Eric Twitty has worked as a mining historian and archaeologist throughout the Rocky Mountain West for the past 25 years. He specializes in abandoned mines and ghost towns – documenting and interpreting their remains, and evaluating their historic significance. Mr. Twitty is an expert in cultural resource management, historic preservation, heritage tourism and policy development. He has also worked with other historic resource types such as power plants, sawmills, homesteads and ranches.
Mountain States Historical, Mr. Twitty’s firm, has completed more than 200 cultural resource projects, including over 1500 abandoned mines, mills and townsites. Since 2005, the firm has contracted with the Colorado Division of Reclamation, Mining, and Safety to conduct the agency’s cultural resource compliance work, as well as select Bureau of Land Management offices. Mr. Twitty has also documented and evaluated dozens of abandoned mines and mills in coordination with environmental clean-up projects. Mountain States Historical has a strong track record of achieving favorable outcomes that balance project needs with protection of sensitive sites.
The firm has participated in policy development regarding mines as historic resources at both state and federal levels. Mr. Twitty produced a number of historic contexts, official guides that set standards for documenting, interpreting, and evaluating historic significance of old mines and mills. Examples include the master mining context for Colorado, and archaeological mining contexts for regional Bureau of Land Management offices and local governments. In 2012, Mountain States Historical completed the I-70 Mountain Corridor master context for the Colorado Department of Transportation. Mr. Twitty also developed a training program on mining archaeology for the BLM, initiated by Alaska and Arizona state offices.
Eric Twitty is the author of three books about the history of hardrock mining in the West. An expert on the techniques used to extract valuable ore, his evocative, award-winning books help the modern reader understand the challenges miners faced during the 19th century mining booms.
(Photo: Eric Twitty above Independence historic townsite, Pitkin County, Colorado)