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91-410: The largest silver nugget ever mined, weighing 1,840 pounds (830 kg), came from Smuggler. At its peak the mine was responsible for nearly one-fifth of the world's total silver output. Its extensive tunnel system reaches more than a thousand feet (300 m) below the entrance, extending under the city of Aspen, although most of the lower tunnels are presently flooded. Smuggler was one of the few mines in

182-802: A hunter-gatherer lifestyle. The Ute occupied much of the present state of Colorado by the 1600s. The Comanches from the north joined them in eastern Colorado in the early 1700s. In the 19th century, the Arapaho and Cheyenne invaded southward into eastern Colorado. The Utes came to inhabit a large area including most of Utah, western and central Colorado, and south into the San Juan River watershed of New Mexico. Some Ute bands stayed near their home domains, while others ranged further away seasonally. Hunting grounds extended further into Utah and Colorado, as well as into Wyoming, Oklahoma, Texas, and New Mexico. Winter camps were established along rivers near

273-625: A camp. In 1880 he sold them all to B. Clark Wheeler and Charles Hallam, who with their partners, among them David Hyman, the Cincinnati man who had first hired them to search for business opportunities in Colorado, formed the Aspen Town and Land Company to survey and plat the 282-acre (114 ha) of ranch land. They subdivided it, named the streets after themselves and sold the lots for $ 10 ($ 320 in modern dollars), an event which brought

364-410: A group effort by all the mine owners to keep its pumps on and prevent it. As of 1905 300 miners were still working at Smuggler. But the city's population continued to decline, and at the 1910 census it was down to around 2,000, less than a half of what it had officially been during the boom's peak. In 1912 Smuggler's miners briefly went on strike over a wage cut to the timbermen and their helpers. It

455-431: A new industry was replacing mining. The mine's original buildings had not survived the long years of neglect, so new buildings were constructed on the site after 1950 of wood and metal that was generally salvaged from other abandoned mines in the area. Timber taken from the demolished 1885 Kit Carson stage stop in the city was used to build the wooden shop at the top of the lower pile. Aspen continued to grow again, becoming

546-461: A popular destination for corporate executives and celebrities through the 1960s and '70s. In 1981 soil samples taken by a college student doing a study of soil nutrients showed elevated levels of lead and cadmium on the mountain. As these were hazardous waste from the mining operations in the area, the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) was notified and mining stopped pending its investigation. The following year Hyman's descendants sold

637-533: A proportionate growth in the gold stock. The crash in the silver dollar's bullion value in the 1890s from 80 cents to approximately 50 cents increased public anxiety on their continued ability to convert silver dollars and banknotes into gold. The result was a run on the Treasury's gold stock and the onset of the Panic of 1893 . President Grover Cleveland summoned an emergency session of Congress on August 7, 1893, for

728-621: A recurrent monthly basis to 4.5 million ounces. The Sherman Silver Purchase Act had been passed in response to the growing complaints of farmers' and miners' interests. Farmers had immense debts that could not be paid off due to deflation , and they urged the government to pass the Sherman Silver Purchase Act to boost the economy and cause inflation , allowing them to pay their debts with cheaper dollars. Mining companies, meanwhile, had extracted vast quantities of silver from western mines. The resulting oversupply drove down

819-519: A reservation in 1881. Today, there are three federally recognized tribes of Ute people: These three tribes maintain reservations: Uintah-Ouray in northeastern Utah (3,500 members); Southern Ute in Colorado (1,500 members); and Ute Mountain which primarily lies in Colorado, but extends to Utah and New Mexico (2,000 members). The origin of the word Ute is unknown; it is first attested as Yuta in Spanish documents. The Utes' self-designation

910-674: A total of $ 31 million in a land claims settlement. The Ute Mountain Tribe used their money, including what they earned from mineral leases, to invest in tourist related and other enterprises in the 1950s. In 1954, a group of mixed blood Utes were legally separated from the Northern Utes and called the Affiliated Ute Citizens. Since the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act of 1975 ,

1001-839: Is Núuchi-u , meaning 'the people'. Ute people speak the Ute dialect of the Colorado River Numic language , which is closely related to the Shoshone language . Their language is from the Southern subdivision of the Numic language branch of the Uto-Aztecan language family . This language family is found almost entirely in the Western United States and Mexico , stretching from southeastern California, along

