The Town of Silverton and the San Juan County Historical Society (SJCHS) brought home some Gold from the annual Colorado Preservation Inc. (CPI) conference held this February in Denver.
This year’s conference theme centered around the 150th anniversary celebration of the discovery of placer gold deposits in Denver’s Cherry Creek and Colorado’s mining history in general. The successful saving of the Yankee Girl, the pride of our Red Mountain mining district, was the iconic figure that graced the poster and seminar brochure for this year’s event. The conference was all a buzz with the success stories filtering in from Silverton’s small-in-numbers-big-in-heart preservation efforts. Representing Silverton and San Juan County was Bev Rich, Chairman of the SJCHS, David Singer, Principal at Silverton Restoration Consulting and Julie Coleman-Singer, Heritage Team Lead Archaeologist for the San Juan Public Lands. Topping the festivities for our small contingent was the presentation of the Stephen Hart award from the Colorado Historical Society at the opening reception and awards ceremony. The award was given for the Historic Structures Assessment and the Historic American Engineering Recordation of the Mayflower Mill that was coordinated with the National Park Service. The San Juan County Historical Society in partnership with the National Park Service and Silverton Restoration Consulting hosted two ICOMOS interns during the project.
Link to the ICOMOS Summer Intern Program:
This year’s conference theme centered around the 150th anniversary celebration of the discovery of placer gold deposits in Denver’s Cherry Creek and Colorado’s mining history in general. The successful saving of the Yankee Girl, the pride of our Red Mountain mining district, was the iconic figure that graced the poster and seminar brochure for this year’s event. The conference was all a buzz with the success stories filtering in from Silverton’s small-in-numbers-big-in-heart preservation efforts. Representing Silverton and San Juan County was Bev Rich, Chairman of the SJCHS, David Singer, Principal at Silverton Restoration Consulting and Julie Coleman-Singer, Heritage Team Lead Archaeologist for the San Juan Public Lands. Topping the festivities for our small contingent was the presentation of the Stephen Hart award from the Colorado Historical Society at the opening reception and awards ceremony. The award was given for the Historic Structures Assessment and the Historic American Engineering Recordation of the Mayflower Mill that was coordinated with the National Park Service. The San Juan County Historical Society in partnership with the National Park Service and Silverton Restoration Consulting hosted two ICOMOS interns during the project.
Link to the ICOMOS Summer Intern Program:
http://www.icomos.org/usicomos/SIP/INTLHostOrganizationGuidelines.htm.
Our team presented a seminar at the conference giving details on the documentation of the Mayflower and the professional training workshops we hosted in Silverton over the past few years. The seminar was well attended by preservation professionals from all over Colorado and the western mining states.
Link to the National Park Service Common Ground Article.
http://commonground.cr.nps.gov/Feature_Start.cfm?past_issue=Spring%202006&feature=2
Our team presented a seminar at the conference giving details on the documentation of the Mayflower and the professional training workshops we hosted in Silverton over the past few years. The seminar was well attended by preservation professionals from all over Colorado and the western mining states.
Link to the National Park Service Common Ground Article.
http://commonground.cr.nps.gov/Feature_Start.cfm?past_issue=Spring%202006&feature=2
Seminars held during the conference included a wide array of subjects ranging from training on the removal of graffiti to the formation of historic preservation ordinances like to one recently adopted by the Town of Silverton. The Key Note address was headlined by the Director of Colorado’s Mining, Reclamation and Safety Division, Ron Cattany. Cattany, a Tyrolean descendant, traced his roots from the mines and saloons on the Front Range to his immigrant family’s hard-won journey with other Italians who worked the hardrock right here in the San Juan’s.
The conference was sponsored in-part by Preserve America, the Federal historic preservation grants program that designated Silverton a “Preserve America City” in 2006. http://www.preserveamerica.gov/ Taking advantage of our Town’s status and recognition, Julie Coleman had prepared a grant to Preserve America whose award was announced at the closing ceremony. This award, given directly to the Town of Silverton, totals $27,838 and consists of three mining history and preservation components including; an Historic Structures Assessment of the 8 standing buildings at Animas Forks, the development of a self-guided hand-held audio tour for the Shenandoah-Dives Mill and final development of the film Castle-in-the-Clouds into a full length documentary for potential distribution to PBS, the History Channel etc… The matching funds totaling $30,601 for this group of projects was awarded to the Town of Silverton from the Colorado State Historic Fund in January.
Topping the good news for Silverton at the conference was an award of $227,000 from the State Historical Fund to complete the exterior restoration of our museum. These dollars have already started to flow through Silverton’s coffers in the form of building materials, local contracts and jobs. The economic impact of historic preservation projects in Silverton and San Juan County is enormous. Financial assistance from organizations like CPI and the State Historical Fund are the driving force in most of Colorado heritage tourism and preservation success stories. More than 3.3 million dollars have been awarded to projects in San Juan County since the inception of the State Historical Fund in 1990! In 2008, funds from these organizations provided 6-full time jobs and on-site training in the preservation trades at the San Juan County Museum building.
The sesquicentennial celebration of Charles Baker’s infamous 1860 expedition to his names-sake Baker’s Park, the Town site of Silverton, is only a short year away. The exterior restoration of our Museum couldn’t be happening at a better time, offering a fitting tribute to the men and women who settled this frontier mining Town we call home. The restoration of the Jail building is also a testimony for future generations, who will inherit these special places, and carry the message of stewardship forward. The CPI conference and its mining history theme was an inspiration to our preservation efforts here in Silverton and around Colorado, celebrating the history of the mining industry and the culture that symbolizes our corner of the great American Rockies.
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