Editing Montezuma, Colorado (section)

==History==
[[Image:MontezumaCOSchoolhouse.JPG|thumb|left|The Montezuma schoolhouse, where the children of Montezuma attended school from the late 1800s through the 1950s.]]
The town was founded in 1865 following the discovery of [[silver]] in the vicinity of nearby [[Argentine Pass]]. It was populated by prospectors coming over the passes from nearby [[Georgetown, Colorado|Georgetown]]. The town was incorporated in 1881. A local newspaper, the Montezuma ''Mill Run'', began publishing in 1882. In its inaugural issue, the ''Mill Run'' described the town as having two hotels, three stores, three saloons, two blacksmiths, one shoemaker, and a number of restaurants and boarding houses.<ref>T. S. Lovering (1935) ''Geology and ore deposits of the Montezuma Quadrangle, Colorado'', US Geological Survey, Professional Paper 178, p.66.</ref>
[[Image:RoadToMontezuma.JPG|thumb|upright|The scenic drive from Keystone to Montezuma.]]

In 1890, at the height of the [[Colorado Silver Boom]], the population reached nearly 10,000. At the time, the town had two stores, a post office, two hotels (the Summit House and the Rocky Mountain House), and a sawmill. It eventually had a [[smelter]], as well, which allowed local separation of the silver and [[lead]] ores, which are typically found together in the region. At the town's peak, the mountainside around the town was location of numerous mines on the Belle and Blance lodes, operated by the Sts. John Mining Company, after which the nearby [[ghost town]] of [[Saints John, Colorado|Saints John]] is named. [[Saints John, Colorado|Saints John]] now consists of three cabins near timberline, at 10,764 feet.[http://geonames.usgs.gov/pls/gnispublic/f?p=115:3:13354163349438948290::NO::P3_FID:182364]

The town experienced a steep decline after the Silver Bust in 1893. It experienced a slight revival in mining interest in 1940, but has remained fairly quiet since [[World War II]]. The town has experienced five major fires throughout its history, including ones in 1949 and 1958 which destroyed many of the historic structures, including the Summit House, which burned in the fire of Christmas 1958. Other fires in the 1970s and 1980s destroyed additional historic buildings and businesses, leaving the town with little current economic base. Presently, the town is experiencing a high surge of interest as the value of real estate in proximity to ski areas and with access to wilderness increases substantially.