Summit County Historical Timeline 4,800 B.C. - 1760 B.C. Nomadic Ute Indians scale Vail Pass from the west - tools were found on Vail Pass by archeologists in 1975 (location of site used by Indians is now the I-70 rest area) 2,500 B.C. Skiing dated to have begun in Siberia 1700 1747 - Norwegian Ski Troops established 1800 1803 - Louisiana Purchase (Territory included area from Mississippi to Rocky Mountains) 1810 1811 - Fur Trapping Begins (Trapping lasts 1810-1840) 1811 - A Missourian, Ezekiel Williams, leads 19 men to trap beaver in Colorado 1830 1839 - First written record of a visit to Summit County by 18 men led by Thomas Jefferson Farnham 1840 1841 - Norwegians introduce skiing in the U.S. 1842 - Summit County's first tourist, Rufus B. Sage (traveled through on December 12, 1842) 1843-44 - John C. Fremont "Pathfinder" leads a U.S. Government expedition through Summit County with Kit Carson, William Gilpin and Thomas Fitzpatrick as guides 1848 - President James Polk acquires western portion of Colorado 1850 1855 - Lord Gore's safari decimates thousands of Colorado game animals 1858 - Indian (named Fall Leaf) shows a Kansas man a pouch of nuggets 1859 - Colorado Gold Rush begins 1859 - Denverites scale the Continental Divide and enter into Blue River Valley 1859 - Summit County Gold Rush begins in Blue River Valley (August 10, 1859) 1860 1860 - Abraham Lincoln elected president 1861 - Colorado Territory Formed 1862 - Federal Homestead Act enacted (May 1862) 1863 - Colorado Silver Rush in Montezuma Canyon begins 1863 - Tabeguache Treaty Negotiations 1865 1865 - American Civil War Ends 1865 - Town of Montezuma founded 1866 - Dynamite invented 1866 - Victoria Mine opens 1868 - First hotel built in Montezuma 1869 - Skis used to transport mail from Montezuma to Breckenridge 1870 1871 - The Great Chicago Fire (Oct.8-10, 1871) 1872 - Summit County's first stamp mill built in Montezuma (to crush silver ores) 1873 - Henry A. Recen arrives in Frisco and builds first cabin 1876 - U.S. Centennial Exposition held in Philadelphia 1878 - Silver boom begins in Summit County 1878 - Wheeler Flats opens a sawmill to supply Ten Mile Canyon camps (founded 1879) 1879 - Frisco "City" founded 1879 - First Hotel and Post Office opens in Frisco 1879 - Telephone lines built in Summit County 1879 - First Summit County newspaper est. Summit County Times (Kokomo - September 27, 1879) 1879 - Discovery of molybdenum on Bartlett Mountain, near Climax by Charles Senter 1879 - Loveland Pass opens (elevation 11,992') 1880 1880 - Town of Frisco becomes incorporated 1880 - Breckenridge forms a fire department 1880 - First school built in Montezuma 1880-81 - The Denver & Rio Grande (D.& R. G.) train, the Little Giant arrives in the Ten Mile Canyon from Leadville via Fremont Pass 1881 - Town of Dillon built 1881- White River Ute Indians depart to a final encampment in Utah's Uintah Indian Reservation 1882 - Town of Wheeler destroyed by fire 1882 - Summit County homesteading begins 1882 - All Ute Indian Reservation land declared public land through an Act of Congress (July 28, 1882) 1882 - First Breckenridge school built (bell tower now found on Frisco Schoolhouse) 1882 - First Frisco school built 1882-83 - The Denver, South Park & Pacific (D.S.P.&P..) train and the Denver & Rio Grande (D.