Britney & Bob + 3: Colorado Trip: Mollie Kathleen Mine

**Update: Sorry, Bob posted this for me before I was done. Now it has all the gold mine facts.**

This was one of the coolest things I have ever done. I not only had fun, but I learned so much about gold mining. Beware this post may contain a lot of gold mine facts.

After a beautiful morning at Garden of the Gods we ate lunch at a barbecue place. It was delicious and the way it was served was fun. We picked it up school lunch style, then we ate it off of paper that we put over pick-nick tables.

From there we took a beautiful drive to the Mollie Kathleen Gold Mine. This was one of the highlights of the trip for me.

First, here are some pictures out side of the mine:

Old Mine Entrance

(An old tractor the ran the saw mill behind the mine.)

Now for the amazing, scary, amazing part. We got into this little box, the size of a refrigerator; 4 adults and 5 children. We descended 1,000 ft down, bumping and rattling as we went. It was a bit terrifying. The kids did great for the most part. Hannalee didn't like the noise it made.

(Getting into the "box." I love the sign!)

The whole mountain is made out of granite so the walls and tunnels in the mine are very sturdy with no large chunks of falling rocks (that is what I was imagining).

(The mine, 1,000 feet below ground)

Our tour guide was amazing. He was so knowledgeable. And the awesome thing about the tour was that he showed us how all the tools worked. First he showed us how they used a simple chisel and sledge hammer to make holes for the dynamite to go in. One guy would squat down holding a big chisel over his shoulder while a second man would use a sledge hammer and hammer right behind the guys head. The tour guide said, "Yes, that was dangerous for the chisel holder. But even more dangerous in the type of lighting they had." He then turned off the electric lights and only a candle type light was on. It was so dim, I'm surprised the man with the sledge hammer ever hit the target and not the other guys head. In this chisel and sledgehammer process, they could only go 6 ft per day.

Later they developed air pressure tools like the picture below. It could hammer trough the rock much faster. The tour guide even turned on the jackhammer to show us. It was SO loud!

After they dynamite, they have to get rid of the slag (un-need rock). At first they used shovels and put them into carts that were pulled by donkeys. The donkeys lived their whole lives in the mine, never seeing daylight. But after President Roosevelt visited the mine and declared it inhumane, the donkeys were sent to the surface. They invented air powered machines.

(This machine picked up slag and dumped it into the cart behind it. The tour guide started it up and showed us how it worked.)

Did you know that gold (mined this way) is found in "veins." The gold is found around a purple mineral called amethyst. That is usually how they find the gold. The gold is not in chunks like you see in movies. Instead it is in tiny flecks. In order for a mine to be profitable, there must be 1/4 oz of gold for ever 1 ton of rock mined. They send the rock with gold flecks in it to a mill where they melt the rock until the gold "oozes" out.

(A purple streak right in the middle of the picture.)

(Once they find the gold vein they start mining up ward, following the vein.)

We got to ride on an air powered train.

(Tayo refused to wear his hat. Thankfully, no rocks fell ;0)

We also got to try out a rail bike:

After the mine closed down for gold mining and went strictly into the tourism business, the owners decided to make another tunnel to make the tour longer. Only 5 feet into the tunnel they struck the densest gold vein in the whole mine. It had been sitting only 5 feet away all these years. They have not mined it.