San Juan County Historical Society Mining Heritage Center — Attraction in Silverton

Having some time to kill in Silverton before I board the Durango-Silverton Railroad for my trip to Durango, I had the opportunity to walk about the town. It was during my walk that I happened upon the San Juan County History Museum. I assumed that this would be a typical small-town museum and I could easily complete my tour in 30 minutes or less. Boy was I ever wrong. The gentleman manning the gift shop where I bought my ticket was very helpful and informative and gave me a brief overview of what to expect. I began my tour in an adjacent building that was once the county Jail. There are jail cells, artifacts and medical equipment used to treat ill or injured prisoners. From the old jail you make your way down some stairs to an even larger part of the museum which deals with the rich mining history of the area, starting from the early days when mining was largely performed by manual labor all the way up to the largely mechanized mine of the late 20th century. This museum is larger than it appears, and I ended up spending the better part of 90 minutes in the museum. Needless to say, this museum was more than I expected but I highly recommend taking the...

After years of driving by, we finally stopped to check out this museum. I’m so glad that we did. At first the price of admission seems steep ($10/adult, $3/child)… but it proved to be well worth it. From the road it looks unassuming, but there are multiple buildings, floors, basements… it is quite large.

It covers Victorian age and the restored old county jail. There’s lots on mining and equipment, even a fully dressed mock-up mine that looks very similar to a real one. There’s town and railroad history.

The rooms are huge with tall ceilings and well-lit exhibits. We could tell that a ton of time, effort, and money went into to this place. The number of historical artifacts is overwhelming. If there was a negative, it would be that not all if the pieces are explained, so are just displayed.

Very well done and...

I love going to history museums, and this one is a gem. I enjoyed it more than some of the bigger city ones I've been to. The layouts and artifacts, particularly in the main building, are organized and displayed beautifully even though it is a huge collection. The available information is in depth and spread across a wide variety of topics, from local history to the progression of mining technology. And the mining section was a great surprise. I had to leave after an hour or so, but I could've easily spent more time examining...