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1092-582: Is a Colorado River Numic language , part of the Uto-Aztecan language family Historically, the Utes belonged to almost a dozen nomadic bands, who came together for ceremonies and trade. They also traded with neighboring tribes, including Pueblo peoples . The Ute had settled in the Four Corners region by 1500 CE. The Utes' first contact with Europeans was with the Spanish in the 18th century. The Utes had already acquired horses from neighboring tribes by

1183-544: Is a significant problem at Ute Mountain, affecting nearly 80% of the population. The age expectancy there was 40 years of age as of 2000. The culture of the Utes was influenced by the invasion of neighboring Native American tribes. The eastern Utes had many traits of Plain Indians, and they lived in tepees after the 17th century. The western Utes were similar to Shoshones and Paiutes , and they lived year-round in domed willow houses. Weeminuches lived in willow houses during

1274-420: Is believed that they arrived in the area sometime during June 1879 from the south, along Maroon Creek . During a forest fire , they lost their blankets and, possibly, their mules. They found the camp of some other prospectors, who resupplied them, and then found what became Smuggler the next day. According to legend, they both sold their halves of the claim to the prospectors who had resupplied them, and then left

1365-545: Is section of track with seven ore cars, two from the Smuggler and five from other mines of the Silver Boom era; they are contributing. The entrance to the original Smuggler Shaft is fenced off just to the north of the base of the larger pile. The Clark Tunnel is near the upper tailings pile. Both are contributing, as are the sandstone blocks that remain from the foundation of the original gallows frame and house near

1456-559: Is well below that of their non-Native neighbors. Unemployment is high on the reservation, in large part due to discrimination, and half of the tribal members work for the government of the United States or the tribe. The Ute language is still spoken on the reservation. Housing is generally adequate and modern. There are annual performance of the Bear and Sun dances. All tribes have scholarship programs for college educations. Alcoholism

1547-589: The $ 2 million to $ 4 million that had been required by the Bland–Allison Act of 1878, the US government was now required to purchase 4.5 million ounces of silver bullion every month. The law required the Treasury to buy the silver with a special issue of Treasury (Coin) Notes that could be redeemed for either silver or gold. The result was the substantial expansion in the volume of circulating dollars without

1638-642: The Colorado River to Colorado and extending south the Nahuan languages in central Mexico. The Numic language group likely originated near the present-day border of Nevada and California, then spread north and east. By about 1000 CE, hunters and gatherers in the Great Basin spoke Uto-Aztecan. They are the likely ancestrors of the Ute, Shoshone , Paiute , and Chemehuevi peoples. Linguists believe that

1729-703: The Domínguez–Escalante expedition (1776). Utes left images of firearms and horses in the 1800s. The Crook's Brand Site depicts a horse with a brand from George Crook's regiment during the Indian Wars of the 1870s. Public land surrounding the Bears Ears buttes in southeastern Utah became the Bears Ears National Monument in 2016 in recognition for its ancestral and cultural significance to several Native American tribes, including

1820-805: The House Ways and Means Committee , worked with John Sherman to create a package that could both pass the Senate and receive the President's approval. Under the Act, the federal government purchased millions of ounces of silver, with issues of paper currency. It became the second-largest buyer in the world, after the British Crown in India, where the Indian rupee was backed by silver rather than gold. Instead of

1911-457: The Ludlow massacre , that characterized such disputes elsewhere in the state during this period. The miners who had remained from the boom years were more solidly established in the community, and had an incentive to keep what had become Aspen's largest employer running. Therefore, they often worked closely with the mine owners toward that end. More silver had been mined after 1893 than before, yet

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2002-691: The Mesa Verde National Park , Navajo Reservation , and the Southern Ute Reservation. The Ute Mountain Tribal Park abuts Mesa Verde National Park and includes many Ancestral Puebloan ruins. Their land includes the sacred Ute Mountain . The White Mesa Community of Utah (near Blanding) is part of the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe but is largely autonomous. The Ute Mountain Utes are descendants of

2093-618: The Plains Indian cultures of the Great Plains . They also became involved in the horse and slave trades and respected warriors. Horse ownership and warrior skills developed while riding became the primary status symbol within the tribe and horse racing became common. With greater mobility, there was increased need for political leadership. The Utes had direct trade with the Spanish at least by 1765 and possibly earlier. The Utes had already acquired horses from neighboring tribes by

2184-535: The Superfund program. Despite the ongoing cleanup efforts, in which the EPA eventually removed soil from the area, Albouy was able to restore the mine to functionality, but he and his partners struggled financially. Silver was trading at even lower levels than it had earlier in the century, and he was rarely able to turn a profit. The mine had to run tours. He later acquired Compromise as well, and after some battles with

