Growth of Summit County and the Impact on Schools

During the 50 years, 1926-1976, the schools in Summit County underwent tremendous change. During 1926-1950’s, each community operated as an independent school district, relying heavily on a single teacher managing multiple grades.

Beginning in the 1950’s, Colorado began pushing rural communities to consolidate into larger districts where there could be standardization of resources and curriculum. The last one room schoolhouse to close in Summit County was in Montezuma in 1958.

In the 1960’s and 1970’s, Summit County was becoming a world-class winter resort destination with a corresponding population growth. This increase in population led to centralizing secondary education in the county, creating the unified middle and high school system serving students from throughout the county.

Climax Mine

The 1879 discovery of Colorado molybdenum (a steel-hardening mineral) resulted in a yawn, until someone figured out how to use it. In 1918, it birthed the largest underground mine in the world, and a bustling 1800-person town complete with hospital, school, theater, company store and ski hill.

Climax, named for the railroad station atop Fremont Pass, was the largest single metal-mining operation in the history of Colorado. At one time the mine provided 75% of the world’s supply of “moly”. It’s heaviest use as a strategic metal was during both World Wars, and its primary industrial use was and is by US motor manufacturers.

To expand mining operations, the town was razed in 1962, and the homes were moved to Leadville. At the mine’s peak in the 1980’s, it employed 3200. Climax still contributes $610 million per year to the state economy. In a nod to the past, Climax uses part of the former town jail in its front office.

Summit County During the Depression Era

The Depression of the 1930’s was the most severe economic downturn in modern history. In 1934, President Roosevelt raised the price of gold to $35 per ounce. Gold suddenly became very valuable.

Hundreds of the unemployed traveled to the Rivers: the Blue, the Swan and TenMile Creek in search of gold. Americans who had been standing in breadlines were now lined up along the rivers with gold pans and sluice boxes. In addition to the individual amateur miner, the dredge boats resumed operations.

Having slowed in the 1920’s, dredge boat mining was again profitable. Millions of tons of river gravel were washed for gold with the distinctive rock piles left behind.

Depression-era gold mining ended in 1942 due to World War II. Gold mining was declared as “ non-essential,” and the government ordered all gold mining and dredges to shut down so that resources could be diverted to metals needed for the war effort.

Railroads

Did P.T. Barnum really use elephants to get his circus train over Boreas Pass?

In December, 1881 Summit County schoolteachers cried, “Hats? Gloves?” to students and headed outdoors to watch the first “Iron Horse” steam into Dillon, as two narrow gauge railroads vied for profit hauling Summit County’s gold and silver ore. The Denver South Park & Pacific (DSP&P) came from Denver over Boreas Pass; the Denver & Rio Grand from Pueblo through Leadville and the 10 Mile Canyon. Thus began the short 56 year history of railroads in Summit County, from 1881-1937.

Construction proceeded frantically, with the railroads leasing rights-of-way (only two oxen wide!) from mining companies and plopping down untreated wood covered by track, without using ballast. Consequently, the tracks sagged and bent, with passengers being jostled and jolted, so trains only steamed 12 mph through mountains, leading to the DSP&P being called “Darn Slow Pulling & Pretty Rough Riding”.

As for Barnum? Legend says his train couldn’t crest Boreas Pass, so elephants were unloaded and pushed the train over the top. Truth or lore? Who knows? But as Barnum himself would say, “There’s a sucker born every minute.”

I-70 and Eisenhower/Johnson Tunnel

The construction of I-70 across Colorado’s Rocky Mountains was one of the greatest engineering feats in United States history and was essential to the growth of tourism in Summit County. Serious discussions began when the state of Colorado lobbied the Interstate Highway System to route a transcontinental highway across Colorado. Once approved, engineers recommended tunneling under the Continental Divide rather than building a route over Loveland Pass. In March, 1968, construction began on the westbound tunnel (Eisenhower).

Construction was planned to take three years but actually required five years due to unanticipated challenges and the harsh climate.

After the Eisenhower tunnel opened to two-way traffic, construction began on the eastbound tunnel (Johnson) in 1975 with completion in 1979. The Eisenhower-Johnson Tunnel with two lanes of traffic in each direction of travel resulted in the immediate increase of visitors to the ski areas including day-trippers front the Front Range. Ease of access meant more people moving permanently to Summit County. Businesses grew along the I-70 corridor.

