The rush to the gold fields of the Pikes Peak region brought prospectors into what is now western El Paso County well before and during the rush to Cripple Creek in 1891. The exploratory work left by these prospectors pockmark the rugged tree-covered terrain in this part of the county. The hopes of rich discoveries also brought with it the establishment of about a half dozen mining districts in the county. One of these is the Turkey Creek Mining District, described by George Stone in 1893.

Lately there has been quite a rush of prospectors into the region south and southeast of Pike's Peak, and they have organized a new mining district, including the upper valleys of Turkey and Red creeks, and some of the adjacent territory…. The Pinkeye lode, as it is called, seems to attract considerable attention. …. Prospecting and exploration are only begun, and the practical value of the camp remains to be ascertained…. As one goes over the Pike's Peak region he will find that almost every mass of sandstone enclosed between walls of granite has at some time been located and more or less explored. Thus, near Green Mountain Falls, up the Ute Pass, shafts up to 100 feet deep have been sunk at various times in rocks of this kind or at least their contact with the granite. Engineering & Mining Journal, September 9, 1893, page 262

While no significant precious metal deposits were found in western El Paso County, there has been some activity related to its industrial minerals. These include cryolite and fluorspar. Both have been used extensively as flux the smelting of metals.

A hand-sample of fluorspar (massive form) from western El Paso County, Colorado.

During the early 1880's, prospectors covered the area around St. Peters Dome in search of cryolite. William J. Baird began work on his claim, the Eureka mine in 1879, and at a depth of 75 or 80 feet, he found cryolite, only the world's second known deposit. "From 1880 on, there was much activity there for several years; with silver at first and later cryolite the main objective" (Cragin, Colorado Springs Pioneers Museum). In the spring of 1891, before discovering the Independence Mine and turning attention to the Cripple Creek area, Winfield Scott Stratton and his partner Popejoy were also in the area prospecting for cryolite deposits.

		Collectors locate and excavate a large sample of massive fluorspar near St. Peters Dome, El Paso County, Colorado. Fluorspar deposits in the general area were mined at various times throughout the Twentieth Century.

It is several decades later before western El Paso County again receives serious attention from prospectors. This time the search for fluorspar that brings them.

In 1917, the Colorado State Geologist, R. D. George, published notices requesting information on workable deposits of certain minerals, which were in great demand following World War I. Fluorspar was one of these minerals. Some of Colorado's fluorspar deposits form a belt paralleling the Front Range and extending from the South St. Vrain in Boulder County south to St. Peters Dome and Cather Springs in El Paso County. Although a very limited amount of fluorspar mining occurred in the St. Peters Dome area at the Hughes Boss claim as early as 1910-11, more claim staking and development occurred over the next decade. Perhaps some of the most significant were the two 1917 claims of W. H. Edmonston, which made up the Timberline mine. The mine operated in 1917 and 1918, reportedly producing 90 carloads of fluorspar. The area, however, shows a lack of mining activity after 1918.		Collectors wash a sample of massive fluorspar weighing over fifty pounds.

In July 1944, Kramer Mines, Inc. took over nearly all of the claims in the St. Peters Dome area, and built a flotation mill. The company owned mineral claims in El Paso, Chaffee, and Jackson counties. In 1942, the company issued bonds of $100,000 to build a new steel and concrete mill in Colorado Springs.

The Kramer Mines mill is referenced in different sources as a 75-ton or 100-ton capacity mill located approximately one mile west of the Golden Cycle Mill on Gold Camp Road in Colorado Springs. A March 1945 newspaper article gave a glowing account of the mill:

The present capacity of the mill is 100 tons of ore daily. The average daily output of the fluorspar concentrate is 40 to 50 tons …. The ore is first crushed in a large jaw crusher, then reduced still more in a cone crusher. From that machine is goes to a (ball) mill where is ground to fine powder. This powder is then classified and sent thru a series of flotation cells. First any metals such as silver, gold and zinc are removed from the powder. After these materials have been removed, the ore is sent thru another series of floatation cells where the fluorspar is concentrated. The concentrate is thickened and dried and is ready for the market as calcium fluoride.

Yet, the mill only operated for about six months before shutting down "because the ore was too poor a grade to make processing pay" By December 1948 foreclosure proceedings were underway. The mill treated approximately 16,100 tons of ore before operations stopped in 1945.

The Timberline deposit claims were purchased by the Aluminum Company of America in 1946, which in turn sold the patents to a Colorado Springs dentist in 2000. At this time the patents have been turned over to the U.S. Forest Service. According to Dianna Ayles of the County Assessor's Office, the county still has approximately 70 mining patents on the books, and at least 25 of these patents seem to cover the north-south trending fluorspar veins in western El Paso County.

Terry Girouard,
Curator of Collections