Yankee Girl Silver Mine was discovered in 1882 by prospector John Robinson is the head of a series of mines that include 25 miles of shaft, 1,200 feet of which are here uncommonly vertical. She was the first of the Red Mountain Mining District so named for the unusual San Juan Mountains Red Mountain above it. The mountain and mine are part of a series of ghost towns, houses, and mines along the Million Dollar Hwy running from Ouray to Durango in southwest Colorado. This structure was built in 1896 after a forest fire took down the original one. In the late 1800s and after a hiatus until 1912 when it closed permanently Yankee Girl produced $8,000,000 in gold, silver, and copper. In the late 1800s it was the most profitable silver mine in US History.

And I thought it interesting before I knew all that or that it is one of the most photographed sites of Colorado. Google it.