Call for Prices

Wear a jacket - its chilly underground!

Blasted out of solid rock cliff by three Creede miners, construction of the museum began in 1990. County-hired laborers and volunteers completed all the other work, including rock removal, cribbing, rock batting and cement work. The next summer, tours were given to show actual mining in operation. The miners created 600 feet of drift with 22 displays, a gift shop and the Creede Community Center.

Outside the Musuem and Community Center	The Gift Shop in the museum
Hot fire was used to forge iron tools for the miners. The Blacksmith was perhaps the most indispensable worker in the mine.	Blacksmith's Bench and Anvil - It was in a shop like this that the tools and drills were forgedthat made breaking though solid rock possible. This re-creation shows how a blacksmith shop would have appeared in 1890.
Exploration Drift: A 'drift' is a tunnel that goes into the ground and deadends. This drift is shored with 'square-set' timbers.
ShrinkStope: A mine has 'foot walls' and 'hanging walls'. On the foot wall, the ore looks like it is lying; on the hanging wall, it looks like it is hanging down. To 'stope' is to mine the ore between the hanging wall and foot wall from level to level.	'Shrink stope' is a method of mining in which 1/3 of the ore is taken out while 2/3 stays in the stope for staging.
The width of the mine is very narrow.	The tracks that the cars follow
	Mines just up the road from the Underground Mining Museum. The mines are accessible from the Bachelor Loop road. Photos from http://www.museumtrail.org/ CreedeUndergroundMiningMuseum.asp

Back to Community Center