Discovery
The Discovery of Gold and Silver Around St. Elmo, Colorado
Long before the town of St. Elmo existed, the rugged Chalk Creek Canyon drew the attention of adventurous prospectors searching Colorado’s Rocky Mountains for precious metals. Following Colorado’s famous Pikes Peak Gold Rush of 1859, prospectors steadily pushed farther into the high country, exploring streams, mountain ridges, and exposed rock formations.
The first significant discoveries in the Chalk Creek area came in the early 1870s. In 1873–1875, prospectors John Royal and Dr. Abner E. Wright, along with another partner, explored the upper reaches of Chalk Creek. They discovered a rich mineral vein containing gold, silver, lead, and zinc, which became known as the Mary Murphy Mine. That discovery would transform the entire region.
Unlike the placer gold that had been found in streams elsewhere in Colorado, the wealth around St. Elmo was locked deep within hard-rock quartz veins. These veins required tunnels, shafts, explosives, and stamp mills to extract the ore. Early assays revealed exceptionally rich ore, with reports of some sections containing up to 100 ounces of silver and 2 ounces of gold per ton of rock, making the Mary Murphy one of Colorado’s richest hard-rock mines.
News of the strike spread rapidly throughout Colorado. Prospectors, investors, merchants, and railroad companies rushed into the canyon. Mining camps appeared almost overnight, including Alpine, Romley, and eventually Forest City, which was renamed St. Elmo in 1880.
During the 1880s and 1890s, more than 150 patented mining claims were developed throughout the Chalk Creek Mining District. Besides the famous Mary Murphy Mine, operations such as the Molly, Pioneer, and Teresa C. mines produced millions of dollars in gold and silver. The Mary Murphy Mine alone ultimately produced approximately 220,000 ounces of gold, along with large quantities of silver, lead, and zinc, making it the district’s largest and most successful producer.
To move the enormous quantities of ore, the Denver, South Park & Pacific Railroad built a line into St. Elmo. Aerial tramways carried ore down from the mountains to the railroad, where it was shipped to smelters throughout Colorado. The railroad transformed the isolated mining camp into a thriving town of nearly 2,000 residents, complete with hotels, saloons, churches, schools, newspapers, and businesses serving the growing mining industry.
As with many Colorado mining districts, prosperity eventually faded. By the early 1900s, the richest ore bodies had been exhausted, mining costs increased, and silver prices declined. Although the Mary Murphy Mine continued operating until 1925, production steadily decreased. When the mine finally closed and railroad service ended shortly afterward, St. Elmo’s mining era came to an end.
Today, visitors can still see the remains of the Mary Murphy Mine, old tramway structures, abandoned mine portals, and the remarkably preserved streets of St. Elmo. Together they tell the story of one of Colorado’s greatest hard-rock mining districts—a place where the discovery of gold and silver high in the Rockies gave birth to a thriving mountain community whose legacy still survives nearly 150 years later.
- Published in Mary Murphy Mine, St. Elmo, CO
Water Flumes in St Elmo
The Lifeline of a Mining Town: The Water Flumes of the Mary Murphy Mine to St. Elmo
High in the rugged Chalk Creek Canyon, the Mary Murphy Mine reigned as the principal gold and silver producer of the St. Elmo mining district in Colorado. From its discovery in the 1870s until its eventual closure in 1925, the mine yielded a staggering amount of precious metals, a testament to the rich veins hidden within Chrysolite Mountain. However, the success of this remote operation hinged on more than just hard labor and luck; it relied on ingenious engineering, particularly the vital network of water flumes that snaked down the mountainside towards the bustling town of St. Elmo.
St. Elmo, a quintessential boomtown nestled in the heart of the Rockies, owed its very existence to the mines scattered throughout the surrounding peaks. As the Mary Murphy Mine flourished, so did St. Elmo, becoming a hub of activity with miners, merchants, and families carving out a life in the challenging high-altitude environment. Water was essential for both the mining operations and the burgeoning community. While the mountain streams provided some sustenance, a more reliable and controlled system was needed, especially for the ore processing that was eventually established closer to town.
This is where the water flumes came into play. These elevated channels, typically constructed of wood, were a marvel of gravity-fed engineering for their time. Imagine meticulously crafted troughs, sometimes stretching for miles, clinging to steep slopes and traversing ravines, all designed to carry precious water from higher elevations down to where it was needed. The exact details of the original flume systems from the Mary Murphy Mine are somewhat lost to history, overshadowed by the mine’s impressive production and later infrastructure like the aerial tramways. However, we can infer their existence and importance based on the needs of the mine and the common practices of the era.
Mining operations, especially those involving milling and ore concentration, required significant amounts of water. Stamp mills, used to crush the raw ore, were often water-powered. Processes to separate gold and silver from the crushed rock also relied heavily on water for mixing, washing, and carrying materials. Transporting large quantities of ore down the steep terrain was also a logistical challenge, and while aerial tramways eventually addressed this, water might have played an earlier role in some form of hydraulic transport or washing systems closer to the mine site.
Down in St. Elmo, the flumes would have supplied water for domestic use, fire suppression, and potentially even powered small industries or provided water for the mills if they were located there. The steady flow of water was the lifeblood of the community, supporting the daily needs of its residents and the essential processes that kept the mining economy thriving.
While no physical remnants of extensive, long-distance flumes directly linking the Mary Murphy Mine to St. Elmo are prominently visible today, the skeletons of the flumes are all over the valley and the hillsides. The attached photos are not of the Chalk Creek Valley flumes but would have been very similar. The engineering ingenuity of the late 19th and early 20th centuries often saw the construction of impressive water conveyance systems to support mining endeavors. These flumes, though perhaps less visually striking than the mine buildings or tramway remnants, were critical infrastructure that enabled the Mary Murphy Mine and the town of St. Elmo to flourish in the rugged Colorado landscape. They stand as a testament to the resourcefulness and determination of the people who sought their fortunes in the high country.
Chuck Caine
- Published in flumes, Mary Murphy Mine, St. Elmo, CO