Colorado mountain towns share one big industry: you. Tourism is vital to these remote, picturesque spots. But mining is what started almost all of them. For one weekend a year, the tiny community of Silverton, now known for its quaint shops and off-roading trails, celebrates its extraction past.
Hardrocker Holidays, which is happening through Sunday, features mining-inspired feats of strength, like drilling into solid rock and driving spikes into thick planks of timber, at Kendall Mountain Recreation Area. Now in its 50th year, think of it like the Highland Games, but celebrating the mining industry.
Silverton local Terry Rhoades, whose father helped start the games, has competed every single year. He calls them his “favorite holiday.”
“They're bringing the tradition of mining back,” said Rhoades, 69.
He gets into using a machine called a mucker, which kind of looks like a mini bulldozer, to see how quickly he can move a pile of dirt, as the crowd cheers.
“Yeah, that's fun,” Rhoades said, with a laugh. “And during the tug of war, they really get into it.”
There’s also arm wrestling, wheelbarrow races and so many drilling competitions. Many of the spectators and competitors are like Rhoades, deeply connected to the mining industry and its past. Following in his dad and grandpa’s footsteps, he started mining at just 17 and worked underground for about a quarter century.
He makes no bones about how tough it was. Rock falls, in particular, were always a danger.
“I got my ankle broke, my hands broke,” he said.
Still, it was one of his Rhoades’ jobs – and was for many people he knew. He worked alongside miners who commuted for hours every day, and that influx of hundreds of workers made downtown Silverton thrive. He remembers it always being full, with several bands playing on any given summer night.
All that changed in the 1990s, when the demand for gold and silver decreased, and the local mines shut down.
“Yeah, I miss it, but you just have to roll with the flow, I guess,” Rhoades said.
There are a handful of miner games in mountain towns across the state, but Silverton’s is the oldest. It’s getting harder to keep it going, Rhoades said, as everyone gets older, and young people don’t have the same connection to the industry. But for former miners like him, Hardrock Holidays is sort of like a family reunion – and a chance to celebrate the industry that built so much of the West.
“Mining is what did it all,” he said. “All the old-timers came to get the gold, and that's what started this whole place out here.”
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