2275-581: The Taos , Santa Clara , Pecos and other pueblos. The Ute also traded with Navajo , Havasupai , and Hopi peoples for woven blankets. The Utes were closely allied with the Jicarilla Apache who shared much of the same territory and intermarried. They also intermarried with Paiute, Bannock and Western Shoshone peoples. There was so much intermarriage with the Paiute, that territorial borders of

2366-890: The Ute Indian Tribe of the Uintah and Ouray Reservation . The bands included the San Pitch , Pahvant , Seuvartis, Timpanogos and Cumumba Utes. The Southern Ute Tribes include the Muache , Capote , and the Weeminuche , the latter of which are at Ute Mountain . This is also a half-Shoshone, half-Ute band of Cumumbas who lived above Great Salt Lake , near what is now Ogden, Utah . There are also other half-Ute bands, some of whom migrated seasonally far from their home domain. The Utes traded with Rio Grande River Pueblo peoples at annual trade fairs or rescates held in at

2457-889: The 1810s. The French expedition recorded meeting members of the Moanunts and Pahvant bands. After the Utes acquired horses, they started to raid other Native American tribes. While their close relatives, the Comanches , moved out from the mountains and became Plains Indians as did others including the Cheyenne , Arapaho , Kiowa , and Plains Apache , the Utes remained close to their ancestral homeland. The south and eastern Utes also raided Native Americans in New Mexico, Southern Paiutes and Western Shoshones, capturing women and children and selling them as slaves in exchange for Spanish goods. They fought with Plains Indians , including

2548-559: The 1847 arrival of Mormon settlers . After initial settlement by the Mormons, as they moved south to the Wasatch Front, Utes were pushed off their land. Wars with settlers began about the 1850s when Ute children were captured in New Mexico and Utah by Anglo-American traders and sold in New Mexico and California. The rush of Euro-American settlers and prospectors into Ute country began with an 1858 gold strike . The Ute allied with

2639-451: The 1920s, prosperous in much of the rest of the country, became quieter still. Many of the mine's original buildings either collapsed from neglect, or were dismantled for their building materials. Aside from the little mining remaining, there was only farming and ranching in the area. By 1930, less than a thousand people were living in Aspen. Mining resumed at Smuggler after World War II as

2730-583: The 4 million acres (16,185 km ) reservation area. Founded in 1861, it is located in Carbon , Duchesne , Grand , Uintah , Utah , and Wasatch Counties in Utah. Raising stock and oil and gas leases are important revenue streams for the reservation. The tribe is a member of the Council of Energy Resource Tribes . The Ute Indian Tribe of the Uintah and Ouray Reservation (Northern Ute Tribe) consists of

2821-607: The Aspen area to reopen after the 1893 repeal of the Sherman Silver Purchase Act . It continued producing ore until 1918, and was reopened in the 1970s. In 1984 it was designated a Superfund site after tests found high levels of lead and cadmium in the soil. It took the Environmental Protection Agency 12 years to clean up the site. While it is estimated that nearly a million pounds (400,000 kg) of recoverable ore remain in

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2912-574: The Clark. The two tunnels lead to 38 underground levels, half of which are flooded. Although prospectors were aware very early of Smuggler's potential, they were unable to fully exploit it for a variety of reasons until the late 1880s. When they did, it became wildly productive for a few years, until the Panic of 1893 ended the Colorado Silver Boom . The mine remained open, even as miners continued to leave Aspen, until closing in 1917. In

3003-727: The Comanche, who had previously been allies. The name "Comanche" is from the Ute word for them, kɨmantsi , meaning enemy. The Pawnee , Osage and Navajo also became enemies of the Plains Indians by about 1840. Some Ute bands fought against the Spanish and Pueblos with the Jicarilla Apache and the Comanche. The Ute were sometimes friendly but sometimes hostile to the Navajo. The Utes were skilled warriors who specialized in horse mounted combat. War with neighboring tribes

3094-542: The Comanche. The Utes traded their goods for cloth, blankets, guns, horses, maize, flour, and ornaments. Several Ute learned Spanish through trading. The Spanish "seriously guarded" trade with the Utes, limiting it to annual caravans, but by 1750 they were reliant on the trade with the Utes, their deerskin being a highly sought commodity. The Utes also traded in enslaved women and children captives from Apache, Comanche, Paiute and Navajo tribes. French trappers passed through Ute territory and established trading posts beginning in

