SUMMITVILLE – The Rio Grande County Museum with the help of the Rio Grande National Forest and several leaders throughout the San Luis Valley have started a preservation effort for the remaining structures in the Summitville Mining District.
In 2020, after several years of negotiation, Rio Grande County finalized a land exchange with the Rio Grande National Forest and the EPA to take possession of a majority of the Summitville Mining District and have since began efforts to preserve the area and what is left of the remaining townsite and structures.
The Summitville site has always been a place of controversy as the natural geological makeup of the land is ridden with toxic materials outside of what was used to extract gold from the ground during the boom days of the mining district.
In 1870, a group of Army veterans traveled along a tributary creek that fed into the South Fork of the Rio Grande which led them to the base of South Mountain. It was at a location later named Wightman Fork that they discovered a catch of gold nuggets and began what was to be a long history of rich mining in the Summitville region.
Once, the Summit Mining District, now known as Summitville, was a thriving community of prospectors and their families. The town site still remains today in sentinel ruins as a reminder of the past. The small township even had a school on site for children who lived at 13,000 feet with their miner parents.
Summitville is still acknowledged as one of the most profitable and mineral-rich sites in Colorado’s San Juan Mining District. The town eventually died and became a superfund site that is monitored even today by the EPA and other assisting organizations to filter the water seeping off the mountainside which carries heavy metals and toxic materials such as cyanide.
Now, with the land exchange complete, efforts to protect the area are well underway. The first phase of the project is to seek funding to help secure the structures by fencing some of the less stable landmarks and to place warning signs in and around the area.
“I think one of the most important things we are looking at with this project is to make sure the public is safe while visiting the area. The landscape in and around Summitville is covered in holes, many of which are not marked and that is a problem. The second most important thing would be to preserve what is left of the townsites. There are four identified locations that we would like to fence off for preservation purposes. This was such a huge part of our past and plays an integral role in our future,” said Rio Grande County Museum Director Lyndsie Ferrell.
The project will break down into several phases with the first beginning in the spring of next year.
“We were awarded funding through the San Luis Valley Council of Governments through their mini-grant cycle this year and will be using the funding to place temporary fencing around some of the structures like the boarding house. Having the fencing in place will open other funding opportunities and allow us the time needed to excavate the site,” stated Ferrell.
AS the preservation efforts move forward, the project will include signage highlighting the historical significance of the area, permanent fencing, marked trails and walkways as well as a potential visitor center housing some of the historical artifacts found in the area over the years.
“This is a big project but one that will serve to protect our heritage and allow the public an opportunity to learn while still utilizing the amazing recreational opportunities available in the area.”
