Leadville Mine Ruins in Monochrome

Mine Ruins, #11. Leadville, Colorado, 2016

I had always thought the old mining areas above Leadville were all on “No Trespassing – Private Property” land. Not so. There are ruins you can explore.

Some common sense tips:

1. There are still plenty of “Private Property” areas up there–don’t trespass if you see signs.
2. Some structures are rather precarious (and full of rat shit, wood splinters, rusty sharp things, etc.) so if you enter it is at your own risk.
3. Watch for nails sticking out of all the boards scattered around the ground. These might be easy to step on if you aren’t paying attention. (Tetanus shot up-to-date?)
4. Don’t take stuff from the ruins. Leave interesting found items for others to find and enjoy.
5. Obviously, don’t deface or further destroy any of these structures…and don’t litter.
6. Don’t play around in the soil or water. The greater Leadville area is a Superfund Site due to all the toxic crap around, including arsenic and lead.

From Leadville, try CR1 and CR3 uphill to the east. Explore and see what you find!

Some images from the area…

The Leaning Tower of ore chutes:

Mine Ruins, #1. Leadville, Colorado, 2016

Many of the structures lend themselves well to the creation of abstract (and chaotic) images:

Mine Ruins, #2. Leadville, Colorado, 2016

A closer look at the ore chutes used to load the wagons. The ore would then be taken down the mountain for further processing:

Mine Ruins, #3. Leadville, Colorado, 2016

Here, a trestle still hangs precariously up in the Colorado sky. Small ore cars could be loaded up at the mine itself then sent directly by rail to the chutes:

Mine Ruins, #4. Leadville, Colorado, 2016

A larger view of the disintegrating trestle leading to the ore chute:

Mine Ruins, #5. Leadville, Colorado, 2016

In many mining areas like this, the entire hillside was stripped of trees for use as fuel, or as supporting timbers within the mines, or for building other necessary structures. Note the many old, grey, tree stumps that were left behind:

Mine Ruins, #6. Leadville, Colorado, 2016

The next two photographs were attempts at some more storytelling/abstract images:

Mine Ruins, #7. Leadville, Colorado, 2016

Mine Ruins, #8. Leadville, Colorado, 2016

In many areas, the ground was pockmarked with exploratory craters. It reminded me of what I saw once upon visiting the Verdun battlefield in France:

Mine Ruins, #9. Leadville, Colorado, 2016

This next building looks like it was a house at one time. Inside, though, was a brick structure of some kind–a pizza (bread) oven? A kiln? A smelter??? In a nearby building we found scraps of an old Denver Post newspaper that seems to date from the 1920s (we are still trying to sleuth-out the exact date based on the few clues we have from the clippings):

Mine Ruins, #12. Leadville, Colorado, 2016