The community is located above Gold Run, the first lode discovery of gold in Colorado (at that time the area was part of the
Nebraska Territory) on January 15, 1859. The discovery occurred nearly simultaneously with prospecting in
Gregory Gulch and
Clear Creek, but these latter discoveries were not exploited until later that Spring. On March 7, 1859, the Gold Run discovery became the first mining district in the region (named either the Mountain District No. 1, Mining District No. 1 of the Nebraska Territory, or the Nebraska Gold Hill Mining District, according to various historical sources). Word quickly spread among miners in the region, prompting a flood of new arrivals and the establishment of Gold Hill as the first permanent mining camp in present-day Colorado. By autumn, a
quartz stamp mill was erected at the base of the hill, the first such piece of equipment in the region, one that had been transported by
ox cart westward over the
Great Plains. The first productive vein was the Scott, followed quickly by the Horsfal, Alamakee, and Cold Spring. Nearby
placers were also worked for the gold in stream beds. By 1861, the year of the organization of the
Colorado Territory, the surface deposits of gold in the vicinity of the town were largely played out, resulting in a temporary exodus of prospectors and a population decrease. The town was somewhat revived later that year by the construction of the Hill
smelter at nearby
Black Hawk, allowing the treatment of lower-grade ores. The discovery of
tellurium in the area in 1872 prompted a second boom, bringing the population to nearly 1000 once again. At its height, the town had a newspaper and a number of hotels, including the Mines Hotel, built in 1872 and recently restored as a summer tourist destination. The Mines was immortalized in verse by
poet Eugene Field, who stayed at the hotel while working as a newspaperman in
Denver. The town population dwindled in the early 20th century as the mining tapered off. The town has experienced two major fires in its history, but it nevertheless retains many of its historic wooden structures. Despite a dwindling permanent population, Gold Hill continued to remain attractive to tourists. Around 1926
Florence Molloy and Mabel MacLeay, previously the owners of the Molloy-MacLeay taxicab company in
Boulder, CO, opened the Double M Dude Ranch (or M&M ranch, then Trojan Ranch, and now the Colorado Mountain Ranch) in Gold Hill, CO. The
Syracuse Herald, described the Double M as offering, “all the attractions of the open spaces of the West sufficiently tempered with luxuries to meet the requirement of Easterners.” The Double MM operated until
World War II when it was sold in 1941 and subsequently became the Trojan Ranch and then later the Colorado Mountain Ranch (currently in operation). In 1921, The Holiday House Association of Chicago, started by
Jean Sherwood, purchased the hotel at Gold Hill, now the Gold Hill Inn, to create a summer camp destination for self-supporting single women from Chicago. These vacationing women were referred to as "Bluebirds." The Bluebird Lodge addition to the hotel was completed around 1926. In September 2010, the
Four Mile Canyon wildfire destroyed approximately 170 homes in and around Gold Hill. ==Geography==