Located

Unknown

ELEVATION

10,420 Feet

ABANDONED

1893

“Gold and silver, like other commodities, have an intrinsic value, which is not arbitrary, but is dependent on their scarcity, the quantity of labour bestowed in procuring them, and the value of the capital employed in the mines which produce them.”


Icons

The American Girl and the Joker boarding house in Governor's Basin is one of the multitude of mines along the Million Dollar Highway between Ouray and Silverton, Colorado.

It sits nearest to Guston and is most closely associated with that town. Other high paying mines nearby were the Yankee Girl, Robinson, Silver Bell, Guston, Orphan Boy, and the Paymaster. Because the American Girl was primarily a silver producer, it, and many of the others, ceased operations after the silver panic of 1893. It was reopened for a time in 1898 after gold was discovered.