I have lived in Nederland since 1979 and am the proud father of William Alers and a collie named Zeke. I have written articles on local history for The Mountain-Ear since 2015. I am a Certified Professional Geologist with over 40 years of experience in the precious metal mining business in the western United States, British Colombia and Brazil.

I attended the University of Colorado in Boulder, and the Colorado School of Mines in Golden. I was involved in the discovery of five producing gold mines at Summitville Colorado; South Mercur, Utah; McLaughlin, California; Buffalo Valley, Nevada; and Jardine, Montana.

I have mapped more of the underground workings and logged more diamond drill core from the Central City, Caribou, Gold Hill and Ward mining districts in Colorado than any other living geologist. I have authored or co-authoring numerous published reports on the geology of a wide variety of Colorado mines.

Years of research has shown me just how much the early history of Colorado and Nederland is intimately intertwined with its mining heritage.

The Great Caribou Silver Lode, west of Nederland, was discovered in 1864. It was not the first silver camp discovered in the Colorado Territory, but for more than a decade, it was the queen of Colorado’s silver camps. From 1869-1880, the mine produced $1,168,000 worth of silver, lead and gold. The Caribou Mill in Nederland produced the 30 bricks of silver that paved the front of the Teller House in Central City for the visit of Ulysses S. Grant in 1873.

Nederland was by far the leading producer of Tungsten in the United States from 1900-1918. The Nederland Tungsten District produced $23,000,000 worth of tungsten from 1900-1945. Tungsten can withstand very high temperatures so it was needed for the high-speed cutting tools used to manufacture weapons during World War I.

In 1909-10, the Primos Mining and Milling Co. from Nederland, was the largest tungsten mining company in the world and ran the world’s largest tungsten mill in Lakewood (a company town northwest of Nederland) and it owned the Conger Mine, the world’s deepest tungsten mine (991 feet deep).

I believe much of the strength of this community is rooted in the historic tradition of independence forged from the rich legacy of Nederland’s mining heritage.

Therefore, I intend to recount the real-life historic tales of the mines that helped build Nederland in The Mountain-Ear. And help preserve the legend of the old-time prospector, one of the most unique and colorful characters in Colorado history.