Silverton, CO

Silverton is the only incorporated municipality and county seat of San Juan County, high in the western San Juan Mountains at 9,318 feet. The Animas River sits in a flat valley beneath steep country, and the road in from Durango arrives through a landscape shaped by mining and winter weather. Silverton was established after the Brunot Agreement in 1873 and grew through silver and gold mining. The whole town is within the Silverton Historic District, a National Historic Landmark, so the courthouse, old commercial blocks, and mining-era buildings are part of the everyday county-seat setting.

ATTRD&RG Railfan / CC BY 3.0

Today, Silverton's map mixes courthouse and county services with the San Juan County Historical Society museum, the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad terminus, Silverton School, and routes into the backcountry. Summer brings railroad passengers and mountain trips; winter turns attention to snowmobiling, ice climbing, Nordic skiing, and backcountry skiing. It is a small place with a very specific role: a high-elevation mining town that still handles county business and opens onto the San Juans.