Silverton, Colorado

GPAA Claim



 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.



Today, Main Street, Silverton caters more to bikers than
prospectors.



There are a lot of bars and saloons.



Here the mountains are beautiful and the air is clean.



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)



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.



This is the claim on the Animas River. To the right is
a large gravel bar and further right is the main river.



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.



One neat thing was that two trains pass in the morning on the
 way to Silverton and again in the evening for Durango.



Here it is, old 480 engine puffing away.

Even though the gold was hard to find, we had a great visit.
The area was beautiful and had lots of interesting
mining history.


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