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Summitville

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1876–1947. 45 miles south of Del Norte via U.S. Forest Service Rd. 330

Summitville produced Colorado's largest gold boulder, now on display at the Denver Museum of Natural History ( DV133.2). Among the surrounding ruins, one of the best-preserved structures is the Elmwood Telephone Line Cabin, used by telephone company repair workers. Part of the town was razed to excavate a 45-acre pit mine where Galactic Resources of Vancouver opened a heap leaching cyanide gold recovery operation. This operation used cyanide-laced water to extract gold from ore, leaking thousands of gallons into the Alamosa River and killing all the fish within 17 miles. Galactic declared bankruptcy in 1992, leaving the state and the federal government with a $64 million mess.

Writing Credits

Author: 
Thomas J. Noel
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Data

Citation

Thomas J. Noel, "Summitville", [Del Norte, Colorado], SAH Archipedia, eds. Gabrielle Esperdy and Karen Kingsley, Charlottesville: UVaP, 2012—, http://sah-archipedia.org/buildings/CO-01-RN30.

Print Source

Buildings of Colorado, Thomas J. Noel. New York: Oxford University Press, 1997, 431-431.

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