Voices of the Past: Saving a Castle in the Clouds (Part 2)

High on the slopes of Galena Mountain at 12,500 feet, the Old Hundred Mine's 1908 boarding house stood as a testament to the audacity of Colorado's early miners — until decades of heavy snow and neglect brought two-thirds of its roof caving in. In 1996, Beverly Rich and a consortium of partners launched what they called "extreme preservation," airlifting supplies by helicopter up a precarious mule trail to save the historic structure before it plummeted 3,000 feet into Cunningham Gulch below. Workers stayed a week or two at a time, rebuilding the roof and securing the building to the rock cliff with cable. A year later, the tram house was also restored. The effort was immortalized in a documentary, Castle in the Clouds: The Saving of the Old Hundred Boarding House — a tribute to the immigrants from around the world who left everything behind to chase the promise and adventure of America in one of its most remote corners.

The Power of Place Magazine is a special initiative of the Colorado 150 Southwest organizing committee, featuring 20 articles by professional historians and local writers exploring Southwest Colorado's rich and complex heritage.

By Beverly Rich

This story is sponsored by Alpine Bank, Sky Ute Casino and Strater Hotel

Watch the full Voices of the Past: Southwest Colorado series on our YouTube.

Transcript

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It was the spring of 1996 when we got the bad news. Our local agent from the Colorado Division of Reclamation, Mining and Safety stopped by my office and said, Bev, the roof of the old Hundred Boarding Houses collapsed all the way to the first floor. If we don't do something about it, it will fall 3,000 feet into the Cunningham Gulch floor. We put together a consortium of funding sources and embarked on what we called extreme preservation. We used helicopters to take supplies up because there is no road to the boarding house, just a precarious old mule trail. The boarding house is really a marvel, a historical feat of engineering. From the bottom of the canyon, when you look up to the boarding house high up on the cliffs, you gasp when you finally see it. How in the world did they do that and why? One of the oldest mines in San Juan County, the Old Hundred Mine, has a very storied and colorful past, and a long history of swallowing the investors' money and giving them very little for their effort. The wooden boarding house was built in 1908 and sits at level 7 of the Old Hundred Mine, which is 12,500 feet in elevation high on the slopes of Galena Mountain, with no access except the trail. Adjacent to it is a tram house and the remains of a very steep tram. Inside the bunkhouse had a long dining room table, while the kitchen had a stove and large chopping block in the middle. Upstairs on the second floor were 25 wooden bunks. The mine was worked on and off through the years. It went from owner to owner. They left in 1972 without a dime. By 1996, the old Hundred Boarding House was about to disintegrate. Two-thirds of the roof was caved in due to years of heavy snow and neglect. The building was saved and it was quite an undertaking. Not having a road just meant that we had to flying materials, and it also meant that the construction crew went up and stayed a week or two at a time when they rebuilt the roof and secured the building to the rock cliff with cable. A year later, we rebuilt the tram house. A documentary was made, Castle in the Clouds, the saving of the old Hundred Boarding House. We do this as a testament to all those who have come before us, leaving their countries and families from all over the world to travel across oceans and prairies to come to this very remote place and to make a new life, to experience the promise and adventure that is America. And we do it for you as keepers of our shared heritage.

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To read this story, visit Colorado150Southwest.org.

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Alpine Bank.