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These facts are taken from June Howard's book, "Stories of Sunshine: Life in a Mining Camp", available at McGuckin Hardware, the Boulder Book Store, Borders, and Table Mesa Gifts and Books.

Sunshine History

Rich gold ore was discovered in Sunshine late in 1873. Old photographs of Sunshine show very few trees, narrow winding roads, and small unpainted wooden houses that are no longer there. The important buildings were at the mines--the American, the Emancipation, the Interocean, the Oceola, the Sunshine, the Tillie Butzel, and the White Crow, and often these structures were the focus of the picture.

In 1875, when the camp's population peaked at 1200, the first schoolhouse was built and opened with 101pupils. The stone schoolhouse, that stands today, was built in 1900 and had 50 in attendance.

By 1908 Sunshine's population was down to 200 as mining activities dwindled. In the early 1920s Sunshine had become a very small town of 50 residents. The post office and the last general merchandise store closed. The official postal cabinet, which was mounted on a counter in the store, today is preserved in the Sunshine School.

The American Mine

Hiram Fullen, a mining expert, and George Jackson, credited with the first gold discovery in the region, struck the American Mine and took out $17,500 worth of gold ore in a surface cut ten feet deep and twenty feet long. They then sold the mine for $17,500 more. Although gold was worth only $20.76 per ounce, the new owner, Hiram Hitchcock, cleared $196,000 during the next twenty months. Photo ca. 1890. Courtesy of Harry Covey. Return to top

The original Sunshine school house

Mrs. Yates, shown here standing in the doorway of the old school built in 1875, posed with her thirty-one pupils. Photo by J. B. Sturtevant, 1887. Courtesy of Harry Covey. Return to top

Today's Sunshine school house

In 1900, around the time of the hotel fires, a solidly built stone school house was erected to the east of the old frame school. This photo of the Sunshine School was taken ca. 1905 before the bell tower. Courtesy of Dan Buckner. Return to top