Turret's History

As with all prospecting town's during the Colorado gold rush, Turret's residents were hopeful to find history making gold deposits.  Unfortunately, the mines around Turret never produced any amount of notable profit through gold.

Turret eventually found its profit through granite just after the turn of the century.   Ironically, the miners originally considered the abundance of granite in the area to be a major obstacles in their search for gold. 

Turret's most profitable mining year was in 1905 and it's success was thanks to the superior granite, called Salida Blue, that was found in the area.  At the time, a buyer from Denver declared that the stone was “the most beautiful granite for monument purposes to be found in Colorado. It is dark blue, takes on a satin polish, and is finer-grained and harder than the far-famed Gunnison granite.”

Granite mining continued in Turret until 1944 when the U.S. Government halted all mining practices that were not essential to the war effort.  After the war, mining never returned to the area in any meaningful scale.

At it's peak population, Turret was home to approximately 400 residents and hosted a number of independent businesses, including:  a meat market, bakery, laundry, general stores, three saloons, and several hotels and boarding houses.