Vulcan, Colorado on:
[Wikipedia]
[Google]
[Amazon]
Vulcan is a
Vulcan was the most productive mining town to appear along the Gunnison Gold Belt, a gold-rich greenstone belt that spans over across southern Gunnison County and adjacent Saguache County. Multiple gold strikes resulted in mining operations and short-lived mining camps throughout the belt. The camps included Camp Willard (established in 1880), Cochetopa (1880), Dubois (1892), Spencer (1893), Midway (1894), Vulcan (1894), Iris (1894), Chance (1894), Taliafaro (1895), and Sillsville (1903). These towns grew rapidly after a strike, were occupied by hundreds of residents within months, and were often abandoned just as quickly. Saloons, boarding houses, general stores were common. Many had post offices and some had schools. The camps were a combination of wooden and tent buildings so enduring structures are rare. All of these camps are now abandoned and time has wiped away evidence of their once robust existence.
Vulcan at ghosttowns.com
{{authority control Ghost towns in Colorado Former populated places in Gunnison County, Colorado Colorado Mining Boom
ghost town
Ghost Town(s) or Ghosttown may refer to:
* Ghost town, a town that has been abandoned
Film and television
* ''Ghost Town'' (1936 film), an American Western film by Harry L. Fraser
* ''Ghost Town'' (1956 film), an American Western film by All ...
in Gunnison 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 ...
, United States, approximately southwest of the City of Gunnison. Vulcan was a mining camp established along Camp Creek in 1894 and was deserted within thirty years.
History
In 1894, prospectors discoveredgold
Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile me ...
in the sagebrush-covered hills in southern Gunnison County near the Saguache County line. Word spread quickly and within a year's time several mines were operating along what was termed the Vulcan vein. The mining camp of Vulcan grew rapidly and had a population of 500 by the summer of 1895. In March 1896, the town's first newspaper, the ''Vulcan Enterprise'', was published.
The mines along the Vulcan vein were productive, with the Good Hope, Mammoth Chimney, and Vulcan seeing the most ore shipped. But life in Vulcan saw disruptions brought on by labor disputes between union workers and owners, litigation among the mine owners, problems associated with the high sulfur content of the rock, and destructive fires. It was just a few years before the mines began playing out. By 1906, essentially all gold, 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 ...
, and copper
Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu (from la, cuprum) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkis ...
production had ceased.
The marketable sulfur deposits in the area extended Vulcan's life. Beginning in 1906, sulfur was mined and shipped until a catastrophic fire ended operations in 1910.
Vulcan received yet another pulse of activity when copper mining and smelting recommenced in 1916, but this activity was short lived and operations ceased by 1919. In 1920, Vulcan had a population of two. Today, only a few dilapidated structures remain.
The Gunnison Gold Belt
Vulcan was the most productive mining town to appear along the Gunnison Gold Belt, a gold-rich greenstone belt that spans over across southern Gunnison County and adjacent Saguache County. Multiple gold strikes resulted in mining operations and short-lived mining camps throughout the belt. The camps included Camp Willard (established in 1880), Cochetopa (1880), Dubois (1892), Spencer (1893), Midway (1894), Vulcan (1894), Iris (1894), Chance (1894), Taliafaro (1895), and Sillsville (1903). These towns grew rapidly after a strike, were occupied by hundreds of residents within months, and were often abandoned just as quickly. Saloons, boarding houses, general stores were common. Many had post offices and some had schools. The camps were a combination of wooden and tent buildings so enduring structures are rare. All of these camps are now abandoned and time has wiped away evidence of their once robust existence.
See also
*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 ...
* Vulcanite
Vulcanite is a rare copper telluride mineral. The mineral has a metallic luster, and has a green or bronze-yellow tint. It has a hardness between 1 and 2 on the Mohs scale (between talc and gypsum). Its crystal structure is orthorhombic.
Vulcanit ...
* Boomtown
A boomtown is a community that undergoes sudden and rapid population and economic growth, or that is started from scratch. The growth is normally attributed to the nearby discovery of a precious resource such as gold, silver, or oil, although ...
References
External links
Vulcan at ghosttowns.com
{{authority control Ghost towns in Colorado Former populated places in Gunnison County, Colorado Colorado Mining Boom