Miners, all sorts
Hard-rock mining brought a workforce to Colorado in the 1800s. Successful operations, like the Smuggler Mine near Aspen, had hundreds working two or three shifts a day. Some tasks required experience; others, none at all. Underground, pickmen hammered and chiseled solid rock. Muckers shoveled shattered ore. Trammers pushed carts. Timbermen, mule tenders, tool nippers. They were the "inside crew" who worked in damp, cramped tunnels by candlelight. Another crew worked equally hard in sunlight. Blacksmiths forged and fixed things, alongside engineers and mechanics who tended steam engines to lift the ore out of the earth, so sorters could sift through each load by hand... for which you might earn a daily wage of $2 (about $60 today). From across the world, men, and women, and even children, pulled the wealth from the earth that built the mining towns that shaped Colorado’s history.
About Colorado Postcards
Colorado Postcards are snapshots of our colorful state in sound. They give brief insights into our people and places, our flora and fauna, and our past and present, from every corner of Colorado. See more postcards.
