Mining in the Park, Mining in the West

The subject of mining in the Adirondacks has piqued my interest lately--I didn't know that the region had been mined and that there is still an operating mine in the park. I'm a bit conflicted on whether mining should be permitted in the park--while I see the importance of preserving wilderness, the econ major side of me attempts to see mining as another environmental cost that can be accounted for in determining the "socially optimal" extent to which the land should be exploited. I've been to a few abandoned mines in California and New Mexico and I've gotten the impression that miners in the west more did more severe environmental damage than miners have done in the Adirondack park.

I went on a backpacking trip a few years ago in the wilderness of northern New Mexico with a group from my Boy Scout troop. The land had once been owned by an oil tycoon and was the site of mining and oil drilling, but the tract was donated to the BSA in the middle of the 20th century and is now preserved as wilderness. My trail map denoted all the abandoned mines on the property and we were advised against entering unmarked abandoned mine shafts due to risk of collapse and norovirus. In addition to these abandoned mines, the ranch had also preserved (and presumably deemed structurally sound) a couple of old mine shafts that were open for tours. A staff member acting as a 19th century prospector led my group down an old a mine shaft (Cypher's Mine), which stands out in my mind as one of the creepiest experiences I've had. I'm typically not claustrophobic, but once the tunnel became too low to stand upright and the light at the end of the shaft faded to a speck, I grabbed my buddy's shoulder a little tighter--which we had to do anyway to make sure that we didn't lose anyone. Looking at the map of Mineville in the Atlas and hearing about the 45 minute commute to the mining site each day in the reading, I couldn't imagine working in a mine for a living as so many immigrants did in the park.

The highlight of my trip was reaching the summit of Baldy Mountain, a 12,500 foot peak in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains in northern New Mexico. The most striking and beautiful part of the hike was the mile-long rock scramble to the top. It's a common misconception that the summit is bare because it's above tree line--however, this is not the case. The mountain was mined for copper in the 19th century, which left the summit devoid of any wildlife. I thought Ben's question about whether mining destroys wilderness was interesting and it made me think back to this experience. He pointed out that bats benefit from the newfound habitat in the form of abandoned mine shafts, and I would agree that there can be unintended benefits to mining based on the spectacular and uninhibited views from Baldy mountain.

My brother is a conservation biologist specializing in water who works in California and he has told me that the streams south of Yosemite are contaminated with mercury and arsenic from reckless gold mining in the 19th century. I get the impression that mining in the park has been conducted more responsibly than it had been in the west. I'd love to visit an old mine on our field trip to see how mining in the park compares to mining in the western United States.

My group, with the summit of Baldy Mountain in the background.