Elkhorn Mine

Among other smaller mines, the town of Coolidge, Mt supported the nearby Elkhorn mine.  This mine primarily produced silver, but also gold, copper, lead, and zinc.  There are various accounts of the history of the area, but most reports indicate that over the life of the mine, there was an estimated 851 thousand pounds of lead, 4,100 pounds of zinc, 370 thousand ponds of copper, 180 thousand ounces of silver, and a thousand ounces of gold.  In addition to the main shaft, there was a secondary shaft as well, located higher and further back in the mountains.  Next to the mines, there was a large stamp mill constructed for processing the ore.  While most of the mill structure is gone, the foundation still remains and is pretty impressive.  The area had telephone service as well has power lines that came in from Divide, Mt.  At one point, a railroad was built to transport the ore.  It's pretty amazing to think that all of this was accomplished in some pretty rugged country, high up in the Montana mountains, with pretty limited technology.

This is the entrance to the main shaft.   There are conflicting records of how extensive the tunnels and workings are, but it is estimated to be 5-15 miles.  Most of that is now filled with water.  There's a small stream that flows out of this entrance year round.

This is the area of the secondary entrance to the mine.  While in operation, there was a pretty good camp here, including a blacksmith shop, bunk houses, etc.  This image was taken two days after the above image and we had a pretty good snowstorm come through during the day between.  Because of the snow, we weren't able find a lot in this area.  We'll have to go back.

A panoramic view from the mine entrance.  On the right side, you can see the stream that comes from the mine.

It's hard to describe the massive scale of the structure of the mill, the place was massive.  In all, the mill covered about 2 acres of ground.  Even more impressive is that it was built in the early 1900's in a remote and rugged spot with limited technology and is still standing today.  All things considered, it is in pretty decent shape.