Montezuma is a town in southeastern Summit County, Colorado, United States. The population was 42 at the 2000 census. The town is a former mining camp that sits at an elevation of 10,200 feet, just west of the continental divide, nestled among mountains of the Front Range that reach 12,000-13,000 feet around it. It is situated in the upper valley of the Snake River above the resort town of Keystone in the Rockies west of Denver.
The town, which is named for Montezuma, the Emperor of the Aztecs, consists largely of historical buildings and houses lining unpaved streets at the end of the paved county road that ascends the gulch from Keystone near the west side of Loveland Pass. The town sits in a steep valley surrounded by spectacular peaks and immense wilderness. Although it is only minutes to two major Colorado ski resorts, Keystone and Arapaho Basin, Montezuma offers unparallelled access to expansive wilderness. The road up from Keystone is lined with upscale second homes amid the trees in the river valley, right up to the entrance of town, which is marked by a sign over the county road. In addition to the recent growth of several upscale second homes, the town itself retains many older structures, some of the them dating from the late 19th century, such as the picturesque school house dating from the 1880s. The town is often included in lists of ghost towns in the Colorado Rockies, but it nevertheless retains a small, dedicated population of "locals," who work or use the nearby ski areas, Keystone and Arapaho Basin. As of 2005, a small low-power FM station (KMZM 96.5), receivable only near the town, operates from one of the houses.
The town founded in 1865 following the discovery of silver in the vicinity of nearby Argentine Pass. It was populated by prospectors coming over the passes from nearby Georgetown. In 1890, at the height of the Colorado Silver Boom, the population reached nearly 1000. At the time, the town had two stores, a post office, two hotels (the Summit House and the Rocky Mountain House), and a sawmill. It eventually had a smelter, as well, which allowed local separation of the silver and lead ores, which are typically found together in the region. At the town's peak, the mountainside around the town was location of numerous mining operation at the Belle and Blance lodes, opeated by the St. John's Mining Company, after which the nearby ghost town of St. Johns is named. During the boom, the town experienced an influx of Mexican mine workers from Chihuahua.
The town experienced a steep decline after the Silver Bust in 1893. It experienced a slight revival in mining interest in 1940, but has remained fairly quiet since World War II. The town has experienced five major fires throughout its history, including ones in 1949 and 1958 which destroyed many of the historic structures, including the Summit House, which burned in the fire of Christmas 1958. Other fires in the 1970s and 1980s destroyed additional historic buildings and businesses, leaving the town with little current economic base. Presently, the town is experiencing a surge of interest as the value of real estate in proximity to ski areas and with access to wilderness increases substantially.
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