THE 1910's IN CHAFFEE COUNTY

1910 The Red Cross Hospital was built as a private institution by Dr.
Frank Cochems. The two-story building was reduced to one story and
survives today as the Masonic Building at Third and G Streets in
Salida.

1910 Railroad traffic through the Alpine Tunnel was abandoned due to
heavy snow, but the tunnel remained open to automobile traffic for
several succeeding years.

A second high school was built at the location of the present
Salida High School. This high school burned in 1962.
1915 Isaac William Haight donated a pair of lions carved from Salida
blue granite and placed in Alpine Park to pay back Salida for the
town's generosity to him.
1916 January 1, 1916, W. H. Boyer, a negro staked a twenty acre manganese ore claim up Wells Gulch. Eight men worked over the next three months at a cost of $4400 to develop the claim. The ore was sacked and transported by an incline winze and sled assemply to the wagon road below. One railroad carload consisting of 40 tons of 40% high grade manganese ore was shipped from the Wellsville RR terminal to Colorado Fuel and Iron in Pueblo to make steel for the war effort.

April 20, 1916, William Hillzinger and Charles O. Fulford purchased Boyer's claim and named it Iron Mountain.The assay of the ore body indicated over 3.5% tungsten which was highly valuable, and additional mining was done.This tungsten discovery caused a mining rush in the area and the ground around Hillzinger's claim was bristling with stakes. The resulting mine consisted of a discovery cut, two tunnels, three drifts and a stope.
1917 The 365-foot tall smokestack was built at Smeltertown (Kortz). In
two years, the smelter shut down due to a slump in mining after World
War I.

Antero Hotel (Mt. Princeton Hot Springs area), was enlarged and
refurbished, reopened under new ownership and was popular during the
1920s by the flappers who arrived by Cadillac from the train depot.
During 1920s and 30s Byrd Colony operated at the site that later
became known as Frontier Ranch for church youth.
1918 Flu epidemic in Salida. Rainbow Hotel was used as a temporary
hospital.