Montgomery
Montgomery was a prosperous mining town established in 1861 after the discovery of placer gold in the valley of the Platte river. The town was located approximately six miles north of present-day Alma at the base of Mount Lincoln. Montgomery was one of the oldest settlements in Park County established shortly after Buckskin Joe outside of present-day Alma . The town is said to have had more than a thousand residents at its peak, most of whom worked at the numerous mines (over nine total) both in the valley and along the Kansas-Magnolia vein.[1] As a mining settlement, the primary residents of Montgomery in the 1860s were men (95%).[2]
The town boasted a number of hotels, taverns, and had a highly prosperous dancehall that brought in other miners all throughout the region. With this growth, a greater number of women moved to the settlement to work in the many businesses that arose and began to raise families.[3] Montgomery went through several waves of prosperity linked to the discovery of ore. The area was recognized for its gold and silver, however, the mountains were rich with a number of different minerals, and provided a great many jobs for the miners working there. During the bust cycles, the town would be almost completely abandoned, and then quickly populated once again with the next ore discovery.[4] The last of the placer gold booms was in 1911.[5]
Having been abandoned for years, the land that Montgomery was situated on was purchased by the city of Colorado Springs. The valley was intentionally flooded to create a hold and transport water system via a pipeline from the Blue River. In 1957, the Montgomery dam and reservoir were completed, effectively sinking the remains of the once booming town under water. While most of the town is now at the bottom of the reservoir, there are still a few remanent scattered in the area such as the historic Magnolia Mill located on the north end of the reservoir.