The massive red dirt terraces look very different than they did for more
than 100 years when limestone that helped build the city was being mined
there.

“If you can’t grow it, it must be mined,” so goes the miner’s credo. It
also applies to the history, and growth, of Colorado Springs. All of the
material to build the city had to come from somewhere.

The red Ford F-250 rocked back and forth like a ship on dangerous waters as it made its way up the steep slope. “You’re not afraid of heights, are you?” asked Jerry Schnabel. “I forget to ask people that. I apologize.”

On these hot summer days, those who work outside have it hard, especially
those working along the slope of a former quarry.

Situated on the eastern slope of one of Colorado’s renowned 14ers, Pikeview
Quarry has been a cornerstone of the Colorado Springs community since its
inception in 1903. The town owes

One of Colorado Springs’ most recognizable scars on the mountainside is in
the final stages of a makeover.

The Pikeview Quarry has marked the mountains west of Colorado Springs for
more than a century. Now that mining operations have ceased, the city needs
to figure out what to do with the scar.

“If you can’t grow it, it must be mined,” so goes the miner’s credo. It
also applies to the history, and growth, of Colorado Springs. All of the
material to build the city had to come from somewhere.

In the foothills of northwest Colorado Springs, along the Pikeview Quarry
scar seen from afar over the past century, two men knelt down to plant a
young pine.