Mollie Kathleen Gold Mine Tour (video)

[TheHunterGT]

Thought some of you fellas might like this video. My wife and I took the Mollie Kathleen Gold Mine tour in Cripple Creek, Colorado. Wasted a fair bit gambling at the local casinos....so decided to do something fun with our remaining $$$ before we headed back home. Was roughly a 30-40 minute tour and cost was $20 a person. Well worth it. They even give you a small piece of gold bearing ore...pretty neat.

They said take all the pictures and video we wanted...no problem...but I did not want not be rude so just took random clips here and there. Would hate having a camera on me non-stop as a tour guide. IDK.

 

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[HMiller]

Pretty cool. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Tuberale]

Fascinating. Thanks for sharing.

 

[TheHunterGT]

My pleasure

Some of the stories the guide told us were amazing....

He said at one point the miners would be covered in gold dust and had to strip down for a washing after work. Clothes would get rinsed on site so all gold fines/dust would fall into a wash bin. They were literally leaving with a gram of gold dust on them after a days work until the bosses found out. After that...one guy grew a huge beard out and kept it really oiled. He would run the gold dust in the backside of his beard and cover it with more oil later to hide it.

For 50 cents a day wages I guess you cannot blame a guy for trying. They almost made the miners out to be criminals in behavior...I thought that kinda odd.

Was pretty chilly down there. Probably 50 degrees or so. He said a few of the tunnels stretch for miles and miles and you can actually walk right out to another mine entrance that they connected back in the day. He said he leaves enough food for 2 days and a blanket. If they cannot extract in an accident situation within 24 hours...he would start the walk to the other mine entrance/exit. The next town over...miles away. Bonkers!

 

[ecmjamsit]

I was going to go down that mine once. Decided to drink at the Midnight Rose casino instead. Later on I saw alot of emergency vehicles head that way. The winding gear at the top of the mine had seized and it took 13 hours to get everybody topside. Cripple Creek and Victor mining company had to cannibalize a winding gear from a old abandoned mine to repair the Molly Kathleen!

 

[TheHunterGT]

I believe it. It was a fun tour...but that cage was rusty and rickety as all hell. I was thinking on the way up AND down that it is only a matter of time before something like a cable or gear gives way and it shuts them down for good.

I'm a pretty brave dude for the most part...but I had to dig deep to even get in that cage knowing how deep it was going.

 

[SaltwaterServr]

I had heard from my dad and uncle who took the tour that the company that still owns the mine intends to open pit the mountain at some point in the future. Now my dad was there in the late 90's and didn't take an "official" tour. He was there on a project and the mayor of CS took him out there one afternoon with some of our other workers. Dad has a small bucket of gold ore, around a gallon or so, he was given.

 

[tamrock]

Maybe 20 years ago I gave the guy who ran that tour mine an original parts book for an Eimco 12B overshot mucker because I sold the parts to those machines. He said he wanted to get one of his muckers in running condition, but he never called me for any parts.

 

[tamrock]

I believe it. It was a fun tour...but that cage was rusty and rickety as all hell. I was thinking on the way up AND down that it is only a matter of time before something like a cable or gear gives way and it shuts them down for good.

I'm a pretty brave dude for the most part...but I had to dig deep to even get in that cage knowing how deep it was going.

Not to worry. All elevators and mine cages are drop tested and are equipped with safety devices in the event of a cable failure. I've been dropped down a new shaft being sunk with just a free swinging ore bucket with no guides and no protection overhead. The open hole above gets smaller and smaller as you look up and the bucket is dropping so fast the water droplets falling down the shaft begin to fall in slow motion as your almost descending at a free fall.

 

[Miner49er_2015]

Maybe 20 years ago I gave the guy who ran that tour mine an original parts book for an Eimco 12B overshot mucker because I sold the parts to those machines. He said he wanted to get one of his muckers in running condition, but he never called me for any parts.

Do you still have parts for a 12B? I recently rebuilt one and am in need of cables. The shorter ones on the rocker arm assembly, not the long cable to the back of the chassis.