Tick It Before You Kick It

Uncovering Gold: Explore the Molly Kathleen Gold Mine

• Alexandra Lauren | The Bucket List Mermaid • Season 1 • Episode 21

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What if the rich history of gold mining was hidden beneath your feet, waiting to be uncovered?

READ MORE IN THE SHOW NOTES + PICTURES 👉 here

☺️ Join me, Alexandra, and my adventurous mom, as we embark on an exhilarating expedition into the heart of the Rocky Mountains, exploring the Molly Kathleen Mine in Cripple Creek, Colorado. 

💛 This isn't just any ordinary gold mine tour—it's the only vertical gold mine shaft in America, and we're taking you along for the ride a thousand feet underground in an authentic wooden elevator. 

👑 With a touch of whimsy and a dash of historical intrigue, we reveal the story of Molly Kathleen, a pioneering woman whose 1891 stake laid the foundation for this remarkable piece of history. 

🌟 Together, we'll navigate cool underground temperatures, share insider tips for your own adventure, and unravel the unexpected realities of gold mining.

🏅From the mine's candlelit early days to its present status as a historical gem, this episode promises a captivating journey for history buffs and adventure-seekers alike. 

🔱 Whether you're eager to enrich your travel bucket list or simply curious about the past, this episode offers a rich tapestry of stories and experiences that connect us to an era long gone. 

🫅 So grab your jackets and sturdy shoes, and let's wander through time together—happy travels await!

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Alexandra:

I would not be good. I'd get fired as a mucker. I'm terrible as a mucker. You sucked at the muck. We're having way too much fun here.

Alexandra:

Hey there, fellow adventurers, and welcome back to Ticket Before you Kick it where we explore the hidden gems and must-see spots that definitely deserve a place on your bucket list. I'm Alexandra, your trusty travel companion, and today we're going to be mining for gold, figuratively and maybe literally, as we dig into the rich history of the Molly Kathleen mine in Cripple Creek, colorado. I am here today again with my mother, who travels full time with me, and we just go on these crazy adventures and report back to you to see if you want to also add them to your bucket list. So let's talk about what is Molly Kathleen mine, because, again, I have never heard of anybody who's done this other than my aunt about 20 years ago. So this is definitely more of a hidden gem, not super touristy. This is the only vertical gold mine shaft in all of America, and the Molly Kathleen mine takes you down into the Rocky Mountains and basically just feels like you are transported back in time. Yeah, it's a thousand feet into the earth. You go a thousand feet. That is actually a thousand feet is the length of about the Eiffel Tower and a skyscraper oh, go figure. So that is how far you are actually going into this mine, and it is exactly what it sounds like.

Alexandra:

It is a tour of what the mine used to be like. It is documented by the National Geographical Survey as a gold production mine and let's just go into some history of it, because there's obviously so much history in this bucket list activity. So it's more than just a cool name. It's actually a tribute to Molly herself, who discovered this treasure trove back in 1891. She was actually the first woman to strike a claim to her name in the gold camp and back then, like women didn't have rights to anything, oh, yeah, no, they could, definitely. Yeah, they could not claim their name to something of that substantial value. So, honestly, good for her, I absolutely love it.

Alexandra:

And they actually started doing tours of this mine just to get some extra income, and the early mining day tours were lit by candlelight. Oh see, that would have been so much better. I think it would have. And it was funny because when we went on this tour, they actually showed what it would have been like in candlelight, because the miners worked in candlelight too. And was it that they said? They said that they would have to do it all without blowing out the candle, because if you blew out the candle you'd be screwed, wouldn't you? Absolutely, yeah, like you is. It's so dark, it's beyond dark, yeah, so that was like a part of their job descriptions they had to do all of this without blowing out the candle, anyway. So the mining actually continued until 1961. And then they started just doing tours and they started revamping everything. They started adding lights. No more candlelight tours.

Alexandra:

You know, this just makes this mine a truly unique experience, not just because of its vertical descent, but just it's just so much history and walking through, walking through, you literally feel like you're stepping back in time. Right, oh, absolutely. I mean starting with the elevator, which is just this small wooden box that holds maybe six people, and it is exactly like what you would take down into a mine, yeah, and you can just see the different levels past you as you go down, down, down, down down. It was so funny. That's actually why we chose it is because it has there says descend a thousand feet into the ground. That's the only reason we want to do it.

