The Mining History Along the Million Dollar Highway: Ouray to Silverton
The mines, ghost towns, and mining history can still be seen in Colorado's San Juan Mountains
Words by Michele Underwood | Photos by Michele & Public Domain Archives
An old mining structure sits below the mineral-colored mountains of the Red Mountain Mining District.
When I drove the Million Dollar Highway from Ouray to Silverton, what caught my attention most wasn't the steep drop-offs or lack of guardrails. It was everything left behind from mining.
Old mine buildings sit against the mountainsides. Abandoned structures appear around Ironton and Red Mountain Pass. Piles of rock spill down slopes where miners once pulled valuable ore from these mountains.
By the time I reached Silverton, I wanted to know how it all connected.
It turns out the mining ruins you see along the Million Dollar Highway aren't a collection of unrelated abandoned mines. They are pieces of a much larger mining story that transformed this part of the San Juan Mountains during the late 1800s.
And Silverton is a big part of that story.
Why Was There So Much Mining in the San Juan Mountains?
People knew there were valuable minerals in the San Juan Mountains before the major mining boom began, but access to the area changed significantly in the 1870s.
After the Brunot Agreement of 1873, large portions of the San Juan Mountains were opened to mineral development by non-Indigenous prospectors. Prospectors poured into the region looking primarily for gold and silver.
The terrain made it difficult.
These are high, steep mountains with long winters and heavy snowfall. Many mines were established at elevations where getting workers and supplies to the site was difficult.
But the potential value underground kept people coming.
Mining camps appeared. Roads were built. Towns grew.
Some survived.
Many didn't.
Ouray Became a Supply Town for the Mines
Ouray was founded during the mining boom in the 1870s and quickly became an important center for the surrounding mining districts.
Its location made it a natural place for miners to get supplies before heading farther into the mountains.
When I drove south out of Ouray, I was essentially following the same direction miners and supply wagons would have traveled to reach the mining areas around Red Mountain.
The difference is difficult to imagine.
I was driving my Sprinter on a paved highway. They were moving people, equipment, food, and ore through some of the most difficult mountain terrain in Colorado.
As mining activity pushed farther into the mountains, small communities began appearing along the route.
That need to move people, supplies, and ore through the mountains also helped create the route that eventually became the Million Dollar Highway. I wrote more about that in The History of the Million Dollar Highway: Mining, Toll Roads & the Road Through the San Juans.
Ironton: A Mining Town Along the Route
Ironton during its mining years, when the town served the Red Mountain Mining District.
One of those communities was Ironton.
Ironton developed during the mining boom of the 1880s and became an important settlement for the mines in the surrounding area. At its height, hundreds of people lived there.
Today, the setting feels completely different.
Only remnants of the town remain, and the forest has reclaimed much of the landscape. A handful of old structures give you some idea that people once lived here, but it's difficult to picture Ironton as an active mining community.
That's one of the things I found so interesting along this drive.
These weren't temporary work sites where a few miners stayed.
People built communities here.
They lived through San Juan winters, raised families, operated businesses and created towns around mines that might or might not continue producing.
Ironton was one of them.
The Red Mountain Mining District
As you continue toward Red Mountain Pass, you enter what became one of the most productive mining areas in the San Juan Mountains.
Prospectors began making significant discoveries around Red Mountain in the early 1880s.
The geology here contained deposits of silver, gold, lead, copper and zinc. Once valuable ore was discovered, the rush was on.
Claims multiplied across the mountains.
Mines opened at elevations that seem almost impossible when you look up at them from the road today.
The Red Mountain Mining District became crowded with mines, mills, roads, tramways and settlements.
Much of it is gone now.
But the landscape still carries the evidence.
The Yankee Girl Mine
The Yankee Girl Mine headframe still stands below the mineral-colored mountains of the Red Mountain Mining District.
One of the most important discoveries in the Red Mountain Mining District was the Yankee Girl Mine.
The mine was discovered in 1882 and became known for extremely rich silver ore. Its success helped fuel interest in the Red Mountain area and encouraged even more prospectors and investors to come into the district.
