Back In Time - Gothic Traditional Cache

Micro located near Gothic. Cache is placed for year round accessibility, but please follow the road when open to Gothic. Bring your camera. You won’t be disappointed. Bring your own pen & tweezers.

Please make sure container is closed securely and re-hidden as well or better than you found it. Maintaining the difficulty rating depends on you.

In the fall of 1878, Truman Blancett prospected silver worth a few hundred dollars in the Elk Mountains near Gothic. Word spread quickly and in May 1879, John and David Jennings (brothers) discovered a rich silver lode high above Copper Creek. Many eager prospectors came to the area and by August 1879, Gothic City was established at the confluence of Copper Creek and the East River in the shadow of the 12,625 foot Gothic Mountain.

Gothic City, later renamed Gothic, had numerous log and frame residences, two hotels, three restaurants, several saloons, two general stores, a school, law and medical offices, a bank, two saw mills, a newspaper (The Gothic Miner), other merchants' buildings, and a post office (from 1879 to 1896 and 1907 to 1914). Gothic became known as the City of Silver Wires for the abundant strands of silver found nearby and was a major supply point for mining camps to the north. Supplies were packed over East Maroon Pass to Aspen.

During the 1880s, Gothic was the largest, wildest, boisterous mining town in Gunnison County with a population as high as 8000. In 1880, former President Ulysses S. Grant visited Gothic and was greeted by a lively parade. Gothic’s decline began in the summer 1881 as miners discovered that most ore was not rich enough for processing. By 1893 (year of the silver crash), Gothic was abandoned with one exception, the colorful Garwood Hall Judd. Judd, known as the The Man Who Stayed, was the self-appointed Gothic caretaker until his death in 1930. In 1928, a movie was made about Judd.

In the 1920s, Dr. John C. Johnson, a biology professor at Western State College, led his students on overnight field trips to Gothic. In 1928, the Gothic revival began when Judd helped Johnson purchase the town of Gothic for the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory (RMBL). The dilapidated Gothic Hotel and several other ancient buildings remaining from the silver-mining days were repaired and used in the early years until new buildings could be constructed.

Three buildings from the 1880s, including the old Gothic Town Hall (now the Gothic Store), and two from about 1910, have been preserved. Today, the RMBL owns approximately 245 acres and more than 60 structures. In 2011, a new research center was built. Information primarily taken from "History of the Town of Gothic" by John C. Johnson, Jr. (2002) and "Colorado Scenic Guide: Southern Region" by Lee Gregory (1996).

Gothic dated 1882 by George E. Mellen		Gothic dated 1908 by George L. Beam
Gothic dated 1890-1920		Gothic Saloon aka Town Hall dated 1920 Shows Ben L. Jorgensen
Gothic 2011		Gothic 2011

Back In Time is a series of caches placed near historic sites to remind us to remember our past. We can learn so much from studying the past. This series will provide a history tour of Colorado.