Russell Gulch, is a former mining town, now largely a ghost town, in Gilpin County, Colorado, United States. [1] Although the population was once much larger than today, and most of the larger commercial buildings stand empty, the town is not completely deserted.
| Census | Pop. | Note | %± |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1860 | 479 | — | |
| 1880 | 543 | — | |
| 1890 | 673 | 23.9% | |
| 1900 | 728 | 8.2% | |
| 1910 | 654 | −10.2% | |
| 1930 | 75 | — |
William Greeneberry Russell, a miner from the gold fields of northern Georgia, had come to the vicinity of present-day Denver, then part of western Kansas Territory, in 1858 and with his brothers, founded Auraria on the banks of the Cherry Creek river. His discoveries led to what became the Pikes Peak Gold Rush. Another settlement on the opposite bank was founded by William Larimer in early 1859. This settlement soon merged with Auraria and was named Denver after the territorial governor. Russell discovered placer gold deposits in June 1859 in the valley that was soon named Russell Gulch in his honor. [2] : 20 By the end of September, 891 men were mining gold in the gulch, and the eponymous town was built near the head of the gulch to serve the miners. [3]
The placer deposits were quickly worked out, and work shifted to the vein deposits that were the source of the placer gold.
Russell Gulch is located approximately two miles southwest of Central City, Colorado, at an altitude of 9,150 feet (2,790 m) above mean sea level.
Russell Gulch is home to a disc golf course, at an altitude of around 9200 feet. [4]
Leadville is a statutory city that is the county seat, the most populous community, and the only incorporated municipality in Lake County, Colorado, United States. The city population was 2,633 at the 2020 census. It is situated at an elevation of 10,119 feet (3,084 m). Leadville is the highest incorporated city in the United States and is surrounded by two of the tallest peaks in the state.
The Pike's Peak gold rush was the boom in gold prospecting and mining in the Pike's Peak Country of western Kansas Territory and southwestern Nebraska Territory of the United States that began in July 1858 and lasted until roughly the creation of the Colorado Territory on February 28, 1861. An estimated 100,000 gold seekers took part in one of the greatest gold rushes in North American history.
Central City is a home rule municipality located in Gilpin and Clear Creek counties, Colorado, United States. Central City is the county seat and the most populous municipality of Gilpin County. The city population was 779, all in Gilpin County, at the 2020 United States census. The city is a historic mining settlement founded in 1859 during the Pike's Peak Gold Rush and came to be known as the "Richest Square Mile on Earth". Central City and the adjacent city of Black Hawk form the federally designated Central City/Black Hawk Historic District. The city is now a part of the Denver–Aurora–Lakewood, CO Metropolitan Statistical Area and the Front Range Urban Corridor.
Black Hawk is a home rule municipality located in Gilpin County, Colorado, United States. The population was 127 at the 2020 United States Census, making it the least populous city in Colorado. It was a mining settlement founded in 1859 during the Pike's Peak Gold Rush and is now a part of the Denver-Aurora-Lakewood, CO Metropolitan Statistical Area and the Front Range Urban Corridor.
The region that is today the U.S. State of Colorado has been inhabited by Native Americans and their Paleoamerican ancestors for at least 13,500 years and possibly more than 37,000 years. The eastern edge of the Rocky Mountains was a major migration route that was important to the spread of early peoples throughout the Americas. The Lindenmeier site in Larimer County contains artifacts dating from approximately 8720 BCE.
Auraria is a ghost town in Lumpkin County, Georgia, United States, southwest of Dahlonega. Its name derives from aurum, the Latin word for gold. In its early days, it was also known variously as Dean, Deans, Nuckollsville, and Scuffle Town.
Auraria was a small mining settlement in the Kansas Territory in the United States. Today it survives in its original location as a neighborhood of Denver, Colorado, south of the confluence of Cherry Creek and the South Platte River.
Eben Smith was a successful mine owner, smelting company executive, railroad executive and bank owner in Colorado in the late 19th century and early 20th century.
The Georgia Gold Rush was the second significant gold rush in the United States and the first in Georgia, and overshadowed the previous rush in North Carolina. It started in 1829 in present-day Lumpkin County near the county seat, Dahlonega, and soon spread through the North Georgia mountains, following the Georgia Gold Belt. By the early 1840s, gold became difficult to find. Many Georgia miners moved west when gold was found in the Sierra Nevada in 1848, starting the California Gold Rush. Since the 16th century, American Indians in Georgia told European explorers that the small amounts of gold which they possessed came from mountains of the interior. Some poorly documented accounts exist of Spanish or French mining gold in North Georgia between 1560 and 1690, but they are based on supposition and on rumors passed on by Indians. In summing up known sources, W.S. Yeates observed: "Many of these accounts and traditions seem to be quite plausible. Nevertheless, it is hardly probable that the Spaniards would have abandoned mines which were afterwards found to be quite profitable, as those in North Georgia."
The Gilpin Railroad, earlier the Gilpin Tramway Company, was a 2 ft narrow gauge railway in Gilpin County, Colorado, in operation from 1887 to 1917.
William Greeneberry "Green" Russell (1818–1877) was an American gold prospector and miner.
The Central City/Black Hawk Historic District is a National Historic Landmark District that encompasses the developed areas of Central City and Black Hawk, Colorado, United States. They are adjacent former gold mining camps in the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains in Gilpin County, Colorado. For a time, the area was known as the Richest Square Mile on Earth, and was the largest urban area of the Colorado Territory in the 1870s.
Gold mining in Colorado, a state of the United States, has been an industry since 1858. It also played a key role in the establishment of the state of Colorado.
Oro City is a ghost town in Lake County, Colorado, United States
Nevadaville was a gold-mining town in Gilpin County, Colorado, United States. It was also known in the 1860s and 1870s as Nevada City. The post office at Nevadaville was called the Bald Mountain post office, to avoid confusion with other Nevadas and Nevadavilles. The community is now largely a ghost town, although not completely deserted.
Saint Elmo is a ghost town in Chaffee County, Colorado, United States. Founded in 1880, Saint Elmo lies in the heart of the Sawatch Range, 20 miles (32 km) southwest of Buena Vista and sits at an elevation of 9,961 feet (3,036 m). Nearly 2,000 people settled in this town when mining for gold and silver started. The mining industry started to decline in the early 1920s, and in 1922 the railroad discontinued service. The community is listed on the National Register of Historic Places as the Saint Elmo Historic District. It is one of Colorado's best preserved ghost towns.
The Leadville mining district, located in the Colorado Mineral Belt, was the most productive silver-mining district in the state of Colorado and hosts one of the largest lead-zinc-silver deposits in the world. Oro City, an early Colorado gold placer mining town located about a mile east of Leadville in California Gulch, was the location to one of the richest placer gold strikes in Colorado, with estimated gold production of 120,000–150,000 ozt, worth $2.5 to $3 million at the then-price of $20.67 per troy ounce.
Gila City is a ghost town in Yuma County in the U.S. state of Arizona. The town was settled in 1858 in what was then the New Mexico Territory.
Guston is a silver mining ghost town in Ouray County, Colorado, United States, 11 miles (18 km) south of Ouray following the "Million Dollar Highway". Nestled in Champion Gulch, it is located near Red Mountain and the remnants of Red Mountain Town and Ironton. The Silverton Railroad ran from Guston in the Red Mountain Pass to Silverton in San Juan County. The silver mining camp was established in 1883. The Guston post office operated from January 26, 1892, until November 16, 1898.
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Travel information from WikivoyageMunicipalities and communities of Gilpin County, Colorado, United States | ||
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