As of today, I'm officially a volunteer at the museum. For those who've never checked it out, you really need to! It has some great displays and AMAZING equipment from the 1800s that they actually fire up, like the 1895 Corliss steam engine. They also have a library with what is supposed to be a great collection of research material, which I am anxious to check out to see if I can find any long forgotten treasures! :)

I'll be there on Wednesdays!

http://www.wmmi.org/home

That sounds like the most fun volunteer job EVER! You're going to have the best historic Colorado mining research tools at your disposal and the opportunity to learn tons. That is awesome!!!!

Sweet. I will bring AJ by some Wed soon.

Tours are at 10 and 1, best time to come, as they fire up the machines!

Very cool Mike, that should be a lot of fun! I predict many more new pics in Crusty's future postings!

You should have fun in the library. I see that they have several mining rights books by Robert S. Morrison along with 13 volumes of his Mining Reports. Not to mention 2 editions of Lindley on Mines, a 1895 manual of instructions for the survey of the mineral lands, and an 1885 edition of the U.S. Mining Laws and Regulations Thereunder.

I checked to see if they had any issues of the weekly trade journal, The Mining Reporter, but didn't find any. If they do, you will really enjoy paging through that journal. The Mining Reporter was published in Denver and has many photos of old mining properties throughout the state, not to mention news regarding production at the mines, what Congress must do to better support the mining industry, etc. Everything that the mining men of the west needed to stay abreast of the mining industry.

James came down and checked out the joint with AJ today, on my first day. Was great to see y'all!!

The library is pretty amazing!

And I got to see them bring an 1885 Acme Safety Engine with Safety boiler back to life after it hadn't been run in at least 50 years. THey run the steam powered machinery on compressed air.

AJ and I really enjoyed seeing and, I think the best part for AJ, hearing the old machinery. Here is AJ doing a safety demonstration.

Click to view attachment

Is that the museum in leadville?

Its in Colo Springs.

We are making a trip to colo spgs for a resupply run soon and I'd like to check that out if we get time.
Do we have to do the tour or can we just walk through and look around?

You can just walk around, but the tour (10 and 1) is included in the price of admission and they fire up some of the machinery, so it is worth it to try and make it near those times.

Looking for something to do next weekend? Come check out the expo here. Was just out getting the 10 battery stamp mill tuned up and ready to run!

Do they let you use the equipment for cons processing?! Looked like there was a shaker table in the video.

Found out the museum had a patented claim willed to them. Not sure of the current status is, as no one here is sure if the taxes have been paid, or solid, as a non-profit, they are exempt from taxes. Took a few pics of the documents, so I can do some research and see what the scoop is.

Forgot pics

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HAving a hard time finding anything specific on this patented claim. There was also a White Quail claim in Summit CO, which there appears to be more info on, A White Quail Copper co in La Plata Co, and a White Quail smelter.

Might just have to make a road trip to check out this "jeep road"; if it was passable in 1979, who knows if it is better or worse now lol

Hoping someone knows someone who can help us out. I volunteer at the Western Museum of Mining and industry in Colorado Springs (www.wmmi.org) We carry prospecting supplies in our gift shop and our current supplier is retiring and will no longer be delivering equipment for us to sell. Looking for a new supplier who will give us a great price on the equipment, as we're a nonprofit with a limited budget. Preference would be a straight sale to the museum, but we'd possible continue the current vendor delivery/management of the inventory if someone wanted to take that on. If you know of a source, please let me know! Thanks!

Hmmmmm.... doesn't YC Prospecting LLC sell prospecting equipment?
The sluices look like great setups for fine Gold.

I did think of taking it on lol
, but with a third party taking a cut, it'd just make less money for the museum to use.