From the comfort of your home, you can virtually travel to Nevada and Leadville, Colorado, to view aerial photographs of mining sites. Leadville’s National Mining Hall of Fame and Museum presents an online tour of “Perspectives: Aerial Photos of Nevada Mine Sites” by the late F.E. “Bill” Dubois.

Bill began flying solo at age 16 and later built a homemade airstrip on his ranch in Fallon, Nevada. He learned to fly from his father, a flight instructor for the United States during World War II.

Bill mixed that passion with his professional interest in mining. The Nevada state mine inspector from 1975 to 1981, Bill captured the photographs in this exhibition in the 1980s and 1990s, taking photos out of his personal Cessna “taildragger” aircraft.

His photography catalogued every major mining site in Nevada every two to three years. These thousands of images can be used as a snapshot of the industry in the state at any given time. A selection of poster-side photographs, a model of the type of plane he flew, and the camera he used to make the spectacular images are in the exhibition, which is on loan to the museum from Bill’s family.

As the museum is closed due to COVID-19, we invite you to view the exhibit virtually. As you scroll through the exhibit space, be sure to click the white circles for more info on each item. You can also click on the image and hold, then move your cursor around to see a 360 degree view of the space.

When the museum reopens, the photographs will be on display through September 2020.