Museum pushes for more education about mining in Colorado

Gage Dillon loves science, especially geology.

“I just kinda like to jump right in,” Dillon said. “I’ll just show you. I was working on this pan but I’m going to start over.”

That love for hands-on science probably comes from his father, who worked in a mine.

“You want to get really deep down in there because that’s where the black sand is and black sand is usually associated with gold,” he said.

Dillon is on the cusp of understanding mining’s history in Colorado.

“It’s the heritage of the state. It’s one of the most important states for minerals,” said Rick Sauers, executive director of Western Museum of Mining & Industry.

Gold, silver and coal – it’s all in Colorado and mining is still one of the biggest occupations in the state.

“The mining industry is essential for a modern lifestyle. If you didn’t have minerals you wouldn’t have cellphones, television sets. You wouldn’t have missile guidance,” Sauers said. “You could have a list 20 pages long of things minerals are in or essential for.”

It’s why the Western Museum of Mining and Industry brought together different groups and teachers, trying to press that importance and history of mining to kids.

A lesson that at least one 9-year-old seemed to take away.

“It kinda triggered everything that goes on in America now,” Dillon said.