Molly Kathleen was the first
woman to stake a claim in the gold mining district. She was quite the entrepreneur -- since women
weren't allowed to stake claims the claim was filed under her initials by her
husband. Once the entrance to the mine
was opened, she allowed adjoining mines to be accessed through her entrance,
charging an entrance fee.
Before the tour we donned miner's
jackets and hard hats. Then we were
squeezed into two elevators -- nine people into each 3-foot section of the
double-cage. We got to know each other
very well as we descended 1000 feet to the base of the mine.
The mine was well-lit and wasn't as claustrophobic as we had anticipated.
The tour guide was excellent --
explaining how the mining procedures worked and how they evolved from
everything being done by hand through the invention of machines to help in the
mining process.
We next stopped at the Cripple Creek
Heritage center for a look at some interesting exhibits. Then we drove into the valley, which is an ancient caldera,
through
the town but didn't stop, as it seemed to be door after door of casinos and
bars. With nothing of interest to us, we
continued on to the Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument. This giant area contains fossilized giant
redwood tree stumps and the world's largest collection of insect fossils.
Another geology teaching: Giant redwoods grew in a valley in Colorado
26 million years ago. A volcano filled the valley with mud and ash
and covered the trees to a depth of about 16 feet and so the trees died off. The
debris from the volcano dammed an existing creek, filling the valley with water,
creating a new lake. For the next 100,000
years insects and plants settled in the sediments of the lake. Later volcanic activity covered the lake and
its sediments with more mud and ash. During
all this time, mud and water entered every cell of the buried redwood stumps,
insects and plants, preserving them as fossils.
Now the entire area is preserved
as a National Monument. We toured a
brand new visitor center, looked at the exhibits and fossilized insects and
plants, and walked on a trail through the fossil beds to see the giant redwood
tree stump fossils.
And then we headed back to Colorado Springs on yet another scenic road.
And then we headed back to Colorado Springs on yet another scenic road.
For more pictures of our outing
to Cripple Creek and the Florissant Fossil Beds, including more fabulous
scenery, click Miners and Fossils
