Pathfinder #14:
Mines and mining collections at the Center:

A descriptive list

In a report completed in January 2000 by the Center’s Archival Fellow Anne L. Foster turned up some surprising results.  One of the hottest research topics bringing students to the Center of Southwest Studies for research is the environment, particularly the local environment.  In fact, if you include all the various subtopics such as mining, forestry, and water, the number of researchers investigating these issues was surpassed only by those interested in Native American topics.  Furthermore, many Native American topics have environmental aspects (e.g. ethnobotany).  With so much interest — among the College’s student body, the local community, and nationally — the Center of Southwest Studies places high emphasis on acquiring, organizing, and making available environmental collections -- including those pertaining to mining.

As the major repository on the Western Slope, the Center of Southwest Studies is a chief institution actively collecting materials related to mining in the Four Corners region, specifically in Southwestern Colorado.  Other repositories with strong collections in this area are Northern Arizona University (focused on the Colorado Plateau), the Denver Public Library, and the University of New Mexico (more focused on the desert Southwest).

Alphabetical list of Four Corners mining collections at the Center of Southwest Studies

The Center owns the following collections that are useful to researchers who are studying the history of mining in the Four Corners and somewhat beyond.  The list is arranged alphabetically by collection title.

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·     M 004 and I 046: American Zinc, Lead & Smelting Company records (1.5 document cases and 7 rolls of microfilm).  Records pertaining to Colorado mines and mining, 1901-1957.

·     P 032: Colorado mining towns slide transparencies (approximately 500 slides).  Oversize color slide transparencies of former mining scenes and towns of Colorado, especially on the Western Slope, 1960-1989.  Arranged alphabetically by place name.

·     M 233: De Lasso Loos Four Corners oil and gas engineering collection  (Northeast Blanco Unit and elsewhere in northwestern New Mexico, in the Four Corners region)

·     M 008: Durango (Colo.) uranium mill tailings removal collection (5.5 document cases).  Publicity materials, engineering/environmental assessment reports, Task Force records, etc., 1960-1990, regarding the removal of radioactive tailings from the Durango mill site at the base of Smelter Mountain in the 1980s.

·     M 199: Evans-Crumbo mining records  (Taos, N.M.)

·     M 060: Four Corners Environmental Research Institute (FOCERI) collection (6 document cases + 12 records boxes).  Minutes, correspondence and memos, financial records, maps, project records, and engineering/environmental assessment reports re: various projects in the Four Corners region, including the Durango uranium mill tailings site, La Plata County coal mining, Colorado River tributaries, electric transmission power lines in southern and southwestern Colorado, and other topics researched by FOCERI.  Historical note: On Nov. 16, 1978, the State Board of Agriculture approved for the President, 1972-1992.

·     M 229: Langan W. Swent papers: Health and safety in underground uranium mines

·     M 005: Mining records and printed materials (17 document cases and 2 records boxes). Records of mining in the San Juan mountains of southwestern Colorado and beyond. Includes bills, deeds, newspapers, ore shipment records, invoices, receipts, maps, production reports, maps, prospectuses, agreements, histories, etc., pertaining to various mining operations in the San Juan Mountains of southwest Colorado and further afield.  Includes mining companies' ledgers, 1894-19--; Ledge Mining and Milling Company (Silverton, Colo.) records; Iowa Mining and Milling Co. account book, 1899-1901; L.B.G. Mining Co. mining level sample books, 1926-1932; Socorro Mines; Red Arrow Mine; American Institute of Mining directories, 1927-1953; mines registers, 1937, 1946; Who's Who in Engineering, 1931-1948 various; American Mining Congress report, 1920; American Bureau of Metal Statistics yearbooks, 1951-1956; minerals yearbooks, 1944-1950; and other records and printed materials pertaining to mining. Includes 2x bound volumes (and a photocopy of the Durango, Colorado, section of) Mines and Mining Men by John G. Canfield, 1893, Southwest Colorado pages digitally accessible at http://swcenter.fortlewis.edu/images/M005/MinesAndMiners.htm

·     M 206: Navajo claims collection records compiled by Dr. John Kessell  (Southwestern U.S.; especially the Four Corners region)

·     M 009: Porter/ Hesperus/ Gifford records  (includes Durango vicinity coal mining records and some digital images)

·     M 187: Union Carbide Western U.S. 20th century mining collection (287 linear shelf feet).  Mining company operation records regarding the mining and processing of uranium, tungsten, vanadium and other base metals in the Western U.S., esp. the Four Corners region. 1920-1990.

·     M 007: Uranium mining collection (3 document cases).  Papers collected by Denny Viles regarding uranium mining on the Colorado Plateau, in Rhodesia, and elsewhere in the world). Includes materials on various mills; articles, clippings, photos, 1940-1958.

Other pathfinders: topical guides to special collections at the Center of Southwest Studies

Guides to the collections at the Center of Southwest Studies

Information for doing research at the Center of Southwest Studies

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