Annotated Resource Set (ARS)
Phase I
1.Title / Content Area:
Mining in Colorado, 1859-1900
2. Developed by:
Cathie Farrar
3. Grade Level:
3rd/4th grades
4. Essential Question:
What role did the industry of mining play in the settling and further development of the
State of Colorado? How is the location of cities and towns related to the history of
mining in the state? What other events (removal of the Utes, building of the railroads,
expansionism, Colorado’s statehood, demonetization of silver, etc.) affected mining
and were affected by mining during this time period?
5. Contextual
Paragraph
The discovery and development of the mineral wealth in the region that is now the state of
Colorado from 1859 until the end of the 19th century. There were several periods of boom and
bust, as mining developed from placer to hard rock mining, beginning with gold, and moving on
to the discovery of silver and other minerals. Railroads were a stimulus to the development of
mining and also affected where people settled in the state. Focus will be on mining in the
Roaring Fork Valley, with mines in Aspen and surrounding ghost towns. This will, help
students connect new information with their existing knowledge of the local area where they
live. This local focus will also support the field trips available in the area, improving the
learning experiences.
Primary and secondary sources will be presented and students will be expected, via the inquiry
process, to describe and identify information, formulate questions, make connections, construct
new ideas, summarize, reflect and express the ideas and information. Supporting lessons will
include definition and importance of primary and secondary sources, how to find them on the
web and how to evaluate them.
As a concluding activity, students will be asked to arrange events in chronological order (time
line) and present facts, ideas and conclusions to a larger group within the school community.
Teaching with Primary Sources - Annotated Resource Set
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6. Resource Set
Cokedale Mine marshals
Crecencio Vigil and
Melitón Barela
Gold Mining
Crecencio Vigil and Melitón
Barela, marshals at the Colorado
Fuel and Iron Cokedale Mines in
Cokedale (Las Animas County),
Colorado. They pose near a
dugout structure with a roof
made from pine boughs.
Crecencio (left) wears a hat, coat
and boots. He holds a rifle and
wears a cartridge belt with a
holster and pistol and five
pointed star shaped badge. He
has a mustache. Melitón wears
similar dress and holds a rifle.
He is clean shaven. Clothes hang
on an upright and cooking pots
are on the ground.
Colored sketch depicting placer
gold mining (panning and sluicing
for gold), 1871
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dm.oclc.org/cdm4/item_v
iewer.php?CISOROOT=/p
15330coll14&CISOPTR=86
5&CISOBOX=1&REC=1
http://www.loc.gov/picture
s/resource/cph.3b49655/
Teaching with Primary Sources - Annotated Resource Set
Ashcroft, Ghost Mining
Town Near Aspen,
Colorado
Ghost Town Near
Aspen, Colorado
Hard Rock Miner
Another B/W sketch depicting
placer gold mining (panning and
sluicing for gold), 1871
An abandoned hotel stands in a
field in Ashcroft, a mining town
near Castle Creek, south of Aspen
in Pitkin County, Colorado. The
town was originally named
Chloride but its residents
renamed it Ashcroft in 1882,
when rich ore was discovered in
the Montezuma and Tam
O'Shanter mines.
Ashcroft, Colorado. Ghost mining
town after early blizzard
Two gold miners down in a
Colorado gold mine--taking out
ore, Eagle River Canyon,
Colorado. 1905
http://www.loc.gov/pictur
es/item/2001700204/
http://cdm15330.contentd
m.oclc.org/u?/p15330coll2
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http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/
fsa.8c16247
http://www.loc.gov/pictur
es/resource/cph.3a30602/
Gold Mining
2
Resource Set
Colorado Miners
Ore Bucket
Colorado Mining: Arrastras
Colorado Miners
Colorado Miner
1890-1910?
Arrival in Basalt, Colorado
Miners pose by sheds and an
ore cart in (probably)
Colorado.
Ore bucket number 6 remains
full of ore as it hangs on the
cable attached to a
dilapidated tram framework
at an unidentified mine in
Colorado between 1880-1900
View of two arrastras, large
horizontal wheels, powered
by water brought in by
flumes, somewhere in early
mining camp in Colorado. The
wheels were possibly used for
crushing ore or as a sluice
box.
Four miners pose inside an
unidentified tunnel, Colorado.
They hold candles and tools
and one sits on timbers
between 1870 and 1890
A miner poses near a fence
and brick building somewhere
in Colorado. He holds a lunch
bucket in his right hand and
his jacket over his left arm.
