{"id":2458803,"date":"2020-05-24T22:48:00","date_gmt":"2020-05-25T04:48:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/news\/paul-andersen-aspen-from-silver-crash-to-corona-crash\/"},"modified":"2020-05-24T22:48:00","modified_gmt":"2020-05-25T04:48:00","slug":"paul-andersen-aspen-from-silver-crash-to-corona-crash","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/local-news\/paul-andersen-aspen-from-silver-crash-to-corona-crash\/","title":{"rendered":"Paul Andersen: Aspen \u2014 From Silver Crash to Corona Crash"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText DropCap\">\u201cThe dreaded emergency is now upon us, a situation as deplorable as the imagination has ever conceived. Over 200,000 in Colorado are destitute. \u2026 Men grew haggard and women were trying to provide the barest necessities of existence. Was there ever a situation more distressing or a problem more hopeless?\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Coronavirus 2020? No. The Silver Crash of 1893. Both have brought unprecedented shockwaves jolting Aspen with seismic force.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">As Aspen\u2019s cultural offerings evaporate under today\u2019s pandemic, historic forces are reshaping the Roaring Fork Valley. Prepare for a glimpse this summer of the Quiet Years.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">As the Corona Crash of 2020 redefines Aspen, so did the Silver Crash of 1893, which halted the industrial boom of silver mining 127 years ago.<\/p>\n<div class=\"row\">\n<div class=\"col\" readability=\"6\">\n<div class=\"row at-donation at-donation-mobile p-0\" readability=\"7\">\n<div class=\"col-xl-4 p-2\">\n<div data-bg=\"url(https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/03\/AT-logo-white.png)\" class=\"p-0 mt-2 mb-2 h-75 text-center rocket-lazyload\">\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/03\/AT-logo-white.png\" class=\"logo m-0 p-0 invisible\"><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><h3 class=\"d-inline mr-3\">Support Local Journalism<\/h3>\n<p><button class=\"btn d-inline\" type=\"button\" onclick=\"handleDonationButtonClickMidArticle()\">Donate<\/button><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cThe mining force in Aspen dropped from 2,250 to 150,\u201d described historian Malcomb Rohrbough. \u201cThe unemployed were on the streets, their families without support.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">The demonetization of silver cut demand for Aspen\u2019s chief product, which shut down mines, mills and supportive infrastructure.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cThe once flourishing mining camp of Aspen is now badly prostrated by a crushing blow to its great industry,\u201d reported the Aspen Sun, and also caused a run on the banks. \u201cAlmost literally overnight,\u201d Rohrbough wrote, \u201cthe nature of the city changed. Miners who had been gainfully employed searched the garbage behind hotels for food scraps to feed their families.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">The Silver Crash took Aspen from the heights of prominence and prosperity into a recession that drove much of its workforce from town. The same is happening today under far different circumstances, but with similar results. The cultural attractions that replaced mining are just as shut down as when the mines closed. Unemployment is widespread.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cAspen had become a great mining city,\u201d Rohrbough wrote. \u201cYet its prosperity seemed curiously fragile in the face of forces over which Aspenites \u2014 however powerful their local reputations \u2014 had little control.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Many of Aspen\u2019s most prominent historic structures were erected in the several years before the Silver Crash \u2014 creating a downtown core that mirrored the wealth being shipped to smelters by two railroads and dozens of mines.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Before the pandemic, Aspen seemed firmly grounded in its cultural institutions, and it is stunning to realize how quickly the pandemic shut it all down. There is a feeling of emptiness at the Aspen Music Tent, Aspen Institute seminar rooms, the Meadows Campus, the Wheeler Opera House, Jazz Aspen venues, the Silver Queen Gondola, restaurants, hotels and more.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Culture is now the currency that silver was during Aspen\u2019s first heyday as shown by City Council last week earmarking $400,000 for recovery grants to arts and cultural organizations.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">The town of Basalt will fund more than $50,000 for art, theater and music. A locally generated $6 million economic relief fund is helping local residents with housing, child care assistance, mental health services, aid to underrepresented populations and more.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Bailouts for those hit by the Silver Crash were more modest \u2014 2,000 pounds of flour donated by an Alamosa mill, 1,000 pounds of potatoes given by a Denver company, three carloads of coal from the Midland Railroad.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">The Silver Crash had been rising like a storm cloud, but it hit with a brutal immediacy that undermined Aspen\u2019s bedrock foundations, which included the railroads, Aspen\u2019s lifeline to the outside world \u201cbeyond the range.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">The Corona Crash could be seen coming, too, but not the sudden gravity of its impacts. Gone this summer are Food &amp; Wine, Aspen Ideas, the Music Festival, Jazz Aspen \u2014 all major contributors to what makes Aspen Aspen.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Aspen\u2019s lifeline has always been determined by outside influences. After the Silver Crash, fortunes fluctuated with the price of silver. So it will be with the pandemic\u2019s peaks and valleys, even despite the far greater and more secure wealth of today.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">The loss this summer will be more than economic. There will be a dimming of the platonic ideals of the good, the true and the beautiful, those values envisioned at Aspen\u2019s cultural renaissance in 1949 that have set Aspen apart.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Aspen still has its natural landscapes, core community and lofty aspirations. Aspen is staggered, but it will eventually bounce back thanks to a resilient culture, natural beauty, myriad amenities and deep pockets.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText Tagline\">Paul Andersen\u2019s column appears on Mondays. He may be reached at <a href=\"mailto:andersen@rof.net\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">andersen@rof.net<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/opinion\/paul-andersen-aspen-from-silver-crash-to-corona-crash\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">via:: The Aspen Times<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u201cThe dreaded emergency is now upon us, a situation as deplorable as the imagination has ever conceived. Over 200,000 in Colorado are destitute. \u2026 Men grew haggard and women were trying to provide the barest necessities of existence. Was there ever a situation more distressing or a problem more hopeless?\u201d Coronavirus 2020? No. The Silver [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2458803","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-local-news"],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-08-17 01:18:55","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSPN The Valley&#039;s Quality Rock","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2458803","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2458803"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2458803\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2458803"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2458803"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2458803"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}