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2011 Map of Howardsville

Name: 2011 Topographic Map of Howardsville
Creator: U.S. Geological Survey
Published: 2011
License: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/

USGS Topo · Published 2011

About this map

Howardsville and the nearby settlement of Middleton sit at the center of this high-elevation mining landscape where the Animas River meets several deep gulches. The map documents an incredibly dense concentration of early 20th-century extraction sites, including the Pride of the West Mill and various tunnel operations like the Winge Tunnel Mine and Occidental Tunnel Mine. The terrain is defined by dramatic vertical relief, spanning from Tower Mountain and Galena Mountain down into steep drainages like Cataract Gulch and Minnie Gulch.

Transport through these peaks relied on established mountain routes such as County Rd 4 following Cunningham Creek and the crossing at Stony Pass. To the south and east, the character shifts from industrial extraction to high alpine hydrology, featuring the Highland Mary Lakes and the headwaters of the Rio Grande. This record of the San Juan Mountains preserves the precise locations of dozens of named mining claims, including the Old Hundred Mine and the Esmeralda Mine, that shaped the region's development.