Orphan Boy mine facts for kids

The Orphan Boy mine, also known as The Orphan, was a famous old mine where people dug for gold and silver. It was located very high up in the mountains, about 12,000 feet (3,658 meters) above sea level. This mine was near the town of Alma in Park County, Colorado. It was right on the Continental Divide, which is like the backbone of North America where rivers flow either east or west.

There were also other mines called "Orphan Boy" in Powell County, Montana, and Pinal County, Arizona.

History of the Mine

Discovery and Early Days

The Orphan Boy mine was found in 1861. Miners officially claimed it in 1862 and got a special government paper called a "patent" for it in 1870. This patent gave them the legal right to the land and its minerals.

To support the miners working at the Orphan Boy and other mines, a town called Sterling was built in 1862. This Sterling is now a ghost town, meaning it's abandoned. It's not the same as the city of Sterling in northeastern Colorado. The town of Sterling quickly grew, with about thirty houses, two stores, three saloons, and a blacksmith shop. It also had four stamp mills, which were machines used to crush the ore (rock with valuable minerals) to get the gold out.

Changes and Challenges

By 1865, the mining boom started to slow down. Miners had to dig deeper into the earth, and they found less gold. Instead, they found more galena, which is a natural form of lead. Galena often contains silver, so miners started to focus on silver instead of gold.

Later on, the mine also produced copper and zinc. The Orphan Boy mine had to close sometimes. This happened because of water flooding the tunnels, legal problems, or changes in who was managing the mine. The town of Sterling became deserted. By 1880, most miners left for a new discovery in Montana. Only a few miners stayed behind to work the claims in the Mosquito Gulch area.

In 1881, reports said that the Orphan Boy and another mine called the War Eagle had produced a lot of silver. They made about $500,000 worth of silver in just four years. A new town, Park City, was built to replace Sterling, but it also became abandoned later.

Ownership and Management

The Orphan Boy mine was owned by James Moynahan. He was a former soldier from the Union Army during the American Civil War. In 1903, the mine company owed money, so Sheriff Silas D. Pollock forced a sale of the mine for about $21,000. After this, the Kennebec Mining Company took over ownership. However, Moynahan stayed on as the manager. Even in 1879, people thought of the Orphan Boy as an old mine. A local newspaper called The Flume even referred to it as the "old Orphan Boy mine."

James Moynahan was also involved in local government. He served as a county commissioner from 1870 to 1873. He was elected to the Colorado State Senate twice, in 1876 and 1882. He also served as mayor of Alma three times and helped the town become an official incorporated community.

What Remains Today

A lot of money was taken from the Orphan Boy mine over the years. About $7 million worth of minerals were found when gold was worth much less than it is today. If we think about what that would be worth in 2013, it would be around $486 million!

In 1907, the bunkhouse (where the miners slept) at the mine caught fire. Luckily, all the men escaped safely. In December 2011, another fire, whose cause is unknown, destroyed the 20-foot tall ore house. Today, all that is left of the Orphan Boy mine are a collapsed tool shed and the entrance to the mine tunnels.

A book called The Orphan Boy: A Love Affair with Mining was written by H. Court Young. It tells the story of the mine and his father, Herbert T. Young, who was a geologist and one of the later owners of the Orphan Boy. It's important to note that this book is about a different Orphan Boy mine located in Summit County, near Montezuma, not the one near Alma, Colorado.