1 person dead, 23 rescued in Mollie Kathleen gold mine | Pikes Peak Courier

CRIPPLE CREEK • One person died, four were injured and 23 were rescued after equipment malfunctioned while touring the Mollie Kathleen gold mine in Cripple Creek on Oct. 10, according to the Teller County Sheriff’s Office.

At 7:15 p.m., 12 people who remained trapped at the bottom of a tourist mine in the eastern part of the city for nearly seven hours completed their 300-meter climb to the surface after workers repaired a broken elevator. Eleven other people were rescued shortly after the problem occurred at an altitude of 150 meters.

The sheriff’s office received a report shortly after noon that an elevator carrying visitors to the mine had malfunctioned and stopped midway, said Teller County Sheriff Jason Mikesell.

Officials said the door failed as the elevator descended 500 feet into the 1,000-foot-deep mine.

“At this time, we do not know what caused this situation at 500 feet,” Teller Sheriff Jason Mikesell said Friday.

Authorities said they believe the death occurred during the crash.

The services reported during the evening press conference after the rescue operation that 12 people were not injured during the return to the surface and escaped four at a time via the elevator. Mikesell said the group was fed pizza as per their request.

Officials confirmed that all of the people were out-of-state tourists and were accommodated in hotels. None of them were informed about the situation when they were stuck underground, apart from the information about the “broken elevator”. Once upstairs, officials said they were “grateful” they hadn’t been told about it.

Gov. Jared Polis’ office released a statement Thursday evening.

“I am relieved that the 12 people trapped in the Mollie Kathleen Mine were safely rescued,” Polis said. “We express our sincere condolences to the family and friends of the person who died in this incident. I thank Teller County, Sheriff Mikesell and his team, and other local and state law enforcement and first responders for their quick response and tireless efforts, including members of the Department of Natural Resources, the Department of Labor and Employment, and the Department of Homeland Security and Crisis Management. Thanks to this joint effort, each of these people will return home safely.”

Officials say people stuck at the bottom of the mine had blankets, chairs and water and communicated with rescuers above while stuck.

Officials did not say what happened to the elevator, but after checking to make sure nothing was obstructing the rails or cables and testing the elevator up and down, all 12 people were restored to safety.

According to its website, the Mollie Kathleen Gold Mine is a former gold mine converted into a tourist facility that takes visitors on a vertical descent 100 stories underground. Tours take place at an altitude of 300 meters, but the elevator shaft is deeper.

The Colorado Springs Fire Department dispatched heavy rescue and recovery crews to the mine, among others.

According to the governor’s office, a field manager from the Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management was on scene and the State Emergency Operations Center was activated to support resource requests. Both a mine rescue team from the Department of Natural Resources and a Department of Labor transportation inspector were called in, according to the governor’s press release.

“We are extremely grateful for the quick response from all agencies involved and keep everyone in our prayers,” said Cripple Creek Mayor Annie Durham.

The mine has two shafts and uses an elevator, said William Snare, a former lift operator at the mine. The elevator can carry from 9 to 15 people, depending on the total weight.

Snare said it takes 2 minutes to descend to 1,000 feet and 4 to 5 minutes to get back up.

According to Mollie Kathleen’s website, the last day of tours this season is scheduled for Sunday.

According to the website, the mine was named for Mollie Kathleen Gortner, who in 1891 was the first woman at the Cripple Creek Gold Camp to discover gold and make a claim in her own name.

The mine closed in the 1960s, but mine tours were doing well at the time, so the decision was made to continue them, according to the website.

According to the website, proceeds from the tours are used to maintain the mine and ensure its “safe operating condition.”

This was not the first accident in the mine.

On Thursday evening, authorities cited an unspecified incident that occurred in 1986. Additionally, according to Courier archives from the Pikes Peak Library District’s digital collections, an elevator malfunctioned twice in the summer of 1994, leaving visitors stranded for hours.

The documents show the state requires daily testing of tourist mines.