HARTVILLE – The Hartville Episcopal Perish Hall had many members of the community gathering together on Jan. 26, for Ray Mansoldo and Bob Hohnholt’s presentation on their Sunrise Mine memories. The presentation consisted of each gentleman’s family history, experiences and memories from Sunrise.

The Sunrise Mine memories presentation was arranged by the Sunrise Historic and Prehistoric Preservation Society (SHAPPS).

According to R.W. MacCannon’s book, “Sunrise: A chronology of a Wyoming mine,” Sunrise was originally discovered when John London and Lieutenant George Eaton located a copper deposit in May of 1881. In the mine’s earliest years, 75 men worked on the copper ore deposit and shipped the ore to Fairbank by wagon train and then to Cheyenne. After the demise of the copper, it wasn’t long before attention was turned to the large iron deposits in the area. 

In the early 1900s, the Sunrise Mine, as we know it, was started.

“What I’m going to talk about first is the early part of Sunrise,” Mansoldo began. “The immigrants are the ones who first started in the mine. There were a bunch of different nationalities, there were Greek, Italian, English, Japanese, Lebanese and Scandinavian. What I’m going to talk about is my father, Angelo Mansoldo.”

Angelo was born on Jan. 19, 1889, in Italy. In Italy, his father was a blacksmith and had passed on the trade to Angelo. At just 17-years-old, Angelo came to America and stayed in New York with his brother while he earned his citizenship. In 1915, he got word the mine in Sunrise was hiring, so he traveled there to work as a blacksmith. 

“On March 8, 1918, (Angelo) and Frank Rizzoli enlisted in the army in Denver, Colorado,” Mansoldo continued. “They served in World War I. Then on Feb. 20, he returned back to Sunrise and got his blacksmith job back. He worked there till 1957.”

Mansoldo said the wage scale for a blacksmith in 1942 was $0.88 an hour or $7.06 a day. The blacksmith positions were some of the higher-paying jobs in Sunrise.

Mansoldo recalled a story of James D. Miller, Jr. In 1942, Miller was the blacksmith foreman over Mansoldo’s father. One day, Miller was electrocuted while they were moving the Osgood steam shovel.

“James was on the boom of the steam shovel when it hit a power line,” Mansoldo said. “He died on Aug. 10, 1942. He died in the Scottsbluff, Nebraska hospital from the effects of electrocution.”

The Osgood steam shovel is now located in the Western and Mining Museum in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

Mansoldo then introduced Hohnholt and let him continue the presentation.

“My family was much the same,” Hohnholt began. “During the turn of the century, there were many immigrants who came to this country. My grandfather came from Italy. He was recently married, and they had a boy and a girl. There wasn’t much money, so he decided to head to the United States.”

In America, his grandfather traveled to Chicago where he got word about the mine in Sunrise. After a year of working in Sunrise, he raised enough to send back to his wife and son so they could join him. By this time, their daughter had passed away. 

“She went to the heart of France and got on a boat to come across the Atlantic to Ellis Island,” Hohnholt said. “She then got on a train and went 2,000 miles to Sunrise, Wyoming. How tough is that? Not many people could do that today.”

They settled into the valley and loved their life there. 

In the early 1900s, several movements to unionize mine workers were happening in Pueblo, Colorado, which affected operations in Sunrise. Major strikes were happening as workers fought for recognition and bargaining rights. At this time, the Rockefeller company took over the mine at Sunrise.

“(The Rockefellers) had a lot of trouble with the miners in their Colorado Fuel and Iron Corporation,” Hohnholt recalled. “They had striking miners in down in Colorado. Rockefeller talked them into sending in the guards. They ended up killing a bunch of miners, their wives and their sons.”

After this incident, Rockefellers had a bad reputation, which John D. Rockefeller, Jr. tried to make amends for. Hohnholt said from that day on he became a great philanthropist.

In 1917, the company built the YMCA and a hospital in Sunrise. According to MacCannon’s book, the YMCA was a three-story brick structure made to replace the social hall. This building featured a three-lane bowling alley, shower facilities, a pool and billiard room, a soda fountain, a library, a barbershop, a card room and a women’s lounge.

Hohnholt recalled many memories of the YMCA.

“I set up many pins at the bowling alley there for a dime a line,” Hohnholt recalled. “For that dime, you could go up and buy two bottles of pop or two candy bars. If you had a quarter, you could buy a really good malt. It was great; I spent a lot of time there.”

One of the managers of the YMCA was C.L. (Banty) Wendel, he became the manager in 1930. Wendel was a champion cyclist from New York City, New York. 

“Banty came from New York City and was touring the country on a bicycle,” Hohnholt recalled. “He was a great boxer and bicyclist and everything else. But he went through Trinidad, Colorado, and broke his arm. Banty started many different programs.”

Wendel lived in one of the rooms at the YMCA. 

“Banty was the one who taught me how to bowl,” Hohnholt said. “One day he came up to me and said, “I want you to come down here to the workshop.” He actually had a new ball and measured my fingers. He drilled the holes and then gave me the new ball.”

In 1957, Wendel moved to Fresno, California. Hohnholt said he tried to go visit him once but could never find him.

Hohnholt was raised in Sunrise and went to Sunrise Schools.
“The Sunrise Grade School had reading, writing and arithmetic, and as the song says, all to the tune of a hickory stick,” Hohnholt said. “I was the recipient of that hickory stick a few times.”

Hohnholt said the school had great teachers, a good curriculum and a good tax base. The schools were consolidated in 1963. At this time, the Sunrise school merged with the Guernsey school becoming Guernsey-Sunrise. 

After graduating high school, Hohnholt went to the Air Force and then went to electronic school in Denver. After a year in school, he started work at the mine in Sunrise as a rock picker. 

Myron Sisson was the superintendent of the mine at the time Hohnholt was there.

“He was a great guy,” Hohnholt said. “He was superintendent for several years. He took over the mine when Harry Wright died. Harry was not a good person. I was told that they had to work on the pit wall. Harry would tell one of the foremen, “I want you to fire that guy right there.” The foreman would ask why, and he would say because it keeps them all in line.”

In the late 1950s, there was a recession at Sunrise where they laid everyone off for two years. When the mine opened back up, Hohnholt worked as a payroll clerk and then had a position in the engineering department. Eventually, he took a safety job.

“I love Sunrise,” Hohnholt said fondly to the audience. “This valley from here on up to the end, when we were kids, this was a mystical Shanghai. It was a beautiful place to live and be a part of.”

According to MacCannon’s book, the word came in June of 1980 that Sunrise mine would be shut down for at least until 1981. While most were confident that it would re-open, it soon became clear that would not be the case. In June 1980, there were 260 employees, by 1981, that number dropped to only 17. 

Hohnholt said April 21, 1983, was the last day of Sunrise. On this day, they pulled the last of the pumps out of the mine. Afterward, everyone gathered at the Miner’s Bar in Hartville for one last time.