The main street was actually named North Street. The _Spar City
Spark_ for May 27, 1893 reported that the Free Coinage Hotel was
being built and would have furniture from Denver. When it was
changed into a Community Hall, bedroom doors on the second floor
were removed which read “Rose—$1.00; Marie—$1.50; Ruth—$3.00,” etc.
The owner of the old jail has kept its original bars intact over one
of the windows.
[Illustration: O. W. Longwood, 1960]
_From Del Norte_
[Illustration]
Summitville was next to the earliest of the San Juan mining camps. Yet
gold is still tenaciously being mined there, and for that reason the
town is unique.
In 1870 James L. Wightman went prospecting and placering up the Alamosa
River from the San Luis Valley. When he came to rugged Wightman Fork
Creek, he staked placer claims along its tumbling six-and-a-half mile
length to Summitville, and then spent a snow-bound winter there at
11,000 feet altitude. From 1872 to ’74 Summitville experienced a rush,
and many lode claims were found on South Mountain. In 1875 the first
amalgamation mill was erected and spearheaded decades of activity. By
the late 1890’s there were twelve separate stamp mills pounding noisily
on Summitville ore.
In 1900 the mines closed down; operated again, 1911-1913; 1926-1931; and
for about fifteen years after the mid-1930’s. In 1948 two mills were
vibrating, two stores and a large school were open, and sixty to seventy
residences were fully occupied. The large boardinghouse had room for
nearly three hundred men. At its height Summitville’s maximum population
was around fifteen hundred with about nine hundred men on the payroll.
Lately the summer residents have been two.
In the early days three perilous toll roads led into town; the first
from Jasper on the Alamosa; the second over the continental divide from
Pagosa Springs, and the third from Del Norte. In 1960 the Forest Service
was building a good new road that takes off a few miles above South Fork
and will add to Summitville’s accessibility.
Summitville’s appearance may be stark and desecrated, but its gold is
uniquely alive.
[Illustration: Joseph Collier, early 1870’s; D.P.L.]