Western History and Genealogy

Colorado Mining Fatalities

Colorado mining surveys: 1920 and 1984

In 1920, a poll was taken to determine the nationality of the 12,799 men employed in and about coal mines in Colorado. The results of this poll for the more common nationalities is as follows:

Nationality, No. of Men

• American, 3651
• Mexicans, 2325
• Italians, 2292
• Croats, 857
• Greeks, 405
• Slavonians, 369
• Negroes, 258
• Bulgarians, 245
• English, 223
• Austrian Germans, 221
• Scotch, 210
• Poles, 176
• Germans, 153
• French, 148
• Spaniards, 122
• Russians, 116
• Irish, 104
• Hungarians, 93
• Servians, 72
• Bohemians, 63
• Swedes, 63
• Finlanders, 54
• Rumanians, 38
• Japanese, 18
• Montenegrins, 18
• Belgians, 16

In 1984 a survey was conducted to determine which counties had major coal and precious metal mining activities. A summary is listed below.

Name of County; 1984 Mining Activity

• Archuleta; coal
• Boulder; gold, silver, lead, copper
• Clear Creek; gold, molybdenum, silver, copper, lead
• Custer; perlite
• Delta; coal
• Eagle; gold, silver, copper, lead, zinc
• El Paso; coal
• Fremont; perlite, coal, uranium
• Garfield; coal
• Gilpin; gold, silver, copper, lead
• Gunnison; coal, molybdenum
• Huerfano; coal
• Jackson; coal
• Jefferson; uranium
• Lake; gold, silver, lead, zinc, copper, molybdenum, tungsten
• LaPlata; coal, silver, leadv
• Las Animas; coal
• Mesa; uranium, vanadium, coal
• Mineral; silver, lead, copper
• Moffat; uranium, coal
• Montrose; uranium, vanadium, coal
• Park; gold, silver, lead, uranium
• Pitkin; coal, iron
• Rio Blanco; coal
• Routt; volcanic scoria, coal
• Saguache; uranium
• San Juan; gold, silver, copper, lead, zinc
• San Miguel; uranium, vanadium, coal, gold, silver
• Teller; gold

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