Silverton, Colorado: the American town that Spanish Flu hit harder than anywhere else

Silverton’s Record-Breaking Spanish Flu Death Rate of 1918

The Spanish Flu hit Silverton, Colorado like a bomb in October 1918. In just one week, 125 people died—5% of the town gone.

A death wagon rolled through streets daily as bodies piled up. When coffins ran out, workers dug one mass grave for ninety souls.

By March, 246 residents had died, giving this remote mining town at 9,300 feet the highest flu death rate in America.

The same railroad tracks that brought wealth to Silverton since 1882 became a lifeline when Red Cross volunteers sent broth up from Durango.

Today, the D&SNGRR Museum showcases the very locomotives that served during this tragic chapter in American history.

Mountain Town Thought It Was Safe From The Flu

The flu first hit Colorado when 12 military trainees got sick at University of Colorado Boulder on September 21, 1918.

Silverton, a small town of about 2,000 people, sat high in the mountains at 9,300 feet.

The town connected to the outside world mainly through the Durango & Silverton railroad that brought supplies and took out silver ore.

Local papers ignored news about the flu spreading elsewhere. No one worried much. By early October, schools closed as a precaution, following other Colorado towns.

Town Leaders Felt A False Sense Of Security

Dr. R.C. O’Halloran told the town council on October 14 that Silverton had no flu cases.

The council gave the health board power to close businesses if needed and ordered the town marshal to clean the alleys.

The October 18 Miner newspaper mentioned just “one or two cases” with “no serious results.” Looking back, some people who died from pneumonia in earlier months might have actually had the flu that doctors missed.

Hell Broke Loose In Just Seven Days

The October 19 Silverton Standard showed no signs of trouble ahead.

Then between October 19-26, more than 125 people died in what papers called “the worst week ever known in San Juan County.”

People got sick and died within 24-48 hours, their lungs filling with fluid as they coughed up pink bloody froth.

Many dead were listed only as “Mexican from Sunnyside” or “Austrian from Iowa Mine.” The October 26 Standard used half its front page for death notices.

The Death Wagon Made Daily Rounds

People died so fast that the daily death count reached about twelve when the outbreak peaked in late October.

A “death wagon” began making daily trips around town picking up bodies from both poor miners’ shacks and rich merchants’ homes.

Local morticians couldn’t handle all the dead bodies.

The town ran out of coffins as people died faster than new supplies could arrive by train. Three of Silverton’s six nurses got sick too, forcing the town to bring in help from Durango.

Coffins Ran Out As Bodies Piled Up

Workers dug two mass graves at Hillside Cemetery for all the dead.

Ninety townspeople ended up buried in a single mass grave after coffins ran out. People wrapped the dead in blankets when they couldn’t find proper burial materials.

Hillside Cemetery sits on Boulder Mountain’s slope which has became a grim reminder of the tragedy that passed by.

Trains Brought Soup Instead Of Supplies

The Durango & Silverton railroad switched from carrying mining supplies to bringing survival basics in November 1918.

Red Cross volunteers in Durango made fresh broth and sent it up the mountain daily.
Several young women worked as volunteer nurses at the Miners Union Hospital.

Doctors from nearby towns took turns coming to Silverton on the train. The town’s remote location, once protection against the flu, now made getting outside help harder.

Silver Mines Shut Down As Workers Died

Mines stopped working as miners died or fled to escape the sickness in November 1918. Only the Caledonia Mine kept producing ore by keeping workers away from town.

The town’s economic base fell apart as the workforce got wiped out by death and fear. The November 11 Standard filled with death notices while trying to sound hopeful.

Taverns Reopened Too Soon

The town council let bars and pool halls reopen in December as the outbreak seemed to slow. School classes started again and miners returned to the high country boarding houses.

Health officials forced anyone entering town to stay isolated for 48 hours. Sunnyside Mine created a 24-hour quarantine rule for returning workers.

But the Spanish Flu came back for a second round, though it killed at a slower pace of a few people per week instead of a dozen daily.

One In Ten Residents Died From The Flu

By March 1919, the final death count reached 246 people. San Juan County recorded 833 flu cases and 415 pneumonia cases in 1918.

This meant more than 10% of Silverton’s population died, giving the town the highest death rate in the United States.

The county’s sickness rate grew to 12 times the state average. On December 14, 1918, the Standard printed a complete list of the dead with 146 names.

The Town Tried To Forget What Happened

People who lived through the outbreak rarely talked about it, even decades later. The town never held a memorial service for all who died.

Local newspapers stopped mentioning the Spanish Flu after the worst part ended. The community chose to forget as a way to cope with the trauma.

Only Hillside Cemetery stood as a lasting reminder with all those clustered 1918 death dates on the gravestones.

Silverton Never Got Its Boom Years Back

The huge population loss combined with dropping metal prices after World War I wrecked Silverton’s economy. The town never regained the momentum.

Silverton changed from a busy mining center to a tourist town served by the historic railroad that once brought the deadly flu. Modern visitors to Hillside Cemetery can still see evidence of the 1918 epidemic.

A plaque now honors the Spanish Flu victims buried in those mass graves, preserving the memory of a tragedy the community once tried to forget.

Visiting Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad, Colorado

The Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad connects you to Silverton’s tragic 1918 flu history, when 246 residents died in six weeks – the highest mortality rate in America.

Take summer excursions from 479 Main Avenue in Durango to reach the San Juan County Historical Society Museum, which displays medical artifacts from the pandemic.

Before boarding, check out the free Durango Museum at the depot with railroad exhibits and yard tours showing historic locomotives.

This article was created with AI assistance and human editing.

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