Editing Silverton, Colorado (section)

=== Mining era ===
[[File:Abandoned Mine at Silverton, Colorado.jpg|thumb|An abandoned mine in Silverton]]
[[File:Abandoned mine in the San Juan Mountains, just above Silverton, Colorado.jpg|thumb|An abandoned mine just above Silverton]]
[[File:Remains of an Abandoned Mine's Ore Chute near Silverton, Colorado.jpg|thumb|Remains of an abandoned mine's ore bin along the Million Dollar Highway between Durango & Silverton]]

Settlements in the area surrounding present-day Silverton began in 1860 after a group of prospectors led by Charles Baker made their way into the [[San Juan Mountains]] searching for gold. The area was soon referred to as "Baker's Park", and the group found traces of placer gold nearby.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|last=Twitty|first=Eric|date=March 1992|title=Historic Mining Resources of San Juan County, Colorado|url=https://www.historycolorado.org/sites/default/files/media/document/2017/655.pdf|access-date=May 18, 2021|website=National Register of Historic Places}}.</ref>

Long before settlement, the area was regularly explored by the [[Ancestral Puebloans|Anasazi]], and later the [[Ute people|Utes]], who hunted and lived in the San Juans during the summer.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book|last=Smith|first=Duane A.|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/56351338|title=A brief history of Silverton|date=2004|publisher=Western Reflections Pub|isbn=1-890437-95-6|edition=2nd|location=Montrose, Colo.|pages=102|oclc=56351338}}</ref> There is also speculation that Spanish explorers and fur traders ventured into the area before Baker's 1860 expedition.<ref name=":1" />

After the Brunot Agreement with the Utes in 1873, which exchanged {{convert|4|e6acre|sqmi km2|abbr=unit|spell=in}} for the [[Southern Ute Indian Reservation]] and $25,000 per year, several mining camps were constructed.<ref name="Voynick">Voynick, S.M., 1992, Colorado Gold, Missoula: Mountain Press Publishing Company, {{ISBN|0878424555}}</ref> These would later become the communities of [[Howardsville, Colorado|Howardsville]], [[Eureka, Colorado|Eureka]], and Silverton.

Silverton was founded by mining entrepreneurs William Kearnes, Dempsey Reese, and Thomas Blair in 1874.<ref name=":0" /> The region boomed after George Howard and R. J. McNutt discovered the Sunnyside silver vein along Hurricane Peak. Gold was then discovered in 1882, which helped the region weather the [[Panic of 1893]] far better than other mining communities, such as Aspen or [[Creede, Colorado|Creede]].<ref name="GR2" /><ref name=":0" /> The '''Sunnyside Mine''' would become one of Colorado's longest running and most productive mines.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web|last=Bunyak|first=Dawn|date=1997|title=Silverton Historic District (boundary increase).|url=https://npgallery.nps.gov/GetAsset/e0fb36cb-f366-4243-b472-95ef79a73ec1|access-date=May 18, 2021|website=National Register of Historic Places}}</ref> The mine was shut down after the [[1929 stock market crash]], but was acquired by Standard Metals Corp. in 1959, and reopened, finding gold in 1973 with the Little Mary vein. The region's economy was dealt a devastating blow in 1992 when the mine and the corresponding Shenandoah-Dives mill, the last operating in the region, permanently closed.<ref name=":3">{{Cite web|last=Russek|first=Melanie|date=n.d.|title=Resiliency Plan for Silverton & San Juan County, Colorado|url=https://www.nado.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/SJC-Resilency-Plan-2020-Final-002.pdf|access-date=May 18, 2021|website=National Association of Development Organizations.}}</ref><ref name=":2" /> The closure meant the end of jobs for over one third of Silverton's workforce.<ref name=":3" />