While the tunnel brought economic development, traffic can bottleneck on weekends and holidays and heavy snows still cause closures of the roadway.

Mining Moguls

Before it was a ski destination, Breckenridge lived ten lifetimes in fifty years.

In the 1870’s, it was a rough camp of newspaper-insulated log cabins and tin cups.

By 1883, visitor Alice Polk Hill found a “pretty frontier town” in transition. Gold and silver ushered in a gilded age: ladies sipped tea in wallpapered parlors, Masons hosted white-glove galas in top hats and satin gowns, and the wealthy Recen brothers hired private rail cars for champagne and oyster parties.

By the early 1900’s, mining magnates rode in automobiles sporting gold nugget watch chains, while the first ski jumps introduced the ski hat.

The 1920’s brought war, flu, and industrial dredge boats, decimating the town. Out went diamonds and in came derby hats and baseball uniforms.

When the 1930’s crash hit, silk was traded for dungarees. In just fifty years, the town’s wild ride was written on its head: from miner’s helmets to top hats and finally, ski hats.

Hard Hats: Mining to Construction

In the 1930’s and 40’s Breckenridge was on life support. The gold mines had dried up, the trains stopped running, and World War II drew the remaining workforce away to Europe. By 1950, the town’s population plummeted to a mere 296 residents.

The community that survived was split into two distinct camps, easily identified by their head ware: the ranchers of the lower Blue Valley wore Stetsons, while the construction workers building the region’s new future wore hard hats.

Those hard hats belonged to crews from the Denver Water Board, which became the county’s biggest employer. They were there to build the Dillon Dam and the massive Robert’s Tunnel. Though WWII halted the tunnel’s construction, workers blasted back to life in 1947.

By 1963, the reservoir was completely filled, submerging old landscapes to quench Denver’s thirst. Soon after, the opening of the Eisenhower Tunnel and Interstate 70 in 1974 blew the area wide open, connecting the isolated mountain towns straight to the front range.

But Breckenridge wasn’t just a construction zone; it was reinventing itself. On December 17, 1961, the Breckenridge Ski Area officially opened, sparking a major culture clash. As ski tourists flooded the town – prompting the frantic planning of its first modern supermarket – flower-power hippies quietly moved into the abandoned shacks of the old Royal Tiger Mine. Driven by skiers, construction crews, and counter-culture squatters, Breckenridge’s population nearly doubled to 548 by 1970, marking the painful, chaotic birth of a modern resort town.

Breckenridge, Montezuma, Frisco, and Dillon, Colorado

The first fifty years of statehood saw the founding of four towns in Summit County. Breckenridge was founded in 1859 following the discovery of gold along the Blue River. Breckenridge was incorporated in 1880 and became the county seat in 1882, a role it still holds today.

Montezuma was founded in 1865. After the discovery of rich silver deposits along St. John’s Creek, the town was officially laid out in 1865 and incorporated in 1881. It was a key supply and residential hub for nearby silver camps and remains an active community today.

Frisco was founded in 1873 when Henry Recen built a cabin in the TenMile Mining District, and the town was incorporated in 1879. A thriving railroad hub for a while, Frisco evolved into a major center for outdoor recreation and tourism.

Dillon was founded in 1880 as a trading post and eventually a railroad hub. Across its history, Dillon relocated three times. The first two relocations were driven by the location of the railroad. The third relocation occurred due to the creation of the Dillon Reservoir.

Blue River and Silverthorne

The second fifty years of statehood saw the incorporation of two more towns; Blue River and Silverthorne.
Long before it was incorporated in 1964, placer miners flocked to the upper Blue River Valley to seek their fortunes. Later as Breckenridge transitioned to a ski destination, demand for residential areas grew.

Blue River emerged as a slower paced mountain community for those wanting proximity to Breckenridge in a secluded forest setting.

Silverthorne traces its history back to 1881 when Judge Marshel Silverthorne patented a 160-acre placer mining claim along the Blue River. Finding little gold, the area evolved into a ranching community.

That is until the late 1950’s and 1960’s when construction boomed in Summit County. The construction of the Dillon Dam and Roberts Tunnel drove development to land near the Blue River. The first of these residents were primarily workers on these projects and their families. Later, the construction of I-70 and the Eisenhower- Johnson Memorial Tunnel brought more residents, businesses, and travelers. Silverthorne was officially incorporated in 1967.