Colorado Miners Hoping For Silver Revival

His son, David, a former Colorado School of Mines professor, prospected a multimillion-dollar gold claim that put him in People magazine in 1975 at age 14. Al Mosch still has a claim in the silver mine, and David Mosch is working on new technology to extract silver.

"If he's successful," Al Mosch told the newspaper, "we could reopen a lot of these old claims."

The United States is the eighth-largest silver producer in the world. Most silver produced is used for industrial applications such as battery-making, or photography, or jewelry crafting, with alternative-energy uses on the rise.

Another silver prospector, Tom Treadwell, is working to clear some 30 tons of mud and debris left in Poor Man's main shaft. He said the enjoys looking for a new vein of silver to revive the state's silver mining industry.

"Mother Earth is lovely and peaceful underground," Treadwell said. "I get to play with dynamite and find gold and silver. It's the best of both worlds. You conquer Mother Earth a little bit at a time and see what treasures she has for you."

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