Below are several historical photos of
the Lluvia de Oro mine location, the
El Chorro mill & water pumping plant, and a curious
amphibious boat that briefly saw service on the Rio Fuerte. The photos are from
the Kroch collection at the Cornell University Library and were supplied to us courtesy of Denis
E. Clark1.
They
are used with permission. Full-scale enlargements are available by clicking on
the thumbnails displayed below. These photos establish an early date before
which modern equipment and methods were not used. Today there are numerous
small relics of the mine's heyday lying about rusting. On a future visit, we
hope to photograph the same locations from the same angles for comparison.
A significant part of Lluvia's modern
history is tied to an American engineer, Lucien L. Nunn (1853- 1925). In some
fascinating history, the electrical power plant for the mining activity was
designed and constructed by Nunn. Starting life as a mine manager, Nunn had
struggled with the need for economical power to support mining operations. Water
power for hydraulic mining was difficult to manage in the Colorado mountains given the elevations and
harsh winters. Electricity was a possibility but was not understood. The use of
electricity in mining was new in the late 1800s and experience had to be gained
empirically. Nunn had gained experience starting in Telluride, Colorado
and became a pioneer in this field. At the behest of a director of the Telluride
Power Company who had a stake in the Lluvia de Oro operation, Nunn went to
Mexico over 1906 - 1908 to construct a power plant to supply electricity for the
mine. The photos below, mostly taken in later 1907, offer a glimpse of this
activity.
 |
Looking approximately north, we
see the foundations of the future milling operation. The lowermost flat
area is close to where the remains of several large steel tanks
are seen
today and would have been the last step in the extraction process.
Initially, milling was intended to be done at the El Chorro location
alongside the Rio Fuerte. Later it was moved to the mine site. The
mine entrance is to the right of
this photo about a fifteen minute walk away. |
 |
This view is northeasterly and
shows the top of the stepped milling operation on the right. Note the
general lack of trees on the hillside and the large stack of wood in the
center of the photo. Also note the numerous pack animals visible left of
center. |
 |
Located some 1120 meters below and
six to seven kilometers away from the mine, the El Chorro plant was initially
intended to mill the mine's ore. Note the large tanks visible just to the
right of the roofed area. Later, a dam was constructed across the
Rio Fuerte four kilometers downstream and fitted with a hydroelectric
generator sending electricity to the mine and possibly here. At the time
of this photo, this operation was evidently steam-powered from a
wood-fired boiler. Remains of the boiler are still visible today. Note
the huge woodpile required to keep the boiler going. |
 |
A strange tale - getting
supplies to the mine site from the coast proved troublesome due to large
seasonal fluctuations in the Rio Fuerte's water level. A custom-designed amphibious
boat (name and manufacturer unknown) was constructed in Cleveland, Ohio and delivered to
San Blas, Mexico in later 1908. Made of steel, the craft weighed six tons and proved
difficult to handle in higher water thus limiting its usefulness. Today
seasonal changes in river level are still significant and can be abrupt. |
 |
Seen here on land, the wheels
used for propulsion on land and water are clearly visible. Whatever
additional means of support were used on land is not presently known.
From the coast, the trip upriver to the mine's access spot at El Chorro
was estimated to require ten days. |
 |
At the helm - wheelman &
location unknown. Note the riveted construction. |
 |
L.L. Nunn constructed the power
plant for the Lluvia de Oro mine as well as numerous other plants around
the United States. He worked with Nikola Tesla and George Westinghouse
in 1891 to build the world's first commercial AC generating plant at
Ames, near Telluride, Colorado. The plant showed it was possible to
generate and transmit electrical power to a mine a few miles away. |
Some Additional Reading:
1. Telluride Power - A Brief
Illustrated History of the Early Days
Telluride Association History Committee, 2001
Telluride, Colorado
Denis E. Clark (compiler)
2. LL Nunn in the Western Colorado
Power Company Collection
Collection M 002
Fort Lewis College, Durango, Colorado
http://swcenter.fortlewis.edu/inventory/Nunn.htm
3. Guide to the Lucien L. Nunn Papers
Collection #37-4-1770
Division of Rare & Manuscript Collections
Cornell University Library, Ithaca, New York
http://rmc.library.cornell.edu/EAD/htmldocs/RMA01770.html
4. Deep
Springs College - The Founder
Deep Springs, California
http://www.deepsprings.edu/about/nunn.html
|
