Silverthorne (1962, 8,790 feet) traces its origins and misspelled name to Judge Marshel Silverthorn's 1881 placer claim on the Blue River. This crossroads did not boom until the 1950s, when it became a construction camp for the Dillon Dam and the Roberts Tunnel, which divert Blue River water under the Continental Divide to metropolitan Denver. Silverthorne has since become Summit County's largest town and a mix of fast-food restaurants, trailer parks, factory outlet stores, and houses ranging from dilapi-dated shacks to million-dollar resort homes. In the 1980s the town used vastly expanded tax revenues to begin belated planning and beautification projects such as the spectacular new town hall and the Blue River greenway.
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