Saints John, originally called Coleyville and later Saint John, is a former silver-mining town in
Summit County,
Colorado
Colorado is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States. It is one of the Mountain states, sharing the Four Corners region with Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. It is also bordered by Wyoming to the north, Nebraska to the northeast, Kansas ...
. About a mile from the town of
Montezuma, Saints John was the site of one of the first
silver
Silver is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Ag () and atomic number 47. A soft, whitish-gray, lustrous transition metal, it exhibits the highest electrical conductivity, thermal conductivity, and reflectivity of any metal. ...
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 a location's vertical distance (height, elevation or altitude) in reference to a vertical datum based on a historic mean sea level. In geodesy, it is formalized as orthometric height. The zero level ...
. 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
* Geography of Colorado
* History of Colorado
* Index of Colorado-related articles
* List of Colorado-related lists
** List of ghost towns in Colorado
** List of post offices in Colorado
*Outline of Colorado
The following Outline (list), outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to the U.S. state of Colorado:
Colorado – List of U.S. states and territories by population#State and territory rankings, 22nd most populous, the Lis ...
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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