He's wearing shoes, pants, a
vest over two shirts, and a
hat.
Women and a man from
Aspen, Colorado arrive at the
Basalt, Colorado train station.
The women carrying suitcases
are dressed in coats, long
skirts and dresses, and large,
broad-brimmed hats. A
"Colorado & Southern"
railroad car is behind them.
Passengers congregate
around the train.
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http://cdm15330.conte
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m_viewer.php?CISORO
OT=/p15330coll22&CIS
OPTR=16696
http://cdm15330.conte
ntdm.oclc.org/u?/p153
30coll22,4672
Teaching with Primary Sources - Annotated Resource Set
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Resource Set
Colorado: A lumber pack
Donkeys used to carry
lumber, 1898-1905 in
Colorado
http://www.loc.gov/pict
ures/item/2008678065/
Colorado: Miner’s Cabin in
Winter
Mule pack train in
Colorado
1898-1905
View of a mule pack train
in a Colorado valley; Men
ride horses, 1895
http://www.loc.gov/pict
ures/item/2008678060/
http://cdm15330.conte
ntdm.oclc.org/u?/p1533
0coll22,22352
Teaching with Primary Sources - Annotated Resource Set
Aspen Railroad Yards
October 27,1887
Colorado Hard Rock Mine
Independence, Ghost
Mining Town near Aspen
View of a large crowd of
people standing on the
railroad tracks waiting for
the train, near Smuggler
Mountain, Aspen,
Colorado; railroad ties and
rails visible in the
foreground; most of the
men, women and children
wear hats; boys wearing
knickers, long-sleeved
shirts, and hats in front of
the crowd. )
Miners and a dog pose
near a mine entrance in
Colorado
Around 1900
Independence, Colorado
Ghost Mining Town during
blizzard
http://cdm15330.conte
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http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.p
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Colorado Mining
Colorado Mine
Colorado Mine
Colorado Miner
Colorado Mining
Smuggler Mine near
Telluride
Gold Mining in Colorado
Men and women pose with
ore cars and horses at the
mouth of a heavily timbered,
but unidentified tunnel,
Colorado between 1880 and
1900
View of unidentified mines on
a hillside, Colorado, shows
railroad tracks, a mill, tailings,
and houses between 1880
and 1910
View of a large unidentified
mining complex surrounded
by a dusting of snow in
Colorado) around 1900
Standing studio portrait of an
unidentified miner, Colorado.
He wears boots, pants, coat,
and hat. He sports a bushy
mustache and shoulder
length hair.
View of the Smuggler-Union
Mine near Telluride (San
Miguel County), Colorado.
shows mine buildings, roads
and tailings between 1880
and 1900
Underground view of gold
mine somewhere in Colorado;
three men inside tunnel or
mine shaft, one man
operating a winch on a
wooden platform with large
buckets (metal and wooden);
young man standing next to
ore cart, ore cart has candle
attached to its side, right
foreground edge; miners with
pants tucked in laced-boots,
felt hats, one man smoking a
pipe.
.
(http://cdm15330.contentdm
.oclc.org/u?/p15330coll22,16
716
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Teaching with Primary Sources - Annotated Resource Set
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5
Cache la Poudre Creek
Colorado Hard Rock
Mining
Burros at Silver Mine in
Colorado
Mining, Colorado
Mining, Colorado
Deerhorm
Boardinghouse
1959 Gold Rush to CO
Miner emerges from a
tunnel pushing a load of
ore,as others saw timbers
in Colorado around 1900
Taken between 1898 and
1905
Large mining complex
around 1900 in Colorado
View of a dilapidated four
tiered mine building on a
hillside in Colorado around
1900
Miners pose by the
Deerhorn Boardinghouse
at the Deerhorn Mine near
Cripple Creek, Colorado. A
horse drawn buggy is
nearby.
http://www.loc.gov/pict
ures/item/2004661636/
http://cdm15330.conte
ntdm.oclc.org/cdm4/ite
m_viewer.php?CISORO
OT=/p15330coll22&CIS
OPTR=40195
http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.p
np/ppmsca.17864
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Teaching with Primary Sources - Annotated Resource Set
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Resource Set
Colorado Company
Mining Certificate
Basalt, Colorado
Basalt, Colorado
Letter by E.D. ‘Holton
Cripple Creek Bar-Room
Scene
“Cripple Creek”
Attractive certificate
from a seldom seen
district. Chaffee County
featured mines that
produced Gold, Silver,
and Copper as well as
having smelting &
refining facilities.