3185-760: The Four Corners Motorcycle Rally each year. The Ute operate KSUT, the major public radio station serving southwestern Colorado and the Four Corners. The Southern Ute Tribes include the Muache , Capote , and the Weeminuche , the latter of which are at Ute Mountain . The Ute Mountain Reservation is located near Towaoc, Colorado in the Four Corners region. Twelve ranches are held by tribal land trusts rather than family allotments. The tribe holds fee patent on 40,922.24 acres in Utah and Colorado. The 553,008 acre reservation borders

3276-855: The Red Cedar Gathering Company, which owns and operates natural gas pipelines in and near the reservation. The tribe also owns the Red Willow Production Company, which began as a natural gas production company on the reservation. It has expanded to explore for and produce oil and natural gas in Colorado, New Mexico, Texas and in the deep water in the Gulf of Mexico. Red Willow has offices in Ignacio, Colorado and Houston, Texas . The Sky Ute Casino and its associated entertainment and tourist facilities, together with tribally operated Lake Capote, draw tourists. It hosts

3367-488: The Senate Finance Committee, was not the author of the bill, but once both houses of Congress had passed the Act and the Act had been sent to a Senate/House conference committee to settle differences between the Senate and House versions of the Act, Sherman was instrumental in getting the conference committee to reach agreement on a final draft of the Act. Nonetheless, once agreement on the final version

3458-409: The Sherman Silver Purchase Act. With that, the price dropped, and many of Aspen's mines had to close. Smuggler ceased most operations and laid off 70 of its miners. At first it looked as if the bad times would be temporary. In 1894 the largest silver nugget ever was mined from Smuggler's depths. Originally, it weighed 2,340 pounds (1,060 kg), but was too large to be brought from the mine intact. It

3549-652: The Southern Numic speakers (Ute and Southern Paiute ), left the Numic homeland first and that the Central and then the Western subgroups later migrated east and north. The Southern Numic -speaking tribes, the Ute, Shoshone, Southern Paiute , and Chemehuevi , all share many cultural, genetic, and linguistic characteristics. There were ancestral Utes in southwestern Colorado and southeastern Utah by 1300, living

3640-521: The United States and Mexico in its war with the Navajo during the same period. Mormons continued to push the Utah Utes off their homelands, which escalated into the Walker War (1853–54). By the mid-1870s, the U.S. federal government forced Utes in Utah onto a reservation, less than 9% of their former land. The Utes found it to be very inhospitable and tried to continue hunting and gathering off

3731-455: The United States made a series of treaties with the Ute and executive orders that ultimately culminated with relocation to reservations: The Uinta and Ouray Indian Reservation is the second-largest Indian Reservation in the US – covering over 4,500,000 acres (18,000 km ) of land. Tribal owned lands only cover approximately 1.2 million acres (4,855 km ) of surface land and 40,000 acres (160 km ) of mineral-owned land within

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3822-671: The Ute generally did not - the Southern Utes developed such societies late, and soon lost them in reservation life. Warriors were exclusively men but women often followed behind war parties to help gather loot and sing songs. Women also performed the Lame Dance to symbolize having to pull or carry heavy loads of loot after a raid. The Utes used a variety of weapons including bows, spears and buffalo-skin shields, as well as rifles, shotguns and pistols which were obtained through raiding or trading. The Ute people traded with Europeans by

3913-613: The Ute left petroglyphs in rock along with rock art by the earlier peoples. Some of the images are estimated to be more than 900 years old. The Utes petroglyphs were made after the Utes acquired horses, because they show men hunting while on horseback. The Ute were divided into several nomadic and closely associated bands, which today mostly are organized as the Northern, Southern, and Ute Mountain Ute Tribes. Hunting and gathering groups of extended families were led by older members by

4004-624: The Utes and the Southern Paiutes are difficult to ascertain in southeast Utah. Until the Ute acquired horses, any conflict with other tribes was usually defensive. They had generally poor relations with Northern and Eastern Shoshone. In 1637, the Spanish fought with the Utes, 80 of whom were captured and enslaved. Three people escaped with horses. Their lifestyle changed with the acquisition of horses by 1680. They became more mobile, more able to trade, and better able to hunt large game. Ute culture changed dramatically in ways that paralleled

