Third-grade students dressed as railroad workers, miners, ranchers and mill workers last week to present a living history of Dolores.
The event started with buying a ticket at the Dolores Living Museum. Parents who bought a ticket boarded the Rio Grande Southern Engine No. 20.
One could almost hear the roar of the engine as the trail conductors ushered participants down the hall (railroad tracks). It was hard to tell the engine was made of cardboard.
Before boarding, the audience was treated to a few railroad facts.
They learned the railroad was washed out frequently by floods and that the Shay No. 7 engine was famous, starring in a movie with Marilyn Monroe.
The train stopped at the mining camps.
Students did their best to dress up as hard-working miners and gave a historical presentation that included a song.
The Camp Bird Mine, students said, produced 1.5 million ounces of gold.
Those that attended learned that 1,700 men died in Colorado's coal mines and many only earned $3 a day for their work. Participants also learned that children as young as 6 years old worked in the coal mines and that at one time as the population of donkeys in Ouray outnumbered the population of people.
We also learned the history of the McPhee Lumber Co., which ran near Dolores for 24 years before it was destroyed by fire.
"They worked hard for a month, learning the three industries that made Dolores," Meg Neely, a third-grade teacher, said. "They are full of local facts."
We also learned how hard the first ranchers and farmers worked in the area, clearing the land by hand.
Neely said the students enjoyed sharing their local knowledge.
