Silverton, Colo. (KREX) — Silverton was founded in the 1870’s as a mining town. For over a century, Silverton’s main economical driver was based on gold, silver, lead, zinc, and copper. This is my cinematic take on the evolution of mining in Silverton.

Hundreds of mines were in operation between the 18 and 1900’s, one of which was the Old Hundred mine. Old Hundred was initially developed as a gold mine, targeting two veins in the mountain – one primarily gold, and one silver, copper and lead.

In the early 1900’s, larger mines would produce 100 to 200 tons of ore per day. By the 1920’s and 30’s, these same mines would excavate up to 600 tons per day.

Starting off, crews only had simple hand tools to painfully chip away at the mountain- by the late 1800’s, dynamite caused a huge boom in production and efficiency.

Then came pneumatic drills in 1917, which continued to evolve all the way into 1991, when the last mine closed in Silverton.