Serious mining efforts began in the San Luis Valley after placer1 gold was discovered in 1870 in the Summit Mining District, now known as Summitville.
Spanish explorers may have located gold deposits as early as 1598, however there is no verification for this assertion.
Summitville was not located within the designated boundaries of the 1868 Kit Carson Treaty with the Utes, which specified the eastern boundary as the 107th meridian. Summitville is east of the 107th meridian. Historically, miners ignored these boundaries and in 1873 the U.S. government forced the Utes to give up the mineral-rich San Juan mountains in the Brunot Agreement, which took 3.7 million acres from the Ute Reservation in western Colorado. Treaties aren’t the only things that were broken: horses, wagons, backs, rocks and hearts all were sacrificed for gold.
Gold fever spread widely through newspapers in the Eastern United States and Europe in the 1870s. They carried specific directions about how to get to the San Luis Valley to find your fortune. Take the train from Kansas City to Pueblo. At Pueblo get a wagon, horse, blankets and necessary provisions. Take a stagecoach by way of Poncha Pass to Del Norte. Or, optionally, a stage from Cañon City to Del Norte.
By 1874 there were 2,500 claims in Summitville.2 The Barlow and Sanderson stage line had three lines into the SLV: Pueblo to Sangre de Cristo Pass to Del Norte, Cañon City to Poncha Pass to Del Norte, or Saguache to Antelope Springs to Lake City. The stage cost 20 cents per mile and took two days over steep, crooked and somewhat rough road. You could get a good night’s rest at the summit of Poncha Pass. Once in the Valley the road was smooth and dusty because they said it never rained enough to make it muddy. Enormous vegetables and countless herds of cattle were reportedly seen along the way.
Once in the Valley you could choose to get outfitted in either Saguache or Del Norte. Both towns claimed to carry the best supplies and the best roads to the mines. In Saguache the roads accessed the Animas Mining District via the Los Piños Indian Agency where they stated that there was plenty of water, timber and grass along the way. From Del Norte head in a southeast direction. That route took you past Signal Peak or Chiquita Peak which was used by Fort Garland troops and most likely the Native Americans before them for smoke signals. Directions were given from Monte Vista.
Begin at Rock Creek in Rio Grande County. At the mouth of the canyon, running in a southeast direction, head up the Rock Creek channel to the eastern boundary of La Jara Creek.
Or you could follow the Alamosa River, starting in Monte Vista on a two-day trip, up and down steep grades and switchbacks. In some places someone would have to get off the wagon and run up the road to prevent anyone from entering a one-way passage. The Alamosa River was a raging one and dangerous to ford. There were nine fords. The last one was called the Devils Ford. Both man and horse were afraid of that one.
Everyone had to stay in the wagon while crossing the river and hope the horses would find their footing going down and back up the embankment.
Advertisements in the Del Norte Prospector promised Saint Louis prices (plus shipping) for mining tools, machinery, pack saddles, millworks and more. Want ads declared the need for blacksmiths and wagon makers to meet the demands of the swelling population. There were many ads for lawyers and attorneys, a necessity for filing land holdings.
Miners had a difficult time making a living. Most would not stay at the camps during the cold winters, where it could snow 25 to 30 feet deep at an altitude of 12,000 feet. They would alternate between mining in the summer and a job in the Valley such as blacksmithing and farm help. Some traveled all the way to Bisbee, Arizona, to continue their favored trade in the winter months. Still others would hop from mine to mine, sure that the next one would be their lucky strike. If you took your family up to the mines it was necessary to first load your wagon with your furniture, clothes, bedding and cookware. Before heading up to the mining camp it was necessary to stock up on a full summer’s worth of food in Del Norte or Saguache.
Abandoned cabins were taken up by new residents. If you didn’t get a cabin, a tent would suffice. The cabins were made from rough-cut logs with a privy out back. Cabins usually had two rooms, maybe sawdust for insulation, a wood burning stove and interior walls were covered with newspaper. The more prosperous houses were made from mill-cut wood and had tar-papered walls inside. Once arrived, the men would get to work on the mine immediately and the women (if there were any in a 10:1 ratio) would clean up the cabins and set up a kitchen to feed boarders.
