Rudefeha Mine Site, Wyoming

The Rudefeha Mine was the largest of several copper mines in the area, in the Sierra Madre Range, and on the Continental Divide at Battle Pass. Though it operated for just ten years, between 1898 and 1908, it had a profound impact on the region. The mine used an aerial tram that carried ore 16 miles over the Divide to the smelter in the town of Encampment. There were 370 towers supporting the looped cable that held 840 buckets, each capable of carrying 700 pounds of ore. All of this, and it operated for less than five years before the mine went out of business and closed. The tram was among the first major projects of the Riblet Tramway Company of Spokane, a company that would go on to become one of the largest chairlift companies in the nation, helping some old Rocky Mountain mining towns find new life as ski resorts.