4095-600: The Utes control the police, courts, credit management, and schools. All Ute reservations are involved in oil and gas leases and are members of the Council of Energy Resource Tribes . The Southern Ute Tribe is financially successful, having a casino for revenue generation. The Ute Mountain Ute Tribe generates revenues through gas and oil, mineral sales, casinos, stock raising, and a pottery industry. The tribes make some money on tourism and timber sales. Artistic endeavors include basketry and beadwork. The annual household income

4186-447: The Utes. Members of the Ute Mountain Ute and Uintah and Ouray Reservations sit on a five-tribe coalition to help co-manage the monument with the Bureau of Land Management and United States Forest Service . The Ute appeared to have hunted and camped in an ancient Ancestral Puebloans and Fremont people campsite in near what is now Arches National Park . At a site near natural springs, which may have held spiritual significance,

4277-467: The Weeminuche band, who moved to the western end of the Southern Ute Reservation in 1897. (They were led by Chief Ignacio , for whom the eastern capital is named). Prior to living on reservations, Utes shared land with other tribal members according to a traditional societal property system. Instead of recognizing this lifestyle, the U.S. government provided allotments of land, which was larger for families than for single men. The Utes were intended to farm

4368-409: The abundance of game. Cañon Pintado , or painted canyon, is a prehistoric site with rock art from Fremont people (650 to 1200) and Utes. The Fremont art reflect an interest in agriculture, including corn stalks and use of light at different times of the year to show a planting calendar. Then there are images of figures holding shields, what appear to be battle victims, and spears. These were seen by

4459-415: The area is dated to the same time. Bennett may simply have considered the claim abandoned because it had not been fully developed, even though the required 60 days to file the claim had not yet passed. Bennett's account, in which it was he who named the claim "Smuggler", may be suspect as it omits mention of his partners. Bennett added to his mining claims a ranch on the area of the valley floor being used as

4550-475: The area, never to return. According to legend, Allbright's price for his half included a mule, who supposedly died the next day. A variant has it that another, unnamed prospector discovered Smuggler while hunting deer when an errant shot revealed silver inside a rock he struck, and he sold the claim the next day for $ 50 and the ill-fated mule. This legend was reported as early as 1881, in the first issue of what has become The Aspen Times , although in that account

4641-413: The children sent to boarding school in Albuquerque died in the mid-1880s, due to tuberculosis or other diseases. There was a dramatic reduction in the Ute population, partly attributed to Utes moving off the reservation or resisting being counted. In the early 19th century, there were about 8,000 Utes, and there were only about 1,800 tribe members in 1920. Although there was a significant reduction in

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4732-446: The city of Aspen into existence. Hyman eventually assumed control of Smuggler and the neighboring Durant Mine. The vein of silver ore, so pure the silver was visible, that ran through both mines also went into mines owned by Jerome B. Wheeler . No relation to Hyman's former partner, Wheeler, at the time co-chairman of Macy's , had discovered Aspen and its opportunities in 1883, when he moved to Manitou Springs for his wife's health. In

4823-456: The city's decline finally reversed, but not because of the mine. In the late 1930s, some leftover mining equipment had been used to create the first primitive ski lift up crude trails on Aspen Mountain across the valley. After the war it had been replaced with Ski Lift No. 1 , the longest chairlift in the world at that time. Its opening ceremony, in 1947, drew one of the state's U.S. senators and its governor-elect. The quiet years were over, and

4914-418: The county was able to operate it and run tours there as well. Frustrated with how his plans had largely failed, Albouy killed himself in 1992. The mine was later acquired by two of Albouy's partners, Aspen natives Chris Preusch and Jay Parker. Honoring his wish, they formed the New Smuggler Mining Corporation and continued mining and guiding tours. In 1999, the EPA judged the remediation successful and removed

5005-422: The domain of the Utes. Pikes Peak was a sacred ceremonial area for the band. The mineral springs at Manitou Springs were also sacred and Ute and other tribes came to the area, spent winters there, and "share[d] in the gifts of the waters without worry of conflict." Artifacts found from the nearby Garden of the Gods, such as grinding stones, "suggest the groups would gather together after their hunt to complete

5096-472: The early 19th century including at encampments in the San Luis Valley , Wet Mountains , and the Upper Arkansas Valley and at the annual Rocky Mountain Rendezvous . Native Americans also traded at annual trade fairs in New Mexico, which were also ceremonial and social events lasting up to ten days or more. They involved the trading of skins, furs, foods, pottery, horses, clothing, and blankets. In Utah, Utes began to be impacted by European-American contact with

