Mayflower Mill Tour
135 County Rd 2
Silverton, 5
(970) 387-0294
Located 0 miles from Molas Lake Park and Campground
n is the Mayflower Mill, two miles northeast of Silverton. Tours of this piece of mining history are available.In 1991, Silverton’ s gold mining era ended when the 125-year-old Sunnyside Mine, the last big commercial mine in San Juan County, ceased operations. Low base metal prices and diminishing gold and silver reserves forced the great mine to close. In the mine’s colorful lifetime it produced over 900,000 ounces of gold, millions of ounces of silver, and tons of base metals.
The Mayflower Mill was the last major accomplishment of Charles A. Chase, a metallurgist and successful mining man. Due to the Depression in the 1930s, most mining companies throughout the West were demolishing mills and other mine structures to reduce tax and insurance liabilities. But Chase gambled that base metals - lead, copper, and zinc - could carry the cost of the operation with a little profit coming from gold and silver.
