Idarado Tunnel

Kiwi#1 · **Posted:** Thu May 01, 2014 2:01 am

I was off browsing for some minecar pictures when I bagged this Pdf essay on the Idarado Tunnel up near the top of Red Mountain Pass in Colorado and its connection through the mountain to Telluride. Some of this is covered in the RGS Story:Vol2 by Sundance.

https://nmgs.nmt.edu/publications/guidebooks/downloads/19/19_p0130_p0140.pdf

Awesome !

Chris
in New Zealand

Miner Dave · **Posted:** Thu May 01, 2014 7:17 am

Is that the tunnel in the first picture?

Kiwi#1 · **Posted:** Fri May 02, 2014 7:05 am

Yes Dave,
the Tunnel proper is to the left (or right in this next picture) between the two half-round roof buildings.

Google Co-Ords here

37.913823,-107.701968

Chris
in New Zealand

Miner Dave · **Posted:** Fri May 02, 2014 8:36 am

I wonder when the tunnel was exposed, since the mountain is no longer there.

Kiwi#1 · **Posted:** Sat May 03, 2014 3:11 am

Miner Dave wrote:

I wonder when the tunnel was exposed, since the mountain is no longer there.

Ya What ?

Chris
in New Zealand

Miner Dave · **Posted:** Sat May 03, 2014 1:49 pm

Never mind.

fredmcain · **Posted:** Wed May 07, 2014 2:50 pm

What was this?

Was it a mine or a railroad tunnel?

Fred M. Cain

Kiwi#1 · **Posted:** Thu May 08, 2014 1:05 am

A Mine, the link is in my first post.
The Silverton Railroad built by Otto Mears, came over the Red Mountain Pass behind the photographer 1st picture and dropped down the hill via the famous Corkscrew Gulch turntable, which was a gallows design under a round snowshed on the switchback itself ending the line at Ironton in the flat area of the valley in the distance. This was a predominantly Silver mining area on Red Mt.
Heaps of History here. The Idarado had a Buda Diesel-powered Ruth mining loco at one time.

Chris
in New Zealand

fredmcain · **Posted:** Fri May 09, 2014 8:42 am

Chris,

Is there any hope of anything ever happening again at this mine or is it all permanently abandoned?

I think it's a shame that in the U.S. there are so many abandoned mines - not because they ran out of ore - but because it's just no longer profitable to mine.

Regards,
Fred M. Cain

Miner Dave · **Posted:** Fri May 09, 2014 9:51 am

That explains it. I thought it was a rail tunnel, and the building that is over the tracks next to the trestle was the tunnel, and the mountain had been destroyed, leaving the concrete surrounding the tunnel.

Kiwi#1 · **Posted:** Sat May 24, 2014 7:05 am

Try this link to the Denver Public Library for a 1948 view of the Idarado Mill.
http://digital.denverlibrary.org/cdm/si ... 2/id/40160

Chris
in New Zealand

Idarado Tunnel

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