The San Juan Mountains of Southwestern Colorado - Calderas, Mastodons, Conquistadors, and Gold

This large volume sets out to tell the beginnings of the San Juan Mountains of southwestern Colorado, from the geology to the gold. Its subtitle lists the cast: calderas, mastodons, conquistadors and gold. P. David Smith concentrates on unique events, on people whose stories have never fully been told, and on a few new facts.

The description says Smith starts with the true boundaries of the San Juans and then challenges long standing theories about the range. His research, it says, shows that Paleo hunters lived in the San Juans year round and that the Spanish prospected almost continuously but had little luck smelting the gold and silver ores. He also traces how the Utes went from one of the poorest Native American tribes to one of the richest.

Other claims in the description are more speculative and are presented as noted possibilities: that the Pueblo Indians, or Anasazi, were the first of the historic tribes in Colorado and the San Juans, and that Coronado or his men may have been in the San Juans looking for Cibola. Our catalogue lists the book at 450 pages and dates it 2013. The description ends by calling it true history that may be stranger than fiction, and says historians and history lovers have been waiting for it.

This is a book for serious readers of Southwest and Colorado history who want the early chapters, long before the mining camps. Researchers, teachers and archaeology enthusiasts will find a wide range of topics gathered in one place. Libraries with strong regional shelves should look at it too. At 450 pages in our catalogue it is a substantial purchase and a real commitment, so it suits readers who like to settle in with one subject for a long while.

P. David Smith wrote this book, the largest of his books on our catalogue, and the description credits it to extensive research. No academic post or degree is listed for him in the sources we could reach, so we make no claims about that. Find the rest of his books on his author page.

More about P. David Smith →

The San Juans are a volcanic range. Wikipedia says they sit in the San Juan volcanic field, where the eruption of the La Garita Caldera, about 35 miles across, destroyed the volcanoes that once stood there. The area is highly mineralized and belongs to the Colorado Mineral Belt.

The range is high. Uncompahgre Peak, at 14,321 feet, is the tallest point, with Mount Wilson, Mount Sneffels and Mount Eolus also above 14,000 feet. The Weminuche Wilderness, the largest in Colorado, covers 499,771 acres, and the Continental Divide Trail follows the crest.

Wikipedia dates the modern mining story to 1869, when prospectors trespassing on the Ute reservation discovered silver. The Brunot Agreement, ratified by Congress on April 24, 1874, forced the Utes to cede all of the San Juan Mountains. Before that, it notes, the Utes had occupied all of western Colorado before 1848. The Sunnyside Mine near Silverton ran until late in the twentieth century, and the Idarado Mine closed in the 1970s.

Source: Wikipedia, San Juan Mountains