Silverton

This is downtown Silverton, Colorado. The history of Silverton is tangled with Durango's. Most of the ore mined in the mountains around Silverton were taken to Durango by rail to be processed by the smelters that came to define Durango for a long while. Silverton is located in the heart of the San Juan Mountains and can be tough to get to. The Million Dollar Highway is the only paved road in and it summits two high mounatin passes on the route from Durango to the south ( Coal Bank Pass at 10,640' and Molas Pass at 10,910') and one from Ouray to the north ( Red Mountain Pass at 11,018'.) During winter, avalanches are frequent along the route and the town is sometime shut-off from the outside world as an effect.