Silverton, Colorado
GPAA Claim
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Silverton, this town started in the mid 1870's when prospectors came
to mine the gold and silver. Now we have a GPAA claim nearby.
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Today, Main Street, Silverton caters more to bikers than
prospectors.
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There are a lot of bars and saloons.
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Here the mountains are beautiful and the air is clean.
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On the way to the GPAA claim you drive right along the
narrow gauge railroad track of the Durango & Silverton
line. This railroad was put in operation in 1882.
(Looking back towards Silverton)
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The GPAA parking lot isn't very large and the fence beyond says
no trespassing. Beyond the fence there was a large area to
turn around though if you had a big rig.
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This is the claim on the Animas River. To the right is
a large gravel bar and further right is the main river.
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Here is the small channel looking downstream. We panned
several spots on the claim and got only a few specks of
gold. If anyone has had good luck here, I'd like
to hear from you.
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One neat thing was that two trains pass in the morning on the
way to Silverton and again in the evening for Durango.
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Here it is, old 480 engine puffing away.
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Even though the gold was hard to find, we had a great visit.
The area was beautiful and had lots of interesting
mining history.
Back to Bill and Linda's