There were a number mills north of Ouray. Three of them were on the west side of the Uncompahgre River. The first one north was the Grand View Mill built in the mid 1890s. It was partially destroyed by fire and about 1920 it was rebuilt as the Gold Crown Mill. A few years later Frank Henn of Ouray remodeled it replacing the water power with electricity. A few test runs were made and then it was totally destroyed by fire. Craig Hinkson of Ouray built a set of condos on the foundation of the Gold Crown Mill. The next mill north was the American Nettie Mill built in the 1890s with a two bucket tram delivering ore to the mill. In 1910 the Wanakah Mining and Milling Company bought the mill and remodeled the tram. At one point it was converted to a smelter. In the mid 1950s the Silvershield Mining and Milling Company remodeled the mill with state of the art flotation equipment and a ball mill which are still intact inside the mill. Thus, the American-Nettie, Wanakah and Silvershield mills are all the same mill. Finally, 2.5 miles north of Ouray is the mill/smelter variously called the Norfolk Ouray, the Badger, and it was also used by the Wanakah Mine which just adds to the confusion. This is the mill/smelter that had the D&RG Mill trestle.
All of the mills mentioned were served by sidings on the D&RG. The photos uploaded by Tim Schreiner, davidtc, Charlie Mutschler, Chris Walker, andTom C all show the American-Nettie, Wanakah, and Silvershield mills at different points in history. But they are all the same site. Dave Grandt's photo shows the Gold Crown Mill before it burned. Rich Johnson's comments are not entirely correct. The developer who owns it is NOT barred from tearing it down and he has indicated that he would like to see it preserved. However, immense liability issues have stalled preservation attempts. Chiris Walker's two photos are great because they both show the two tram houses on top of the American-Nettie/Wanakah/Silvershield mill. When the middle tram house was added by the Silvershield folks they had to cut off part of the roof in order to not run into the older American-Nettie tram house on the right. Today the older tram house on the right has been removed and thus the cut out of the roof looks strange.
Hopefully this helps a bit.
Don Paulson, Curator, Ouray County Museum
