And the West is History: City Coal Mine Tipple at Horse Gulch – ca. 1902

The hillside depicted in the photo is now obscured by large trees at the intersection of East Ninth Avenue and East Fourth Street, just north of Horse Gulch. The City Coal Mine, located a short distance up Horse Gulch, opened in 1887 and operated on a small scale until 1893 under H.J. Rasmussen. Although the mine temporarily closed, it reopened in 1898 to further development by George C. Logan. Logan sold a significant interest in the mine to the Gold King Mine of Silverton while he remained the superintendent. He increased coal production to 100 tons daily with a workforce of 45 men. In 1901, the mine’s adit in Horse Gulch was connected to the tipple by a 1,500-foot tramway, shown in the photo. Construction of a half-mile railroad spur linked the tipple to the Durango rail yard, facilitating the easy shipping of coal to Silverton and beyond. Like many mines of that era, the City Coal Mine faced numerous challenges. Injuries were common, with at least five workers killed between 1899 and 1922, and labor strikes occurred on two occasions. In 1915, the office connected to the tipple was destroyed by fire, followed by the loss of the tipple itself in 1923 when the mine closed permanently. – Ed Horvat for Animas Museum, edhorvat@animasmuseum.org (Catalog Number: 95.03.9 from the La Plata County Historical Society Photo Collections)