1978 Precursor to Gold King spill

Read about the previous mining disaster in the same location in 1978:

"Disaster at the Sunnyside" in The San Juan Triangle of Colorado (Denver: Lithographie, 2011), which is for sale at the museum of the Colorado School of Mines.


The Gold King Mine is part of the Sunnyside Mine, connected by the American Tunnel.

http://geoinfo.nmt.edu/museum/minsymp/abstracts/view.cfml?aid=100

The 1978 disaster at the Sunnyside also emptied into Cement Creek because the mines are connected, essentially in the same place.  

Cement Creek runs northwest-to-southeast directly into the NW corner of Silverton, joining the Animas in the SE corner of town.

Here's another great analysis of the causes and history of mine spills near Silverton:

http://www.hcn.org/articles/when-our-river-turned-orange-animas-river-spill?utm_campaign=trueAnthem:+Trending+Content&utm_content=55cc813204d3012947000001&utm_medium=trueAnthem&utm_source=facebook

To learn more, I need to take the Old Hundred Gold Mine Tour near Silverton.

  http://www.minetour.com/index.html

I've only done the Bachelor Syracuse Mine Tour near Ouray and the Silver Bell tour they used to have at Ophir.