Dry-stack walls on the DSP&P

[Todd A Ferguson]

I recall when riding the Georgetown Loop maybe 20 years ago they said that the Welsh built the laid stone walls on the Clear Creek Line.  I believe that the Welsh were also miners back in their homeland.

[Chris Walker]

Actually they were predominantly from Cornwall, but some from Wales and Devon.  

The Cornish developed many mining techniques put to use throughout the World, not just the Gold rushes of the (US) West. They were also in the Copper country of Michigan and Arizona, and the Silver mines of Mexico as early as the mid 1820's. Cornwell had the first School of Mining ( Camborne, in Truro) in the English speaking world, opened in 1839.  

Raises, Stopes, Winzes, Cornish pumps and as well as the dry stacked walls and foundations, not forgetting the Cornish Pasty and Cousin Jack, and also the Tommyknockers in mining folklore.