You are familiar with the names of some of Aspen’s mines like the Smuggler, Molly Gibson, and Durant because those names still designate locations or businesses. But have you heard of the Blue Jay or.
The history of Aspen’s mining had an interesting end where the last mining was near the location where it began. Many early mines began with a shaft. That was the shortest distance to the ore.
It is interesting that there is a similarity between today and when the Aspen Skiing Co. opened its first two lifts, notes Tim Willoughby in this week’s Legends & Legacies. The Silver Queen Gondola entices skiers to ski top-to-bottom runs. The first two lifts, by necessity, did the same.
The Aspen Skiing Company is celebrating a 75th anniversary on Tuesday, Jan. 11. The company has pegged the anniversary to the official opening celebration of Aspen Mountain’s original lifts, Lift One and Lift Two, held on Jan. 11, 1947. Tim Willoughby remembers how his uncle and father help build the lifts, which began spinning on Dec. 14, 1946.
Legends & Legacies
The Highland Tunnel entrance on Castle Creek in the 1960s Aspen’s longest tunnel. Willoughby collection
Aspen’s longest tunnels, and those with longevity, had several things in common. Most of their length was driven after 1900, all of them were designed to tap ore at the lowest possible tunnel level that could exit to the outside and they drained water from workings above.
The longest tunnel on the face of Aspen Mountain was the Durant. It exited near the Aspen Alps not far from the eastern edge of Little Nell. It was best known, until a cave-in blocked it almost at its entrance, as the tunnel that took you to the underground waterfall, a favorite of Aspen teenagers for decades.