Through the 'Scope: Collecting Microminerals in the Creede Mining District--The Amethyst, Commodore No. 5, and Bulldog Mountain Mines, Mineral County, Colorado

摘要

Creede is located in southwestern Colorado on the edge of the San Juan Mountains just south of where Willow Creek enters the Rio Grande Valley. Originally, the townsite was further north in East Willow Creek Canyon near the confluence with West Willow Creek. A disastrous fire in 1894 wiped out the town, and a new settlement sprang up to the south at a location at first called Jimtown. What remained of the original townsite was later destroyed by a flood in 1917 (Huston 2005). The initial discovery of silver ore in the Creede district was at the Holy Moses mine high above East Willow Creek, but the district did not prosper until additional discoveries were made along West Willow Creek on the Amethyst vein system. The Amethyst and Commodore No. 5 mines are located on West Willow Creek approximately 1.5 miles north of Creede.