LAKEWOOD, Colo. — Hundreds of students from the Colorado School of Mines gathered Friday to take part in a 91-year-old tradition: pulling an ore cart down Colfax Avenue.
They traveled seven miles from Lakewood to Denver’s Sculpture Park to connect with the school’s mining heritage and to get a well-deserved break from the heavy student workload. The ore cart pull is part of E-days, a three-day engineering celebration.
“It’s about a break from being a student and just getting to have fun with everyone that you normally go to school with and are doing work with,” said Laney Casper, a junior in Metallurgical and Materials Engineering. “Both students and staff understand this is your time, and you get to do whatever you want with it.”
The tradition, which dates back to 1934, has students taking turns to pull a mining cart by holding onto a large rope.
“It is very nice to actually get to be able to pull very near the cart,” said electrical engineering Senior Bryce Miller. “It’s a lot of watching for ankles, because this has come for my ankles a couple of times, actually.”
For many students, the event is about community and honoring the past.
“E-days is one of my favorite things about the school,” Miller said. “Getting to join in, to be with people who have been here long before me and people who will be here long after me… it’s really cool to be a part of this continuing tradition.”
Some students decided to make the trek a little more difficult by pulling a U-Haul trailer featuring a student playing a piano they found on Craig’s List for free.
“We needed to pull something else. The ore cart wasn’t really enough,” said Dylan Smith, the sophomore who provided tunes along the walk to Denver.
The students safely finished their march to Denver’s Sculpture Park, but not before getting caught in the snow.
“It’s a great time to be outside with everyone,” Casper said. “The energy is great.”
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