Bachelor Loop Creede - part 9 of Independence Day trip 2015

To read previous part:
Underground Mining Museum in Creede - part 8 of Independence Day trip 2015

Let's talk a little bit about Creede. This is a small town (population was 290 people in 2010), lost somewhere deep in the mountains. The first mine was open in this area in 1869 but didn't last long. Silver fever helped the small town grow in a few months and became one of very important in the area. Population of 600 in1889 boomed to about 10,000 in 1891. And the town collapsed back in 1893 when the Silver Panic hit all of the silver mines in Colorado. But Creede didn't become a ghost town. After 1900, Creede stayed alive by relying increasingly on lead and zinc in the ores. Total production through 1966 was 58 million troy ounces (870 metric tons) of silver, 150 thousand ounces (4.7 metric tons) of gold, 112 thousand metric tons of lead, 34 thousand metric tons of zinc, and 2 million metric tons of copper.

But these times are gone and now this is a nice looking town well hidden in the middle of nowhere.  But the past is still here and even works in the town's advantage. There are a lot of the mines still can be found in the area and one of the attractions is to drive through the Bachelor Loop - almost off road and mostly one way road bringing you close to many historical mines and other interesting places.

 

There were a lot of silver mines in the area between 1889 and 1893 and I really like the names - King's Solomon Mine, Holy Moses Mine, Amethyst Mine (the biggest one), Last Chance Mine (the second biggest after Amethyst), Bulldog Mine (this one survived the longest and was closed only in 1985), Happy Thoughts Mine, Homestake Mine... Now they are all gone, but you can drive along the dirty road to explore the history of this area.

The Bachelor Loop Tour is a 15-miles trip on the road that is running up and down, roaming between hills and mines. Sometimes it was narrow and I was worried about the car moving in the opposite direction. Sometimes the road went up so steeply, I felt like an astronaut, lying in a chair.

 

But it pays you back - you can see the old mines and travel through the time to meet the past... Finally we stopped at Last Chance Mine, one of the most famous in the area. Now you can call it a museum and they also promised to start mine tours in August 2015. 

It would be a great adventure - visit the Underground Mining Museum in Creede (the one we visited in the last post), drive crazy Bachelor Loop and have a tour into the real mine.

Continue reading:
Creede - part 10 of Independence Day trip 2015

 

The pictures were taken July 04, 2015.