5187-503: The era, the Hyman–Brand Building and Hotel Jerome , Wheeler Opera House and Wheeler–Stallard House respectively. The passage of the Sherman Silver Purchase Act in 1890, increasing the federal government's required purchase of that metal, contributed considerably to the prosperity of the city, whose population reached its all-time peak that year at over 10,000. The new Compromise Mine produced $ 11 million ($ 373 million in modern dollars) of silver ore. Smuggler produced one-fifth of

5278-533: The following groups of people: The Southern Ute Indian Reservation is located in southwestern Colorado, with its capital at Ignacio . The area around the Southern Ute Indian reservation are the hills of Bayfield and Ignacio, Colorado. The Southern Utes are the wealthiest of the tribes. The Tribe holds a triple A credit rating with all three primary rating agencies. Oil & gas, and real estate leases, plus various off-reservation financial and business investments, have contributed to their success. The tribe owns

5369-420: The gold-rich San Juan area, which was followed in 1879 by the loss of most of the remaining land after the " Meeker Massacre ". Utes were later put on a reservation in Utah, Uintah and Ouray Indian Reservation , as well as two reservations in Colorado, Ute Mountain Ute Tribe and Southern Ute Indian Reservation . Following acquisition of Ute territory from Mexico by the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo 1848,

5460-426: The high school football team. During the next two years the EPA, in conjunction with the developer of the nearby Hunter Creek Condominiums, took further samples of the affected soil. It began a feasibility study for possible remediation efforts. In 1986, over the strenuous objection of many local residents, it added the mine and mountain to its National Priorities List (NPL), making it eligible for cleanup under

5551-400: The industry could not sustain itself forever. In the years after the strike the cost of pumping out the mine cut into the Smuggler's profits and discouraged further investment. In 1917 Smuggler reached the bottom of the vein that had been the mine's main source of ore to that point. While there might have been other sources in the area that could have been worked, David Hyman decided to shut down

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5642-543: The land, which also was a forced vocational change. Some tribes, like the Uintah and Uncompahgre were given arable land, while others were allocated land that was not suited to farming and they resisted being forced to farm. The White River Utes were the most resentful and protested in Washington, D.C. The Weeminuches successfully implemented a shared property system from their allotted land. Utes were forced to perform manual labor, relinquish their horses, and send their children to American Indian boarding schools . Almost half of

5733-524: The late 17th century. During this time, few Europeans entered Ute territory. Exceptions to this include the Spanish Domínguez–Escalante expedition of 1776. The Utes traded with other tribes who were part of the deerskin and fur trade with the Spanish in New Mexico in the 18th century. The Utes, the main trading partners of the Spanish residents of New Mexico, were known for their soft, high-quality tanned deerskins, or chamois, and they also traded meat, buffalo robes, and Indian and Spanish captives taken by

5824-473: The late 17th century. They had limited direct contact with the Spanish but participated in regional trade. Sustained contact with Euro-Americans began in 1847 with the arrival of the Mormons to the American West and the gold rushes of the 1850s. Utes fought to protect their homelands from invaders, and Brigham Young convinced U.S. President Abraham Lincoln to forcibly remove Utes in Utah to an Indian Reservation in 1864. Colorado Utes were forced onto

5915-402: The late 1870s, shortly after Colorado became a state, prospectors began crossing the Continental Divide at Independence Pass in search of silver deposits in the Roaring Fork Valley . Many set up their tents about ten miles (16 km) below the pass at the confluence of the Roaring Fork and its tributary Castle Creek , the first area they found suitable for large-scale settlement. It

6006-403: The late 1880s, Hyman and Wheeler sued each other over which of them owned the greater rights to the Smuggler node, a legal battle, which captivated the boomtown while tying up money that would otherwise have been used to develop the mines. Legal bills for both parties reached a combined $ 1.5 million ($ 50.9 million in modern dollars), and was settled with the opening of Compromise Mine high up

6097-402: The latter, New Smuggler has posted a bond for the cleanup of the site. Sherman Silver Purchase Act The Sherman Silver Purchase Act was a United States federal law enacted on July 14, 1890. The measure did not authorize the free and unlimited coinage of silver that the Free Silver supporters wanted. It increased the amount of silver the government was required to purchase on

6188-402: The lowest productions of Morgan dollars for the entire series, creating several scarce coins. Ute people Ute ( / ˈ j uː t / ) are an Indigenous people of the Great Basin and Colorado Plateau in present-day Utah , western Colorado , and northern New Mexico . Historically, their territory also included parts of Wyoming, eastern Nevada, and Arizona. Their Ute dialect

