Tour of historic mining district this Saturday
The Gildersleeve Mine where the potluck lunch will take place along with panning for gold. (Bill Pike photo)
The Mineral County Museum and Historical Society will be hosting its annual Tour of the Cedar Creek Historic Mining District on Saturday, Aug. 26.
Attendees should expect to spend most of the day steeped in Cedar Creek history. This free tour will be guided by local history buffs from the Historical Society and will include stops at many of the same sites as years past including a local miner gathering his grubstake and a foreigner reminiscing their time spent at Louisville and China Gulch.
These have been interesting and big hits on past tours and the presenters at these stops have as much fun as the excursion attendees.
Additional highlights will be a focus on two new topics: The Superior Mines and the Amador Railway. The photos and information presented could possibly be the first time ever seen by many of the participants with new information and entertaining tidbits.
The final stop on the tour is a potluck lunch at the Gildersleeve Mine so participants are asked to please bring a dish to share. The program there includes speakers, optional tours of the mine buildings, and panning for gold. Since retiring from the USFS, Debra Regan has delved into the MCMHS as another dedicated volunteer.
"I'm very excited about our featured events this year. Our tour schedule offers a site most of us have never seen before and a topic with photographs we didn't know existed; they just surfaced this spring and will eventually be part of the museum collections! So, we definitely wanted to share that with our constituents," she beamed.
Those interested in joining on what’s sure to be an eventful and enlightening day, are to meet behind the Mineral County Library, 301 2nd Avenue East in Superior at 8:30 a.m. for registration. Orientation and loading the bus will start promptly at 9 a.m.
Participants are reminded to dress for the outdoors in Montana and encouraged to ride the bus as docents will be presenting material throughout the ride to minimize the number of stops. Last year’s attendance approached eighty participants.
In an effort to reduce traffic on Cedar Creek Road and delays in gathering at each site, carpooling and riding the bus is strongly recommended.
Call the museum in advance to sign up to help determine transportation needs at (406) 822-3543.