Sidebar by Steve Voynick
Mining – July 2006 – Colorado Central Magazine
The Last Chance Mine is only one of many sights along the Bachelor Historic Tour. When measured in terms of mining history, mountain scenery, and photographic opportunities, this 17-mile-long auto route through Creede’s mining district just might be the best in the West.
Article by Steve Voynick
Mining – July 2006 – Colorado Central Magazine
TEN YEARS AGO, time was rapidly running out on the Last Chance Mine. Its glory days as one of Creede’s richest silver mines were long past, and decades of inactivity had left its rutted access road nearly impassable. Perched precariously on a canyon wall high above West Willow Creek, the mine itself was little more than some collapsed portals, a sagging ore bin, a few decrepit cabins, and piles of rock strewn with bleached timbers and rusted cables.
Article by Steve Voynick
Mining – June 2006 – Colorado Central Magazine
ALTHOUGH I HAD heard rumors of dancing in the streets, I didn’t see it myself, at least not on Harrison Avenue. But judging from the banner headlines in the Herald Democrat and the joyful comments of Lake County’s commissioners, Leadville’s mayor, and dozens of local merchants and residents, salvation is nearly at hand. And in Leadville, salvation means only one thing: the reopening of the Climax Mine.
Review by Steve Voynick
Local Lore -March 2006 -Colorado Central Magazine
A Thread of Gold
by R. Reed Johnson
Published in 2005 by Western Reflections
ISBN 1-932-73812-6
Essay by Steve Voynick
Mountain Life – December 2005 – Colorado Central Magazine
OLD-TIMERS STILL remember when winters in mountain towns meant something more than just catering to hordes of skiers. Sure, those winters were tough; the days were short and cold, and drifting snow restricted outdoor activities, and even closed some businesses and high mountain roads.
Article by Steve Voynick
Mining – September 2005 – Colorado Central Magazine
ASARCO LLC, formerly ASARCO Inc., a company that most old-timers still call the American Smelting & Refining Company, or simply “AS&R,” has been part of Leadville for more than a century. AS&R quickly grew beyond its Leadville roots, first becoming the keystone of the Guggenheim family fortune, then a multinational, billion-dollar conglomerate of metal mines, mills, smelters, refineries, and related businesses.
Article by Steve Voynick
Mining – July 2005 – Colorado Central Magazine
EVERY TEN YEARS OR SO, the Climax Mine seems poised to rise from its ashes, hiring hundreds of miners, bringing the good times back to Leadville, and reclaiming some measure of its former glory as a major source of molybdenum. After circulating quietly for a year, new rumors went public on May 26 with a front-page article in Leadville’s Herald Democrat headlined: Is Climax Making a Comeback?
Review by Steve Voynick
Mining – July 2005 – Colorado Central Magazine
A Room for the Summer: Adventure, Misadventure, and Seduction in the Mines of the Coeur d’Alene
by Fritz Wolff
Published in 2005 by University of Oklahoma Press
ISBN: 0-8061-3658-8
Review by Steve Voynick
Leadville – November 2004 – Colorado Central Magazine
LEADVILLE – The Struggle to Revive an American Town
by Gillian Klucas
published in 2004 by Island Press
ISBN 1-55963-385-9
Article by Steve Voynick
Mining – July 2004 – Colorado Central Magazine
ON FEBRUARY 16, 2004, it seemed that the off-and-on-again rumors of the past 20 years had finally come true. The headline of a front-page, above-the-fold article in The Denver Post announced “Leadville Taps Vein of Hope.” An accompanying color photo showed a cluster of earth-colored mill buildings set against snow-covered, open-pit benches on the side of Ceresco Ridge — a signature image of the Climax Mine. More than a few folks probably glanced at that headline and thought of skipping work at Copper Mountain or Vail to rush up to the mine on Monday morning to fill out employment applications.
Article by Steve Voynick
Rural life – August 2003 – Colorado Central Magazine
GENERAL STORES, those small, rural emporiums where you can buy a little of everything but not a lot of anything, are places where you catch up on local news, pick up the mail, and find out what’s biting. But they’ve been disappearing for decades, most replaced by look-alike, 24-hour convenience stores with brightly lit glass fronts, sanitized coffee counters, and minimum-wage clerks.
Article by Steve Voynick
Leadville – February 2003 – Colorado Central Magazine
BACK IN THE 1970s, the Golden Burro Café & Lounge on historic Harrison Avenue in Leadville, Colorado, did a land-office business when the shifts changed at the nearby Climax Mine. I was one of those miners who grabbed a quick meal or a cup of coffee at the Burro before our shifts. When our shifts were finished, we were back at the Burro, this time for a cold beer or two, and to talk about everything that mattered in Leadville in those days, from fishing the high lakes to drawing elk permits and buying new pickups. Mostly we exchanged “Climax talk” about development on the 900 Level, job bids, and how we’d spend our coming paychecks.
