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Historic Summitville - Then and Now

March 11, 2017

The Rio Grande County Museum's non-profit board will host a reception for the exhibit - Historic Summitville, Then and Now - on Saturday, April 22nd from 10-4 pm.  The wine and cheese reception will start at 2 p.m. with the “round table” discussions and stories by individuals who have lived and worked in Summitville in the active mining years.  


Photos, old newspaper articles, paintings from 1876 and 1926 and artifacts from Summitville will be part of the exhibit.  Bill Ellithorpe and his family will also have artifacts from their history in the mining at Summitville.


The opening of the exhibit will be April 1 and will run through the end of June.  Research done by the museum staff gives the story of the Little Annie tramway being built in 1876 by a group of nine Swedish men for owner, P.J. Peterson who then commissioned an oil painting of the tramway, mine and mill in 1876 which has recently been donated to the Museum by the Arthur and Shirley Peterson family.


The other story in the exhibit will feature the Jack Pickens strike of high-grade gold ore in 1926 that led to what was thought to be the great strike in Summitville.  The story has a heart breaking end for Mr. Pickens.


For more information, please call the Rio Grande County Museum at (719)657-2847 or email at rgmuseum@riograndecounty.org.  Museum hours are Tuesday - Friday from 10-4 and Saturday 10-3 except on event days.


​Louise Colville


#mining #slv #sanluisvalley #summitville #jackpickens #rgcm #delnorte #colorado #ore #gold #ellithorpe #petersonfamily

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