Silver Mountain, California

Silver Mountain
—  Former settlement  —
Silver Mountain
Location in California
Coordinates:
Country United States
State California
County Alpine County
Elevation[1] 6,411 ft (1,954 m)

Silver Mountain (also, Kongsberg, Konigsberg[2], Köngsberg[3] and Silver Mountain City[3]) is a former settlement in Alpine County, California. It was located on Silver Creek 5 miles (8 km) north-northeast of Ebbetts Pass,[3] at an elevation of 6411 feet (1954 m).

Silver Mountain was founded in 1858 by Norwegian[4] miners who named the place Köngsberg or Konigsberg.[3] Within a year, the town had a population of around 3,000.[4] The Konigsberg post office opened in 1863, closed a while in 1864, was renamed Silver Mountain in 1865, and closed for good in 1883.[3] By 1886, the mines were no longer productive and the town was abandoned.[4]

Silver Mountain was the first county seat of Alpine County, when the County was formed in 1864.[5] The county seat was moved to Markleeville in 1875.[5]

References

  1. ^ U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Silver Mountain, California
  2. ^ Both U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Silver Mountain, California
  3. ^ a b c d e Durham, David L. (1998). California's Geographic Names: A Gazetteer of Historic and Modern Names of the State. Quill Driver Books. p. 1202. ISBN 9781884995149. 
  4. ^ a b c Miller, Donald C. (1978). Ghost Towns of California. Boulder, Colorado: Pruett Publishing Company. p. 104. ISBN 0871085178. 
  5. ^ a b Durham, David L. (1998). California's Geographic Names: A Gazetteer of Historic and Modern Names of the State. Quill Driver Books. p. 1141. ISBN 9781884995149. 
Municipalities and communities of Alpine County, California, USA
CDPs
Unincorporated
communities
Ghost towns
Footnotes

‡This populated place also has portions in an adjacent county or counties