[esbranson]

Pity the kids getting jobs in the ol' Argo Mill. Exactly what the article and OP are lamenting: trillions of dollars of investment in 1800s-era mining for gold, that rare earth metal vital to national security. No sane person would ever want to live in the Rockies.

[bediger4000]

That's something of a modern viewpoint. If you hike in the Rockies, you'll find that a lot of the bronze survey markers on top of mountains are stamped "Bureau of Reclamation". Mountainous regions weren't valued except for extractive purposes until recently. Why do you think Long's Peak and the Mummy Range were available to be converted to Rocky Mountain National Park in 1915?