Welcome to Silver Plume
This little town is tucked away in a narrow canyon
At a little over 9,000 feet in Altitude
It's just a few miles away from its well-preserved neighbor, Georgetown Colorado
in-fact both towns are part of what's called
the Georgetown-Silver Plume
National historic district. What we're looking at here
is the remnants of what was once
a much more significant main street. A lot of the buildings are gone
due to fire or collapse over the years
But, at one point in time this city looked a lot
like Georgetown, that you saw in my previous video.
These two cities came up at about the same time
But, the initial development of Silver Plume was a
little bit slow
It was composed of just a few buildings at first. Until the pelican mine came in
In 1869. This was a large mine
It was actually situated near a smaller
and competitive mina called, the dive
It was so close that the owners were seen fighting
for encroaching on each others vein of gold. The competitive spirit
and rivalry of this town continues to this day
And it's an interesting story that I'll get to in a minute
And yes this is considered a town.
Although it once housed thousands of people
Well under 100. At best guess, I'd say we have 30-40
fulltime residence here
that being said the folks I talked to here were great!
Some really great folks do live here.
Actually once offered for me to buy their house
Unfortunately, I am not in the market. But, I am not lying, I was tempted
If you happen to find yourself in the area
I highly recommend you stop by Silver Plume
While it doesn't have. It has so much to marvel at.
And this 1800's town is amazing
In-fact here
In this photo in 1872 the town had blossomed
to about 500 residence
It was boasting a thriving commercial district
and many modern amenities; such as electricity
But disaster struck this town in 1884
When a fire destroyed
most of the business district. The damage at the time totaled up to
about $100,000, but
in today's currency, that would be about 2.8 million dollars
Many lives were lost and parts of the main street never fully recovered
but fortunately, the town did continue to grow.
and by 1893 it has
a little over 2,000 residence. At that time
they had a playhouse, a post office,
and a brand new church. and the even coin their first newspaper
"the coloradian". On a quick side note;
I found this fascinating. There is this large book here with
what looks like book titles on it
and in this building, there was some paper mache on the walls and some interesting numbers on the floor
Unfortunately, I had already talked to everyone I planned to talk to that day
and really didn't get a chance to ask anything about
what this building is or was
If you know anything about what this building is currently used for
I'd love to know in the comments section below. Now with that aside
Back to its story. Tragedy returned to the town
in 1899 in the form of a giant avalanche
the newspaper report that on February 12th
That two mighty avalanched combined into one.
And swept down the Cherokee gulch
carrying away with it about a dozen mine buildings,
cabins, and machinery.
Needless to say, this was a great loss in life
the newspaper went on to say that they were able to recover 8 bodies
However, the rest would have to remain
until the snow thawed in springs
As the town grew into a small city in began
to notice it neighbor, Georgetown, was growing faster
and retaining more wealth
This was a sobering and bitter fact for the townsfolk because
All of the local mines were located in silver plume,
not Georgetown.
Much later, a study
a study by the national park service revealed
the tangled relationships that these two communities share
What we're looking at here is what was one of the last
remaining businesses here in Silver Plume
My wife and I stumbled upon this when we were
still engaged. God, over a decade ago
It was snowing at the time
and we were new to the area and it was the only thing open
We had something they called a "naughty bar"
and it was everything they described.
I mean anything sweet and it was in this bar
Anyway, we were a little shocked to see they weren't open
during what was their posted hours
Looks pretty buttoned up here. Maybe
they've turned in to a seasonal business.
But, I hope this is still going and really
wish the best to the owners. On the optimistic side
this does look well preserved. Like
they'll be back soon and open for business
Maybe we just caught them on an off day. If
you do happen to find yourself in Silver Plume please
let us know if you find it open and do stop in
it's amazing.
As I understood it on my last visit, this was
the oldest continually operating business
here in Silver Plume and the building
has been here for generations. And has been all kind of
different stores. And you know, I am not here
to beat up on Silver Plume or over
endorse Georgetown.
But, I do want to finish covering the point I mentioned earlier
on that national park service study
Because it is a controversial study
in this area and most of the people here
have read it
It came out some time ago but went on to say
the concentration wealth was Georgetown
and the concentration of work
or the "work center" was Silver Plume
So, it caused this divide between the two communities
Where one was less permanent
Quite literally it says in the report, "less impressive".
which was Silver Plume and the other was much more impressive & retaining its wealth
as the report concluded
"When the ore left Silver Plume, so did its wealth".
This is a fact that does not escape
the community to this day.
The working relationship between these two towns has been a source of
much resentment. However, really
one town wouldn't have existed without the other.
They needed each other. It's what they call a "symbiosis".
A lot of people speculate that, Louis Dupuy
who I talk about on my vLog a little bit and
in my previous video, really had a big hand in
keeping Silver Plume down and
keeping the wealth in Georgetown, his hometown.
Part of that is due to the fact that he owned the Coloradian.
The local newspaper
and he was able to shape
perception and opinion through that paper.
I really feel this town is a true gem
and has a lot to offer in terms of history.
When you compare old photos to today. Not much has changed
it is relatively well preserved.
This house is particularly interesting. It looks like somebody tried
to pick it up and move it. At some point. On a flatbed
trailer. Which isn't uncommon.
To take one of these houses
and move it to a museum or an urban center for
Preservation. As you'll see here in an old photo
Here's the outhouse with no house next to it
and so, the assumption is this looks like
a failed attempt to move a home. Today there isn't a lot
of commerce in Silver Plume. But there is still
a whole lot to see and experience
only a few businesses exist. Including a Cafe
a boarding house and a recreational marijuana clearance center
Well
The boarding house has been converted into a hotel of sorts or a
"Bed and Breakfast"
The building is originally from 1884. It used to be called the New Windsor Hotel
Now it's just called the Windsor Hotel
Not going to lie thought. A lot of people refer to it as
"the creepy hotel" or "the haunted inn", but honestly it's
really nice inside. I suggest you take a look
at their website and see what they have to offer
I've actually put a link to it in the description
The hotel sits in a section of town that is very well preserved
and mostly occupied. It's
gorgeous. Frankly 10 years ago
this area didn't look this good
it's great to see that's it's coming back
were beginning to see people come in and
take photos again and take some interest in this town.
It does look like they are currently painting it purple
But it has been white for most of its history as we see here
on the New Windsor Hotel
However; today most people really don't visit here to
stay or for the attractions. It's
just to marvel at the relics and take in the atmosphere
I strongly recommend you visit
Silver Plume, but support
any of the institutions that you can. A lot of the people
here are the same people who are putting the effort
in to keeping the town looking great. While about
half the town sits in ruin a good portion of it
is well preserved and for the most part, occupied
This is the real treat of the town.
It's what you are going to see when you first come into town.
And I suggest you do go a little deeper though.
Look at what it has to offer, hike around the area, and see everything there is to see.
When I first visited Silver Plume, it did not look like this
Most of the windows were boarded up
the paint was chipping, and bricks were crumbling
It was in bad shape
But I am seeing so many signs of renovation. And even
if you visit and don't find a single store open
it's worth it, just to support the town and take in the wonders
So if you find yourself heading west, on I-70
in Colorado, pay a visit to this town
and as always, THANKS FOR WATCHING
and please do like, comment, and subscribe.
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