By 1883 Summitville was the third-largest gold producing area in Colorado, as recorded by the Colorado Geologic Survey. Nine mills operated there for both gold and silver.
The winter of 1885-86 had such heavy snowfall that those who remained in the fall could not get freight or horses out until March. It was a 10-year stint and most miners left in 1893 when the veins ran out. Attempts at mining in the area continued throughout the 1900s. Mining was revitalized in 1984 to 1992, producing 259,000 troy ounces of gold, valued at $81 million at the time. (A troy ounce differs from a standard ounce in that it is used for gold and silver and is about 10 percent heavier than a standard ounce at 31.1 grams vs. 28.35 grams in a standard ounce.)
There were joys and sorrow in the camps. There were very few women and children. In the 1990 San Luis Valley Historian3 Volume XXII Number 4, Florence McCarty described her childhood experiences in Summitville in the summers of 1904 to 1916 where her father had a mine. After stocking up their supplies, they headed south out of Monte Vista on the Gunbarrel road. She detailed the rough two-day trip up the wagon road that followed the Alamosa River, passing through the Devils Ford. Some of the men who worked along with her father were fun and friendly; others were to be avoided.
The average wage for miners was $4 per day. Women were not allowed inside the mines because they were considered bad luck. Kids fetched water and explored.
Children were not allowed to cross the log used to bridge the raging Alamosa River because it was very dangerous. In fact, Florence lost her only friend at that spot. It was necessary for an adult to cross the Alamosa River to access the fresh water in Deep Creek. Alamosa River water was not potable because of the high mineral content.
Minerals had been carried by water erosion of the mineral-rich rocks nearby. It wasn’t just the mining that contributed to this condition. The minerals carried by the runoff made the drainage acidic and caused further erosion.
The kids read anything available. They were so happy to move into a new cabin that had been wallpapered with newspaper so they could read some new material, even though it might have been several years old.
The only other reading material available to Florence was a medical book, which she consumed. She became a 10-year-old expert on medical conditions in the camp.
Cabin living was crude, but better than tent living. Credit: Historic Photo
The bunk houses averaged 10 men per room. The first floor of a boarding house would contain the mine office and storage. Half of the second floor provided apartments for families and the mining superintendent. The other half of the floor was for miners. One bath on the floor served the entire occupants. In his book “Citadel Mountain III,” author Maynard Cornett Adams captioned a photograph of the bunkhouse in Summitville that had a 12-hole latrine!
Fresh meat could not be stored, so they ate bacon, ham and salt pork along with fish and rabbit. Most likely deer avoided the camp because of the loud noises coming from the equipment. Some said they could catch 100 fish in two hours on the Conejos. No fish were in the Alamosa River. Each boarder was served seven fish for dinner. Only canned vegetables were available because gardening was nearly impossible at the high altitudes. You could buy lemon-sugar powder to take to camp, providing a source of vitamin C. Baking soda biscuits were probably the easiest to make and keep supplies for.
Florence McCarty’s dad had trouble with his mine filling with water. He figured he had tunneled right under the Alamosa River. After many attempts to pump the water out and 12 years of working seven days a week, he gave it up. They moved to Monte Vista where he found work on a potato farm. Only beautiful memories left to fulfill a dream.
Sawmills, stamp mills, roads, stores and post offices all came and went with the booms and busts of the camps. Imagine living in that time. When the stagecoach arrived in Del Norte you might be accosted by a “motley and seedy looking crowd of fellows crying in chorus ‘do you want to buy a mine?’” They could not eat the minerals they worked so hard to extract. It would begin and end from there.
“The human mind turns to two things in times of financial trouble: religion and gold and silver.” —February 1876 Del Norte Prospector
notes:
1Placer gold is basically loose gold that has been exposed by weathering and erosion.
2A claim could be made only on federal land. It had to have proof of gold or silver or copper, and it could be 1,500 feet long by 30 feet wide. U.S. citizenship had to be verified. A placer claim could be 30 acres. The claimant had to clearly mark the boundaries and record a certificate at the county courthouse with the date and location. The right to apex meant the claim included the right to mine from the highest point downward. There was a fee. This law is still in effect.
3Copies of The San Luis Historians, which were published by the San Luis Valley Historical Society from 1969 to 2017, are available at the Sangre de Cristo National Heritage office in Alamosa.
