Images: Animas River Country

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GoldKingVerticalTEXT
This aerial photo was taken four days after the Gold King Mine blowout of Aug. 5, 2015.
GoldKing+CementCkText
American Tunnel Bulkhead #2 backs water up into the mid-section of the American Tunnel. Assuming that the plugging of the tunnel is a cause of Gold King water discharges, then Bulkhead #2 is the most likely culprit. It may have returned the flow of groundwater to its pre-American Tunnel course (see historic photos below, showing drainage from Gold King Mine).
SantaRitaandMill
In the 1940s, the smelter, by then shut down, was converted into a uranium mill for processing the materials that would be used in the bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945. It continued as a uranium mill until 1963. Note the huge pile of uranium tailings behind the smokestack. In the foreground is the Santa Rita neighborhood — aka “The Flats.” And that train was probably headed to Alamosa via Chama.
GoldKingPhotowDrainage
Gold King Mine adit, Level #7, in the early 1900s. Note the water draining from the mine next to the waste rock dump. After the American Tunnel was built, the drainage stopped, and didn’t start up again until the American Tunnel was plugged in the late 1990s and early 2000s.

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RedandBonita
Red & Bonita Mine above Gladstone. This mine was bulkheaded, but the valve remains open, for now. This water is also not treated.

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gladstonetreatmentplant
The Gold King water treatment plant at Gladstone, August 2016.
atdischarge
Discharge from the American Tunnel at Gladstone. This water is not treated before running into Cement Creek.

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MayflowerArastra1
Mayflower Mill structure.

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Longfellow Mine shaft house.
KirstenBrownKoehler
Kirstin Brown, of the Colorado Division of Reclamation, Mining and Safety, talks about the Koehler Mine.

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FearnKoehler
Steve Fearn in front of the Koehler Mine. He installed a bulkhead in here years ago, and it seems to be doing its job.

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Hillside Cemetery, Silverton, Colorado.

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The Gold King water treatment plant at Gladstone, August 2016.
Red & Bonita Mine above Gladstone. This mine was bulkheaded, but the valve remains open, for now. This water is also not treated.
The tram line leading from the Mayflower Mill above Silverton to the Mayflower Mine in Arastra Gulch.
A memo and cartoon left at the Mayflower Mine when it closed in 1991.
The Mayflower Mine office, as it appeared when the mill and the Sunnyside Mine closed in 1991, and as it appears today.
Mayflower Mill structure.
Longfellow Mine shaft house.
Kirstin Brown, of the Colorado Division of Reclamation, Mining and Safety, talks about the Koehler Mine.
Steve Fearn in front of the Koehler Mine. He installed a bulkhead in here years ago, and it seems to be doing its job.
Hillside Cemetery, Silverton, Colorado.
The original photo.