Tin Cup is a Colorado semi-ghost. After the mines were depleted, the Tin Cup population fell. There are just ruins and a popular leisure spot left now.
Despite its reputation as the “Wickedest Town in Gunnison Country,” Tin Cup’s roots were very benign. Some prospectors from the Leadville region followed a party of Ute Indians up Red Mountain Pass in 1859. The prospectors’ horses went out down Willow Creek while they were resting for the night. When one prospector discovered the horses, he proceeded to get some water. He saw some color while dipping his tin cup into the creek and picked up the gravel to show his colleagues. They returned in March of the following year to stake their claims.
The Civil War hampered their efforts, but the Gold Cup Mine was ultimately constructed in 1878, over twenty years later. The word immediately spread back to Colorado, and the stampede began. From 1879 through 1910, the Tin Cup increased steadily. It had 3,000 people and twenty saloons by 1882.
After the mines were depleted, the town’s population shrank. In 1918, the post office was closed. Tin Cup nowadays is not dissimilar to Tin Cup 1918. Every every cottage and construction in town is unique. The majority of Tin Cup’s structures are native pine log cabins chinked with local grey clay.
Despite Tin Cup’s hard winters, many of its habitations survived, and there were semipermanent dwellings for hunters and fishermen. By the turn of the century, the population was estimated to be around 2000 people, but it quickly declined. There are just ruins and a popular leisure spot left now. Tin Cup now has roughly 75 residents, although only during the summer.
