Silver Jail and Gold Mountains

Thursday we left Durango and drove to the mining town of Silverton. We had to cross two mountain passes over 10,000 feet to get there and so the drive was pretty slow. We visited the Mining Museum and Jail. The jail was a very interesting and the museum was full of mining history and information. From there we drove on up the mountain to see the Old One Hundred Mine. The mine had a very interesting history, but never really produced any gold. However, our tour guide had been the mine engineer when it was last used. The mine had been sold to a Texan who was fooled by the owner when everyone around knew the mine was worthless. He was what you would expect a miner to be like and made the whole idea of being a miner come to life. I'm glad I'm not a miner. It was 52 degrees in the mine and water dripped all the time. We had to wear raincoats and hardhats. At the end, we panned for gold and found a little bag full.

We continued north through the town of Ouray. It is called the Switzerland of America and it lives up to it's name, even though I've never been to Switzerland. The road was slow due to the curves, the grade and the mountain pass above 10,000 feet, and road construction which held us up for about a half hour. The town itself is very quaint and I would like to go back sometime when we have time to piddle. We stayed in Montrose and plan to head east today. I guess we are sort of heading toward home.