& R. G.) train arrive in Summit County 1883 1883 - Summit County Journal est. (currently still in circulation) 1884 - First school built in Dillon 1884 - President Theodore Roosevelt skis in the Dakota Badlands 1887 - John Thomas homesteads Bill's Ranch 1887 - Mines open in French Gulch and Country Boy near Breckenridge 1887 - Tom's Baby discovered on Farncomb Hill near Breckenridge Colorado's largest gold nugget - 13lb. 7oz. (discovered July 23, 1887) 1889 - Town of Chihuahua destroyed to a forest fire in Peru Creek Valley (town est. 1879) 1890 1891 - Summit County receives its first hearse 1892 - Electricity in Breckenridge 1892 - Silver prices plunge 1893 - Sherman Silver Purchase Act causes silver prices to crash nationwide 1898 - Electricity and Phone Service Established in Frisco 1898 - Klondike Gold Rush in Alaska begins 1898-1899 - Three month snow storm leaves 5'-20' of snow in Summit County (snow fell almost continuously from November 27, 1898 through February 20, 1899) 1900 1900 - Swanson Saloon built in Frisco next door to the school 1901- Swanson Saloon goes out of business and reopens as a school in 1902 (purchased by the school board) 1906 - The Great San Francisco Fire (April 21, 1906) 1909 - Breckenridge courthouse built 1910 1911 - The D.&R.G. ends service through Blue River Valley 1912 - Titanic Sinks (April 26, 1912) 1913 - Electricity Cut Off in Frisco 1914-18 - WWI 1917-1920 - Worldwide epidemic of Spanish Influenza breaks out (1918 - Summit County hit hardest) 1919 - World Record ski jump - 213' (accomplished in Old Dillon by Anders Haugen) 1919 - Prohibition Law Enacted 1920 1920 - Anders Haugen beats his world record jump by 1' - new record 214' (February 29, 1920) 1926 - Avalanche destroys Masontown in March (Masontown est. 1872) 1929 - NYSE Crash 1930 1930 - Population 18 People in Frisco 1932 - The Great Depression 1935 - Continental Ski Club forms and opens Chalk Mountain near Climax 1937 - Last service of the Colorado & Southern Railroad (C.& S. - formerly the D.S.P.&P..) 1939-45 - WWII 1940 1941 - Electricity Restored to Frisco 1943 - Green Mountain Dam constructed 1946 - Arapahoe Basin (A-Basin) Ski Resort Opens 1946 - Max and Edna Dercum purchase today's Ski Tip Lodge (signed by President Woodrow Wilson under provisions of the 1862 Federal Homestead Act) 1950 1955 - Frisco Receives Indoor Plumbing 1957 - Town of Silverthorne founded 1960 1960-61 - Dillon Dam construction begins 1960 - Dillon cemetery moved 1961 - Breckenridge Ski Resort Opens 1962 - Vail Ski Resort Opens 1962 - Town of Climax torn down 1966 - Kokomo cemetery moved 1969 - Frisco Receives Sewer System 1970 1970 - Keystone Ski Resort Opens 1971 - Summit Historical Society restores Dillon school house as a museum 1971 - Town of Kokomo torn down and burned 1972 - Copper Ski Resort Opens 1973-79 - Memorial Tunnel Built 1980 1980's - Factory Stores Open 1981 - Breckenridge unveils America's first high speed quad chairlift (located on Peak 9 - named the Quicksilver) 1984 - Breckenridge unveils highest and longest T-Bar in N. America on Peak 8 1985 - Keystone Night Skiing Opens 1990 1991 - Climax Mine Closes due to decreasing molybdenum prices 1994 - Copper Bowl Opens (January 13, 1994) 2000 2001 - Copper Resort's Super Bee Opens 2006 - Climax Mine Reopens Summit County Facts: S.C. is 75 miles west of Denver Dillon Reservoir: 2,970 acres S.C. was one of Colorado Territories original counties est. 1861 S.C. divided into 6 counties: Grand, Routt, Eagle, Garfield, Moffat and Rio Blanco 2006 - 391,680 acres: 77% public lands managed by US Forest Service and BLM 23% private land.