San Juan Legacy : Life in the Mining Camps

by Smith, Duane A.

• ISBN13: 9780826346506
• ISBN10: 0826346502
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2009-05-30
• Publisher: Univ of New Mexico Pr

Summary

As early as the eighteenth century, Spanish explorers left place-names, lost mines, and legends scattered throughout Colorado's San Juan Mountains. In 1869 and the early 1870s the legends lured hopeful prospectors to the area, ushering in its greatest mining era and transforming it into one of the country's most celebrated mining districts. Faced with a boom-bust economy, unpredictable weather, and the risk of violent death, mining camps and towns nevertheless struggled to institute local governments that would address issues such as sanitation, the maintenance of schools, and the enforcement of law and order.As the economic boom headed toward its inevitable decline, towns like Silverton, Ouray, Telluride, Creede, Lake City, and Rico found themselves seeking visitors and tourists who wanted to experience the historical West and its accompanying folklore and legend. The pioneers and mining communities were supplanted in that rugged and unforgiving terrain. In this history of the San Juan mining region, Duane Smith's text and John Ninnemann's photographs offer a glimpse into the lives of towns that sprang up in remote canyons and mountain plateaus in southwestern Colorado and the settlers who attempted to recreate the eastern communities they had left behind.

Table of Contents

Preface	p. ix
Prologue The Promised Land	p. xi
Backbone of the Community	p. 1
No Riding on Sidewalks and License Those Dogs	p. 13
Raising Hell and a Lot of Other Things	p. 27
Transportation Revolution	p. 41
"Love Can't Live on Heavy Bread"	p. 57
Youthful Days, School Days	p. 69
Dentists, Doctors, Disease, and Death	p. 81
"Shall We Gather at the River" or "Shall We Go Straight to Hell"	p. 95
Age of Joiners	p. 111
Sin, Sex, and Leisure-Time Pleasures	p. 121
Culture Arrives in the San Juans	p. 135
"Take Me Out to the Ball Game"	p. 145
Epilogue "Remember me as you pass by"	p. 157
Index	p. 161
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