Stop 7a: White Ash Mine

Stop 7a: White Ash Mine. . In the late 1800's, the White Ash mine was the largest coal mine in Colorado. Its livelihood dominated Golden and overshadowed even the famous Coors brewery. It produced some of the best and hottest burning coal and was named for the white ash that remained after it burned. From 1877 to 1889 and in pursuit of its precious coal veins, its mine shafts were sunk to the incredible depths of over 700 feet. Its far-reaching network of tunnels spread out hundreds of feet making the White Ash mine the deepest and most extensive mine in the region (See Figure 6.) Up to the time of the tragedy, 15 teams totaling 40 men worked all over the mine to remove over 100 tons of coal per day. The going rate for the White Ash coal was $40 to $50 per ton or a gross income of $4000 to $5000 per day. In today's dollars, this income would equal $75,000 to $90,000 per day., On September 9, 1889, the White Ash mine flooded. Ten men lost their lives under hundreds of feet of water and the mine closed. It was a tragic and sudden loss to the families of the lost and the community. See the adjacent memorial., [Captions:] , Top left: Fig. 1: You are at Stop 7a on the Mines Geology Trail. The map locates all of the stops and the bedrock geology. , Bottom left: Fig. 2: White Ash miners photo (Photo courtesy of Golden History Museums, City of Golden Collection) , Top middle: Fig. 3: Sketch geology section by Arthur Lakes (1889) of overturned strata along 12th Street with outline of White Ash mine workings for coal. , Bottom middle: Fig. 4: Sketch map of sandstone ridges in yellow and Clay Pits Fault in green. Map is overlaid over aerial photo from 1948. , Ka = Arapahoe . Kl = Laramie Formation . Kp = Pierre Shale , , Rubey Mine Area A between 12th Street and West Campus Drive was largely mined by surface methods , , Rubey Mine Area B was by underground mining with the entrance near 12th Street , Top right: Fig. 5: Golden panorama photograph looking east in 1892 by W.H. Jackson (Photo courtesy of Golden History Museums, City of Golden Collection) , A: Clear Creek . B: White Ash mine . C: Colorado School of Mines . D: Golden . E: 12th Street . F: Downtown Denver , Bottom right: Fig. 6: Above is a south to north section diagram of the White Ash mine drawn along the coal seam occurring from 750 to 1076 feet south of 12th Street and from 400 to 1660 feet north of Clear Creek. Below is a technical description of the mine. , "A longitudinal cross-section of the Old White Ash mine at the date of abandonment shows the collar of the shaft to be 135 feet west of the main worked seam, and at the 600-foot level was still 39 feet to the west. Below this the strata became vertical with indication of an easterly turn, so that the shaft will nowhere cut the main seam. the seam is opened from the shaft by cross-cuts, levels being driven from these. The main coal seam 6 to 8 feet thick was mined to a depth of 730 feet. A second seam, 3 feet thick, lies from 10 to 20 feet west of that worked. This has been found to vary considerably in thickness, but has never fallen below workable limits." , (Emmons, S.F., Cross, W., and Eldridge, G.H., 1896, Geology of the Denver Basin, United States Geology Survey Monograph 27)