Colorado: Georgetown train also gives you a cool look at mining’s past

Forecast for Monday: about 92 in Los Angeles, about 104 in Woodland Hills. Forecast for Monday for the now-abandoned Lebanon Mine in the Colorado Rockies: about 44. In fact, the forecast for the mine is about 44 every day, which makes it a heat-stopper in my book.

A ride on the Georgetown Loop Railroad with the optional mine tour affords you heat relief — the forecast for the week in Georgetown shows highs in the 60 and 70s with a chance of fall foliage.

Besides the chance to chill, you also get a glimpse into the past as you chug along the tracks through Clear Creek Valley, about 45 miles west of Denver. The three-mile journey on the narrow-gauge train, which dates to 1880, takes you from Georgetown to Silver Plume; the Lebanon Mine tour is about midpoint in the trip.

There may be better rides for train buffs. The Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad is 3 1/2 hours of breathtaking scenery in southern Colorado. The Cumbres & Toltec, which has its headquarters in Chama, N.M., rumbles along 64 miles of track. Longer trips and more to love.

But seeing a mine gives you a glimpse of the workings of the Colorado mining industry, integral to the state’s history.

On a July trip, I chose an outside car for the three-mile narrow-gauge trip. Despite the 8,500-foot elevation, it was a warmish day, and the air kept it cool up to Silver Plume and back.

The Lebanon mine dates to the 1870s. It’s part of the mineral belt of Colorado, which stretches from southwestern Colorado (think Telluride and Silverton) to Boulder, and silver was extracted from 1876 until 1896.

Before heading inside—a hardhat is required—visitors get a gander at a changing room (or “dry” room), where a furnace occupies center stage. The mine operated all year so workers trudged here on foot in all kinds of weather from Georgetown or Silver Plume. Clothes hanging on pegs on the walls remind you that wet and cold were occupational hazards that could be abated only slightly.

The star of the show is the mine, a 500-foot tunnel that takes you into the heart of the enterprise. A rivulet of water runs through here (watch your step) so you can get an idea of dank and certainly dark conditions. The air, a guide assures us, replaces itself every two hours and oxygen readings are the same outside the mine as in. There are, she says, “no dangerous gases besides the stuff you guys leave behind.”

Extracting silver from the depths of the mouth was hard, cold, demanding and dangerous work, and this mine didn’t last long, doomed by the repeal of the Sherman Silver Purchase Act in 1893, the legislation that had the U.S. buying more than 280,000 pounds of silver each month. Silver prices dropped from $1.50 to 60 cents an ounce. The mine work continued for three more years.

Miners hoped that silver prices would rise, so they caused a cave-in to seal off the mine and keep their tools safe and waited for prices to come back. They never did.

Some of the original equipment remains in the mine, which is a bit like seeing something preserved in amber. Yes, it’s chilly inside, but even the searing heat of a San Fernando Valley summer day wouldn’t lure me to work in such claustrophobic conditions.

If you still need to feel the cool, stop at Lewis Sweet Shop in nearby Empire for a handmade shake. Worth the wait and the calories.

The train trips continue daily through September, including fall foliage excursions. Check the schedule for October, November and December, the latter of which has special holiday events. Coach fare on regular excursion days including the mine tour is $34.95 for adults and $26.95 for children.

Info: Georgetown Loop Railroad

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