Volunteers Restore Colorado Mining Camp Structures
By Devin Loftus | Online Only | June 24, 2010
One weekend in June was all it took for a team of volunteers to save three outbuildings and a barn in Lake City, Colo., all of which made Colorado Preservation, Inc.'s most endangered places list this year.
Once the site of a mining camp founded in 1874, Lake City has one of the largest and oldest historic districts in the state. Yet the district's outbuildings—sheds, barns, outhouses, and carriage houses that accompany other well maintained, high-style buildings—are deteriorating, thereby threatening the Lake City Historic District's National Register listing. Outbuildings make up 37 percent of the buildings in the historic district, according to Colorado Preservation, Inc.
From June 11 through 13, HistoriCorps leaders and volunteers, in conjunction with Colorado Preservation, Inc., restored and repaired Lake City's Bent Mule Barn, Culver Outhouse, Rock Outhouse, and McGee Outhouse. Jonas Landes, HistoriCorps project manager, was on site, along with Lindsay Joyner, its preservation programs assistant, Patrick Eidman, Colorado Preservation's endangered places coordinator, and in- and out-of-state volunteers.
The Lake City weekend workshop is the fourth on-site project for HistoriCorps since its launch in October 2009. It's one of seven projects that HistoriCorps will be working on this summer.
"I was really excited about the joint effort on this workshop with HistoriCorps," Eidman says. "We worked with the town, as well, and the town was ecstatic." To coordinate the event, the National Trust's Denver-based Mountains/Plains Office gave a grant of $1,500 through its Peter Grant Fund. The town gave the team $3,000 for tools. The volunteers put in a total of 400 hours over the weekend.
"HistoriCorps is growing in popularity. I get more and more volunteers, especially during the summer, when more people are looking for volunteer opportunities," Joyner says.
The owner of the Bent Mule Barn had earlier applied for a demolition permit, but the city turned down the request. Nevertheless, Eidman explains, the owner was pleased with the final result, pledging to preserve and use the barn as a potential parking garage. "The Bent Mule Barn is really the centerpiece for preservation of the outbuildings in Lake City," Eidman says. "We cleared out the space and showed there was room here to reuse. From potting to storage, owners were discussing the possibilities."
Later this summer, HistoriCorps and Colorado Preservation plan to return to Lake City to work on the Brooks Avery outbuildings, Brunson Outhouse, and Pitney Outhouse.
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