EUREKA

NAME: Eureka
COUNTY: San Juan
ROADS: 2WD
GRID: 7
CLIMATE: Cold winter with snow, mild summer
BEST TIME TO VISIT:
Summer
COMMENTS: Just North of Silverton.
REMAINS: A few buildings.

Eureka has to be one among the early mining towns to almost disappear without a trace. Once the possessor of a main street that boasted "the finest saloons anywhere", the main street is no more. The town got is start in 1860 when a small group of miners began to dig and pan around the banks of the Animas River south of the mining town of Animas Forks. Eureka never became a boomtown. Rather, it grew slowly but steadily with train service coming to the town in 1896. To escape the danger of avalanches which were common in the area, the town was situated midway between the slopes of two mountainsides at a turn of the Animas River. The Sunnyside mill was the main economic source for the town. When the mill closed in 1938, Eureka was no more. What are left are foundations that climb the mountainside as reminders of the town that was. Submitted by Henry Chenoweth.


Eureka - July 2000
Todd Underwood


Eureka - July 2000
Todd Underwood

 


Eureka in its heyday
Courtesy Colorado State Historical Society


Eureka Today(1960's)
Courtesy Colorado Publicity Department


Eureka - July 2000
Todd Underwood


Eureka - July 2000
Todd Underwood

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