Aerial view of Basalt (Eagle
County), Colorado. The
town is nestled in a valley
next to the Fryingpan
River. Buildings and
houses are clustered along
Main Street. Coke ovens
and hills are in the
distance
Aerial view of seven
beehive-shaped coke
ovens in Basalt (Eagle
County), Colorado. Basalt
is nestled in a valley near
the Fryingpan River. A
railroad train and dirt
roads are in the town.
Foothills are in the
distance.
Life in Colorado--The
Chances for Fortunes in
the Mines--Mining and
Farming--Old Milwaukee
Settlers. CHEYENNE,
Wyoming Terr., Jan. 1,
1880
Film clip of a bar-room
scene in Cripple Creek,
May, 1899, by Thomas
Edison
Song Recording from “Fiddle
Tunes from the Old
Frontier:The Henry Reed
Collection with interview
following with miner from the
CC era
http://cdm15330.contentd
m.oclc.org/u?/p15330coll2
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http://memory.loc.gov/cgi
bin/query/r?ammem/calb
k:@field(DOCID+@lit(calbk
096div7))
http://memory.loc.gov/m
brs/edmp/1173.mov
http://memory.loc.gov/afc/afc
reed/137/13705b10.mp3
1900?.
http://www.denverstocke
xchange.com/colorado_mi
ning_certificates.htm
http://cdm15330.contentd
m.oclc.org/u?/p15330coll2
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Teaching with Primary Sources - Annotated Resource Set
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Aspen Colorado Streets
1886
Aspen, Colorado
The Silver Queen
A view north toward
Smuggler Mountain in
Aspen, Colorado. The
buildings include a threestory wood structure with
two balconies, one- story
log cabins, and commercial
structures with false
storefronts. Pedestrians
walk and stand along the
sidewalk; carriages are on
the street; and a banner is
strung across the street.
View of Aspen, Colorado,
taken from Red Mountain,
shows the Roaring Fork
River, Hallam Lake, and
evergreen trees in the
foreground. Houses are
built along the river and at
the foot of Aspen
Mountain, in the
background. Clouds hang
in the air in front of the
mountain, 1890-1899.
http://cdm15330.conte
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Teaching with Primary Sources - Annotated Resource Set
Bird's eye view of Aspen,
Pitkin Co., Colo. 1893.
Perspective map not
drawn to scale.
http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.g
md/g4314a.pm000532
Aspen, Colorado
Another Perspective
Aspen Silver Mines
Aspen, Colorado Streets
Aspen, Colorado, sits at
the base of Aspen
Mountain. Buildings
include one and two story
wood-frame structures. A
building is under
construction in the
foreground. Aspen
Mountain has been
scarred by mine tailings; a
road traverses diagonally
the side of the mountain.
Mines and mills are at the
base of the hill., 1886
Color Print done
between 1898 and 1905
View of unpaved Aspen,
Colorado, street shows
commercial storefronts,
wagons with horses hitched to
them, and signs: "Jones & King
Hardware, " "Dain & Morgan
Sign Writing House Painting, "
"Windsor Hotel, " "David Bros.
Clothing House, " and "Carson
Storage Co, 1887."
http://cdm15330.conte
ntdm.oclc.or/u?/p15330
coll22,4054
http://www.loc.gov/pict
ures/item/2008678057/
http://cdm15330.contentd
m.oclc.org/u?/p15330coll22
,4038
8
Hyman Avenue in Aspen
Aspen, Colorado
Aspen, Colorado
Aspen, Colorado
Aspen, Colorado
Winter in Aspen
Lamb's Drug Store occupies the
center building along a block on
Hyman Street in Aspen. The
buildings are two story,
clapboard, structures with
cornices. Men in dark suits stand
on the sidewalk in front of the
buildings; children stand on the
streetcorner. Each building has a
striped awning. Large crates are
one the sidewalk. The signs on
the building read "The Cheap
Cash Store, Hunt & Co. Dry
Goods. Millinery for gents
Furnishing Goods, " "Millinery, "
"Drugs, " and "Lamb's City Drug
Store." A two-story hardware
store is on Galena Street. The
signs on it read "D.D. Smith
Hardware Harvesting
Machinery." 1888?
