Editing Silverton, Colorado (section)

=== Notable disasters ===
The area surrounding Silverton has been the scene of several well-documented disasters, many of them due to avalanches and mining accidents.

==== 1906 avalanches ====
Five miners perished in a slide at the Sunnyside mine in January 1906. Only a few months later, twelve miners were killed in another slide at the Shenandoah Mine, making it one of the most deadly slides in the history of Colorado.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Shenandoah Mine Avalanche|url=https://usminedisasters.miningquiz.com/saxsewell/shenandoah_news_only.htm|access-date=May 20, 2021|website=usminedisasters.miningquiz.com|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=Bohlen|first=Teague|date=January 13, 2017|title=The Ten Worst Avalanches in Colorado History|url=https://www.westword.com/news/the-ten-worst-avalanches-in-colorado-history-8687198|access-date=May 20, 2021|website=Westword}}</ref>

==== 1918 influenza pandemic ====
The [[Spanish flu|Spanish Flu]] arrived in Silverton near the end of October 1918, and quickly devastated the community. In a single week, 125 people, more than 5% of the town's population, perished from flu complications.<ref>{{Cite web|date=June 28, 2020|title=The "Spanish" Flu of 1918|url=https://www.silvertonstandard.com/news/spanish-flu-1918|access-date=May 20, 2021|website=Silverton Standard|language=en}}</ref> By the time the pandemic waned the following March, 246 people had died, accounting to more than 10% of the population.<ref name=":5">{{Cite web|title=In 1918, flu pandemic ravaged Southwest Colorado|url=https://www.durangoherald.com/articles/in-1918-flu-pandemic-ravaged-southwest-colorado/|access-date=May 20, 2021|website=Durango Herald|language=en-US}}</ref> This gave Silverton the dubious honor of having the highest mortality rate for the Spanish Flu in the entire nation.<ref name=":5" />

==== Lake Emma disaster ====
On June 4, 1978, when the water from Lake Emma collapsed into Sunnyside mine, shooting out of a portal with a force that toppled a 20-ton locomotive.<ref name=":6">{{Cite web|date=August 8, 2015|title=Animas River: EPA's Colorado mine disaster plume flows west toward Grand Canyon|url=http://www.denverpost.com/environment/ci_28608746/epas-colorado-mine-disaster-plume-flows-west-toward}}</ref> Fortunately, no injuries were reported as disaster occurred on a Sunday when nobody was present in the mine.<ref name=":6" />

==== Gold King Mine disaster ====
In 2015, the EPA and its contractors [[2015 Gold King Mine waste water spill|caused an environmental catastrophe]] when they accidentally destroyed the plug holding water trapped inside the Gold King Mine, which caused three million US gallons (eleven thousand cubic meters) of [[Acid mine drainage|mine waste water]] and [[tailings]], to flow into a tributary of the [[Animas River]].