Article by Steve Voynick
Transporttion – August 2002 – Colorado Central Magazine
Independence Pass is one of those places that varies radically in the eyes of its beholders. Most folks seem to either love it or hate it. Many Lake and Chaffee county locals love the pass because it’s a fast summertime route to Aspen and the Roaring Fork Valley. But tourists tend to be divided: some love it as the scenic high point of their Colorado vacations, while others curse it as a never-to-be-driven-again death trap replete with altitude sickness, blind curves, and dizzying drop-offs. Since the pass is notorious for serious automobile accidents, law-enforcement officers hate it. But the pass also brings in tourist dollars, so many Lake County business people love it.
Article by Steve Voynick
Agriculture – March 2002 – Colorado Central Magazine
WHEN A LIFELONG RANCHER passes on, it seems almost obligatory to bring up the well-worn metaphor about “the end of the trail.” But in the case of Mel Coleman, the Saguache rancher whose name is synonymous with natural beef, the phrase doesn’t really fit. That’s because in his life, when Mel came to the end of any trail, he never stopped or turned back; instead, he looked ahead to find an alternative route. When Mel died on February 3, that was one of the things he left behind — an alternative route that is making an impact on life in the West.
Review by Steve Voynick
Colorado history – September 2000 – Colorado Central Magazine
Citizen Coors: An American Dynasty
By Dan BaumPublished in 2000 by William Morrow
ISBN: 0-688-15448-4
Article by Lynda La Rocca
Photos by Steve Voynick
Local history – September 2000 – Colorado Central Magazine –
THE OLD SAW, “You can’t judge a book by looking at its cover,” could have been the motto of James V. Dexter.
This wildly successful entrepreneur, financier, and mining investor was one of frontier Colorado’s earliest millionaires. But you’d never guess that from the exterior of his Leadville home, the rough-hewn 1879 log structure known today as the Dexter Cabin Museum.
Article by Steve Voynick
Local Artists – June 2000 – Colorado Central Magazine
FORTY-SIX YEARS AGO, Leadville’s Ted Mullings began his art career literally at rock bottom — a thousand feet underground on the Phillipson Level of the Climax Mine. Despite that inauspicious beginning, Mullings has earned a reputation as one of the region’s best-known artists.
Review by Steve Voynick
Mining – October 1999 – Colorado Central Magazine
Mining the Hard Rock – In the Silverton San Juans
by John Marshall with Zeke Zanoni
published in 1996 by Simpler Way Book Company
ISBN 0-9632028-2-0
Sidebar by Steve Voynick
C&TS RR – September 1999 – Colorado Central Magazine
A TICKET TO HISTORY
The Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad is a Registered National Historic Site and a New Mexico Registered Cultural Site. Recently, the Society of International Railway Travelers named the C&TSRR to its list of the world’s top 20 railway experiences.
Article by Steve Voynick
C&TS RR – September 1999 – Colorado Central Magazine
I ADMIT THAT I ENVY Tom Atkinson’s job. He begins work by climbing into the cab of No. 497, a huge, black, 96-year-old Baldwin steam locomotive. Coupled to a six-car train, the K-37 Mikado-type locomotive has been building steam for two hours. At 10:30 a.m. sharp, Atkinson pulls an overhead cord and sends two wailing blasts of the steam whistle echoing across the little town of Chama, New Mexico. Then he nudges open the throttle and No. 497 pulls slowly away from the Chama station, accompanied by a cloud of black coal smoke and the rhythmical hiss of escaping steam.
Poem by Steve Voynick
Mining – June 1999 – Colorado Central Magazine
The Things I Learned at the Climax Mine
Some years ago I left my home,
Headed west and bound to roam;
Had fun for a year, but it all went down
When I ran out of money in Leadville town.
Essay by Steve Voynick
Hunting – February 1999 – Colorado Central Magazine
Prayer Slayers and Drive-by Shooters
by Steve Voynick
I’M A NONHUNTER, but living near the base of Mount Elbert gives me a ringside seat for the Colorado deer and elk hunting seasons. Although 250,000 individuals hunt elk each year in Colorado, my overall impression of Colorado hunters is shaped by only a few individuals who occupy opposite ends of the hunting spectrum.
