V. Larry Frank
1 book in the catalogue, published 2017.
V. Larry Frank Jr. is the author of Colorado's Great Depression Gold Rush, the one book of his in our catalogue. He is a historian who spent years in Leadville, and his subject is a gold mine on Mosquito Pass in the 1930s. We list his book as published in 2017. This page tells you what we could verify about him and about how the book came to be written.
About V. Larry Frank
A Grand Junction Sentinel column says Frank was not a writer by temperament and never saw himself as one. In 1991 he was working as a historian in Leadville, where he met Bob Elder, a mining engineer and historian. Over the following twelve years he learned much about the Oliver Twist Tunnel, which Elder's father and grandfather had leased and operated in the 1930s.
Frank moved to the Grand Valley in 2003. Another twelve years passed before he decided the mine's story needed to be recorded. The column says he first thought he might help Elder write it, but Elder insisted that Frank write the book himself and handed over ledgers, stock books, photographs, letters and other documents. Frank began work in 2015 and had the book published by 2017.
Books
What the books share
With one book on record, the themes are those of that book: the Mosquito Pass and Alma country in the Great Depression, a family mining venture, and the ordinary people who worked it. The Sentinel reviewer says Frank wanted a human-interest story as well as a mining story. The research came from a family's own records, and the book organizes it year by year, with timelines, employee lists and biographies of the major players. We have no other books from him to compare it with.
Next steps for readers of this author
Seeing the Leadville district
Two museums sit within the same town, so one trip can cover both. Both sites say hours vary by season, so check before you drive up.
Understanding a Depression era mine
Frank's subject is a 1930s venture. Reading the encyclopedia's account of Leadville's later mining years gives you the wider economy behind a small operation.
Tracing a miner in your family
If a relative worked the Alma or Leadville diggings, the Park County archive's reference list is a place to look for local mining books, and the Heritage Museum is another to ask.
Go deeper
The mine in Frank's book sits in the Mosquito Pass and Alma country above Leadville, a district shaped by gold and silver. These places explain that mining world in general and keep local records.
Colorado Encyclopedia: Leadville
Follows the town from the 1860 California Gulch gold find through the silver boom, the Climax mine and its later economy.
National Mining Hall of Fame and Museum
Its site describes a National Mining Museum, a Gold Exhibit on California Gulch and the Matchless Mine historic site.
The Heritage Museum, Leadville
Run by the Lake County Civic Center Association, it lists a Diorama Room, an assay office and Victorian era home furnishings.
Park County Local History Archives reference list
A list of books and documents held in Fairplay, including an entry titled Alma Mining.
Good to know
How many books by V. Larry Frank does Western Reflections list?
How did Frank come to write about the Oliver Twist Tunnel?
Writers like this one are how the list was built
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