Let’s fast forward to summertime in the San Juan Mountains. If you’ve driven up Yankee Boy (County Road 361) you’ve seen above-ground buildings of the Camp Bird Mine. I wonder about the who, what and how of this place. The answers? Tom Walsh, 1896, strategic prospecting. Now the backstory!

Thomas Walsh (1850-1910) was born in Tipperary, Ireland. He became an apprentice to a millwright at age 12 and honed his carpentry skills as a teenager. He immigrated to the United States in 1869 followin...