Burke Canyon was focused on the mines- everything there revolved around them. Men in the mines were making a steady $3.50 a day. That changed when the trains carting in and out supplies and ore deposits raised their freight rates. The mine owners decided that the easiest way to counter this would be to cut the miner’s wages. They went down 50 cents a day. However, if the miners wanted to make the same wages, they could work an extra 2 hours a day, 6-7 day a week. The miners who didn’t go on strike were working 12 hour shifts.

Around WWI and WWII, the mines were put in full throttle. They were mined so hard that they became overmined. As the ore depleted, mine owners believed that the ore still there cost too much to get out, and thus the mines died out. Once the mines were closed, men moved out of the canyon to find work. The canyon slowly became desolate.