Aspen: The History of a Silver Mining Town, 1879 - 1893

Now a world-famous ski resort, Aspen, Colorado began its life as a booming silver-mining town. In its heyday, Aspen rivaled the camps of Virginia City in Nevada's Comstock Lode, and Leadville in Colorado, as the richest silver-mining center in America.
Rohrbough tells the story of Aspen from its founding in 1879 to the collapse of the silver market in 1893. He focuses on the dynamic entrepreneurs such as Jerome B. Wheeler, David M. Hyman, and Henry B. Gillespie who made the town and profited from it, the vicious court battles that resulted from mining disputes, and the general atmosphere of the booming mining community. In July 1893 the price of silver dropped sharply and within a week all the mines in Aspen closed. By 1930, Aspen was virtually a ghost town with a population of 705, until a new generation of entrepreneurs discovered another natural resource there--snow.