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NPS farm i040M OMB AW"No.1024-WIS (see) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Section number 8 Page 8 Another commentator noted of Black Hawk that, Most of the quartz mills of Gilpin County are located here, on account of the water supply. Black Hawk unites with Central in Gregory Gulch forming a continuous city, and is the first place arrived at in entering this great district by rail. The Colorado Central railway passes through and over the city, and around the hills to Central.12 Nevadaville, the western terminus of the district, 1 mile from Central City, also was thriving in the 1870s. It was incorporated in 1878 with a population of about 1,000. (Central City then had a population of about 3,000) . Productivity from Quartz Hill near Nevadaville was over $10 million in gold coin by 1878 and 1879. It also had the deepest mining, down to a depth of 1,000 feet and a length of 2,000 feet for the Kansas Lode. The 1870s were the district's "golden years" both economically and in terms of physical growth. After 1880, however, a long gradual economic decline began. By that time many of the district's residents had made their fortunes and afterwards managed their mining and business interests from Denver, more convenient to the amenities of the "civilized" eastern United States. A "great exodus" of the wealthy to Denver, dubbed the "Queen City of the Plains, " greatly depleted the elite class. Gilpin County's hegemony was challenged by other mining areas in the State of Colorado by the end of the decade." Beginning in the late 1870s, silver discoveries shifted interest to Leadville. Still, Gilpin County led Colorado in gold production from 1859 to 1893, after which the mines near Cripple Creek began to surpass it. C. Prosperity, Leveling Off, and Gradual Decline: 1980-1899 There was another mild boom in the late 1890s due to increased yield because some older claims were consolidated and more extensive tunneling done in the lodes. The 1890 Census showed a total yield of $1,750,000. Eleven of the large mining properties were producing over half of the total yield in the county and only six of the mines were producing yields in the range of $50,000 to $100,000. From 1897 to 1899, yield of these mines increased a million dollars to $2,500,000, a peak not reached in the district since 1880. This heralded a third boomtime that was the result of a return to the