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Hanging Flume of the San Miguel River A few miles northwest of Natunla. along Stale Htghway 141. the remains of the hangiflg flume are visible, The flume was started In 1888 and finished in 1891. The hanging flume was 13 miles long. It diverted water from the San MlQuel River by means of a ditch that was then connected to the hanging flume thaI was built ak)ng the Dolores River. It was constructed for use in a now de- funct placer mining operatIOn. Today the 4-by-6- foot structure is nothing bul skeletal pieces thai hangs 150 feet above a slickrock canyon. A total of 1.8 million feet of lumber was used to construct the Hanging Flume. In order to con- struct the flume the lumber was let down in bundles by a cable controlled by a winch. The lumber was lowered from the lOp of the cliffs to the flume bed. It look three years to build It and It only operated for three years belOfe the min- ing operation ceased. Recently the structure has been studied by histonans, engineers. archaeologists and climb- ers Without Immediate stabilization, this umque mining structure will be lost forever. [n 2003. the Western Colorado Interpretive Association received a 5111,696 grant from the Colorado State Hlstonca[ Fund to document the flume's h!story al'od develop a p[an for rts preservatIOn. ~~- ....,- - -- ...-.......-...--;.-~ =~~ ~----,..- , August 2005 ' . . , . . . . . . . . . . . " .. "',,' .. " .. .. " .. , , " " " . " " " .. " . " n n _ - , . " .. " . " . " . . . " Sun Mon Tue I Wed Thu I Fri Sat I I I I 1 I 2 31 4 5 6 ] I I I I I I I I , - 81 7 91 10 11 12 13 I I I I - 15 I 18 I 14 16 17 19 20 I I I I I 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 I I I 28 29 30 31 I I . Applegate Group. Inc,