It took me 12 hours to walk all of Cerro Gordo's former tramway, but I'm glad I did!

This aerial tramway was how ore was moved from Cerro Gordo to Keeler below. It stretched about 8 miles up and over peaks and valleys. Miners used to ride the tram back up the mountain from Keeler after a day at the bar.

A lot of the tramway was far away from any road, leaving it relatively unexplored. My hope was to find artifacts to return to Cerro Gordo's museum.

These days, mining tramways are a thing of the past. As mining changed to open pit mining and large trucks and more efficient road building became available, they became obsolete remnants of the past.

The timbers will eventually decay away and the wire rope will rust into dust. And all the history and innovation that went into these beautiful structures will be lost on future generations.

So hopefully this video will give you an idea of the magnitude of these systems, without you having to make the 12 hour hike yourself!

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