The Shopping List 8 lbs potatoes 1 bottle whiskey 1 bottle pepper sauce 1 bottle whiskey 1 box tea 9 lbs. Too often these early day prospectors would go weeks, and occassionally even months, without ever seeing another human being. But a bottle of whiskey or a glass of brandy was a poor substitute for taking the edge off sitting alone on a bitter cold night on the side of some mountain or in some small, chilly one-room cabin. There actually was a much better way to avoid the loneliness. Miners often became so attached to their burros that they frequently shared their flapjacks and biscuits with them.
Burros are extremely strong and sure footed.
Carrying anything and everything of almost unbelievable weights, they are also incredibly hardy animals and can survive in sparsely grassed pastures and meadows that would not support a horse or cow, and weather conditions that would bring other animals to their knees. There is no doubt that without the burro, Colorado's early economic development would certainly have taken an entirely different turn. The Mary Murphy Mine, built on one of Colorado's richest and most successful deposits ever discovered, would never have been developed as rapidly as it was, nor to such an extent, without the help of the many burros used to build and maintain it. History buffs, along with local residents in the Leadville, Fairplay, Dillon, Buena Vista and Alma mining districts, so fondly respect the role burros played in early Colorado development, that annual pack-burro races are held to commemorate them. Located in present day Fairplay, Colorado, stands a monument to Prunes - having achieved nationwide notoriety.