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Barney Ford Museum |
Dillon Dam
Gold Mine Tours |
Walking Tour Through Breckenridge
Edwin Carter Museum Tour | Rotary Snowplow and Railroad Museum
For more information on tours phone:
The Summit Historical Society at (970) 468-2207
or
The Breckenridge Historical Alliance at (970) 453-9767
The Summit Historical Society offers many ways to learn about the exciting history
of Summit County, Colorado. Membership offers several bonuses also: publications,
galas, and the opportunity to volunteer and help the society with fun projects,
be a tour guide, etc.
For tour schedule contact the Breckenridge Historical Alliance at (970) 453-9767.
More information can be found at www.BreckHeritage.com
Barney Ford House Museum -
111 East Washington Avenue. Visit this 1882 Victorian home in downtown Breckenridge. It was recently restored as a tribute to Barney L. Ford who was the son of a Virginia slave. Barney Ford escaped slavery via the Underground Railroad and achieved success in Breckenridge and throughout the west as a prominent businessman, civic leader, black rights advocate, and mine owner.
Dillon, Denver, and the Dam
Summer schedule: Wednesdays, mid-July, through early September. Tours start at 10:00 a.m. Meet at the 'Crows Nest' at the Dillon Marina
Spend the morning with Sandra Mather the author of Dillon, Denver, and the
Dam, a Summit Historical Society publication. Learn about the building of Dillon
Dam and the creation of "new" Dillon. Explore the 1883 Schoolhouse
Museum, the honeymoon cabin, and 1885 Delker/Myers cabin and see what life was
like for adults and children during the mineral boom of the late 1800s. Wear
walking shoes and bring rain gear if necessary. In case of inclement weather the tour will meet at the Dillon
Schoolhouse Museum at 403 La Bonte Street. There is a fee for this tour.
Washington Mine:
For tour schedule contact the Breckenridge Historical Alliance at (970) 453-9767.
More information can be found at www.BreckHeritage.com
At the Washington Mine you can peer down into
a manway and shaft, handle drill steel and core samples, don a hard hat and
walk along ore-car tracks back to where the miners drilled and blasted, see
the tools and equipment used 100 years ago - from candles to calcium-carbide
lights, rock drills to widowmakers, black powder to dynamite - and learn why
the prospectors dug where they did.
Lomax Placer Gulch:
For tour schedule contact the Breckenridge Historical Alliance at (970) 453-9767.
More information can be found at www.BreckHeritage.com
Visit the Lomax Placer Gulch Tour and Slide Show where
you can pan for gold. Learn how mining-town chemists assayed the ore content;
watch a slide show and see how hydraulicking changed the landscape; become familiar
with terms such as sluices, riffles, flumes and monitors; visit a bachelor miner's
cabin, complete with stove, musical instruments, snowshoes, actual furniture
and utensils, pack saddles, and a pie safe.
Tours meet at the Lomax Mine (click on "Lomax" in the
previous paragraph for directions). Please be prompt. Tours last one to one
and a half hours depending on questions and general visitor interest. There is a fee for the tour.
Country Boy Mine
The Country Boy is a PRIVATELY OWNED attraction, and NOT subject to Summit Historical Society pricing. It is open to the public for underground tours, gold panning, burro riding, and general good times. For more information or to arrange for a tour, or to participate in the many other activities, call 970-453-4405. And tell them the Summit Historical Society sent you!
The "original" Country Boy was developed in 1887 as an important silver, lead, zinc, and gold producer. The mine apparently operated on a fairly regular basis until at least the mid-1890s, shipping its high-grade ore to Denver for smelting. After a brief disappearance from public records such as the newspapers of the time, the mine became active again from about 1902 to just before World War I.
Electricity was installed to power the lights, water pumps, ventilation systems, and drilling equipment in 1905. Impressive strikes of zinc, lead, and silver ore were made in 1906 resulting in the mine's output being shipped to a smelter in Kansas. The mine was listed as a "steady producer" of zinc and silver ore in a 1909 U.S. government report but seems to have faded from the public eye once again as World War I approached. In the 1940s, the mine was allowed, by the U.S. government, to remain in production as most gold mines in the country were shut down as being "non-strategic". The Country Boy produced vital zinc for the war effort until 1945 when it was shut down due to flooding.
Today, the mine "mines" a different resource - the year-round visitors to the Summit County area, the result of development efforts by private owners which began in the mid-1990s. To arrange for a tour of the Country Boy or to participate in the many other activities at the mine, call 970-453-4405. And tell them that the Summit Historical Society sent you!
You can also visit their website by clicking here.
Directions: The Country Boy Mine is located near Breckenridge in French Gulch to the east of the town. From Blue River Plaza on Main Street proceed north (toward Frisco) two blocks; turn right (east) onto Wellington Road toward French Gulch and follow the road for about one mile to the intersection with Reiling Road. At the intersection, bear right onto a wide dirt/gravel road for about one mile. The Country Boy is clearly visible on the right side of the road and is well marked with a sign. Turn right onto a short dirt driveway to the mine. 
Breckenridge Walking Tour: visit the 1880 Alice G. Milne House and the 1896 W.H. Briggle House. See the earliest homes in town, from log cabins to mail-order houses and stately residences. Learn about Breckenridge's commercial history and see the buildings that housed the bank, stores, offices barbershop, theater, restaurants, saloons and hotels. Also included on the tour are churches, the courthouse and school.
For tour schedule contact the Breckenridge Historical Alliance at (970) 453-9767.
More information can be found at www.BreckHeritage.com
Meet in Blue River Plaza near the Welcome Center at 203 So. Main Street, in Breckenridge.
For tour schedule contact the Breckenridge Historical Alliance at (970) 453-9767.
More information can be found at www.BreckHeritage.com
For tour schedule contact the Breckenridge Historical Alliance at (970) 453-9767.
More information can be found at www.BreckHeritage.com
Entry to the site and museum is free.
Summer Schedule
Open Tuesday thru Saturday - Early June, through early September. Hours are 1:00 pm to 4:00 pm.
Winter Schedule
Open Saturdays - through March. Hours are 1:00 pm to 4:00 pm.
Admission is free, but donations are accepted.
Special tours can be arranged by calling (970) 468-2207.
Interred here are many who were important to the development of the north end of Summit County: members of the families of four of the eight drivers of the High Line Stage Coach Route from Georgetown to Leadville, which operated from 1879 until the arrival of the railroad in 1882; administrative and operating personnel of the narrow-gauge railroads; miners; timbermen and other sawmill workers; blacksmiths; tradesmen, hotel keepers and livery operators; homesteaders and ranchers; road builders, and county officials. One "colored," Dillon town marshal Steve Edwards, was moved, at his death said to be the oldest citizen in the county.
Schedule:
Tours can be arranged by calling 970-468-2207.
For tour schedule contact the Breckenridge Historical Alliance at (970) 453-9767.
More information can be found at www.BreckHeritage.com
Guided tour of Valley Brook Cemetery:
Visit the final resting place of many of Breckenridge's early pioneers, and learn all about them, their deeds, and misdeeds!