Sunday, Labor Day Weekend Labor Day Trivia to test you knowledge and prepare you for stimulating conversation on Labor Day! (Answers will be posted tomorrow.) 1. When was the first Labor Day parade held in the United States? 2 Who was the US President who signed the bill making Labor Day a National Holiday and in Year? 3. What year was the 8 hour work day established? 4. What is the average time that U.S. workers commute to get to work? Report on a quick trip to the Village: the weather is better now and probably will be through the coming week than it has been for most of the summer. Sunny, light breeze and in the 70’s. And the village is full of happy locals and visitors enjoying the transition to fall. The merchants tell us that it is not time to hibernate yet as there will be more coming for all to enjoy. We’ll be writing about upcoming activities and fall schedule changes in the coming week. For today --- A couple of days ago we posted a photo of a sign for Blue Lake Uranium Company that is hanging in a Cuchara cabin. We asked for information from our readers about this. A couple of folks posted information and even a couple of photos! Yea!! One of the responders was long time area resident and our go-to Valley historian, Shirley Jamison. Her information is so interesting that it needs its own post so it doesn’t get lost in the responses to the original post. So, today we have what Shirley has to say about Uranium mines in our immediate area – oh, and some other interesting tidbits, too! Today’s photos are from Bill Wilborn who believes his pictures show what could be the mine owned by the Blue Lake Company. (Look how barren it is there - now, isnt that your idea of what a uranium mine would look like?) I knew if we asked our readers we’d get some answers! Thanks to both Shirley and Bill. (By the way, City Girl will be 4-wheeling up Trinchera on Monday and will be looking for any sign of old mines still there. Report to follow.) Shirley writes: The mine (Editor: she is referring to the one that was on Trinchera) was worked in the early 1950s by a group of men from Trinidad, cant remember the names. Sometime in the late 60s Dick (Shirley’s husband) did some work on the road as they had to do so much improvement to keep the claim. He left the dozer up there and the marmots ate all the wiring and hoses off of it. They had already eaten the air hoses from the mine and left a wire inside lying on the ground. The last time we were there a few years ago we saw the herd of sheep just below the mine. There was also a prospect hole on the road above Pete Brown’s house in Spanish peaks. It was dug about the same time by Harry Engman, son in law of Lee and Sammie Hopson. They owned what is now Cuchara Valley Ranch and also operated the Chuckwagon. Boy did they ever have good deep-fried shrimp and homemade onion rings! The pies were made by Elsie Wagner and if you wanted a piece of the 35 pies they made each day you had to go to dinner early and reserve your piece. Those were the days. Editor: Thirty-five pies a DAY!? Can you imagine it? That would be enough to serve at least 210 people a day! Wow! (Memo to self: better let Scott Mangold at the Timbers know so he can crank up his pie production. . . Pie eating is definitely a big deal in the valley.)
Posted on: Sun, 31 Aug 2014 16:43:00 +0000
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