Minnesota Mines history

Ben Dugan
GCN Historical Writer

Empire - Just over the hill from the Little Kingdom of Gilpin

  During the summer of 1859, a year after John Gregory’s gold discovery in May 1858 in Mountain City, the mining camp of Nevada (Nevadaville) was established. The Burroughs Lode was discovered soon after Gregory’s discovery and was situated on Quartz Hill in the Nevada Mining District. The mining camp of Empire was established in 1860 by two miners from Nevada seeking new diggings. These early boom days were good to both mining districts and each was the site of much mining activity.

  Pioneer James Peck arrived in Denver from Chicago and made his way to the exciting camp of Nevada in 1861. He was hired as manager of the Whitcomb mill located in Nevada (located across from the Masonic Hall in the field west behind the post office). After a short time he moved on to the new mining camp west of Idaho Springs, Trail Creek. There was strong Confederate sentiment there, and James Peck, being a Northern Industrialist from Chicago, leaned toward the North and Union sentiments. The new mining camp of Valley City (Empire) also had strong Union ties.

  James Peck built a modest house in Empire with his son, Frank, in 1862. His home was later expanded into a stage stop and Hotel. The Peck House later became an important landmark in the small community.

  The placer mines and lode mines had run into more complex ore. Empire was established as a supply location for the mining center of (Upper Empire) or North Empire located on Silver Mountain along Lyon Creek.

  Lode mining in North Empire was sporadic and the focus was primarily on placer mining until 1875. Technology and improved mining methods brought a mining boom in the late 1890’s that lasted for a few years into the early part of the new century. Many mines abounded in North Empire including the Conqueror, Gold Fissure, James Peck’s Gold Dirt, The Aorta Tunnel, The Rifle Group, The Cleopatra Group, The Gold Bug, The Atlantic, The Comet (and Comet extension), Crown Prince, Tenth Legion, Rosencrans, Harrison, Silver Mountain Mine, and many others. The Badger Gold Mining Company built a mill on the old Knickerbocker Mill-site near the D.J. Ball Placer along Clear Creek in Empire in 1896. The Steel, Bristol, and Company owned the Beam Converting Gold and Silver Process for processing the ore, which was utilized by the Badger Mill. The Badger property shipped its ore to the mill from North Empire until it burned in 1898, and was never rebuilt. The Atlantic Mill was built near the Badger Mill site in 1905 and processed ore from the Atlantic, Crown Prince, and Comet mines in North Empire. The site of these mills is below the post office on Clear Creek on the west side of Empire where the Silver Spruce trailer court is currently located. The Kistler Mill located near the Denver City Lode also burned in 1938 and was never rebuilt. The Denver City Lode being located north of the water tanks.

  The old Atlantic, Crown Prince, Comet, Rifle and Cleopatra Groups were bought in 1934 by the D.A.Odell Mines Company with offices located in Denver. The price of gold had risen to $35 an ounce making the mining and processing of low-grade ores profitable. Initially ore from this conglomeration of mines was milled at the 100-ton Gold Dirt flotation mill, and then in a 100-ton cyanide plant that was constructed in 1935 near the main adit. This cyanide plant was later expanded to a 300-ton per day capacity allowing the milling of over 10,000 tons of ore per year. The company was incorporated as the Minnesota Mines and was backed by the Cream of Wheat Corporation in Minneapolis. Charles Clifford was the mine manager and a member of the family that owned Cream of Wheat Corp. He lived in the house next to Mad Creek, west of Empire near the Glen Arbor Lodge, which operated from 1914 to the 1950’s.

  There was a good auto road to the mine and mill and the concentrate from the milling process was trucked to Empire junction and shipped via the Colorado & Southern Railway to the ASARCO Smelter in Leadville. After the demise of the railroad it was trucked to Leadville. In 1939 there was a large building housing a 300-ton daily capacity mill, equipped with ball mills, flotation, and concentration tables, as well as a cyanide system which operated continuously by electric power. There were 100 men employed at this time with 70 underground, 10 on the surface and 20 in the mill. The main adit was developed by the Crown Prince tunnel, 3,000 feet long with a vertical shaft 250 feet deep, and an incline shaft 300 feet deep. A hoist had been installed and there was development with crosscuts, drifts, raises, and an impressive stope ranging from 30 to 70 feet above the drift level. The ore is mined by the filled stope and mill-hole system and the open stope and floor system; square sets are used in some places. The mine is connected with the surface in several places for exit and ventilation, other than the portal of the Crown Prince tunnel. There was also a vertical shaft that is 250 deep and an electric hoist utilizing a one-inch wire rope that was used to hoist skips which, when fully loaded, weighed 4,000 pounds.

  The Minnesota Mines, Inc. was a huge producer during its years of production dominating Clear Creek County mining activity. Clear Creek County ranked second in gold production in 1936 due mainly to the volume of ore processed at Minnesota Mines. This was also true for the next several years until U.S. Government order L-208 in 1942 made gold mining a non-essential industry allowing valuable explosives to be used for the war effort. Most of the mines in Clear Creek County were shut down. L-208 was lifted in July, 1945, and the Minnesota Mines was leased and operations continued until 1948.

  After years of sitting abandoned, the Minnesota Mines fell into neglect and the area was unsafe. The 10’ x 8’ wide shaft was fully exposed and full of water in addition to a nearby adit draining acidic water, Another adit had a winze (a vertical shaft angled off of the main tunnel) 30 feet inside of the opening that was approximately 80 feet in depth and was almost impossible to see as it was off to one side where there was no incoming light, The edge of the winze was smooth and sloping, and was easy to slip on. There were ladders and timbers that were easy to trip over and before it was cleaned up, there was evidence of people camping in the tunnels, The Clear Creek County Sheriff’s Posse would gather at the Minnesota Mines site and fire rounds into the tailings. The tailings located next to the mill were quite extensive and looked like rolling craters on the moon

  Heavy rains would fill Lyon Creek (named for James Lyon; an early mining developer) with tailings from the Minnesota Mines which would eventually flood and deposit tailings on US 40, 1.5 miles below in the Town of Empire. The EPA began looking at the site in 1991, and the CDPHE also looked at the site in 1994-1995. Following the evaluation of data regarding the site. it was determined to be a non-time critical site and removal of tailings and general clean up was to be initiated. Engineer’s construction estimates were approximately $1.3 million for cleaning up the estimated 75,000 cubic yards of tailings, in addition to 20,000 – 30,000 cubic yards of waste mine rock. These tailings and waste rock are typically contaminated with heavy metals such as arsenic, lead, copper, and zinc.

  Actual removal of the tailings took place in 1996 which included the installation of a mine shaft cover system, installation of a mine adit discharge diversion system, excavation, soil segregation, loading, and transportation of soil for cover from borrow sites, construction of a soil cover over the remaining mine tailings, and construction of permanent storm water controls.

  Visiting this site today is not the same as it was in the past. There are still remnants of the old powder house and the mill structure, which is almost completely gone. The yellow tailings piles of the Rifle and Cleopatra group of mines are still visible among the trees behind and above the Crown Prince and Comet adits. The mining activity of 60-plus years ago shows what can be accomplished under corporate investment in a small mountain environment. This was common practice in the Mines of Clear Creek and Gilpin Counties. The Chain O’ Mines was a similar operation in Central City at the same time. Both operations created a large tailings deposit in the heart of a small community. Empire has remnants of large tailings ponds in the lower part of town from a flume that was built to transport the tailings from North Empire down to lower Empire.