Working in a gold mine

I was reading about a local mine and ran into this description:

Mining at the ****  was not for the timid or faint hearted.

Meltwater from snowfields and glaciers above the mine poured through production stopes and raises 2 to 3 feet wide at a rate of 500 gallons per minute during the summer months. During winter months, avalanches shot by on both sides of the camp quarters. Labor turnover was as high as 96 percent in September 1921. Krom reported the following observation: “Labor turnover was so rapid that it required the proverbial three crews — one coming, one working, and one leaving — to keep the mine in operation. Not uncommonly, men arrived and departed without having worked one full shift.”

This is a gold mine that is in a nearby mountain. The mine's entrance is in Canada and is pretty much inaccessible now - most trails and roads have been washed out.

Well, if the economy goes to pot, I can still dig and I own a pick and a wheelbarrow - nice to know there is gold in these hills...