Historic Site in Journalism

Historic Site in Journalism. The Silverton Standard and the Miner. , The La Plata Miner newspaper began publication on July 10, 1875, after newspaper pioneer John R. Curry managed to haul an old press by pack mule over Stony Pass. The Silverton Standard newspaper began operations in 1889. The two newspapers merged in 1922., Over the years, the newspapers have covered many important stories, including the slaying of Town Marshal Clayton Ogsbury on August 24, 1881, and the subsequent lynching of two members of the notorious Ike Stockton Gang., The newspaper also reported on the St. Patrick's Day snowslides of 1906 that killed some 20 miners in the San Juans, the Gold King Mine fire that killed six in June 1908, and on the Spanish Flu pandemic of 1918-19 that killed 161 people in Silverton, some 10 percent of the population., The Silverton Standard and the Miner is the oldest continually operated newspaper, and the oldest business of any kind, on the Western Slope of Colorado, telling the stories of a remarkable community of diverse people that at times prospered and at other times struggled to survive in a very hostile and isolated part of the world., 2nd Plaque , The Silverton Standard was Housed in the Grand Imperial Hotel for decades up until 1951. Its office is now in the old Miners Union Hospital.