*Population figure may include dogs, drop-ins, and ground squirrels.
Silver Plume is part of the Georgetown-Silver Plume National Historic Landmark District — a Home Rule Town in Clear Creek County, Colorado, and a former silver mining camp along Clear Creek in the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains.
A Brief History
Silver Plume is a very small, old, rural mining town dating from the Colorado gold and silver rush of the last four decades of the 19th century. In 1859, gold was discovered at the confluence of Clear Creek and the Platte River near what is now Denver, and thousands of fortune-seekers headed into the Rocky Mountains seeking veins of ore.
By 1872 Silver Plume had grown into a community of about 500 residents with a thriving commercial district, eventually reaching a population of more than 2,000 before 1893. The repeal of the Sherman Silver Purchase Act in 1893 dealt a devastating blow to Colorado's silver industry, and Silver Plume's boom years came to an end.
The federally designated Georgetown-Silver Plume National Historic District comprises Silver Plume, the neighboring Town of Georgetown, and the Georgetown Loop Historic Mining & Railroad Park between the two towns. The Silver Plume Post Office has ZIP code 80476.
Historical narrative adapted from text written by the late John Calhoun, 1995. Some details may have changed.