North London Mill



The North London Mill is a gold mill in Park County, Colorado that commenced operations in 1883. In 1874, the first London mine was opened, named for the mountain it burrowed into. The London mines became some of the most productive mines of gold, silver and lead in the area. Between 1879 and 1889, some $82,000,000 of silver was processed in the Leadville area during the Colorado Silver Boom. Due to the rugged environment and high altitude, transportation of ore between the mines and mill was difficult and costly. Thus, the first rope cable-way in Colorado was built to carry ore down the thousand-vertical-foot slope from the mine to the mill. The mine was owned by William K. Jewett of New York and Colorado Springs. The North London Mill site is at 11,400 feet above sea level, West of Park City on County Road 12 (Mosquito Pass Road) outside of Alma in Park County, and has been recognized by the Park County Historic Preservation Advisory Committee as a local landmark. Mosquito Pass, at an elevation of 13,185 feet, is crossed by the highest through road in North America, and its access roads are rich in mining heritage. Constructed in the late 1870s, the Mosquito Pass Road was used despite its treacherous terrain because it is the shortest route between Fairplay and Leadville. It is the lowest-elevation pass over the highest ridge in the United States (outside Alaska) and the Rocky Mountain Range, and as such has particular fauna and flora such as Penland's alpine fen mustard, not found elsewhere in the lower 48 states.

Restoration efforts
A nonprofit organization, North London Mill Preservation Inc. (NoLo) was formed in 2017 by Executive Co-Directors Jeff Crane and Kate McCoy with a mission "to plan, finance preserve, and manage the historic buildings of the North London Mill site outside Alma, Colorado, rehabilitating them for backcountry recreation, education, the arts and sciences,  and to support historic preservation throughout the State". Central to this vision is the rehabilitation of the original 1883 Mining Office building in accordance with the Secretary of the Interior's Standards for Historic Preservation, transforming it into a backcountry hut with accommodations similar to those of the 10th Mountain Division Hut system. In 2019, NoLo received a grant of $154,000 from History Colorado State Historical Fund, and $48,000 in matching funds from the Gates Family Foundation to complete exterior rehabilitation of the North London Office and prepare construction documents for the North London Mill. The preservation architects of Form+Works design group developed the preliminary drawings.

These efforts are part of an overall vision for the site as Gesamtkunstwerk, where outdoor recreation, the arts and sciences, material culture, and history are united in a spectacular high-alpine environment.

The current landowner has been working to clean up the water flowing though the mine tunnels. Minewater LLC has developed a combined regulatory and technical strategy that may provide a template for reclamation of other historic abandoned mines throughout the West.