Alexandra:

And us as Adventurers. I mean, we're like, oh, a mining tour. Like is it going to be touristy? Is it going to be lame? Is it going to be, you know, super family friendly, like friendly, like I want something that that educates me and gets my heart pumping. And I was like, okay, we're going to figure out if this is lame within about two seconds. Yes, and they crammed us into this elevator shaft literally like sardines If you're claustrophobic, this is a no-go for you. Yeah, this part. And they literally raised us about 10 feet, eight feet off the ground and lowered us down and I knew I was like, nope, this is cool. Yeah, I was surprised at how little I knew about gold mining, because this isn't a nugget mine, it's a vein. It just fascinates me that you didn't just go in there and see gold. Oh, my gosh, there's gold on the ceiling. That's what you see in the movies.

Alexandra:

Yes, it was this dark vein that just looks like dirt, but when you heat it up, mix it with chemicals, something I can't remember what it is, but actually it's iron pyrite. It's like fool's gold is one of the things that you can mix it with. So they found a lot of iron pyrite and it adhered to the actual gold and then they would do all these chemical processes and be left with the gold. But I'm really surprised because I think the founder of gold in cripple creek discovered it and he couldn't get anybody to believe him. Yeah, he was like, oh well, I wouldn't believe him because I was really excited because it advertises it and it says you get to see a vein of gold in the earth and I was like, how cool, I want to see a vein of gold, of solid gold. And then we looked at it and I was like I would pass that on a hike absolutely not. No, and I mean it literally just looked like a deep purple stripe, yeah, and everyone thought he was crazy. So kudos to you for figuring that out.

Alexandra:

So it took us through every step of how to mine gold, complete with how they placed the dynamites and how they drilled the holes and how they had to be drilled in a specific way to not kill everybody down there and to maximize the effect of trying to find the next gold vein. And when they turned on these machines they were so loud. They were so loud and it was kind of cool because it was like they took you in chronological order. So it started out and they actually have some really creepy wax figures down there which I let me just say I would not want to be down there alone. Oh yeah, it was a little creepy. It was a little creepy Ghost tour and mind tour, but it was. It was so interesting because you got to see a again the candlelight on what they were working with and then how they would just put it in and then just start pounding that and you got to see all their tools.

Alexandra:

And then you heard about all of the jobs and how much they paid. Like the mucker yes, like the mucker the like he would just shovel rocks and get everything into there and he got paid what? Like three dollars a day, or that was a high, less. That was a job. Everybody wanted that job, yeah, and if he couldn't do it, then you're out. Like if he couldn't muck fast enough, then that was it. And there is a famous boxer yeah, jack dem. Jack Dempsey actually tried mucking and didn't and got fired. He sucked at mucking, he sucked at the muck. I'm a suck mucker, I muck and I suck. We're having way too much fun here. Apparently he was terrible at this and then decided he'd do boxing instead. Talk about a career change. Good for him, yeah, good for him. So then they started going through again where to place the dynamite and all of the drills that they would use, and these are still working.

Alexandra:

I was actually very surprised at how much this tour felt like caving. Surprisingly, yes, yeah, like there was a lot of minerals, a lot of things in there copper, sulfur and we actually got to look at everything. Yeah, and I guess that the intricacy and the miles and miles and miles of caves underneath Cripple Creek. We were talking to a couple locals and they used to go from town to town underneath the earth in these caves. Yeah, our guide was joking that they probably have an entire mining system all the way to his school, but he just wouldn't know how to get there because it's so intricate. Oh, yeah, and so there's just thousands and thousands of tunnels. And they also used to say how they would, uh, pay children to come in and bring the muckers. I don't think it was the muckers, it was.

Alexandra:

It was a guy who would climb up I forgot the name of it but he would climb all the way up to the top. He got paid the most like $3. $3 or $4. Because it was so dangerous being up there. And again, that wax figure was so far away that it kind of looked real. So he shined his light up there and I went why is that dude up there? They also have a wax figure of some guy in the outhouse in the mine, which is a little gross. Kind of made me want to try out the outhouse, but no, it wouldn't help.

