I love going on leisurely road trips — the kind where you’ve several spare hours to pull over somewhere and explore. If a place seems interesting, I like to check it out.
So it was this past summer while we were visiting Colorado. We were heading east to Boulder, with a planned stop for lunch in Georgetown, and were cruising on I-70. We starting to look for the Georgetown exit when immediately ahead was an exit for “Silver Plume”. Great name, got to explore it!
(St. Patrick’s Catholic Church)
Silver Plume is located in Clear Creek County and is a former silver mining town. It’s just 46 miles (74 km) from Denver, but worlds apart from that huge busy city. The town is situated along gushing Clear Creek in the eastern ranges of the Rocky Mountains. Silver Plume is part of the Georgetown-Silver Plume Historic District, our subsequent destination of Georgetown lying a few miles further east, downhill from Silver Plume. The two towns are only a few miles apart and are further tethered by the Georgetown Loop Historic Mining & Railroad Park; there’s an old steam train that you can ride from Georgetown to Silver Plume and back — great fun, especially for families!
The area was in its heyday during the last four decades of the 19th century, when a number of mines were open near the town. Gold was discovered near Denver in 1859 and in the following years thousands of prospectors headed up along the creeks into the Rocky Mountains searching for veins of gold, or silver, or anything else of value. Good veins of silver were discovered in Silver Plume and the town boomed and prospered during that time. With the money came good paying mining jobs and support services, like stores, bars and hotels. The town all but disappeared when the mines closed forty years later and has eked out its survival on the fringes of the tourist trade.
Today Silver Plume has about 170 residents. But its history and its mining past linger and there are a number of charming old buildings and homes that are worth seeing, including several churches and some lovely ginger-bread homes. The old school house in town is now the George Rowe Museum.
Trout fishing in Clear Creek is said to be good, and there are several hikes nearby offering beautiful views! An hour is plenty of time to walk around and explore the town, unless you want to visit the museum or get a bite to eat. Soon we were off to Georgetown, but that’s a story for another day.
A few more photos of Silver Plume for your enjoyment follow!
I love that part of Colorado, lived for 5 years farther down Clear Creek in Golden (“It’s the water.” Coors). I did some exploring but never got to Silver Plume. But to nearby Georgetown to see where my miner 3rd great grandfather, Gustavus Augustus Williams plied his trade for a number of years, according to the records. The architecture is much the same as here in California Gold Country and my family’s presence in the West for generations means it looks like home to me. Thanks, DrF.
Many of my ancestors travelled to the new world in search of their fortune.
A few stayed and started a new family line.
And a few lost their lives to logging and other accidents.
So were the few inhabitants of Silver Plume an ageing population ?
Did the town have that look of a closing down sale ?
I love visiting small towns with a rich history.
Will it disappear into the dust of time ?
Wouldn’t it be great if someone did a history of these one time boom towns before they vanish.
Thanks for your comments, Garry and PortMoresby.
Those few people left in the town were a mix of older folks and some younger ones. I expect the town will continue in its present state for sometime.
Those who did well in the mining booms were always those first there (who staked the claims), but even more so those who came in and provided services (groceries, hotels, restaurants, bars, brothels). The latter were often the only ones who kept any of their wealth.