![]() The Hanging Flume is the only structure of its kind in the United States that survives relatively intact. The flume represents the great lengths to which individuals went to develop Colorado’s mining resources, and it is a significant engineering achievement. Historians, engineers, and scientists have caught “Flume Fever,” too. Locals and tourists alike are enthralled by the flume, which can be seen from overlooks along the Unaweep-Tabeguache Scenic and Historic Byway. The flume box is all but gone, but the heavy timber bents that supported it are still visible, pinned to the canyon walls. A nearby ranch soon repurposed the flume for irrigation, and later, homesteaders and miners scavenged lumber to build homes and other structures. ![]() But the low yield could not compensate for the huge expense of building the flume, and the company folded. Upon the flume’s completion, the Montrose Placer Mining Company began “washing” the deposits using high-pressure hydraulic mining techniques developed earlier in the century during the California Gold Rush. The structure was completed in two years, by perhaps two dozen men hauling hundreds of thousands of board feet of lumber over wagon trails and building forges on-site to shape the iron rods that pin the flume to the canyon walls. In 1887 the Montrose Placer Mining Company purchased several claims along the Dolores River and quickly commissioned the construction of a ten-mile long flume to carry water to the gold deposits. The Colorado Gold Rush began in 1858, but it would be another 30 years before Ute lands in the San Juan Mountains were opened to mineral exploitation. Contact National & State Register Staff.Recent Listings in the National & State Registers.Colorado State Register of Historic Properties.Preservation Planning Unit Resource Center.Information for Archaeologists, Paleontologists and Researchers.Information for Students and Volunteers. ![]() Information for Museums and Curatorial Repositories.State-Approved Museums and Curatorial Repositories Expand.Office of Archaeology & Historic Preservation.Secretary of the Interior's Standards for Rehabilitation.Federal Historic Tax Credit Impact in Colorado.Archaeology & Historic Preservation Month.Program for Avocational Archaeological Certification (PAAC) Expand.About the State Historic Preservation Office Expand. ![]()
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