Author Description

The Great Argo Project narrates the compelling history of the Argo Tunnel and Argo Mill as well as the biography of Samuel Newhouse who pioneered the project. The author explains in detail the construction of the 4-mile Argo Tunnel at Idaho Springs, Colorado, dug to access and drain mines in the Central City gold district. It discusses the underpinning need and impetus for the tunnel and illustrates how the tunnel was dug over a period of 17 years and the problems it encountered on the way. It also tells how the tunnel project came to a devastating end in 1943 by a huge flood from an overlying mine. The author then takes reader through the conception and operation of a large mill built at the portal as well as non-technical explanation of the various ways the mill recovered gold and silver. A thorough biography of Samuel Newhouse follows, starting with his early days in the Leadville silver rush, through gold mining in Silverton and Ouray, Colorado, and on to Denver where he schemed the need for the Argo Tunnel. Once he got the Argo project underway, Newhouse acquired and developed the famous Highland Boy Mine in Utah that evolved into the Bingham Canyon Mine in Utah, the world's largest and deepest copper mine. It also describes his role in developing the Flatiron Building, one of New York's most iconic landmarks. The quick-reading book concludes with Newhouse's slow downfall by obsession with real estate development in Salt Lake City prior to his death outside Paris in 1930.