Prepare yourself for an exciting adventure.

The complimentary 4-wheel drive trip will take you past such geologic features as the Wellsville Fold and the Wellsville travertine quarry which supplied the finest marble this side of Italy in the 1920's. The road angles down a steep grade to the 1890's lime kilns for an interpretive walk and then winds back up toward the mine. You will experience breathtaking views of colorful rock outcroppings with the fourteen thousand foot Sangre de Cristo Mountains as a back drop. View old mine ruins including the tipple and the chute which carried the manganese ore to the waiting mule- pulled wagons. At the tours end, take your time wandering back through the tunnel's entrance and experience what underground mining was like after the turn of the century.

• Trips originate at the Adobe Casa, 1147 E Street, Salida..
• Daily trips leave The Adobe Casa at 10 am and 2 pm.
• Round trip tour takes 3 hours.
• A short but thrilling complimentary four wheel drive service takes you to the Wellsville lime kiln ruins and then on to the entrance of the mine.
• The Lost Mine is about 8500 ft. with a constant temperature of 50 degrees
• The Mine property contains the original discovery cut, two tunnels, three drifts and a stope.
• Iron Mountain Mine is state inspected and safe.
• A short inclined pathway takes you to the entrance of the mine, blasted out of massive gray limestone of the Carboniferous Age.
• The guided walking adventure takes you past deposits of manganese ore, calcite crystals and interesting vugs and veins of other complex silicates and carbonates.
• Original timber shoring and barricades have been preserved inside.
• Your reward at the journey's end is a crystal coated cavern with dolomite, gypsum and calcite deposits that glow under the UV light show.

Accessibility Info: The tour involves a four wheel drive tour approximately 1.5 miles beyond the county road,  light hiking  50 yds.down a mild slope with 15-20 minutes of standing and walking through the mine. We are not wheelchair accessible.The twenty acre mine site is surrounded by government land.