"Fair play" in Park County
Gold strike date: 1803
FUN FACT: Between 1859 and 1949 the Fairplay-Alma Mining District produced an estimated 250 million dollars in gold, silver and other minerals.
A trader from Kentucky, James Pursley is credited with the first American gold discovery west of the Mississippi (1803) near present-day Como. The 1859 "Pikes Peak or Bust" discovery of gold in Tarryall Creek brought thousands of prospectors to Park County. That same year, unwelcome latecomers pushed west and established a new mining camp on the banks of the South Platte River. Upon naming their new camp "Fair Play" they welcomed all new prospectors to the area. In the prosperous years that followed, Fairplay grew and became the county seat in 1867.
The 1859 laws of Buckskin Joe Mining District above Alma represent some of the earliest legislation in the region. These original, handwritten laws are now kept in the Library of the Colorado Supreme Court in Denver.
The elevation at which Park County's minerals were mined is incredible. The Present Help Mine, elevation 14,157 feet, operated near the summit of Mount Lincoln between 1871 and 1893. It remains the highest mine ever to operate in the United States.
Designated by Congress as a National Heritage Area, scenic and historic routes in South Park connect numerous points of interest.