Silverton : A Quick History

by Duane A. Smith

Duane Smith, well-known Colorado historian, covers an amazing amount of history for such a "quick" history. He begins with the Spanish, then talks of the Colorado gold rush, the San Juan rush and the formation of the town. He discusses the importance of the railroad, the ties to Durango and reviews what it was like to live in this rough and tough mining town. He devotes whole chapters to baseball at 9,000 feet, the deadly influenza epidemic, and Silverton during World War II. There are several chapters describing mining life in one of the richest areas of Colorado. As Duane puts it, "Savor and learn, for the past has much to tell us."

111 pages, Paperback

First published July 1, 2002

About the author

Duane Smith received his academic degrees from the University of Colorado and completed his Ph.D. in 1964. That year he began to teach at Fort Lewis College where he is a Professor of Southwest Studies. His areas of research and writing include Colorado history, Civil War history, mining history, urban history and baseball history. He is an extremely popular professor at Fort Lewis, and he is the author of over thirty books on a variety of subjects including Rocky Mountain Mining Camps: The Urban Frontier; A Colorado History; Horace Tabor: His Life and the Legend; Silver Saga: The Story of Caribou Colorado; Colorado Mining: A Photographic History; Fortunes Are for the Few: Letters of a Forty-niner; Rocky Mountain Boom Town: A History of Durango; A Land Alone: Colorado’s Western Slope; Song of the Hammer and Drill: The Colorado San Juans, 1860-1914; Mining America: The Industry and the Environment, 1800-1980; Mesa Verde National Park: Shadows of the Centuries; The Birth of Colorado: A Civil War Perspective; and Sacred Trust: The Birth and Development of Fort Lewis College.