The 29th of a series of caches planned to be hidden at or near the historic rural schoolhouses of Routt County (RCSH - Routt County School Houses). See the first cache of this series (GC6QQ71) for a complete and updated list of the ones currently available - but this list will continue to grow as there were 96 schools which served Routt County neighborhoods from 1883 until 1960 when the rural districts consolidated.
Mount Harris was a coal camp established in 1914 by the Colorado-Utah Coal Company and named for the Harris brothers, Byron & George. The Mount Harris mine was just one of many in the area, but was one of the larger mines. It was located south of the Yampa River. The original Victor America mine (aka: Wadge Mine) was located north of the Yampa River mining under the “Gibraltar Rock” just west of town.
School for the children of these two mines was held in private homes until 1915 when the two companies teamed up to build a two-story frame elementary school. County Road 52A is the original Hwy 40 and the school sat near this cache just North of the highway. This original school burnt to the ground in 1932, but classes resumed the following day in various businesses around town until the new rock school could be built. This new school was built from rocks quarried from the nearby rimrocks and took about 3 years to finish – it was painted a cream color.
Mount Harris was considered a model mining camp. Along with the business district there were two churches, doctors' offices, a theater, a two-story service station (the top story on Hwy 40 for travelers, the bottom story for mine families), two hotels, a bunk house plus a large baseball field and grandstand. The Athletic Club was the only licensed club in the area until 1933, drawing athletes from as far as Denver, Utah, & Wyoming to compete.
January 27, 1942 saw an explosion at the Victor-America/Wadge Mine resulting in the loss of 34 miners. With coal prices dropping, and the expense of shipping, the Victor America mine closed in 1951 with the Mount Harris mine following suit in 1958. The buildings of the town were sold at auction, including the school’s teacherage. The school was leveled after the removal of all salvageable materials. One of the three identical “Muses” representing art, literature and science is on display at the Hayden Heritage Center Museum in Hayden.