Mining Homes.
“Throughout most of its history,” an article reads, “Gilman as been a company town… a family town.” Gilman were a myriad of mines: Ida May, Little Duke, Ground Hog, Belden, Iron Mask, May Queen, Kingfisher, Little Chief, Crown Point, and Little Ollie, the oldest dating back to 1878. On May 5, 1879, a Judge by the name of D. D. Belden discovered what would become Belden Mine, a lode so famous that the whole strip of subterranean activity below Battle Mountain and Gilman along Eagle Gulch would later become known simply as “Belden.” Later that year, a local newsman discovered what would be developed into Iron Mask Mine, the principal producer of lead and zinc within Colorado for decades. Soon, the mining town evolved far beyond a primitive mining camp on the side of a mountain to a village where families could prosper, supplied by the railroad below and Kelly Toll Road, now US Highway #24, above. There was a theater where traveling dramatic troupes would perform, hotels like Iron Mask, boarding houses, schools, and even a newspaper named “The Gilman Enterprise.”
Mining Homes.
“Throughout most of its history,” an article reads, “Gilman as been a company town… a family town.” Gilman were a myriad of mines: Ida May, Little Duke, Ground Hog, Belden, Iron Mask, May Queen, Kingfisher, Little Chief, Crown Point, and Little Ollie, the oldest dating back to 1878. On May 5, 1879, a Judge by the name of D. D. Belden discovered what would become Belden Mine, a lode so famous that the whole strip of subterranean activity below Battle Mountain and Gilman along Eagle Gulch would later become known simply as “Belden.” Later that year, a local newsman discovered what would be developed into Iron Mask Mine, the principal producer of lead and zinc within Colorado for decades. Soon, the mining town evolved far beyond a primitive mining camp on the side of a mountain to a village where families could prosper, supplied by the railroad below and Kelly Toll Road, now US Highway #24, above. There was a theater where traveling dramatic troupes would perform, hotels like Iron Mask, boarding houses, schools, and even a newspaper named “The Gilman Enterprise.”