Alexandra:

Well, also, halfway through you got to go on this little train thing through the mine. So that was really cool. I've just, it was so impressive. I've just. I've just, I don't know why it was just so cool. I don't know why I was like, oh, we're going to go tour a mine, no, it was, it was really adventurous, it was just so cool. I don't know why I was like, oh, we're gonna go tour a mine. No, it was, it was really adventurous. It was very informative and I felt like I learned a lot about the mining culture back then and how they actually used to mine, and seeing these machines in action it was like history come to life.

Alexandra:

Well, and they also had symbols or signals that they're still being used today. There was this chart of the signals that the miners would use to communicate everything, and it became so popular that I think it's still used all over the world. Yeah, because it was something like they would have so many incidents and if you think about how big these mining things are and they're blowing things up, they're cartinging gear, there are so many unknown dangers in these mines that they just had accidents all the time, and you can totally see why they would. So they came up with this system and it's kind of like morse code for miners, yeah, so where they'd have this little bell at the top of the shaft and they'd be like, um, this is not accurate, but they'd be like, okay, two bells, two bells, stop. Three bells means golden shaft with man or you know. So they would say who was coming up, or slow or fast, because it's just gold. So three bells and then like it was really cool and again we got to see that in action too, and that's a practice that their accidents basically reduced to zero at that point and then they just started using it internationally because it was such a good system and nobody died from miscommunication anymore.

Alexandra:

Wouldn't you just love to be that guy that invented it? And if he could know now that what he came up with would go worldwide. That would be so impressive. And he probably died before I ever found that out. But dude, you rock, I know, and it's so interesting how dangerous those were. I mean, they were talking about this, this drill, how they would ever found that out. But, dude, you rock, I know, and it's so interesting how dangerous those oh were. I mean, they were talking about this, this drill, how they would. They would drill and then all of the fragments of rocks and the dust would all go into their lungs and they would all pass away. And but then they started making technological advancements to help this and see it's very interesting to see the evolution the evolution and safety evolution of a gold mine. So really, really interesting.

Alexandra:

And also in this tour you get to take a little piece of gold, yeah, with you. It was really cool. There was this little section that it was kind of like a museum but it kind of felt like you were in a cave, so it was a little interesting. And then the gift shop at the end of it. Oh, yeah, yeah, you have to have the gift shop at the end of it. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, you have to have the gift shop at the end of the tour. Except this one, it's actually included in your ticket price you get to take. So if you do have families, I would definitely recommend this for more adventurous families. I think it might scare like young, young children. Maybe it was pretty loud, unless they're super into mining, you know, like they're like I just want, but it's only because it's loud. Yeah, it's loud and the beginning is a little claustrophobic, a little bit, but yeah, I think I thought it was absolutely amazing. So let's talk logistics, so that you can also check this off of your bucket list Best times to visit.

Alexandra:

What we figured out is that Cripple Creek is actually an average of 10 to 15 degrees cooler than Canyon City in Colorado Springs can definitely confirm this, because we actually went from Cripple Creek, as we're staying in an RV park. We went from Cripple Creek to Colorado Springs and it was seriously what 70, maybe 80 at the most that we saw in Cripple Creek, but in Colorado Springs it was 95 degrees Fahrenheit. Cripple Creek was just fun. We only stopped there because it was right in the middle of point A and point B and we just loved it. So Cripple Creek, the train, the food, the gambling, the rafting. It was just really fun. Yes, I do have an entire Cripple Creek bucket list, as per usual, if you do want to check it out.

Alexandra:

In the show notes today, saying everything that we kind of killed Cripple Creek, I'm not gonna lie, we did everything. So I'm definitely going to be sharing more info on that, including more info about the Molly Kathleen mine. But, yeah, I think summer is a good way to go here. It's cool and also the underground temperature sits around 50 to 55 degrees all the time, so it really doesn't matter when you do the mine. Yeah, yeah, you're not going to freeze more, yeah, but I think summer would be perfect because you could go in there. It's so nice and cool. It would be like such a nice escape from the heat. So, definitely, I would go with summer, and it's also important to note that it is only open May through the second week to October, so it is not open all year round.

