Saturated in Colorado Mining History

by Beverly Rich - San Juan County Historical Society

The San Juan Mountains were owned by the Utes until gold was discovered in the early 1860's. Captain Charles Baker led a party into what is now Baker’s Park – the broad, flat valley where Silverton currently sits – and discovered traces of gold. Although the Civil War took center stage during the period of 1860-1865, it was only a matter of time before the San Juans were crawling with prospectors. Negotiations with the Utes took several years, and in 1874 the San Juans were opened up for settlement. General William Jackson Palmer had arrived in Colorado with a vision of a north-south railroad from Mexico to connect with the transcontinental railroad already in the works. The Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad (D&RG) was incorporated and quickly built lines south to Pueblo and Chama, New Mexico. News of great gold strikes in the San Juans drove Palmer to build a railroad to Silverton, the queen city of the San Juans.

Silverton was incorporated in 1874 and soon other towns such as Lake City, Eureka, and Ouray were settled, as well as camps like Animas Forks. The main route into Silverton was a “wagon road” over Stony Pass from Salida. To say it was passable by wagon was stretching the truth —many times wagons had to be moved with a block and tackle cinched to trees. Getting the ore out of the San Juans and supplies into the mining camps was expensive and difficult. The D&RG arrived in what is now Durango in 1879. Two miles north up the valley was Animas City, a modest settlement of around 300. The city fathers were ecstatic – surely Animas City was destined for greatness. But the D&RG wanted concessions that the leaders of Animas City were not willing to give so the railroad laid out the new city of Durango and started construction up the canyon to Silverton. Today, old timers still call the north part of Durango Animas City.

This was his last visit to Colorado, and his only visit to this site. The marker reads: In Honor of Otto Mears, Pathfinder of the San Juan,

Road Building, Built this Road in 1881. Erected by a Grateful People, 1926. The marker was damaged and then removed when the cliff was taken back for widening the highway later. Years later the damaged marker was discovered leaning against a highway department shop building in Montrose, was eventually repaired and replaced as a free-standing tablet at the site, with a new dedication in 1970.

With the arrival of the D&RG to Silverton in 1882, ore was easily exported, and supplies were easier to get. Silverton was the center of commerce for the region – you could buy anything from a top hat and cigar to dynamite and blasting wire. Soon other entrepreneurs followed – men like Otto Mears, the “Pathfinder of the San Juans” who built railroads further into the mountains to make it easier to get their riches out. Durango became a smelter town – rich ores mined and milled at mines such as the Sunnyside, the Old Hundred and the Silver Lake were now shipped south to be smelted. Agricultural towns like Bayfield and Mancos grew up around Durango to serve as suppliers to the rough-and-tumble mining towns to the north.

Silverton's early residents were from the eastern United States but soon immigrants from every country in the world arrived. The earliest structures were canvas tents and log cabins, or a combination of the two. With the arrival of the D&RG in 1882, the ore was easily exported, and supplies were easier to get. The second generation of commercial buildings were built of wood and covered in clapboard. As Silverton thrived, many of those second-generation buildings were torn down and replaced with ones of higher and safer quality. San Juan County was at its peak population of 5000, and at its apex of wealth. By 1910, Silverton and San Juan County were symbols of the great Industrial Revolution, served by four railroads, with stateof-the-art mills and mining operations, and a county seat that had electric lights, telephones, and options to purchase anything from a new wagon to fresh-brewed beer.

In the years since, several of the boom-and-bust cycles typical of the mining industry happened, creating fortunes and then sending them plummeting. The boom cycles saw influxes of people from every ethnic group, and the bust cycles saw towns turn into ghostly reminders of themselves. Today Silverton is the only town left in San Juan County, with a population of approximately 600, supported by tourists who ride the rails to see the magnificent scenery and experience the incredible history of the area.