The Old Church House

The church house stood at the beginning of Valles Mines School Road until being burnt by arson in 1975. The foundation still remains as does its well and many people remember the acoustics of the building with its tall ceiling and windows.

It's congregation built it in sight of A.P. Rowe General Store and Post Office. Mrs. Pete Snyder, PostMistress of Valles Mines for 37 years, met her husband at a social the church held while serving up water from the Romance Spring, locally known for love at first sight. "He was older and with someone else and I was busy and just looked up and then our eyes met. That was it and there's a lot of folks around here who had an experience like we did."

Across the road the church faced a park which was destroyed in order to make room for an ore processing plant for the war effort during World War II. Local people ran the mill that reclaimed 25% lead ore dumped as waste by early mining that was then refinable because of technology improvements. The restoration of the site began 7 years ago and several hundred thousand tons of crushed rock have been removed and the trees of the former park thinned. The foot trail from behind the church house led 3/4 of a mile along the ridge opposite the General Store and looks down on the Artesian Well.