Colorado Mining Stories is a collection of tales depicting the hazards, heroics and humor of hardrock mining in Colorado. While collecting the stories for her book, Caroline Arlen would hear the same type of contradictions. Most men and the few women who worked the mines would talk about how they loved mining and in their next breath would tell about horrific accidents that happened daily. These miners put their lives on the line, hoping they would not be the next one to die or be maimed in a cave-in, premature explosion or by a falling slab. But mining was a way of life that paid well and created a close community where folks found it necessary and important to look after each other.