1902 Map of Silverton

About this map

The Silverton Northern and Denver and Rio Grande railroads converge at the town of Silverton, the industrial and transportation hub for a high-altitude mining district at the turn of the century. Following the winding course of the Animas River and its various forks, these rail lines served a network of remote alpine settlements including Eureka, Animas Forks, and Howardsville. The landscape is defined by its verticality, with mining operations like the Campbird and Champion Basin situated among prominent peaks such as Sultan Mt. and King Solomon Mt.. This survey records the intensive extraction era before many of these camps were consolidated or reached their peak output, showing the early infrastructure of the San Juan and Hinsdale county regions. Evidence of the hydraulic and geological intensity of the era is visible in the naming of numerous basins and gulches like Poughkeepsie Gulch and Cataract Gulch that fed the regional river systems.