Silver Cliff boomed in 1879 to such an extent that it rivaled
Leadville for a decade. For a short period it was the third largest
town in Colorado and it has never been a true ghost town, although
much fallen from its former opulence. What has never changed is the
view from the silver cliff, facing the town, across the Wet Mountain
Valley to the spectacular reddish Sangre de Cristo Range (Blood of
Christ in Spanish).
[Illustration: D.K.P., 1960]
_From Salida_
[Illustration]
Turret was a gold camp that was discovered very late—in 1897—and
experienced a boom the following spring. It was located on the south
side of Nipple Mountain (which is a spur of Turret Mountain) in a valley
at the head of Cat Gulch. The _Rocky Mountain News_ for May 14, 1898,
carried a long article describing the excitement in “Turret City” and
the possibilities of the various lodes.
Houses were going up fast, and lots were in great demand. Stores, an
assay office and saloons were doing business, and a hotel was planned. A
post office was open, and daily mail was arriving from Salida. The
article was exuberant at the gold showing in hematite, jasper and schist
and spoke of the Monterrey lode as having great promise.
The town’s population, after the usual boomers and drifters departed,
was around three or four hundred. In 1900 the _Denver Republican_ ran an
article devoted largely to Turret’s mines and spoke of the
mineralization being in the “Salida Copper Belt” and of the Gold Bug
mine’s fine shipments of ore. The town was prospering.
By 1907 the population had slipped to two hundred fifty. Still it hung
on with a steady flow of gold, gradually lessening to a trickle, until
1939 when there were but twenty-six residents. In 1941 the post office
was discontinued, and finally Turret died.
Steve Frazee, prolific Colorado author, two of whose books have become
films (_Gold of the Seven Saints_ and _Many Rivers to Cross_) and whose
1961 offering was _More Damn Tourists_, has this provocative
recollection:
[Illustration: N. W. Meigs, 1902; Virgil Jackson Collection]