漏 2025
NPR 暗黑爆料, Colorado Stories
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
NPR NEWS INVESTIGATION: Coverage of mine safety in the U.S. after an explosion at Massey Energy's Upper Big Branch Mine in West Virginia killed 29 workers.

New Castle's Coal Legacy Smolders Under Burning Mountain

The mountains surrounding New Castle, Colorado are on fire. But don鈥檛 panic. They鈥檙e always on fire, under the surface, out of sight.

The town, 12 miles west of Glenwood Springs and an inevitable stop along I-70, is home to some of the oldest burning coal seam fires in the country. While the fires themselves smolder underground, barren scars on the mountain sides are a reminder of their presence.

鈥淲hen it storms, you鈥檒l see steam coming out,鈥� longtime New Castle resident Joe McNeal said. 鈥淚t used to come out further down, so [the burn scar] is moving. It鈥檚 always been there as far as I know.鈥�

A flat-topped mountain across the street from McNeal鈥檚 house even bears the name of its legendary coal fire. It鈥檚 called Burning Mountain and has been smoldering since at least 1899 when the Consolidated Mine caught fire.Sage brush covers the slope, except one shrubless splotch, about the size of a football field.

Snow melts quickly off Burning Mountain鈥檚 slopes in winter and grasses green up early in the spring, McNeal said.

Like many of Colorado鈥檚 small mountain communities, New Castle has a rich, although bloody, mining history. Big coal mines haven鈥檛 been operational there in almost a century, shuttered after a series of explosions, but evidence of its coal mining past still shows on the scarred ridges that surround New Castle.

Credit Luke Runyon
Longtime New Castle resident Joe McNeal stands in his driveway, with the scar of Burning Mountain over his shoulder.

Around the turn of the 20th century, New Castle established itself as a coal mining hub, providing the fuel needed to keep nearby silver mines in Aspen up and running. Miners dug deep into the Grand Hogback ridge that runs across the Colorado River, with its rich, dense, accessible coal deposits.

Then came the explosions and fires. The first, in 1896, killed 49 miners. Dozens more were killed years later in another explosion. Unstable, volatile conditions within the mines spawned out of control fires in between.

Coal seam fires have been known to start for a variety of reasons. All you need is concentrated fuel and an ignition source. Because few detailed records were kept during New Castle鈥檚 coal boom, there鈥檚 no explanation for the Consolidated Mine鈥檚 fire. The other explosions were likely due to ignition of highly flammable methane gas which is found within coal seams, and released when the seam is mined. In the early 1900鈥檚, few regulations existed for the industry and so venting of these noxious gases was slipshod and inconsistent, leading to quite a few explosions.

Credit Abandoned Mine Land Inventory System / Office of Surface Mining
/
Office of Surface Mining
The federal Office of Surface Mining keeps an inventory of all "problem mines" across the country. Not all are underground fires, but a handful of those red dots around New Castle indicate a smoldering mine.

An underground mine fire sounds like a rare occurrence, but Burning Mountain isn鈥檛 that unique. A , Harvey Gap, Coryell and Vulcan, still smolder outside New Castle. Generally unknown to passersby driving along I-70, to New Castle residents, they鈥檙e fairly commonplace. You can take a nap in Burning Mountain Park. Get your laptop fixed at Burning Mountain Computer Services. Even the town鈥檚 now defunct bowling alley used to bear the name: Burning Mountain Bowl.

鈥淲ell everybody knows it鈥檚 on fire because they have a celebration, they call it Burning Mountain Festival, so everybody knows it鈥檚 on fire,鈥� McNeal said.

The fires aren鈥檛 completely tucked away, out of sight, out of mind. for sparking the aptly named Coal Seam Fire that spread quickly through a neighborhood in Glenwood Springs, torching 29 homes.

鈥淪o far none of our fires have threatened [the town],鈥� New Castle city councilman Bruce Leland said. 鈥淎nd you see there鈥檚 not enough vegetation on the mountains to catch.鈥�

Credit Scot Gerdes / photo.net
/
photo.net
The aptly named Coal Seam Fire in Glenwood Springs burned almost 30 homes in 2002.

Hundreds of similar fires burn around the globe. In the U.S. the more prominent abandoned mine fires are in Pennsylvania, Ohio and Utah. The highest density of fires in Colorado? Right in New Castle.

鈥淭he stories of New Castle are just, they鈥檙e like an onion,鈥� said Dale Shrull, a writer with the Grand Junction Sentinel. He grew up in New Castle and wrote a book about the town鈥檚 mining past.

鈥淵ou peel one, and it鈥檚 about mining to begin with, but then it goes into railroads and railroad crashes,鈥� Shrull said, and then into labor disputes and politics and Wild West lore.

Shrull pieced together old newspaper articles and mining records to write his book, which traces the town鈥檚 path from coal mining town to sleepy ranching hamlet to bedroom community for nearby ski resorts. All the while the underground fires burned, leaving marks on mountainsides.

鈥淭hat鈥檚 what I love about that barren scar because it is that reminder of New Castle鈥檚 history and its origins that never goes away,鈥� Shrull said.

The mountainside scars aren鈥檛 necessarily bringing in droves of tourists to gawk. But the rich history enough to keep long-time residents like Joe McNeal occupied. A volunteer at the town鈥檚 history museum, he鈥檚 always ready to keep passing along the legend of the still-smoldering Burning Mountain to whoever will listen.

鈥淚鈥檓 repeating what somebody else has told me. That鈥檚 why I say, these are stories,鈥� McNeal said.

Stories about a small town with a Wild West history and a few hidden fires.

and help us find more of the lost, forgotten or the little-known in the Centennial State. Have an idea? Send us a tip for Hidden Colorado.

As KUNC鈥檚 managing editor and reporter covering the Colorado River Basin, I dig into stories that show how water issues can both unite and divide communities throughout the Western U.S. I edit and produce feature stories for KUNC and a network of public media stations in Colorado, Utah, Wyoming, New Mexico, Arizona, California and Nevada.
Related Content