The Yankee Girl eventually became one of the best-known mines in the area.
Its headframe is also one of the most recognizable mining structures still standing along the Million Dollar Highway.
This was one of the things I loved about learning the history after my drive.
I had been looking at old structures scattered across the mountains without necessarily knowing what they were.
Once you know the Yankee Girl story, that structure isn't simply another abandoned mine.
It represents the discovery that helped fuel an entire mining boom.
Red Mountain Town
Historic photograph of Red Mountain, Colorado, with businesses and snow-covered streets during the mining era.
Mines need workers, and workers need somewhere to live.
That led to the creation of settlements throughout the Red Mountain Mining District, including Red Mountain Town.
During the height of the boom, thousands of people lived throughout the district. Red Mountain Town had hotels, stores, saloons, newspapers, schools and a post office.
It was a functioning community high in the San Juan Mountains.
Looking at this area today, that is almost hard to comprehend.
Red Mountain Pass reaches more than 11,000 feet. Winters are long. Snow can be measured in feet. Avalanches are part of life in these mountains.
Red Mountain during the mining era, showing businesses lining the snow-covered town at an elevation of more than 11,000 feet.
Yet people built towns here because the mines were valuable enough to make living in such a difficult place worthwhile.
Eventually, fires, declining mining activity and changing economics took their toll.
Red Mountain Town disappeared.
The mountains remained.
What Are All Those Piles of Rock?
One thing I noticed while driving through the mining areas was how much disturbed rock remains on the mountainsides.
Those piles are part of the mining history too.
Mining produces enormous amounts of waste rock and tailings as miners dig through the mountain and process ore. Much of that material was simply deposited near the mines and mills.
More than a century later, those piles are still visible.
Once you know what you're looking at, they make it much easier to spot places where mining occurred even when the original buildings are gone.
The mountains may look empty now, but the rock tells you where people were working.
Why Is Red Mountain Red?
The mineral-rich colors of Red Mountain stand out above the forests along the Million Dollar Highway.
The colors around Red Mountain Pass are one of the most beautiful parts of this area.
The rusty reds, oranges and yellows aren't unrelated to the mining story.
Iron-bearing minerals in the rock oxidize when exposed to oxygen and water, producing those distinctive colors.
The same complex geology that created the colors also produced the mineral deposits that attracted prospectors into these mountains.
I liked the landscape before I knew that.
Knowing the geology and mining history made it even more interesting.
The colors aren't just scenery.
They're part of the reason people came here.
The Mines Between Red Mountain Pass and Silverton
Mining didn't stop at Red Mountain Pass.
As you descend toward Silverton, you are entering another landscape shaped heavily by mining.
Mines spread throughout the mountains surrounding Silverton, and roads and rail lines eventually connected many of them with the town.
Some mining operations were relatively small.
Others became major industrial operations employing large numbers of workers and producing enormous quantities of ore.
Silverton became the center that connected much of that activity.
And unlike many of the mining settlements farther up in the mountains, Silverton survived.
How Silverton Fits Into the Mining Story
Silverton during its mining era, when the town served as a center for mines throughout the surrounding San Juan Mountains.
Silverton exists because of mining.
The town was established in the 1870s in the Animas River valley and became an important center for the mining districts surrounding it.
Its location was more practical than trying to build every service high beside the mines.
Miners could live in Silverton. Businesses could supply the mines. Ore could be brought down from the mountains for transportation and processing.
Then the railroad arrived.
The Denver & Rio Grande Railroad reached Silverton from Durango in 1882, the same year the Yankee Girl Mine was discovered around Red Mountain.
That connection changed what was possible.
Instead of relying entirely on wagons to move heavy supplies and ore over mountain roads, Silverton now had a rail connection to Durango and markets beyond the San Juans.
Mining expanded farther into the mountains around town.
The Railroads Went Beyond Silverton
The railroad didn't stop being important once it reached Silverton.
Eventually, additional narrow-gauge railroads were built from Silverton into the surrounding mining districts.
Tracks followed valleys and climbed toward mining areas that needed better transportation.
The goal wasn't tourism.
It was ore.
