GREYSILL MINES
|
GREYSILL MINES |
|
|
|
| NAME: Greysill
Mines COUNTY: Laplata ROADS: 4WD GRID: 7 CLIMATE: Snow in winter, Cool summers. BEST TIME TO VISIT: Late June - till first snow |
COMMENTS:
.(NATIONAL FOREST HISTORICAL MARKER) Greysill
Mines is located 20 miles west of Purgatory CO off of U.S. 550 Take forest
sevice road #578 to the site of the mine. There are several buildings but
they are fading fast in the harsh envierment of the rocky mountains. This
road continues to hwy 145 and can be made into a loop through Telluride,
CO and back to Durango in one day, but there are a lot more ghost towns/mines
in the area to explore. REMAINS: 3-4 buildings |
|
Did they come for gold? Silver? No vanadium and uranium ore drew miners here from 1945 untill the mines closed in 1963. Vanadium useful as an alloy for hardening steel, held pride of place untill the 1940's when scientists harnessed uranium's radioactive properties to produce atomic power. The U.S. goverment created the Atomic Energy Commission to encourage uranium porduction and thr "rush" was on! A new breed of prospectors armed with Geiger counters and traveling in jeeps swarmed over the deserts and moutains of the four corners country, seeking their fortunes. At its peak, the Greysill area supported 450 working claims, but shipped only about 3,000 tons of ore a year to the mill in Durango. The mill separated "red cake" (vanadium) from "yellow cake" (uranium). Some of the Durango yellow cake was used in the development of the first atomic bomb. Miners in the rugged San Juan Mountains always faced harsh living conditions, but this "modern mining" added a new danger--- odorless, tastless, radioactive radon gas. Only a scant 20 men endured the bitter winters and radon gas risks to mine here throughout the year. (from the forest service sign) Submitted by: Gary Erlandson
|
|
|
|