View of Aspen, Colorado, from
Smuggler Mountain; leaves of a
scrub oak branch are visible in
the foreground. The town is
situated next to Aspen Mountain
and West Aspen Mountain.
Visible landmarks in the town
include the Wheeler Opera House
and the Hotel Jerome. Mines,
mills, and mine tailings are at the
base of the mountain; a road
crosses diagonally.
View of Aspen, Colorado, taken
from Smuggler Mountain, shows
one and two-story buildings,
including one under construction.
Aspen Mountain, in the
background across the valley, is
scarred with mine tailings and a
road that traverses up the side of
it. 1886
The town of Aspen, Colorado, is
situated at the foot of Aspen
Mountain. The town buildings
consist of log, wood-frame, and
stone structures. The streets are
arranged in a grid. Aspen
Mountain, formerly known as
Ajax, is visible through the haze
and smoke of the mill in the
background between 1890 and
1900
A view of Aspen, Colorado, is
taken from the north. Train cars
are on the track below the hill in
the foreground. The mines
include the Aspen Sampler, the
Sampler, and the ArgentumJuniata. Aspen Mountain is in the
background, 1885
A winter view of Aspen,
Colorado, is taken from Aspen
Mountain. Bare tree branches are
visible in the foreground. Snow
covered Smuggler Mountain is in
the background. Landmarks
include the bell tower, the fire
house, the Wheeler Opera
House, and the Hotel Jerome.
1890
http://cdm15330.contentd
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1890-1899
Teaching with Primary Sources - Annotated Resource Set
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Phase II
Foundations Annotations
7. Curriculum Connections
Social Studies, Language Arts, Information and Communications Technology
8. Curriculum Standards
Colorado Academic Grade Level Expectations, 2009
This ARS addresses most of the fourth and third grade social studies expectations:
FOURTH GRADE:
HISTORY
Grade Level Expectation: Fourth Grade
1. Organize a sequence of events to understand the concepts of chronology and cause and effect in the history of Colorado.
2. The historical eras, individuals, groups, ideas and themes in Colorado history and their relationships to key events in the United States.
GEOGRAPHY
Grade Level Expectation: Fourth Grade
1. Use several types of geographic tools (MAP of Colorado will be utilized within all lessons). to answer questions about the geography of Colorado.
2. Connections within and across human and physical systems are developed.
ECONOMICS
Grade Level Expectation: Fourth Grade
1. People responded to positive and negative incentives
2. Relationship between choice and opportunity cost (PFL)
CIVICS
Grade Level Expectation: Fourth Grade
1.
2. Origins of Colorado government (effects of territorial status in and statehood in 1876).
THIRD GRADE:
HISTORY
Grade Level Expectation: Third Grade
1. Use a variety of sources to distinguish historical fact from fiction.
Teaching with Primary Sources - Annotated Resource Set
10
2. People in the past influenced the development and interaction of different communities and regions.
GEOGRAPHY
Grade Level Expectation: Third Grade
1. Use a various types of geographic tools to develop spatial thinking (MAP of Colorado will be utilized within all lessons).
ECONOMICS
Grade Level Expectation: Third Grade
1. Describe producers and consumers and how goods and services are exchanged.
2. Describe how to meet short-term financial goals (PFL).
This unit also addresses most of the 21st Century Skills and Readiness Competencies in Social Studies, at least in an introductory manner.
Additionally, many of the Reading, Writing and Communicating expectations (2010) in the area of Research and Reasoning at both 4th and 3rd grade are addressed:
FOURTH GRADE:
RESEARCH AND REASONING
Grade Level Expectation: Fourth Grade
3. Comprehending new information for research is a process undertaken with discipline both alone and within groups.
4. Identifying implications, concepts, and ideas enriches reasoning skills.
THIRD GRADE:
RESEARCH AND REASONING
Grade Level Expectation: Fourth Grade
1. Researching a topic and sharing findings are often done with others.
2. Inferences and points of view exist.
9. Content & Thinking Objectives
Teaching with Primary Sources - Annotated Resource Set
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10. Inquiry Activities & Strategies
With many of the photographs, have students in small groups use inquiry learning activity. They will use the graphic organizer which asks them:
1. What do you observe?
2. What do you think you know?
3. What do you want to find out?
Results will be shared with the larger learning group. Throughout this unit, the inquiry method of presentation will be used when possible. Students will learn how to observe, how
to ask good questions, how to reflect and how to connect, construct and express ideas.
