Bachelor-Syracuse Mine

A backup plan for Savanna's birthday was to visit the Bachelor-Syracuse mine since we weren't able to swim at the hot springs. The mine is located just north of Ouray and up a county dirt road. My kids had never been in a real mine before, and it seemed worthwhile since we live in a town that began due to mining.

The kids were suited up and ready to go.

Here we go, riding 1800 feet into Gold Hill. This tour isn't a good idea for someone that is claustrophobic. There was one person on our tour that got kind of scared.

The tour guide looked like a miner. He taught us all about mining and the lingo that goes along with it such as the difference between shafts, tunnels and drifts, and told stories about Tommyknockers.

Looking back toward the entrance.

No way would I have wanted to work deep in a mine with no light but a candle like this!

I think I was 14 the first time I went through the mine, which means it was still in operation at the time of that tour. The mine operated until 1988. They say that 2/3 of the gold that was in Gold Hill at the time they began mining is still there!