July 2009

Back to the cabin from our camping trip and looking forward to the arrival of our family for wedding of Eleanor and Martin in Estes Park. We get to spend time with Christopher and Aspen our Colorado grandchildren and that is always fun. Christopher does not really remember us from last year but is beginning to thaw a little again. Ice cream really helps.
The hummingbird season has begun and we have put out our feeder on the back deck. For the first time we get a visit from the rufous hummingbird. This is one of the smallest and also the most aggressive. Time not spent feeding is time spent guarding the food source and fighting with any others that arrive. The displays of flying are amazing and it can all happen very close to you as though you were just part of the scenery! Gradually the other species are taking over and being more co-operative about sharing. The rufous disappears.

Grandson Christopher enjoying an icecream
Our rufous hummingbird keeps watch on our feeder
Resting at the feeder

Before we know it Gail and Tom want to go camping and fishing again at Turquoise Lake near Leadville. We never need much encouragement. The highlight of the trip was to drive partway up Mosquito Pass in the Jeep until it became too uncomfortable for Angie’s neck on this rocky and rutted 4x4 road. After taking in the views and having lunch we set out to explore the old mine workings in one of the richest mining districts in the USA. None are active now but if the price of silver jumped?
Pollution is the terrible legacy of all this profit and the companies who owned the mines are mostly bankrupt long ago. There is a constant struggle to keep base and heavy metals out of the rivers and also cyanide which was used in the extraction processes once the ore had been pulverised and a mercury amalgam made. Mining was very, very dangerous and there were no safety precautions in most cases. Life was cheap and death very close by.

A view to the north west from the Mosquito Pass road
Evidence of mineworkings is everywhere
Turquoise Lake and the Hagerman Pass seen from the mine workings across the Arkensaw River valley
These buildings were for loading ore on to trains
The zig-zag road goes up to Mosquito Pass
Electricity was rapidly introduced to Leadville and the mine workings when it became feasable and replaced steam
Another loading shed
Serious winding gear at one of the bigger mines shows evidence of the steam/ electric conversion
The colour of the spoil heaps is due to iron pyrites or fools gold
Would you want this finding its way into your water supply?

We toured for miles over old tracks and were astounded by the scope of the old mine workings. They have a certain interest as industrial relics of an important era but the damage caused by them is irreparable. Every so often one encounters a very brightly coloured pool of toxic materials which inevitably find their way into the ground water

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