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The Mayflower Mill is one of the last and best preserved mills in the United States that documents the process for turning ore into gold. Gold, silver, lead, zinc, copper and tungsten were all mined in the San Juan Mountains. Coupled with the Old 100 Mine Tour, the Mayflower mill shows the complete story of the mining process.
The Mayflower Mill, also known as the Shenandoah-Dives Mill, was designed and built by Charles Chase in 1929. The mill crushed and processed rock producing millions of ounces of gold, silver and other base metals through a process called flotation, which revolutionized mining by making the recovery of metals from lower grades of ore viable.
Other technological advances in mining are also evident in Silverton including the use of trams that were necessary to bring ore down from the high mines to the mills on the valley floor. Before the railroad arrived in 1882, processed ore was hauled by horse or mule to the smelter located 50 miles away in Durango.
Many precious metals mills in the West were torn down during the 1930's because of tax liabilities and many more were scrapped during WWII. In 1991, Sunnyside Gold Corporation shut down its Silverton mining operations. As part of its reclamation bond, the Mayflower Mill was supposed to be torn down. Because of its local and national significance, the mill was instead donated to the San Juan County Historical Society. It was designated a National Historic Landmark in 2000 and has been documented by the Historic American Engineering Record, a program of the National Park Service. These documents are held for the public record at the Library of Congress. The Mayflower Mill is one of only 20 National Historic Landmarks in Colorado and 2,300 in the United States.
A "Heritage Pass" is your ticket to three great historic attractions in Silverton: the Old 100 Mine Tour, the Mayflower Gold Mill Tour, and the Silverton Museum's Mining Heritage Center that interprets the history of mining in the San Juan Mountains from the 1870's to the present.
FUN FACTS TO KNOW AND TELL 1) Due to the high and remote locations of most mines around Silverton men worked year round living in boarding houses coming off the mountains in the same tram bucket that carried the rock to the mill below. 2) In the late 19th century, Silverton had a baseball team and a brass band and they still do! 3) The Sunnyside Mill was in operation until the 1990's
OTHER PLACES TO VISIT 1) San Juan Historical Society Museum in the old Jail 2) Alpine Loop Scenic and Historic Byway to Animas Forks and Eureka ghost towns 3) Durango Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad
BYWAYS San Juan Skyway and Alpine Loop Scenic and Historic Byways
BEST TIMES TO VISIT Memorial Day weekend into September
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