Historic Landscapes, Summit County Ghost Towns and Townsites Volume 4, Preston, Swan City, and More (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9781943829651)

Why Historic Landscapes, Summit County, Colorado? Bill Fountain first considered writing a book about the historic towns of Summit County, including those found from Hoosier Pass north to the confluence of the Blue and Swan Rivers, west to the Ten Mile Range, and east to the headwaters of the north and south forks of the Swan River, several years ago. The initial idea of a single book grew into a series of seven books to accommodate the photographs, documents, and maps he wanted to include. Many of the photographs gathered from various sources have not appeared in previous publications. Using information from first-hand accounts, mining district logbooks, and newspapers, he tells the story of the more than 25 historic towns that supported the mining economy in the greater Breckenridge area.

Volume 4 focuses on settlements lining the Swan River: Delaware City, Preston, Spencerville, Valdora, Swan City, Tiger, and Tonopah Camp 2. Readers will be interested in reading the original entries in the Pleasant Park Mining District logbook and learning about Leland Peabody's placer operations in Gold Run Gulch. Photographs follow the development of Valdora, constructed to house the workers who built two of Ben Stanley Revett's dredges that dug to bedrock in the Swan River searching for gold that had settled there over the centuries. Historical documents tell the story of the growth and demise of the Royal Tiger Mines Company led by John A. Traylor and his son, John B. Traylor, and the town of Tiger, which supported the vast complex of mines and dredging operations. Readers will enjoy the stories of those who lived in Tiger in the 1960s-especially those of the "hippie" generation.

In this manuscript, as in his other manuscripts, Fountain imagines what life would have been like in the decades from 1860 until the 1900s. He hopes that you, the reader, will do the same, using the detailed text and photographs.