Walk Inside an 1891 Silver Mine on Creede's Amethyst Vein

Plenty of mine tours in Colorado were dug to be tours. The Last Chance Mine, up the gravel road above Creede, was not. It is a real silver mine, developed in 1891 during the boom that built this town, and it kept working off and on into the 1940s. When you step inside, you are walking the same tunnels miners did.

A guide leads you a short way underground past ore chutes and tall stopes still held up by their original timbers. The draw here is the rock itself: this is the one Creede mine where you can see the Amethyst Vein in the wall, and in places it gleams blue and purple where amethyst and silver run together. It is a quiet, hands-on way to understand the geology that the whole county’s story rests on. Bring a jacket, since it stays near 50 degrees down there no matter the weather outside.

Above ground are three small free museums, including rock and mineral collections and one of the largest private kerosene-lamp collections around. The mine is seasonal, opening Memorial Day weekend and closing once snow returns in fall, so check before you make the drive.

For tour times and current details, see the Last Chance Mine’s official site at lastchancemine.com.