Brief by Allen Best
Environment – January 2009 – Colorado Central Magazine
Decades after they closed, the mines near Colorado mountain towns continue to demand attention.
Breckenridge has begun operating a $1.2 million water-treatment plant that is supposed to remove the zinc, cadmium and lead that contaminate the water coming from the Wellington-Oro Mine. The Wellington, explains the Summit Daily News, was the largest mine in Summit County from the 1880s to the 1930s. Mining there did not finally cease until 1972, or 11 years after the Breckenridge ski area began operating.