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Howardsville

Ghost Town on County Road 4, County Road 2 in Rocky Mountains near Silverton, CO

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Howardsville is an unincorporated community in San Juan County, Colorado, United States, along the Animas River at the mouth of Cunningham Creek. Its elevation is 9,747 feet (2,971 m). Established and laid out by the Bullion City Company as Bullion City in 1874, it was renamed later in the year, either for Lieutenant Howard, a once-prominent local figure, or for George Howard, who once had a cabin in the area. It was the first county seat of San Juan County, holding that title until 1875.

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Silverton became the hub of the mining boom in the mid-1870’s, and as a result, gave new life to the mining camps in the Animas River Valley. Howardsville and Eureka were both platted in 1874. Animas Forks, slower to develop, due to temporary inaccessibility, was laid out in 1877.

In the year following the Silverton boom, Augustus “Gus” Begole and John Eckles headed northwest from Green Mountain above Howardsville to prospect along the Uncompahgre River. Locating gold and silver deposits in the Uncompahgre Valley, the two men returned to Silverton to stake their claims and replenish their supplies. In early fall, Begole’s and Eckles’ success was matched when A. J. Staley and Logan Whitlock discovered the “Trout and Fisherman” lode near where Canyon Creek joins the Uncompahgre River. Returning from Silverton to the place of their previous finds, Begole and Eckles again found rich veins, which they named “Mineral Farm”. The location of these mineral deposits in the summer and fall of 1875 created a rush to the area from the nearby mining towns of Silverton, Howardsville, and Mineral Point. – Excerpt from “Frontier in Transition: A History of Southwestern Colorado” (NPS)

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Ghost Town