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~1 J' [71..1 1.
<br />1vltitCi-, ll,ilu nearing
<br />(From page 1)
<br />group is transported in time.
<br />Some of his stories are not
<br />pretty. He tells of massacres of
<br />the Utes and Arapahoes and -atcr
<br />of union wars and even of the
<br />bloody but usually friendly bar
<br />fights that erupted amongst the
<br />miners.
<br />The tourists cat it up. It is like
<br />listening to Mark Twain telling a
<br />story of days gone by. Mosch's
<br />language is colorful, his voice
<br />geode, compelling.
<br />in 1872 a prospector who had
<br />filed a claim on the Phocniz sold
<br />it to two miners !or 55,000. The
<br />miners tunneled in 2,000 feet and
<br />hit rich ore which they worked
<br />until they were millionaires and
<br />tmtil World War I in 1913. AI
<br />that time gold sold for about $20
<br />an ounce.
<br />The mine lay dormant until
<br />1934 when the price of gold shot
<br />to $35 an ounce and the whole
<br />arcs sprang to life again. Mosch
<br />remembers that while the rest of
<br />the country was pretty hungry, the
<br />miners were eating well.
<br />"Occasionally, I'd be in a bar
<br />In 1944: his dad, Hans, had been
<br />working alone in a shaft at the
<br />Gum Tree Mine when a ton of
<br />rock caved in on him. His wife,
<br />Betty, was working athree-acre
<br />truck farm N Arvada when she had
<br />a strong premonition that some-
<br />thing had happened to her hus-
<br />band.
<br />AI, 14 at the time, had just ar-
<br />rived home Gom school to Cmd
<br />his mother frantic. Her instincts
<br />were well-founded. Hans suftcred
<br />16 broken bones, a broken back, a
<br />fractured skull and intestines wcrc
<br />tom apart (The tourists gasped at
<br />this graphic description.) But
<br />Hans was tough-he crawled up
<br />200 Ceet to the opening, clawing
<br />his way, until he reached the top
<br />whcrc he passed out.
<br />But Betty, in the mcanume,
<br />had called the Georgetown sheriff
<br />and ordered him to drive over to
<br />the mine to help her husband. The
<br />sheriff made it in the nick of time
<br />to save Hans' life. A week later
<br />the man's hair turned completely
<br />white.
<br />It ,ook a year Cor the miner to
<br />recover, and when he did he re-
<br />Self-determination seems
<br />to run in the Mosch family
<br />
<br />Sume miners would get in a:Cight
<br />over a slot machine, and when
<br />they'd knock one over, I'd go
<br />home a rich kid.
<br />"My father was the champion
<br />wrestler at the Glory Hole. No-
<br />bo,ly could beat him. He was
<br />highly respected and took care of
<br />the men:'
<br />Mosch lapses into his favorite
<br />story about his mother and father.
<br />properties in gold ore
<br />HE'S A HAPPY MAN-AI Mosch, owner of the Phoaniz Mine, has his
<br />will[ my dad and would luck out. turned to the same mine and gold mina, a vein of ore and some cash from his new tour business.
<br />earned enough money to pay the Pno:o a e.ro~a tuna
<br />medical bills. Self-determination
<br />seems to run in the family.
<br />Mosch continues on with the
<br />history lesson.
<br />The Phoenix mine had changed
<br />hands again. Someone had picked
<br />it up for almost nothing, for back
<br />taxes. When two farmers from
<br />Minnesota arrived in '34, looking
<br />to get rich quick, they bought the
<br />mine Cor 55,000. They hired a
<br />prospector who suggested digging
<br />a tunnel at the preseni site.
<br />Mosch explains it is really an
<br />edit-a tunnel that goes all the
<br />way through the mountain.
<br />The farmers went in 30 feet and
<br />struck it rich. They prospered un-
<br />til 1943 when President Roosevelt
<br />ordered the shutdown nr all ..."_
<br />cious metals mines because the
<br />country needed lead, zinc and cop-
<br />per for weapons. Mosch rctitcm-
<br />bers thaz they even pulled soldiers
<br />out oC the battlefield to bring
<br />them home to work the mines.
<br />• During the following years,
<br />Mosch worked in a silver mine
<br />and was responsible Cor opening
<br />,ti" r,. ." ................... ra.,~..,
<br />Springs. He also was honored
<br />with a citation Crom Washington
<br />for his pan in building a wooden
<br />sidewalk for kids in wheelchairs.
<br />He too was injured in a mining
<br />accident and was ]aid up for over a
<br />year white he recovered. Out oC
<br />money, but rich in properly and
<br />equipment, he sold fvewood Cor a
<br />couple of years to survive. But the
<br />urge to mine was still with him,
<br />and when he checked out all of his
<br />claims, he decided scientifically
<br />that the Phoenix, which he had
<br />purchased for $5,000 in 1969, had
<br />to be the one. Even its name was
<br />an omen. So he began digging
<br />with his pick and shovel.
<br />This summer he found the vein
<br />oC his dreams. "1'm not really a
<br />tour guide," he says, "1 am a
<br />miner and_my plan is to process
<br />pure gold bars out of this mine.
<br />Did pbu know that waster rock
<br />never even leaves the mine? Small
<br />mine owners can do that."
<br />By this time the tourists are
<br />hooked. Mosch may mine gold,
<br />but he also weaves talcs worth
<br />their weight in il. He hasn't ever.
<br />touched on his fights with the
<br />bureaucracy which earned him the
<br />title of "the Clint Eastwood of
<br />small miners."
<br />[.ast weekend Mosch aucndcd a
<br />seminar of Mystic Miners, a Ncw
<br />Age Group which believes that
<br />high grade gold ore has vibrational
<br />thcrapcutic properties, even more
<br />healing power than crystals.
<br />'"They told me I was a New Ager
<br />and didn't even know iL"
<br />Mosch says perhaps he'll open
<br />up a Cew rooms in the mine for
<br />people ro come and absorb all the
<br />healing powers that might be
<br />found thcrcin.
<br />"We have to he optimistic
<br />about everything- m' ~crs gam-
<br />
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