Old Hundred Gold Mine Tour

2,000 feet above the mine you can see the original 1904 miner's bunkhouse perched on the rocky cliffs of Galena Mountain. Once forty men and a cook lived in the three story structure, cabled to the rock wall so it wouldn't fall off! Nearby is the original #7 level tunnel where over 15,000 ounces of gold were produced from 1904- 1908. To get to the bunkhouse men rode a steep aerial tramline, riding buckets up, while the ore came down to the mill for processing. Men lived at the boardinghouse for weeks on end, except for payday when they rode the tram and the narrow gage train to Silverton for "a hot time in the old town"! By 1999 the old boardinghouse was about to disintegrate. Two-thirds of the roof was caved in due to years of heavy snow and neglect. But thanks to the co-operative efforts of the Old Hundred Gold Mining Company, the San Juan County Historical Society, the State Historical Society of Colorado, the Colorado Division of Minerals and Geology, the BLM, and some really gutsy carpenters (and helicopter pilot), the building will last many years to come. The unique boardinghouse and adjacent tramhouse are now an official State Historic Landmark. Learn more about the Old Hundred mine in the new book "Ghosts and Gold - The History of the Old Hundred Mine" by historian and geologist Scott Fetchenhier, available from The Miner's Commissary Gift Shop.