Article by Steve Voynick
Livestock – September 1998 – Colorado Central Magazine
THE COLEMAN RANCH in Saguache is one of the West’s most-visited working cattle ranches. Regular guests include newspaper and magazine writers, television crews, supermarket meat buyers, and executives from across the U.S. and Japan, along with range management experts, proponents of natural foods, and environmentalists.
Essay by Steve Voynick
The West – August 1998 – Colorado Central Magazine
Jim:
I contend that the single biggest problem facing this nation today is overpopulation, a problem which is worsening with every passing year. Do you know what the population of this country was when you came to Climax in the early 1950s? About 153 million. And fifty years before that, the national population was about 76 million. Today, less than 50 years after you came to Climax (and this is hardly ancient history because I was starting school then), our population is pushing 270 million. All those people have developed an eating habit, yet there is always less land on which to grow the food that they need.
Essay by Steve Voynick
The West – August 1998 – Colorado Central Magazine
ALTHOUGH VAIL AND LEADVILLE are just 28 miles apart as the ravens fly, they seem to stand at opposite ends of the West.
Vail represents the New West, a place of contemporary chic, luxurious living, trophy homes and money, all revolving around a vibrant economy based on tourism, recreation, and land. Leadville is the Old West, where century-old memories and lonely shaft houses watch over mine-scarred hills. Leadville’s economy is sluggish at best, and many residents commute to low-paying service jobs in Vail and resorts in Summit and Eagle counties.
Article by Steve Voynick
Local History – January 1997 – Colorado Central Magazine
Many Colorado ski areas share a common heritage. Like Aspen, Breckenridge, and Telluride, they took over comatose mining towns; or, like Copper Mountain and Vail, they were conceived on drawing boards. Either way, their bloodlines can be traced to venture capitalists out to make a few bucks.
Article by Steve Voynick
Climax Ski History – December 1996 – Colorado Central Magazine
Not many of us today associate the Climax Mine with skiing. But 50 years ago, Climax had one of the best-equipped ski areas in the entire West.
Organized skiing at Climax began in the 1930s, a time when Climax was fast becoming a legend in American mining. Given the dismal nature of underground work and the long winters at the 11,400-foot-high mine, Climax was always interested in providing outdoor recreation to make life a bit more bearable.
Review by Steve Voynick
History – December 1995 – Colorado Central Magazine
Ghost Towns of the American West
by Bill O’Neal
Published in 1995
by Publications International, Ltd.
ISBN 0-7853-1241-2
Article by Steve Voynick
Recreation – December 1995 – Colorado Central Magazine
Nick Stenick was a dean’s list junior at Rutgers University (that’s in New Jersey) when he surprised his fraternity brothers by announcing that he wouldn’t be back in September to begin his senior year.
Review by Steve Voynick
Mining – July 1995 – Colorado Central Magazine
Fire in the Hole: The Untold Story of Hardrock Miners
by Jerry Dolph
Washington State University Press
ISBN 0-87422-108-0
Article by Steve Voynick
Mining – June 1995 – Colorado Central Magazine
Frontier-era miners had a saying that no mine was ever really worked out. They closed or abandoned their mines simply to await “better times.”
Article by Steve Voynick
Mining – March 1995 – Colorado Central Magazine
“I hear Climax is startin’ up next week.”
“Joe told me it will open next year.”
“That place will never open again.”
Article by Steve Voynick
Mining history – December 1994 – Colorado Central Magazine
If there was a single date that marked the transition between the rise and fall of Climax, it was January 1, 1958. On that date, the Climax Molybdenum Company merged with the American Metals Company, becoming a division of American Metals Climax, Inc.
Article by Steve Voynick
Mining History – November 1994 – Colorado Central Magazine
Author’s note: Fourteen years ago, much of the region covered by Colorado Central stepped to the economic, social, and cultural beat of the Climax Molybdenum Mine. In 1981, the Climax Mine, one of the world’s largest, had 3,100 employees and an $8O million annual payroll. Employees commuted from places as distant as Kremmling, Denver, Saguache, Texas Creek, and Eagle, but most lived in Leadville, Buena Vista, and Salida.
Essay by Steve Voynick Public Land – June 1994 – Colorado Central Magazine The perception of our national forests largely depends on who’s perceiving. If you live in New York City, L.A., or even Denver, the national forests are some distant, out-of-sight, out-of-mind tracts of federally owned land, conveniently managed by the government. But if …
Essay by Steve Voynick
Ski industry – April 1994 – Colorado Central Magazine
One of mankind’s greatest dreams — controlling the weather — is coming true in Colorado. From November to April, our mountain weather is yielding to the power of man.