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Parkville, Summit County, Colorado

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Parkville (also known as Park City)[1] is a ghost town located in, and the original county seat of, Summit County, Colorado, United States. Parkville was a gold mining camp that flourished from 1860 to 1866 near the confluence of the middle and south forks of the Swan River.[2]

Parkville
Ghost town
Hydraulic mining on Farncomb Hill above Parkville, Colorado. This process ultimately led to the town being buried under waste rock.
Hydraulic mining on Farncomb Hill above Parkville, Colorado. This process ultimately led to the town being buried under waste rock.
Map
Coordinates: 39°29′56″N 105°57′00″W / 39.4989°N 105.9500°W / 39.4989; -105.9500[a]
CountryUnited States
StateColorado
CountySummit County
Elevation
9,980 ft (3,040 m)
Population
 • Total
0

History

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Parkville was established around 1860 in Georgia Gulch near Swan River, with cabins by 1861. The population of the site soon rose to around 1,800.[3] When the new Territory of Colorado created its 17 original counties on November 1, 1861, Parkville was designated the Summit County seat. At its creation, Summit County covered roughly the entire northwest portion of the Colorado Territory. Parkville was the site of among the earliest Freemason lodges in Colorado, with Summit Lodge No.2 among the lodges established with the formation of the Grand Lodge of Colorado. The earliest minutes from the Summit County commissioners shows that they rented the Masonic hall for meetings and county and district court.[4]

The region's gold rush drove much of Parkville's 1861 growth, with its discoveries among the most valuable in Colorado history; up to $800 (equivalent to $27,129 in 2023) of gold was mined daily.[3] This saw the production of territorial gold token mintage at Parkville during the summer of 1861. These tokens–valued at $2.50, $5, and $10–were coined by J.J. Conway & Co. out of gold dust. These tokens did not look like standard U.S. coinage and were of varying fineness and weight, thus losing the confidence of the townsfolk.[5]

Parkville, then the largest town in the region, was "the logical choice" to become the Summit County seat.[3] Parkville lost a 1861 vote to become the territorial capital by eleven votes; after the county seat was moved to Breckenridge due to Parkville's lack of facilities, Parkville would become a ghost town by 1882.[6][7][8] The former Parkville townsite is preserved as part of the Parkville Open Space, a 44-acre lot owned and operated by Summit County.[1] By 1911, later hydraulic mining had buried much of the former townsite in waste rock and the Masonic cemetery is among the few remaining visible relics.[6][9]

See also

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Notes

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  1. ^ The Geographic Names Information System incorrectly gives the Parkville coordinates as 39.4988727, −106.9500441.

References

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  1. ^ a b "Featured Properties". Community Development Department, Summit County, Colorado. Retrieved March 1, 2023.
  2. ^ "Parkville (historical): Summary Report". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey. October 13, 1978. Retrieved February 27, 2023.
  3. ^ a b c Miller, Ruth (November 6, 2002). "Parkville becomes Colorado ghost town". Colorado Community Media. Retrieved March 1, 2023.
  4. ^ "Summit Lodge No.2, A.F. & A.M." Longmont Masons. August 14, 2009. Retrieved February 27, 2023.
  5. ^ "Colorado Gold!". Colorado Springs, CO: American Numismatic Association. Retrieved March 1, 2023 – via Money.org.
  6. ^ a b Jessen, Kenneth (May 12, 2018). "Largest town in Summit County buried". Loveland Reporter-Herald. Loveland, CO. Retrieved March 7, 2023.
  7. ^ Sinnwell, Michael J. (2006). "Parkville Colorado Townsite – Ghost town". Colorado Ghost Towns. Retrieved March 1, 2023.
  8. ^ Dutta, Deepan (August 18, 2018). "Summit County mining history runs deep after prospectors first struck gold near Breckenridge in 1859". Summit Daily. Retrieved March 7, 2023.
  9. ^ Ransome, Frederick Leslie (1911). Geology and Ore Deposits of the Breckenridge District, Colorado (PDF). Professional Paper. Vol. 75. Washington, D.C.: United States Geological Survey. p. 17. Retrieved March 7, 2023.
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