Mineral County, Colorado: History
Before the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo was signed in 1848, all of what is now western Colorado was occupied by the Nuche, commonly known as the Ute people. In 1866, Kit Carson, Ouray, and Nicaagat negotiated a treaty that created the Ute Indian Reservation in 1868 in the western one-third of the Territory of Colorado. In 1869, White prospectors, illegally trespassing on the reservation, discovered silver in the San Juan Mountains. Seeking to open the San Juan Mountains to mining, the Brunot Agreement, ratified by Congress on April 24, 1874, forced the Ute people to cede all of the San Juan Mountains. Buoyed by renewed mining, Colorado became the 38th State on August 1 1876.
In the summer of 1889, prospector Nicholas C. Creede (nee William Harvey) discovered indications of silver along Willow Creek in Saguache County, and on June 26, 1890, Creede and G.L. Smith staked the Holy Moses mining claim. Several silver mining camps soon sprang up in the gulch, and the Creede Mining District was created in 1891. On May 12, 1891, the Willow, Colorado, post office opened, and on July 1, 1891, the name was changed to Creede. On January 25, 1892, the Amethyst, Colorado, post office opened near the Amethyst Mine at Jimtown just 1.1 miles (1.8 km) south of the Creede post office. The population of the area soon exceeded 7,000.
In 1892, two rival municipalities named Creede were incorporated in the Creede Mining District. On March 19, 1892, the Town of Creede was incorporated around the Creede post office. On June 13, 1892, the rival City of Creede was incorporated around the Amethyst post office. On March 27, 1893, Mineral County was created, and on November 7, 1893, county voters selected the City of Creede as the new county seat. However, the City of Creede continued to use the Amethyst postal address.
In an attempt to avoid further confusion, the United States Post Office Department changed the name of the Creede post office to North Creede, Colorado, on November 28 1908, and changed the name of the Amethyst post office to Creede, Colorado, on February 9, 1909.
As silver mining declined, both municipalities lost population, and in 1916, the City of Creede became a statutory town, but continued to use the appellation City of Creede to distinguish itself from its northern rival. On April 15, 1919, the North Creede post office closed, and the Town of Creede soon ceased operation. It was not until July 23, 2026, that the Colorado Secretary of State declared the Town of Creede abandoned.
The Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) uses the name "Town of the City of Creede" to identify the county seat and sole surviving municipality of Mineral County.