Customer Reviews

Mountains of Silver: Life in Colorado's Red Mountain Mining District

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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)