The crew of the Carlton Tunnel poses for a picture after its completion in 1941.
A History of Drainage
Tunnels
in Cripple Creek
by Mike Hurtt
The crew of the Carlton Tunnel poses for a picture after its
completion in 1941.
The Cripple Creek Mining District is located in what is essentially a 10,000 acre bowl of impermeable granite, the sides of which extend upward to an altitude of 9200 feet. As a consequence, the District has always faced a flooding problem. As more mines were dug to ever greater depths, water ran into the granite bowl but could not escape.
The first line of defense against water encroachment was always the coal-powered water pump. Unfortunately, the equipment required to pump out that quantity of water was expensive for the average operation. Feeding the pumps coal 24 hours a day was a never ending expense all its own. Clearly, a permanent, cost effective solution was needed.
Bert Carlton had a monopoly on the District's
coal
business but favored tunnels as a solution to the water problem.
The El Paso Tunnel--Nice Try
The first attempt was the El Paso Tunnel, completed in 1904 at a cost of $80,000. The tunnel pierced the rim of the granite bowl at an altitude of 8800 feet. The water above that level ran down and emptied into Cripple Creek, about three miles below the town.
All was well with the El Paso Tunnel until 1906. Unusually heavy winter snowfalls caused unusually heavy water runoff into the granite bowl. Water rocketed through the tiny El Paso Tunnel, overwhelming it and flooding two-thirds of the El Paso Mine. Now another solution was required.
The Roosevelt Tunnel--Hope Renewed
Cripple Creek shipping magnate A.E. (Bert) Carlton had been pushing for a bigger, deeper tunnel for some time. With water levels rising and the mine owners in a tizzy, it was time to discuss the idea. The Roosevelt Deep Drainage Tunnel was commissioned in 1907 at a cost of $400,000.
The original tunnel contractor fell far behind schedule and went far over budget. The mine owners met to discuss the situation. Bert Carlton made a strong plea that he be allowed to take over tunnel construction. Sherwood Aldrich of the Elkton Mine said, "I favor handing Mr. Carlton this lemon." With that, the mine owners voted to complete the project and Bert Carlton became the Tunnel King.
A rare picture of Carlton emerging from the
Roosevelt Tunnel near its completion in 1910.
The mine owners were worried when Carlton chose two novices to be his construction foreman and engineer. Their fears proved unfounded when the tunnel was completed on schedule and the original survey was found to be accurate to within a half inch.
By 1910, Carlton had driven the tunnel nearly three miles. Water began draining at the rate of 8500 gallons per minute. This opened up new areas of exploration for all the District's major mines and brought new hope to Cripple Creek.
The Carlton Tunnel--Life Extended
The Roosevelt Tunnel gave the Cripple Creek mines the ability to explore to new depths, but by the late 1930s the water was rising again. Clearly, it would take an even grander plan to avert the premature death of the District. That plan was the construction of the Carlton Deep Drainage Tunnel.
This time, the project would have to be completed without Bert Carlton's leadership. He died in 1931. His brother L.G. took over the Carlton empire until his death in 1938, but now L.G. was gone too. Into the void stepped Bert's widow, Ethel Frizzell Carlton. At her insistence, the Carlton Tunnel was begun in 1939.
Miners at work deep inside the Carlton Tunnel.
The Carlton Tunnel was over 1100 feet deeper than Bert's Roosevelt Tunnel. At a cost of $1.25 million, the tunnel would burrow more than six miles under the District's major mines and pierce the granite bowl down to 6900 feet above sea level.
Ironically, the Carlton Tunnel was completed just before Cripple Creek's mines were idled during World War II. The water, however, continued to drain and open up new possibilities for the mines and miners after the war. The combination of the Carlton Tunnel and the Carlton Mill, completed in 1951, gave the Cripple Creek District another 16 years to live.
The mines are abandoned today, but the water continues to flow.....
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