By Dianne Zuckerman
For anyone interested in Colorado's colorful mining past and the industrial-age machines that helped mining flourish, a visit to the Western Museum of Mining and Industry is like striking the mother lode.
Tucked into 27 grassy acres just off Interstate 25 at the northern edge of Colorado Springs, the museum features hands-on exhibits including asimulated hard-rock mine; antique equipment from around the country; one of the last working stamp mills in the United States; and a slide show that puts a human face on the history of mining.
To get the most out of your visit, take the lively two-hour tour (offered several times daily) of the indoor exhibits before exploring the stamp milland other outside displays.
Originally established in 1970, the museum, which also contains a large reference library, now is housed in a 1982 structure built around a mammoth Corliss steam engine that dominates the central room. Weighing 37 tons, the Christmas-colored, 1895 engine invented by George Corliss once powered a Massachusetts paper mill.
The Corliss, which has a 500-horsepower capability, depended on lubricating oil to operate smoothly. Keeping the little jars of oil filled was the work of the "grease monkeys," pre-labor law youngsters who scampered over the moving equipment.
As part of the tour, guide Kathi Kaufer turned on the Corliss and several other engines used to pump water out of western mines. One blackmetal monster wheezed into motion with a spooky, labored, huff-chuffing sound, prompting one fascinated boy to say, "It sounds like Darth Vader."
After the engine demos, Kaufer ushered us into a small room towatch a fast-paced slide show about the social history of mining in the West, noting, "We did not have to elaborate on the truth, because the West really was wild." The 18-minute presentation explores the illusions and realities of mining, juxtaposing images of jaunty men setting off to strike it rich with photos of grim laborers working in gloomy mines.
After the slide show, the museum's chief interpreter, Ruan Kinberg, led us through a series of rooms that feature mining tools and hands-on exhibits. Ever wondered how to tell fool's gold - pyrite - from the real thing? "If you bite into gold," Kinberg explained as she stood at a long table filled with ore samples, "it's very soft and you're going to leave toothmarks. If it's pyrite, you're going to need to call your dentist." Close by are all sorts of gold-mining equipment. Stand at the long trough of brackish water, repetitively dipping a rusty, pie-shaped pan and shaking off the dirt, and you get a taste of the tedium involved in the endless quest for gold flakes, each of which would have been worth only 1/16 of a cent during the 19th century.
Other demonstrations cover various mining tasks. "If you're a driller, you're going to make $2 to $3 a day to do 10 hours a day underground bycandlelight," Kinberg said as she whacked a steel hand drill - great for producing blisters - with a 4-pound hammer, expertly rotating the drill for maximum effect.
Afterward, we walked through a realistic-looking mine, its sides shored up with wooden planks, steel tracks underfoot. "You might want to put yourfingers in your ears on this one," Kinberg warned as she turned on a rock-face blasting drill. Kinberg understandably kept the 100-pound piece of machinery on terra firma. Originally, though, the drill was hoisted overhead by steel-muscled men.
At the end of the tour, Kinberg used a model of the three-story stamp mill to explain how it worked before she let us take a selfguided tour of the cool, rough-timbered building. Named the Yellow Jacket II, after the mill in Montezuma that originally housed much of the machinery now on display here, the stamp mill sits on a hillside overlooking the museum grounds.
Interpretive signs detail the process by which the ore moved from jaw crushers, which pounded it to dust, to copper amalgamating tables and other equipment that separated out the silver and gold. Once or twice a year, the museum presents a working demonstration of the stamp mill, complete with the shaking, clattering racket that would have permeated mining towns day and night.
After taking in the sights, you can relax in a pleasant picnic area or just sit outside the stamp mill, getting a good view of Colorado past and present. Close by, antique artifacts are a reminder of the past, while across Interstate 25, the contemporary angles of the U.S. Air Force Academy buildings gleam in the sun. Behind them, Pikes Peak's one-time foreground of wagons and mules is transformed, with a steady stream of cars and bulky semis barreling by.
To reach the Western Museum of Mining and Industry, take Interstate 25 south to Exit 156A, Gleneagle Drive. Go east on Gleneagle about one-half mile. Watch for the museum sign on the right. Follow the short dirt road to the parking lot.
The museum is open 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays; admission is $5 adults, $4 seniors and students, $2 children ages 5 through 12, free for children under age 5. For more information, call 1-719-488-0880.