New Books available inspire adventurers to visit old mining sites in the southwest of Colorado!
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Mines of the Alpine Loop and Mines of the Alpine Loop Volume II by Bill Bowling are full-color guidebooks for exploring the mining history of many of the most picturesque 4-Wheel drive passes in the beautiful San Juan Mountains. The first book details the stories of 118 mines and mills between Lake City, Colorado and the ghost town of Animas Forks Colorado including both Engineer and Cinnamon Passes. Then Mines Of the Alpine Loop Volume II covers 172 mines and mill sites located in the San Juan Mountains between Silverton, Ouray, and Animas Forks Colorado. The book includes all the gulches and valleys from Animas Forks to Silverton that drain into the Animas River, Cement Creek from Silverton to Gladstone, Poughkeepsie Gulch, California Gulch, Placer Gulch, Picayune Gulch, and the Uncompahgre River / Mineral creek from Hwy 550 to Mineral Point.
The books give site locations by map and GPS, whether the site is accessible by vehicle or by hiking, the production record of the mine, and any interesting information or stories about the site.
Both books can be purchased through amazon.com by simply clicking the “SHOP NOW” button under the book cover images above! Note: As an Amazon Affiliate, I get a small referral fee for each purchase.
Bill’s Background and Inspiration:
My father Dewey Bowling left Mississippi in 1946 and came to Colorado School of Mines in Golden, Colorado to be a mining engineer. While at school, he met my mother, Charlotte Sanders. At some point during his education, he changed his major to a relatively new field that showed promise. He graduated in 1949 as a Petroleum Engineer with a minor in geology. Dewey married Charlotte and they spent the next 30 years mostly in Louisiana and Texas drilling oil wells. They both missed the mountains and vacationed almost every year camping east of Lake City, Colorado on Cebolla creek. He retired in 1978 and they bought a cabin in Lake City. Every summer from that time until his death in 1996, he could be found in Lake City. From the time the snow melted until it fell again, he was driving around the mountains exploring and prospecting. Over the years he collected a library of mining information.
A few years ago, I was going through his mining literature and found a map he had started but never finished. He had been plotting the mines on a hand drawn map. I finished the map and then it kind of snowballed into a book, Mines of the Alpine Loop. I have always loved the history of Colorado and the history of mining in particular. There is something about a mine that draws people to explore. Maybe it’s the “gold fever” or maybe it is just in my blood. My mother’s family came from a long line of “Cousin Jacks” (real traditional underground miners). However, I do not condone the entering of old mines. It is dangerous to enter mines without the proper knowledge and equipment, so I chose a different route; to explore the history of mining by researching the people, their hardships, failures, and successes. Of course, the stories would not be complete without mentioning the machines and ingenuity that made seemingly impossible tasks possible. The information that I share about the mines comes from a variety of sources, old mining reports, magazines, letters, advertisements, newspapers, and stories.
Writing these books has been a work of love, I have enjoyed researching the history of mining in Colorado and enjoy nothing more than exploring the sites. My hope is that these books will allow others to identify these sites and understand the sometimes, brutal history of hard rock mining and the tenacity of those involved.
There is also a Facebook group for those like-minded people. All are welcome to come and share information. It is called “Mines of the Alpine Loop”.
I want to thank Kevin Singel for allowing me to shamelessly promote my book on his site, “Finding Gold in Colorado”. He has been doing this a long time and is undeniably the foremost expert for finding free gold in Colorado. – Bill B.
Buy This Book for Adventure!
This is Kevin again…I am thrilled to be able to support another author writing about Colorado’s mining history. Like me, Bill is just a regular guy sharing his passion with others. I hope he does very well with the books of course and I hope lots of my readers use these books to plan some amazing adventures! My Finding Gold in Colorado: Prospector’s Edition book covers some of the basics of the mine site touring in these areas and our Finding Gold in Colorado: Inspiring Images will tempt you with gorgeous pictures of the area, but Bill’s does SO much more for this special locale! I also encourage you to join his Facebook group “Mines of the Alpine Loop”. The members share lots of fun pictures of their adventures as well as additional historical photos and information so we can all understand more of our history. Bill’s books, and his Facebook group, will inspire you to get out there!
By the way, if you are interested in learning where you can gold pan in this area my Prospector’s Edition book is a good first step of course. Other prospectors, such as those looking to file a gold placer claim of their own in the area, can use this article from my website: Gold Panning In Southwest Colorado – Finding Gold in Colorado The article has a lot of good detail but doesn’t talk about land ownership at all. As a result, anyone using the article’s content remains fully responsible for checking land ownership and status before prospecting.
