The Alpine Loop Scenic Byway
Capitol City to the 4WD Sign

In the morning I returned down the hill to Capitol City and continued my journey to the west. June 28 and it was almost 8 AM before the temperature got up to 35°F. But even with the cold night, the snowmelt was still going on full force.

After Capitol City the canyon narrowed again and the road just kept going up. It wasn't too far and I came to the overlook for Whitmore Falls. That meant going down the hill maybe 100' in elevation (on a series of landscaped wooden steps), then out onto a narrow promontory to see a spot where the water cascade was roaring through the cliffs before dropping 20-30 feet over a granite wall. (To test my level of acclimation I ran back up the steps without breathing hard - but I really do fly this computer desk too much.)

This part of the drive was through a beautiful mixed conifer and aspen forest with regular openings in the tree cover to allow some great views. My next stop was above the Rose Lime Kiln. The kiln was built by local investor and businessman George S. Lee in the spring of 1881. Lee had already built a marble quarry, several saw mills and lumber planing mills, 2 smelters, a brick factory, and his famous Lee's Mansion in Capitol City. Investing in the future of local construction, he built the lime kiln using state of the art technology. Lime was used as a bonding agent in cement and as a flux for smelting. It was also used in plastering interior walls and in the mortar used to chink the gaps in log cabins. Limestone was mined from the Rose Lime Lode on adjacent Gravel Mountain and then loaded into the upper portion of the 44-foot chimney. Cooked at temperatures between 1000°C and 1200°C, the minerals were reduced to high-quality lime, free of ash impurities, that was then removed from the bottom of the chimney. Sold in Lake City and Capitol City for $1 per bushel, the kiln produced 600 bushels of lime per day. Lee did pretty good with this until the 1882 recession struck and nearly wiped out him out. In 1883 he sold everything he had left in Capitol City and moved to Denver to start over again.

The road kept on, going up slowly through some really gorgeous countryside. The views got bigger and bigger. It was a few more miles and I came to what remains of the Bonanza/Empire Chief Mine and Mill (at this point I was about 15 miles west of Lake City).

What happened at the Bonanza/Empire Chief was typical of the old days in Colorado and in America. The Bonanza Lode was first discovered on July 4, 1885. It was registered and patented shortly after that but almost no work was done until 1901 when the Henson Creek Lead Mines Company issued and sold $1.5 million worth of Capital Stock and began to build a 3-story concentration mill at the site. The company kept issuing (and selling) capital bonds to cover the debts and built an electric power plant, a blacksmith shop and a boarding house at the site. Finally, in 1906, miners started digging into the hillside following rich surface veins of silver, gold, zinc, and galena. However, in 1907, after digging 3,700' of tunnels into the mountain, the surface veins of ore were played out and the mine shut down. In the 1920's the mill was retooled and the mine ran for a while but there wasn't enough of value in the ore to justify the cost of operations. A new operator tried again in 1929 but legal problems, transport problems, rising coal prices and a devastating avalanche brought things to a quick halt. Then the Great Depression arrived and put the place out of its misery. Eventually, the Bonanza/Empire Chief was sold off in a series of Sheriff's sales.

"We believe the Empire Chief is one of the cleanest and most meritorious money-making propositions before the public today. We believe it is an outstanding opportunity - NOT for a few small dividends, BUT BIG DIVIDENDS, CONTINUOUS FOR YEARS AND YEARS." - F.W. Miller and Company, Investment Securities, Denver, CO. (The words are from an East Coast advertisement to entice investors, circa 1925 - This was printed on the interpretive sign at the site of the former mill.)

Also on the interpretive sign at the site: "The Bonanza-Empire Chief Mill was stabilized in 2000 by the Bureau of Land Management and Hinsdale County Historical Society with grants from Save America's Treasures and the Colorado State Historical Fund." In the winter of 2007-2008, the property was crushed under another avalanche and is presently just a pile of jumbled wood, twisted walls and miscellaneous other rubble.

From the Bonanza/Empire Chief site, it was easy to see that I was quickly coming up to timberline. The road was deteriorating a bit but wasn't bad at all. There was one last climb through the trees above a large, beautiful bowl with some big beaver ponds and excellent primitive camping areas, then I came to the cabin with the suspension bridge access. What I'm calling "the 4WD Sign" ("Travel beyond this point recommended for four-wheel-drive vehicles with high clearance only") was just past the parking area for the cabin. And that was right at treeline.