Breckenridge Colorado is one of the most accessible vacation spots in the Rocky Mountains, located just 98 miles from Denver International Airport.
In winter, Breckenridge Mountain resort boasts four massive peaks and 2200+ skiable acres, five terrain parks, and four half-pipes for your skiing and riding pleasure. And that's not all. Breckenridge summers are filled with mountain biking, golf, hiking and sailing and so much more. Breckenridge offers options, access and ease, so you can concentrate on having fun!
History of Breckenridge
Prospectors entered what is now Summit County during the Pikes Peak Gold Rush of 1859, soon after the placer gold discoveries farther east at Idaho Springs.
Breckenridge was founded to serve the miners working rich placer gold deposits discovered along Georgia Gulch.
Placer gold mining was soon joined by hard rock mining, as prospectors followed the gold to its source veins in the hills.
Gold in some upper gravel benches north of the Blue River was recovered by hydraulic mining. Gold production decreased in the late 1800s, but revived in 1908 by gold dredging operations along the Blue River and Swan River.
The Breckenridge mining district is credited with production of about one million troy ounces of gold.
The gold mines around Breckenridge are all shut down, although some are open to tourist visits. The characteristic gravel ridges left by the gold dredges can still be seen along the Blue River and Snake River, and the remains of a dredge are still afloat in a pond off the Swan River.