6279-408: The mid-17th century. Activities, like hunting buffalo and trading, may have been organized by band members. Chiefs led bands when structure was required with the introduction of horses to plan for defense, buffalo hunting, and raiding. Bands came together for tribal activities by the 18th century. Multiple bands of Utes that were classified as Uintahs by the U.S. government when they were relocated to

6370-474: The mine and mountain from the NPL. It continues to monitor the situation, producing reports every five years. Thirteen years later, in 2012, Parker and Preusch were forced by the majority of shareholders to put the mine up for sale, listing it with Sotheby's for $ 9.5 million. A new owner has the option of continuing to operate the mine, which is estimated to contain 890,000 pounds (400,000 kg) of recoverable silver, or shutting it down for good. Should it choose

6461-451: The mine's historic character. At the base of the larger pile is a small corrugated metal building with a gabled roof and a smaller gabled wooden shed. A watchman's trailer is in the woods near the property's northwest corner. At the top is another corrugated metal building with a trailer attached to it and a wooden shed with a gabled roof. They are non-contributing, as is a modern reconstruction of an original wooden ore chute . Next to it

6552-416: The mine's operating rights to Stefan Albouy, a mining enthusiast who hoped to make it productive and profitable again. He instituted a tradition of firing a cannon from the mine at 6 a.m. every Independence Day (July 4), continuing a similar tradition from the earlier mining era where explosives would be set off at that time. It is sometimes discharged on other special occasions, such as touchdowns scored by

6643-401: The mine, as much because of a dispute over rates with the owner of the local electric utility as because of the shortage of ore. Although Hyman continued to lease out the mine's upper levels to any willing concern, the effect of the mine's closure was economically disastrous for the community. The period since the boom's end in 1893 had become known as "the quiet years"; with Smuggler shut down,

6734-559: The mine, it is used as much for tours today as mining. In 2012 it and two nearby lots were put up for sale. The mine's surface facilities are located in a 9.7-acre (3.9 ha) area enclosed by a chainlink fence off Smuggler Mountain Road ( Pitkin County Route 21), on the northeast fringe of Aspen just outside city limits. It is at the base of Smuggler Mountain , at an elevation of 8,000 feet (2,400 m) above sea level. The slopes of

6825-511: The mountain, to the north and east, are intermittently wooded with scrubby evergreen trees, eventually becoming part of White River National Forest , with the shafts of other mines, now defunct, amongst the trees. Silverlode Drive runs along the southwest, below the mine, leading to an area of large modern houses on the mine's northwest. Directly to the west, with some open space between them and Silverlode, are two rows of attached condominium -style units on Free Silver Court and Nicholas Lane. On

6916-411: The mule did not die so quickly. It is equally unclear how the first recorded claimant, Charles Bennett, came into possession of Smuggler. One report says his party came across the claim around that same time, June 1879, and found it abandoned (which would suggest that prospectors were exploring the valley earlier than is commonly accepted today). This is unlikely because Fuller and Allbright's presence in

7007-617: The number of Utes after they were relocated to reservations, in the mid-20th century the population began to increase. This is partly because many people have returned to reservations, including those who left to attain college educations and careers. By 1990, there were about 7,800 Utes, with 2,800 living in cities and towns and 5,000 on reservations. Utes have self-governed since the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934. Elections are held to select tribal council members. The Northern, Southern, and Ute Mountain Utes received

7098-489: The present-day cities of Provo and Fort Duchesne in Utah and Pueblo , Fort Collins , Colorado Springs of Colorado. Aside from their home domain, there were sacred places in present-day Colorado. The Tabeguache Ute's name for Pikes Peak is Tavakiev , meaning sun mountain. Living a nomadic hunter-gatherer lifestyle, summers were spent in the Pikes Peak area mountains, which was considered by other tribes to be

7189-471: The price of their product, often to below the point at which the silver could be profitably extracted. They hoped to enlist the government to increase the demand for silver. Originally, the bill was simply known as the Silver Purchase Act of 1890. Only after the bill was signed into law did it become the "Sherman Silver Purchase Act." Senator John Sherman , an Ohio Republican and chairman of