Alexandra:

What to expect? We kind of talked about it. You will descend a thousand feet underneath the ground and, yeah, it's deeper than your average skyscraper and the Eiffel Tower, so I would definitely wear sturdy shoes, um, because some of the ground is a little bit uneven in dirt. As I said, it looks like a cave, so be prepared to wander around a cave. Yeah, they didn't tourist it up at all, oh no, it's very authentic. It is very authentic, which is why I liked it. Yeah, me too, yeah. And then also, just because it is 50 to 55 degrees, bring a jacket. I personally, I was fine, loved it. I was just wandering around in a t-shirt and I thought it was great.

Alexandra:

What about the descent? Let's talk about it. It is slightly claustrophobic. You are packed in there pretty tightly. This is true. You got to really love your neighbor, your elevator partner. Yep, the tour itself isn't claustrophobic. Even though you're in a cave, it's not like you're spelunking. I think if you had extreme claustrophobia, I probably wouldn't do it. No gosh, if you had any kind of claustrophobia, don't do it. Yeah, but I think generally, I think you would be just fine. I mean, there were children on our tour, yeah, and it was well lit, and you don't. All the ceilings are normal height and actually I did find out that the reason why they're not spelunking down there is because they had to get all the equipment in and out through there, so that's why the passages are so large. So there you go.

Alexandra:

The elevator does take about two minutes, or the shaft, is that I mean? Is it even called an elevator? The mine shaft? It takes about two minutes. Or the shaft, is that I mean? Is it even called an elevator? The mine shaft? It takes about two minutes and it's about 500 feet per second, which is about five miles an hour, which sounds quick, but did you know that the modern elevators actually go around 23 miles an hour really? However, you don't feel like you're going 23 miles an hour in an elevator, but that felt fast to me. Interesting, did it feel fast to you? Yeah, I think the only elevator that I think seems fast is the one at universal studios, the twilight terror. Okay, but it's not, that's meant to be fast. The tower of terror, yeah, the twilight zone ride, yeah, the one that's purposefully supposed to drop you, yeah, that probably is the fastest elevator you've ever been on. It's true, good job. It's true, good job.

Alexandra:

Now, talking about the walking tour, let's just talk about the difficulty. Super easy, easy. Yeah, I think it's easy. It's pretty much flat and you only have to walk about a quarter of a mile. You take a train, the it's actually called a tram, air locomotive. That's where we saw the guy in the outhouse, I mean.

Alexandra:

But if you are handicapped, really isn't no, I unfortunately it is not ada accessible just because it is a mine and it's not, you know, like cave of the winds. If you've ever been to cave of the winds in colorado springs like that's very touristy and it's made for to be accessible to people. This, this, is not like that. This is a authentic vertical mine shaft where you go down there and it looks pretty much exactly how it was. I think they have some railings that are down there, but it feels pretty much like you're stepping back into the old mining towns, which again makes it worth it, for me for sure. They just walk you around, show you everything, show you the veins, give you a little bit of gold, talk about the history of it.

Alexandra:

Remind you that it's not really fun to be a mucker. Don't be a mucker. I'm so glad that I'm not a mucker. I would not be good. I'd get fired as a mucker. I'm terrible as a mucker. Yeah, I just. This entire town feels like you're stepping back in time.

Alexandra:

So I would 100% recommend this to history buffs, people who just love learning about things, families who enjoy maybe some history with a little bit of an adventurous spark. Yeah, I absolutely love it. Just, the mine attracts tourists from all over and it just preserves history and I love that. If you are there, yeah, definitely go into Cripple Creek. Check out that bucket list. The whole thing just feels like it was charming, just charming, and you just got a bunch of casinos. We were joking that Cripple Creek felt like Estes Park had a baby with Las Vegas and out popped a cowboy, so quirky and weird.

Alexandra:

Well, adventurers, it's time to wrap up our little gold mining expedition. The Molly Kathleen mine is just an experience. It's an experience, yes, and it's just a chance to connect with history, nature. So, yeah, definitely add this little hidden gem to your bucket list and don't forget to tune in next week as we explore yet another captivating corner of the world. And until then, just keep wandering and keep adventuring. Happy travels, yeah, and do not fart in the elevator on the way down, just saying Thank you guys. See you next time.