Silverton, Colorado

Silverton, Colorado. . , Located at 9,318 feet above sea level, Silverton is the "Mining Town that Never Quit". Once the hub of four railroads, Silverton was the Queen City of the San Juan's. Captain Charles Baker led a party into this wide valley in 1860 in search of silver and gold. The land was owned by the Utes and off limits for settlement until the signing of the Brunot Treaty in 1874, when the floodgates opened and prospectors by the hundreds poured into these "Shining Mountains"., The Denver and Rio Grande Railroad arrived in 1882, making it easier to get the ore out and goods in. Soon after, Otto Mears, the "Pathfinder of the San Juan's" put together his "Three Little Railroads" --one up each canyon to bring the rich ores down from the high mountains above the town., The ore ran high in the San Juan's, and the mines were at 12,000 feet or higher, manned by miners who lived year-around at the mines in boardinghouses that often housed 200 or more men. Because of the steep geography, elaborate tram systems were built to transport the ore down to the mills and smelters., Mining ceased operations in Silverton in 1991, but in its colorful heyday over 2 million troy ounces of gold, 51,000,000 ounces of silver, 112 million pounds of copper, 760 million pounds of lead and 600 million pounds of zinc were mined., Silverton was named a National Historic Landmark in 1962 and is one of only 2,300 in the country.