7280-501: The repeal of the act to prevent the further depletion of the government's gold reserves. In 1890, the price of silver dipped to $ 1.16 per ounce. By the end of the year, it had fallen to $ 0.69 . By December 1894, the price had dropped to $ 0.60 . On November 1, 1895, US mints halted production of silver coins, and the government closed the Carson City Mint . Banks discouraged the use of silver dollars. The years 1893–95 had

7371-469: The reservation. In the meantime, the Black Hawk War (1865–72) occurred in Utah. In 1868, the U.S. federal government established reservation in Colorado. Indian agents tried to get the Utes to farm, a dramatic lifestyle change which lead to starvation due to crop failures. Their lands were whittled away until only the modern reservations were left. A large cession of land in 1873 transferred

7462-520: The slopes of what is known today as Aspen Mountain ). Their legal differences aside, Hyman and Wheeler collaborated to bring the railroads to Aspen, increasing the value of their holdings and their profits, later in the decade. Smuggler went from a total of $ 12,414 ($ 421,000 in modern dollars) in production for the entire year of 1886 to $ 1,500 ($ 51,000 in modern dollars) in daily production four years later. The onetime legal adversaries would both leave their names on Register-listed buildings in Aspen from

7553-479: The southwest, across Park Circle, are seven tennis courts, buffering a densely developed residential area on their west. The mine property consists of a lower area at the foot of a large tailings pile, with a large circular unpaved road along which many vehicles and truck trailers are parked. A two-lane road curves around to the north to climb to a small complex of buildings uphill near a smaller tailings pile. Both piles are considered to be contributing resources to

7644-548: The tanning of hides and processing of meat." The old Ute Pass Trail went eastward from Monument Creek (near Roswell ) to Garden of the Gods and Manitou Springs to the Rocky Mountains . From Ute Pass, Utes journeyed eastward to hunt buffalo. They spent winters in mountain valleys where they were protected from the weather. The North and Middle Parks of present-day Colorado were among favored hunting grounds, due to

7735-403: The world's silver. The mines also produced lead and zinc , as well as the coal that heated and lit the city in wintertime, at the price of covering it with a sulfurous haze. For a time in the early 1890s Aspen was producing even more silver than Leadville . Smuggler employed over 200 miners. That prosperity came to an end in 1893. In the wake of that year's economic crisis , Congress repealed

7826-650: Was broken into three pieces, the largest weighing 1,840 pounds (830 kg). The price of silver began to rise slightly in 1895, due to China's agreement to pay its reparations for the First Sino-Japanese War in that metal, at an amount larger than it was expected would be available on the international markets. In 1897 a fire caused the lower levels to flood. To get the pumps operating again, deep-sea divers were hired to go and repack them. By 1900, business seemed to be improving. Smuggler produced about 250 short tons (230 t) of low-grade ore daily. It

7917-400: Was called Ute City at first for the dominant local Native American tribe, but the prevalence of aspen trees in the forests soon gave it the name it has had ever since. The first prospectors to find Smuggler, Edward Fuller and Con Allbright, are believed to have sold the claim very soon afterwards for necessary supplies. Details are few since they never officially filed the claim, but it

8008-497: Was mostly fought for gaining prestige, stealing horses, and revenge. Men would organize themselves into war parties made up of warriors, medicine men, and a war chief who led the party. To prepare themselves for battle Ute warriors would often fast, participate in sweat lodge ceremonies, and paint their faces and horses for special symbolic meanings. The Utes were master horsemen and could execute daring maneuvers on horseback while in battle. Most plains Indians had warrior societies , but

8099-501: Was not what it had been during the boom, but it was steady. Even after the price of silver dropped to even lower levels in 1902, the mine announced it would be doubling its workforce and leasing out two other, smaller, closed mines it owned. A local newspaper predicted "The Return of the Good Times" the following year. But Aspen's mines never completely turned around. The flooding almost closed Smuggler down in summer 1904, and it took

8190-558: Was reached in the conference committee, Sherman found that he disagreed with many sections of the act. So tepid was Sherman's support that when he was asked his opinion of the act by President Benjamin Harrison , Sherman ventured only that the bill was "safe" and would cause no harm if the President signed it. The act was enacted in tandem with the McKinley Tariff of 1890. William McKinley , an Ohio Republican and chairman of

8281-473: Was settled within two weeks, with a partial restoration of the reduction. While in its peak years the hard rock mining at Smuggler had been dangerous enough to kill a miner roughly once a month, and the miners had organized in response, becoming one of the founding locals of the Western Federation of Miners union, Smuggler and Aspen generally avoided the kind of violent labor unrest , such as

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