Located

Unknown

ELEVATION

10,774 Feet

ABANDONED

Late 1920's

“Fear, prejudice, malice, and the love of approbation bribe a thousand men where gold bribes one.”


Icons

Just west of Sneffles along Sneffles Creek lay the remains of the Atlas Mine and mill.

 

The Atlas Mine was one of several that fed the incredible excitement at Sneffles. Rivaled only by the great Camp Bird Mine, Sneffles and its mines were some of the richest in Colorado. The group of mines here is estimated to have produced over twenty-seven-million dollars in their day, and some were in operation until close to the mid-twentieth century.

 

The Atlas Mine was located high on Mendota Mountain, about a half-mile from the mill, and an aerial tramway was used to get ore back to the mill for processing. The Atlas Mine was still in full operation well into the twentieth century. It finally closed down in the late 1920s.

All that remains today are the crumbling ruins of the mill, high above Sneffles. Among other structures, an examination of period photographs shows a sizeable three-story boarding house below the mill.

 

Other grand producers near here were the legendary Virginius, Ruby-Trust, Revenue-Tunnel, Yankee Boy, and the Governor.