Soon after the discovery of rich lodes of silver at Caribou in 1 869, prospectors and speculators streamed to the nascent mining camp. Investors, miners, and business people made the arduous journey up Boulder Cañon almost to the top of the Continental Divide. They settled in tents in the rugged terrain until they could build the more permanent structures that became a town. Some of them brought their families, and the population swelled in spite of the challenges of living at 10,000 feet. This is the story of Caribou as told by the people who lived there.
Caribou produced $20,000,000 in precious metals and became one of the richest mining camps in the Rocky Mountain West. Caribou's history may have followed the typical boom and bust cycle of a mining camp, but the story of its hardy, stubborn people is unique.