THE 1910's in Chaffee County Colorado
| 1910 | The Red Cross Hospital was built as a private institution
by Dr. Frank Cochems. The two-story building was reduced to one story and survives today as the Masonic Building at Third and G Streets in Salida. 1910 Railroad traffic through the Alpine Tunnel was abandoned due to heavy snow, but the tunnel remained open to automobile traffic for several succeeding years. A second high school was built at the location of the present Salida High School. This high school burned in 1962. |
| 1915 | Isaac William Haight donated a pair of lions carved from Salida blue granite and placed in Alpine Park to pay back Salida for the town's generosity to him. |
| 1916 | January 1, 1916, W. H. Boyer, a negro staked
a twenty acre manganese ore claim up Wells Gulch. Eight men worked over
the next three months at a cost of $4400 to develop the claim. The ore was
sacked and transported by an incline winze and sled assemply to the wagon
road below. One railroad carload consisting of 40 tons of 40% high grade
manganese ore was shipped from the Wellsville RR terminal to Colorado Fuel
and Iron in Pueblo to make steel for the war effort. April 20, 1916, William Hillzinger and Charles O. Fulford purchased Boyer's claim and named it Iron Mountain.The assay of the ore body indicated over 3.5% tungsten which was highly valuable, and additional mining was done.This tungsten discovery caused a mining rush in the area and the ground around Hillzinger's claim was bristling with stakes. The resulting mine consisted of a discovery cut, two tunnels, three drifts and a stope. |
| 1917 | The 365-foot tall smokestack was built at Smeltertown (Kortz).
In two years, the smelter shut down due to a slump in mining after World War I. Antero Hotel (Mt. Princeton Hot Springs area), was enlarged and refurbished, reopened under new ownership and was popular during the 1920s by the flappers who arrived by Cadillac from the train depot. During 1920s and 30s Byrd Colony operated at the site that later became known as Frontier Ranch for church youth. |
| 1918 | Flu epidemic in Salida. Rainbow Hotel was used as a temporary hospital. |
| Old Newspaper Articles from Chaffee County | |||||
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