Back In Time - Spencer Traditional Cache

Micro located near Spencer. Cache is placed for year round accessibility, but please follow the road (when open) a short distance to the Spencer town site.
Bring your own pen & tweezers. Do NOT disturb or deface any ruins.

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.

History: In 1893, Cameron was established as a gold mining town at the head of Wildcat Gulch. It was later renamed Spencer. The gold deposits were soon mined out. However, the discovery of copper kept the town going until 1920. Spencer reached its peak population in the late 1890s and had a post office from 1894 until 1907. In September 1894, Spencer formed School District #15 and, in January 1895, the first school was held in a rented log cabin. In 1897, the booming mining town bought a lot with a stable on it and converted the stable into a school building. In 1902, the citizens decided they needed a more substantial school in a more suitable location. The old school was torn down and a new one built near the center of the town. This building served Spencer and the surrounding area as a school and social center until 1946. During the 1960s and 1970s, the school was used sporadically as a cow camp and hunting camp. On January 21, 1997, the Spencer school and its out-buildings were listed as a Colorado State Historic Site. The site includes the school, a well, shed, privies, and teacher’s cabin. The school is one of Gunnison County’s best surviving examples of a typical one-room rural schoolhouse. Information primarily taken from "A Trip through the Historic Mining Country of the Gunnison Field Office" by Dave Lazorchak (2006) and Gunnison County Historic Preservation Commission website.

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.