A little over a century ago, the Red Mountain Mining District in the San Juan Mountains of southwestern Colorado was the scene of a "silver rush" with an output of precious metals second in Colorado only to that of Leadville. In a period of less than twenty-five years, more than thirty million dollars in silver, lead, zinc, copper, and gold were taken from the rich deposits in the mines along Red Mountain Divide -- an amount roughly equivalent to a quarter billion of today's dollars. The histories of the communities that sprang into being with these mines, the railroads constructed to service them, and the men and women who lived, worked and died in them, are the threads deftly woven into the richly textured story of Mountains of Silver. It is a colorful and varied tapestry that depicts the lives of prospectors who made the first rich strikes; the land promoters, speculators, and road-and-railroad builders who capitalized on the frenzied rush to the area; and the motley collection of miners, lawyers, merchants, prostitutes, saloonkeepers, and freighters who attempted to profit from the boom.
Book Description
Frequently Bought Together
Editorial Reviews
Review
"Smith has done his homework . . . he focuses on a small district not mined by any other book." -- Tom Moel, University of Denver
About the Author
P. David Smith is the author of five other books about Colorado including Mountain Mysteries, Ouray: Chief of the Utes, Images of the San Juans, A Quick History of Ouray and The Million Dollar Highway. A past president of the Ouray County Historical Society, he lectures frequently on colorado history.
Product Details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
Customer Reviews
|
Share your thoughts with other customers:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
LIFE IN THE SAN JUANS, SILVERTON, OURAY, CO AREA,
By DRYWASHER-BILL (LAS VEGAS, NEVADA) - See all my reviews
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Mountains of Silver: Life in Colorado's Red Mountain Mining District (Paperback)
If you are a researcher, mining buff, historian, relic or gold hunter, miner, any book by Duane Smith or his posterity is your ticket!
There were a whole series of mining towns in the San Juan Mountains, of which, Red Mountain is one of them (actually, two as there were two sites that used the name). There is a silver mine shaft, with wood framing, that can be seen from the highway going north towards Ouray, that was the National Belle Mine, and this relic marks the spot where Red Mountain (one of them) was located, and is just before the Ucompagre overhang, chiseled out by Otto Mears, and still used as part of the highway system, though it originally was used by Mears as a railroad easement. The history of the Red Mountains is one of tough times, tough efforts, broken spirits, high value ore and high freighting costs, acid runoff, extreme weather, broken dreams, and some good times as well. The people of these districts were tough nuts too. Well written, and great research. make it a personal journey and quest, and see how some of the relatives had to live and work, to build the place that one now finds in Silverton and Ouray, or Lake City. The book is a great guide and the area is a great place to spend some time reviewing the past, in a 4x4 (one can rent these at area motels)
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
|
|
Inside This Book
(learn more)
First Sentence:
Today, when a visitor stands in the cold, crisp winter air at the summit of Red Mountain Pass, the impact of the scenery is immediately overwhelming. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
hundred dollars per ton, new wagon road, local prospectors, good wagon road, tain district, shaft house, mining district, pack trail, rich strike Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Red Mountain, Yankee Girl, San Juans, National Belle, Dave Day, Solid Muldoon, Otto Mears, United States, Ouray County, Denver Public Library, Silver Bell, Western History Department, Colorado Historical Society, Baker's Park, Congress Mine, Guston Mine, Ironton Park, Mineral Creek, Del Mino, Uncompahgre River, Riverside Slide, Copper Glen, Harper's Weekly, Lake City, Poughkeepsie Gulch New!
Books on Related Topics | Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Today, when a visitor stands in the cold, crisp winter air at the summit of Red Mountain Pass, the impact of the scenery is immediately overwhelming. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
hundred dollars per ton, new wagon road, local prospectors, good wagon road, tain district, shaft house, mining district, pack trail, rich strike Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Red Mountain, Yankee Girl, San Juans, National Belle, Dave Day, Solid Muldoon, Otto Mears, United States, Ouray County, Denver Public Library, Silver Bell, Western History Department, Colorado Historical Society, Baker's Park, Congress Mine, Guston Mine, Ironton Park, Mineral Creek, Del Mino, Uncompahgre River, Riverside Slide, Copper Glen, Harper's Weekly, Lake City, Poughkeepsie Gulch New!
Books on Related Topics | Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Suggested Tags from Similar Products(What's this?)Be the first one to add a relevant tag (keyword that's strongly related to this product).
|
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
