Willoughby: Tenacious town tackles tough times

A recent book chronicling Aspen’s history repeated the mythology that Aspen’s mining industry tanked after the Panic of 1893. I find it important to repeat my annual attempt at ending the myth.

There was more silver produced after 1893 than before. The Smuggler Mine went deeper, doubling the depth of its operations. The Midnight more than tripled its depth. Aspen’s three longest tunnels were started and completed after that year.

The Panic of 1893 was a national economic disaster; Aspen had one of the easier recoveries. There were more consequential times for Aspen, the most significant the triple-whammy in 1918: Aspen’s mines were working overtime to supply lead and zinc in WWI, but young men left for the war; the world-wide pandemic hit Aspen and young men were major victims; for the local economy, the final blow was a battle between two of the major mine owners, David Hyman and D.R.C. Brown.

Brown owned the power plant and announced he was raising rates. The major consumer was Hyman’s Smuggler mine that had to pump water from its lowest levels to operate. He thought they were as far down as the ore body went and did not see it being profitable with raised rates, so he turned off the pumps and closed most of the operations. He was the largest employer at the time. 

Mining in the 1920s, to be profitable, either had to have newly-discovered, high-grade ore or not have to pump water to be profitable. While the population plummeted, those who remained adapted. Mines above the water zones, like the ones on Aspen Mountain above the level of the town, became the focus. 

One of the major projects was the Park Tunnel that started on the back side of the Shadow Mountain ridge aimed toward Tourtolotte Park. The operation built Aspen’s third tramway in 1922 to move low grade ore from the tunnel to the railroad connection at its base where, what until recently, was called the Tippler. Hauling it down by wagon/truck would not have been profitable. It operated until the late 1920s.

While the original mining companies were not operating their claims, a new system developed, operating by lease. The Aspen Smelting Company and the Aspen Mines Company formed to lease from the major mines and then sublease to small groups to do the mining. They were thriving in 1925. The Aspen Smelting Company had 111 men working/leasing claims with regular ore shipments. The Smuggler Mountain claims, including the Smuggler and Della S, had 100 men working them in 1926.

Other operations engineered or used tunnels that tapped under known ore bodies at a level that would drain the water. My grandfather was a partner in one of those: the Midnight. It had two shifts a day working on the long tunnel to tap the ore in the Little Annie Basin. It reached the ore body just before the 1929 stock market crash. The Hope Mine was tunneling from the opposite direction at an even lower level, and it tapped into new ore.  The Newman on Castle Creek, that drained workings in Tourtolotte Park, had lessors. The Durant Tunnel was also leased and producing lower-grade ore on a regular basis.

There were many small mines that continued to work in the area that produced just enough for the owners to survive. One of them in Little Annie Basin operated with only the owner who piled his ore at the end of the tunnel until there as enough to have a shipment, often only once a year. He had a house in town and worked his claim only in the summers.

The price of silver was stable for most of the 1920s, around 70 cents per ounce, which was about 25 to 35 cents lower than in the 1890s.

Tim Willoughby’s family story parallels Aspen’s. He began sharing folklore while teaching at Aspen Country Day School and Colorado Mountain College. Now a tourist in his native town, he views it with historical perspective. Reach him at redmtn2@comcast.net.