San Juan Legacy: Life in the Mining Camps

by Duane A. Smith, John L. Ninnemann (Photographer)

Overview

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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780826346506
Publisher:	University of New Mexico Press
Publication date:	05/16/2009
Pages:	181
Sales rank:	853,037
Product dimensions:	7.00(w) x 10.00(h) x 0.60(d)

About the Author

Duane A. Smith is professor of history, Fort Lewis College, Durango, Colorado.


John L. Ninnemann is former dean of the School of Natural and Behavioral Sciences, Fort Lewis College, Durango, Colorado.

Table of Contents

Preface ix

Prologue The Promised Land xi

Chapter One Backbone of the Community 1

Chapter Two No Riding on Sidewalks and License Those Dogs 13

Chapter Three Raising Hell and a Lot of Other Things 27

Chapter Four Transportation Revolution 41

Chapter Five "Love Can't Live on Heavy Bread" 57

Chapter Six Youthful Days, School Days 69

Chapter Seven Dentists, Doctors, Disease, and Death 81

Chapter Eight "Shall We Gather at the River" or "Shall We Go Straight to Hell" 95

Chapter Nine Age of Joiners 111

Chapter Ten Sin, Sex, and Leisure-Time Pleasures 121

Chapter Eleven Culture Arrives in the San Juans 135

Chapter Twelve "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" 145

Epilogue "Remember me as you pass by" 157

Index 161