The Mary Murphy Mine was the principal gold mine of the Chalk Creek mining district of

Chaffee County, Colorado Chaffee County is a county located in the U.S. state of Colorado. As of the 2020 census, the population was 19,476. The county seat is Salida. History Chaffee County has a confusing origin. Between February 8 and February 10, 1879, Carbonate ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

, near St. Elmo, Colorado. The Mary Murphy Mine operated continuously from 1870 to 1925, and produced 220 thousand ounces of gold, worth $4.4 million then (or about $180,000,000 in 2008), plus considerable silver, lead, and zinc. There were two

aerial tramways An aerial tramway, sky tram, cable car, ropeway, aerial tram, telepherique, or seilbahn is a type of aerial lift which uses one or two stationary ropes for support while a third moving rope provides propulsion. With this form of lift, the grip ...

connecting the mine to Romley, Colorado, and the

Denver, South Park and Pacific Railroad The Denver, South Park, and Pacific Railroad (later called the Denver, Leadville and Gunnison Railway) was a historic narrow gauge railroad that operated in Colorado in the western United States in the late 19th century. The railroad opened up the ...

. In 1984 the

Historic American Engineering Record Heritage Documentation Programs (HDP) is a division of the U.S. National Park Service (NPS) responsible for administering the Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS), Historic American Engineering Record (HAER), and Historic American Landscapes ...

recorded the structures then standing in the area. Drainage from the old mine into

Chalk Creek Chalk Creek is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed March 31, 2011 river flowing east from the Collegiate Peaks mountain range in Chaffee County, Colorado. Mount Antero b ...

, a tributary of the Upper

Arkansas River The Arkansas River is a major tributary of the Mississippi River. It generally flows to the east and southeast as it traverses the U.S. states of Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Arkansas. The river's source basin lies in the western United Stat ...

, would sometimes cause

fish kill The term fish kill, known also as fish die-off, refers to a localized die-off of fish populations which may also be associated with more generalized mortality of aquatic life.University of Florida. Gainesville, FL (2005) ''Plant Management in Fl ...

s at Chalk Cliffs Rearing Unit, the state-run

fish hatchery A fish hatchery is a place for artificial breeding, hatching, and rearing through the early life stages of animals—finfish and shellfish in particular.Crespi V., Coche A. (2008) Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) Gloss ...

downstream, such as the kill of 800,000 fingerling trout in 1986. The Colorado Division of Minerals and Geology consolidated all of the surface wastes and capped them in a “high-and-dry” spot on the mill site. This reduced the dissolved metals levels enough to keep the fish kills from recurring. Since then, the site has been used as test-bed for new ways to treat harmful drainage from abandoned mines in the Colorado Rockies. The Mary Murphy Mine is a popular destination for four-wheelers and ghost-town enthusiasts.

References

External links

Mary Murphy Mine photo gallery
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(HAER) documentation, filed under Iron City (historical), Chaffee County, CO: ** ** ** ** ** ** ** {{coord, 38, 40, 05, N, 106, 20, 58, W, display=title Buildings and structures in Chaffee County, Colorado Colorado Mining Boom Former populated places in Chaffee County, Colorado Ghost towns in Colorado Gold mines in Colorado Historic American Engineering Record in Colorado