Cripple Creek Mining Machinery

by Jon Burch Photography

Title

Cripple Creek Mining Machinery

Artist

Jon Burch Photography

Medium

Photograph - Digital Capture/textured

Description

Gold mining in Colorado has been an industry since 1858, and played a key role in the establishment of the state. Explorer Zebulon Pike heard a report of gold in South Park, present-day Park County, Colorado in 1807. Gold discoveries in Colorado began around Denver, traced the placer gold to its source in the mountains west of the city, then followed the Colorado Mineral Belt in a southwest direction across the state to its terminus in the San Juan Mountains.
The Cripple Creek district, far from the mineral belt, was one of the last gold districts to be discovered. Although it is known as the "Pike's Peak Gold Rush" because Pike's Peak was a landmark visible 100 miles out on the plains, the Cripple Creek district is located a few miles southwest of Pike's Peak and was one of the most productive gold-mining district in Colorado but was not discovered until 1891. The towns of Cripple Creek and Victor were established to serve the mines and miners who worked there. Among the principal mines were the Mollie Kathleen Gold Mine at Cripple Creek and Stratton's Independence mine, at Victor, Colorado. Gold production up to 1990 was 21,000,000 troy ounces worth about $17 billion at 2008 prices, making it the most productive gold-producing district in Colorado, and the third-most productive in the United States after Carlin, Nevada and Lead, South Dakota.
The Cripple Creek & Victor Gold Mining Company formed in 1976 as a joint venture to restart mining in the district. From 1976 to 1989, the company produced 150,000 troy ounces of gold by reprocessing tailings and mining two small surface deposits. The Cripple Creek & Victor Gold Mining Company began the first large-scale open pit mining in the district in 1994. The Cresson mine open pits are located a few miles north of Victor. Mining continues today under the ownership of AngloGold Ashanti, producing about 330,000 troy ounces of gold annually, valued at about $270,000,000 in 2008 prices. The district covers a Miocene volcanic caldera filled with quartz latite porphyry. The ore bodies are veins and replacement zones within the quartz latite. The ore minerals are gold and silver tellurides, with accessory fluorite.

Original photograph made on high speed Ektachrome. The image was then digitized and oil and texture processes were applied.

Image copyright 2013 Jon Burch Photography

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June 25th, 2013

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