1873 was a big year for miners in the San Juan Mountains. Two prospectors, Charles McIntyre and Abe Burrows, decided to try their luck at higher elevations and staked several claims. In addition to gold and silver, they also found a miles-long quartz vein and optimistically named the place Mineral City.
Located at 11,700 feet a few miles south of the summit of Engineer Pass, Mineral City was the highest mining camp in San Juan County. With news of the discovery, the camp grew. Tents and cabins popped up.
Several large mining operations opened in 1875, and ore was hauled down to Animas Forks or Lake City.
The community also applied for a post office in 1875. They were notified there were too many places named Mineral City, and they’d need to reapply. They chose Mineral Point for the official name for their remote camp and got their post office. Mail was delivered daily from Lake City in the summertime.
The next year brought more businesses to town — a mercantile, saloons, restaurants, a sawmill, and a general store. The town even had a justice of the peace.
Mineral Point was promoted as the next boomtown in the San Juan Mountains.
Flyers were printed to attract investors that featured a drawing of a steamship going up the Animas River to Mineral Point.
Winter was harsh and only a small group of miners stayed in Mineral Point year-round.
The Ouray Times published an update on conditions in Mineral Point in their July 1877 edition: “Mr. E Steinbach, U.S. Deputy Mineral Surveyor, of Mineral Point, was in town and called on Monday morning. He reports matters are quiet at that place, active operations are greatly hindered by the snow.”
Steinbach also lobbied for quick completion of the Engineer Pass Road from Ouray to Mineral Point.
The Lake City Mining Register reported on Apr. 29, 1881, that Mineral Point still had 6 feet of snow.
“Will Leggett and N. M. Goodwin, who got to their cabin at the Thunderbolt on the (April) 4th, were snowed in 9 days, and the storm raging all that time.
All the solace and comfort they had was pipe and tobacco, and plain grub. They were entirely without reading matters, and the mail having failed to reach the Point that week.”
The Lake City Mining Register also described the completion of their telephone network later the same year.
“Communication (by telephone) is now perfect from this city to Silverton by way of Mineral Point and Animas Forks.
Messrs. Henderson and Pirie are now setting the poles from Mineral to Ouray.”
There are no reliable population records for Mineral Point since it was not included in the census. One source stated the population swelled to 1,000 in summertime during its prime in the early 1880s, while others mentioned a few hundred residents.
With the high elevation and brutal winters, life at Mineral Point was hard. Speculative mining operations slowed by the mid-1880s. The short-lived boomtown was dying.
Several newsworthy events highlighted the end for Mineral Point. In 1889 Con Briggs had delivered the local mail when he tried unsuccessfully to go back down the mountain to Eureka. Numerous snow slides and avalanches occurred along the road that day, and Briggs’ body was never found. In 1896 the Silverton Northern Railroad decided not to complete the line from Animas Forks to Mineral Point. Their post office closed in 1897.
Although nothing remains today, Mineral Point still captures our imagination. If you are an adventure-seeker, you can still visit the town that was. There is a “difficult” rated four-wheel drive road north out of Animas Forks along San Juan County Road 2. Although the old corduroy road from Engineer Pass in Ouray County has been blocked off, off-roaders can take the famed Alpine Loop and hike along a steep, rocky, swampy trail to Mineral Point.
Is it worth it to see old Mineral Point? Definitely!
Sources include ghosttowns. com, westernmininghistory.com, coloradohistoricnewspapers.com and legendsofamerica.com.
Carolyn Snowbarger is a retired educator. After teaching middle schoolers in Olathe, Kansas, for 28 years, she and her husband Vince moved to Washington, D.C. She directed the Teacher-to-Teacher Initiative at the U.S. Department of Education and then managed continuing education programs for the American Institute of Architects. The Snowbargers moved to Ridgway in 2013 after decades of San Juan family vacations.
