Saints John, originally called Coleyville and later Saint John, is a former silver-mining town in
Summit County,
Colorado
Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the wes ...
. About a mile from the town of
Montezuma, Saints John was the site of one of the first
silver
Silver is a chemical element with the symbol Ag (from the Latin ', derived from the Proto-Indo-European ''h₂erǵ'': "shiny" or "white") and atomic number 47. A soft, white, lustrous transition metal, it exhibits the highest electrical ...
discoveries in Colorado. Although no longer a town, it still has several inhabitants.
History
A prospector named Coley discovered silver in 1863 or 1864 on the slope of Glacier Mountain, and built a crude furnace to extract silver from the ore. Other prospectors followed, including John Cullom, who discovered the Saints John Lode. In 1867, he sold the Saints John lode to the Boston Silver Mining Company, which built an ore mill, next to which grew the town, originally called Coleyville.
[Robert L. Brown]
''Jeep Trails to Colorado Ghost Towns''
(Caxton Press, 1963) 188-189. The mining at Glacier Mountain was usually expensive and was burdensome upon the up to 50 townsfolk in the early years.
[ In the 1870 census, the town name had changed to Saints John by local Masons when it had a population of 71, which made it the largest incorporated town in Summit County.][
]
Geography
The site of Saints John is at , at an altitude of above mean sea level
Height above mean sea level is a measure of the vertical distance ( height, elevation or altitude) of a location in reference to a historic mean sea level taken as a vertical datum. In geodesy, it is formalized as '' orthometric heights''.
Th ...
. The site accessible by dirt road from Montezuma.[US Board of Geographic Names]
''Saints John''
accessed 3 November 2010. Saints John Creek flows through both the ghost town and present-day Montezuma.
See also
*Bibliography of Colorado
The location of the State of Colorado in the United States of America
This is a bibliography of the U.S. State of Colorado.
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*Sibley, George. ''Water Wranglers - The 75- ...
*Geography of Colorado
The geography of the U.S. State of Colorado is diverse, encompassing both rugged mountainous terrain, vast plains, desert lands, desert canyons, and mesas. Colorado is a landlocked U.S. state. In 1861, the United States Congress defined the ...
*History of Colorado
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 ...
*Index of Colorado-related articles
This is an alphabetical list of articles related to the U.S. State of Colorado.
0–9
* .co.us – Internet second-level domain for the State of Colorado
* 4 Corners
** 4 Corners Monument
* 6th Principal Meridian
* 10-mile Range
* 10th ...
*List of Colorado-related lists
The following lists include links to lists related to the U.S. State of Colorado.
# Colorado-related lists by topic
# Alphabetical list of Colorado-related lists
Colorado-related lists by topic General lists
*Bibliography of Colorado
*Index of ...
**List of ghost towns in Colorado
This is a list of some ghost towns in the U.S. State of Colorado. Colorado has over 1,500 ghost towns, although visible remains of only about 640 still exist. Due to incomplete records and legends that are now accepted as fact, no exhaustive l ...
**
* Outline of Colorado
References
External links
* Colorado Lifestyle
Saints John and Wild irishman Mine Snowshoe
1863 establishments in Colorado Territory
Former populated places in Summit County, Colorado
Geography of Summit County, Colorado
Ghost towns in Colorado
Pre-statehood history of Colorado
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