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Colorado Fuel and Iron: Company Mines

Crested Butte Mine Entrance

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Mines of the Colorado Fuel and Iron Company
This exhibit showcases the numerous mines of the Colorado Fuel and Iron Company and its predecessor companies: Central Colorado Improvement Company, Southern Colorado Coal & Town Company, the Colorado Fuel Company, the Colorado Coal and Iron Company, the Grand River Coal & Coke Company, and the Denver Fuel Company.

CF&I created an important industrial base for the economic growth of Colorado. Capital and labor was brought to Colorado by CF&I and numerous communities were built to support the heavy industry of CF&I. As the first vertically integrated corporation West of the Mississippi, CF&I was essential in the development of agriculture, transportation, secondary manufacturing, and energy production in the region. None of it was possible, however, without the CF&I mines in Colorado, New Mexico, and Wyoming. CF&I also had mines in Oklahoma, Arizona and Utah, but their impact was much less than the coal and iron mines. In addition to coal and iron, CF&I also had lime quarries and a fluorspar mine to help their vertically integrated business model of producing quality steel, coke, and heating coal.

A lot of focus and attention has been given to the coal mines of CF&I so this database strives to also include the important developments of the mines that produced lime, iron, and fluorspar.

Notes on How to Use this Book

This Scalar is intended as a research and general knowledge database of mines that were either owned or leased by the Colorado Fuel and Iron Company. To use this book, simply click the index up in the left corner to browse by chapter or use the search function to search for specific mines or media. Anything that has been written within this book can be searched using the search function, including dates, locations or types of mine. Each media file has been labeled to correspond with each mine for easier searching. For more questions about the images and media used in this scalar, questions should be directed to the either the authors of this book, or the archivists at the Steelworks Center of the West.

There are some pages with audio files that play automatically. If you do not wish to hear them simply scroll down to the bottom of the page and you can pause the audio player that plays the file. The audio clips were chosen with the hearing impaired in mind and do not include vital information about any of the mines.
Crested Butte Coal Mine
Overview
Location: Gunnison County, Colorado
Years of Operation: 1895-1952
Total Production (tons): 10,248,600
Also Known as "Big Mine"
History
The town of Crested Butte was incorporated in July 4th, 1880. A Colorado Coal and Iron company mine named Joker was established a year later. The Mine was known as Jokerville, or Joker. The Joker Mine experienced a major accident and was closed. A secondary access to the same coal seam was established for the next ten years as a continuation of the Joker Mine. The closure of the second Joker mine and the discovery of a new coal seam in 1895 prompted the Colorado Fuel and Iron Company to open the Crested Butte Coal mine.

In October of 1892 the CC&I company merged with the Colorado Fuel Company to become the Colorado Fuel and Iron Company. This moved the Joker mine and much of the surrounding land into the hands of the newly merged CF&I family.

A new coal seam sixty feet above the original Joker seam, that was mined in the first two Joker ventures, was opened the 1895 when the second access point was abandoned. The newly tapped coal seam was estimated to be between six and fourteen feet thick bituminous light coking coal. The coal produced was primarily sold locally to D.&RG. Rail company, and other local mining companies, smelters, and domestic markets, where roughly forty-four percent was used to produce coke at Crested Butte itself.

In 1895 the CSCo. took control of the Crested Butte Store. By the end of the 1890's Crested Butte had one hundred and fifty four coke ovens on site. Early in the 1900's the CF&I also established a school with kindergarten as well. By 1902 Crested Butte became the commercial center of what was called the great Elk Mountain coal and metal mining district.

In November of 1917 CF&I purchased the lands and coal from the Durango Land and Coal Company. A year later in 1918 however demand for coke coal had dropped significantly which caused the closure of the coke ovens on site. Total coke production from the Crested Butte mine is estimated to have been one million two hundred and sixty nine thousand nine hundred and thirty four tons of coke.

In 1927 the Crested Butte mine was capable of producing between seven hundred to eight hundred tons of coal a day. The mine employed roughly two hundred worked. There were forty nine tenant houses for rent from the company, where the other employees either rented or owned their own homes in Crested Butte which had a population of about one thousand two hundred people.

In May of 1944, CF&I acquired the coal reserves of another mine in the same general location named Bulkley #2. The purchase included one hundred and eighty five acres of land and an estimated million tons of recoverable coal. The Bulkley mine was originally opened by the Crested Butte Coal Company in 1920, and then in 1927 taken over by the Elk Mountain Coal Mining Company. The Bulkley mine was shut down but access to the mine and its coal were possible through the Crested Butte Mine. The CSCo store was closed permanently along with the mine in 1952, the school had been taken over by the state.

Accident Reports

As with any mining the work was often dangerous and accidents and disasters often occurred. CF&I kept records of all accidents and employed artists to render sketches of accidents to help complete their records. Below is one such sketch and explanation of an accident