Railroads could move far more material than wagons, making it possible for mines deeper in the mountains to operate on a larger scale.
Today, the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad is one of the most recognizable attractions in this part of Colorado.
Its origins are tied directly to mining.
The trains that now carry visitors through the San Juan Mountains were once part of a transportation system built around getting supplies to mining communities and hauling valuable ore out.
What Happened to the Mining Towns?
Mining towns could grow incredibly quickly.
They could disappear just as quickly.
A town's survival often depended on the mines around it. When ore ran out, metal prices dropped or operating a mine became too expensive, jobs disappeared.
People followed.
That is part of what happened throughout the Red Mountain Mining District.
Mines closed. Businesses followed. Buildings were abandoned. Fires destroyed parts of some settlements, while snow and harsh mountain weather slowly took care of others.
Ironton faded.
Red Mountain Town disappeared.
Other camps vanished almost completely.
Silverton was different.
Why Did Silverton Survive?
Silverton had an advantage many of the smaller mining settlements didn't.
It became more than a camp built around one mine.
Silverton served a large network of mines spread throughout the surrounding mountains. It had businesses, transportation connections and eventually railroads tying it to communities outside the immediate mining district.
Mining remained central to Silverton for generations, but the town was able to continue as individual mines opened and closed.
Over time, tourism became increasingly important.
The railroad that once supported mining became an attraction itself. The mountains that prospectors came to dig into became the reason other people came simply to see them.
Silverton never completely lost its mining identity.
You can still see it everywhere.
The Mining History Is Still Right There
That's what I kept thinking about after driving from Ouray to Silverton.
So much of the history is still sitting in the landscape.
You don't have to visit a museum to see all of it.
There are mine structures on the mountainsides. Tailings and waste-rock piles mark places where people dug into the mountains. Remnants of Ironton sit near the road. The Yankee Girl headframe still stands in the Red Mountain Mining District.
Then you arrive in Silverton.
Suddenly, all those pieces begin to connect.
The mines created communities. The communities needed roads. The mines needed transportation. Railroads followed. Silverton grew into the center of it all.
Today, you can drive through in a couple of hours and see what remains.
If you're planning to see it for yourself, I also wrote about driving the Million Dollar Highway from Ouray to Silverton, including what the road is like, the exposed sections, and my experience driving it in both directions.
But when I look at those old mines now, I don't see abandoned buildings scattered randomly across a pretty Colorado landscape.
I see pieces of the story that built this part of the San Juan Mountains.
Frequently Asked Questions About Mining Along the Million Dollar Highway
What was mined along the Million Dollar Highway? The mining districts between Ouray and Silverton produced primarily silver and gold, along with lead, copper and zinc. Mining activity around Red Mountain became especially important during the late 1800s.
What are the old mining structures along the Million Dollar Highway? Many of the structures you see around Ironton and Red Mountain Pass are remnants of mines and communities that developed during the San Juan mining boom. One of the most recognizable is the Yankee Girl Mine headframe.
Can you still see the Yankee Girl Mine? Yes. The Yankee Girl Mine headframe still stands in the Red Mountain Mining District. The original headframe was destroyed by fire in 1897, but its replacement survived and remains one of the easiest mining landmarks to recognize along the route.
Was Ironton, Colorado, a mining town? Yes. Ironton developed during the Red Mountain mining boom and served the surrounding mines. Only remnants of the community remain today.
Why was Silverton important to mining? Silverton became an important center for the mines throughout the surrounding San Juan Mountains. It provided supplies, businesses and transportation, and the arrival of the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad in 1882 made it much easier to move ore and supplies between Silverton and Durango.
I like five for each. That's enough to give Google clean question-and-answer passages without making the bottom of both articles feel like we're repeating the entire blog again.
Michele Underwood writes Overland Girl, where she shares firsthand travel experiences across the American West — from desert landscapes and national parks to small towns layered with history. Her work blends movement, place, and the stories that shape them.Some posts may include affiliate links to products or services she uses on the road. If you choose to purchase through those links, she may earn a small commission at no additional cost to you. It helps support continued travel and storytelling. She only links to items she personally uses or would use herself.