buried. I was working a little to one side of the fill when a rock about a foot across fell within about four feet of me. I quickly reached the shaft and worked elsewhere.”
“At this point a large and high hole was completely square, five-foot square setting each way. All this was for safety.”
“On the five-hundred-foot level the slope also extended all the way from 500-foot level to the 1,000-foot level, open all the way, but veins were quite irregular. At the 1000-foot level I worked in their immense opening. Could hear small pebbles coming down occasionally. We then run quickly to the leaning wall until all the pebbles quit coming down.”
“One day we were looking for a job; the cage was coming down from the 1200-foot level with twelve dead men. Something had gone wrong with the hoist, hence the cage could only be raised and lowered. It finally hit the bottom killing all men. Apparently, the brakes were not working, or some control had gone wrong.”
“While working in the 500-foot level of the mine, one would quickly run for protection from falling rock. The dump handcars full of ore were removed from the chute and pushed to the shaft while another car was filled with ore and rock, etc... These cars were all hoisted to the surface and emptied.
All this was at the gold mine at Victor. I could fill a car and run it out of the shaft for hoisting. Finally, the boss said, “I have other levels to hoist. You can go sit down and wait until I come after you.” I did but started to explore the opposite tunnel but soon returned because the candle was beginning to burn low. I quickly returned to the shaft for air.”
“One day I stepped off the cage, a student I knew was looking for me. I knew he was from Ft. Collins A&M College. His father was there, and we talked a while. He wished to know when I was leaving so he could get another man. He was friendly and the mine boss of this whole mine.” O.G.B.