Observe a grouping of photographs (Aspen) and put them in chronological order.
Write journal entries from perspective of early settler/miner.
11. Assessment Strategies
Following lessons which utilize the primary sources of this ARS, students will be assigned a final project. They will be asked to create a time line
documenting the highlights of the history of mining in Colorado. This work can be done independently or in small groups. A class time line will
have been developed during this lesson set and will be displayed as a model. After completing their time line, students will present information
they have learned to the larger class group and answer questions about the cause and effect connections between various events. A rubric
(created by the class-teachers and students) will be used to evaluate each project based on physical appearance, accuracy and importance of
information and presentation.
Teaching with Primary Sources - Annotated Resource Set
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Other Resources
12. Web Resources
Miningbureau.com: A website that presents Colorado mining history in photographs and images. The famous Keller Colorado Mining Photographic Collection.
Preservation and presentation of early prospecting and mining operations in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado. It is an online museum of Western Colorado history
through vintage photographs, documenting the Colorado Gold Rush of 1859.
Aspen Historical Society website: http://www.aspenhistorysociety.com/miningboom.html (Also, presenters are available to come to schools to present trunk programs
and storytell tales from the mining era.
http://www.historycolorado.org/educators/internet-resources-you-your-students
13. Secondary Sources
Field trip to the Smuggler Mine
Trunk program presentation on mining from the Frontier Museum in Glenwood Springs, which utilizes artifacts from the mining days with an inquiry based
presentation from museum representative.
Field trip to the Holden Marolt Mining and Ranching museum (including demonstration of lixiviation process) in Aspen:
Founded as a silver mining camp in 1879, by I890 Aspen was the single largest silver producer in the US. With a population of over 13,000, Aspen was the third largest city in Colorado. Only Denver and
Leadville were larger. Aspen’s big news in 1891 was the building of the Holden Lixiviation works on the west side of town. The newspaper declared that "the sweet day dreams of those who have longed
to see Aspen a great city are about to be realized." Completed just fourteen months before Congress repealed the Sherman Silver Act, the plant never cleared a profit and went bankrupt almost
immediately. It was one of only eighteen plants built world-wide to utilize the experimental Russell Lixiviation process to refine low grade ore
14. Print and Other Media Resources
Tales, Trails and Tommyknockers:Stories from Colorado’s Past by Miriam Friggins (great classroom read aloud book-teacher can pick and choose stories)
A Cabin in Cripple Creek by Sue Luxa (another great classroom read aloud book)
Colorado, Metcalf, Noel and Smith, good resource book
Teaching with Primary Sources - Annotated Resource Set
13
Background Information:
Gold was discovered in California in 1848. Many of the gold seekers did not find gold and as these discouraged men headed back east, some stopped in the
Rocky Mountains. A group panning for gold in Cherry Creek in 1858 found some flakes/nuggets, enough to stir up excitement. There was a major economic
depression underway in the East, in addition to a brewing civil war, so many people headed to Colorado the next year to find their fortunes. Thousands of
people flocked to the area that was to become Denver. Again, few found much gold, but many settled and established businesses in support of the miners or
they began to farm. Miners began to move westward into the mountains, discovering gold as they traveled.
In 1858, the area that was to become Colorado was split up among four different American territories: Kansas, Nebraska, Utah, and New Mexico. With the
influx of miners, there was a need for localized government. The federal government created a new Colorado Territory in February of 1861. The earliest
settlers hoped that with large numbers of people coming into the territory, Colorado would quickly become a state but the government of the US was too busy
fighting the Civil War. Colorado did not earn statehood until 1876, the year the country turned 100.
The first railroad to cross the West, the Union Pacific, bypassed Denver because of the difficulty crossing over the mountains. Denver businessmen started the
Denver Pacific Railway on the own to connect Denver and Cheyenne, Wyoming in 1870. The Kansas Pacific Railroad would connect Denver to Kansas City. The
Denver & Rio Grande Railroad was then built as a north-south line to open up the mountains. William Jackson Palmer built this railroad line where he hoped
development would occur, rather than where it had. Pueblo, Trinidad and Colorado Springs were among the cities that developed because of the railroad. As
these towns attracted people, Colorado grew, gaining the 40,000 residents required to become a state.
Teaching with Primary Sources - Annotated Resource Set
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