JULY 1940
Written by Henry N. Patterson
July 1993

The Sunset Riders, our motorcycle club in Western Colorado, voted to go on a group ride to Ouray, Colorado on the Fourth of July. Leola and I got up early so we could get an early start. No definite plans had been made as to what each rider wanted to do after arriving in Ouray. I wanted to go to the King Lease Mine and see what was there. It was the old Camp Bird Mine which is said to have been very rich at one time. It was rumored that the Hope Diamond was purchased from earnings from the ore mined there. I knew Joe King who was the son of the owner at that time. Supposedly the mine had run out of high grade ore but with better prices he was apparently making it pay.

Two other couples and a single rider went with us. We went to the gate and were asked what we wanted and we told him we wanted to go up to King Lease. He said go ahead but you can't make it as only cars with double transmissions were able to make the climb. We told him to call ahead that we were going up. Remember this was before the days of Jeeps. The road was steep but that was no problem. It was the rocks on the road that made it tough to try to keep a straight line and also keep traction. The single rider had to go back. His Indian Pony did not have enough horse power. We made it up and were greeted with open arms because no one from outside had been up there for quite awhile. The foreman took us in and showed us where the mine shaft was and pointed up the mountain where the snow slides had come down several times and wrecked the mill. He showed us all through the mill and explained how the high grade ore was crushed to powder and then on through where it reached a long trough. This trough had an augur in it that kept the ore in action. The trough was filled with mercury. Since gold is lighter than mercury it would come to the top where they could skim it off and put the ore into bags. These bags were then taken to the lift [elevator] and lowered to the old mine shaft where they had donkeys who lived in the mine the year around. The donkeys would carry the bags of ore out to the entrance where it would be picked up to go to the refinery. They invited us to have dinner with them, which we should have done, but it had been agreed by all the riders that we would meet at a certain time and all eat together. When we got back the rest of our group had already eaten. Friends? Coming down from the mine was harder than going up. Using the brake and keeping yourself and rider on top of the machine was tough. One of the fellows lost his and it fell catching his leg under the bike. I was about thirty feet behind him when he went down but it was probably fifty feet past him when I was able to stop and get off to help him. In the meantime his girl friend had lifted the bike off of him with adrenaline strength. She spent most of the next week in bed because she had stretched too many muscles.

On the Fourth of July, of the period of time I am writing, Ouray had games and contests in the afternoon on their main street. The day we were there they had rock drilling contests. Also, the volunteer fireman from the small towns around Ouray came to put on a water show. They first raced to put on the nozzles and set up for the water fights. The water fights with fire hoses were great fun to watch. You didn't dare get too close or you would get soaked. The water fights were mostly a two man team. The idea was to knock the other team off their feet. Earnest Miller, a cousin who lived in Ouray, told me that at first the team would face each other and this method turned out to be pretty rough. He said he came up with the idea of a large husky man holding the hose under his arm and facing backwards. The other man would hide behind him and try to aim the water against the other team. This was the way we saw them fight. You have to see it to believe it.

Then homeward bound. It was a great day.