Last Update: 8/07/2007 - Jens Moller
On the Main Road
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If approaching from Cottonwood pass, you'll pull off the
paved road onto a well maintained dirt road (any car should
be able to handle it) to get to Tin Cup. If you are approaching
from Mirror Lake, or Cumberland Pass, you'll also be entering
town on a graded road.
There are quite a lot homes in Tin Cup, many of the cabins date from the 1880's. New summer residences are sprouting up around town every year. People come to fish and commune with nature. |
 General Store |
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The General store is usually open from late May until late September. It has general supplies and also sells ore samples from the area. Tin Cup was known for Silver and the mountains all around it are riddled with abandoned Silver mines. The railroads never got to Tin Cup, which means that only the best ores were ever shipped for processing - leaving quite a lot of medium grade Silver ore laying around in the various mine tailing dumps. The General Store is not real large, but is located at the around the central meeting point in town. |
Across the dirt road from the General Store is a restaurant called Frenchys, and it has a trout pond in front of it that kids can fish from for free. It was established in the late 1800's and has been in operation the last few years between Memorial Day and Labor Day. Down the the road towards the stop sign is a large white church building. The area is quite scenic - drive around the city and enjoy it - there are a lot of people here in the summer.
| You got to love this place. I don't know how old the outhouse complex is, but its definitely been around for a while. I can't vouch for the Ladies side of the outhouse (the white door with the piece of Masonite tacked to it), but the Mens side (the brown door on the right) is certainly rustic. At least they have the facilities available. The Tin Cup General Store also owns an out-building that is quite modern and is for those that desire hot showers. If you rent a cabin from the late 1800's I suspect that you'll be down here to use these facilities every day. While the General Store doesn't stay open year round, some people try to live here most of the year - one person staying 11 months of the year. |
 General Store |
The name 'Tin Cup' supposedly was the result of a prospector panning about 10 cents worth of Gold at this site using a tin cup. He was about to be hanged because he took a bunch of prospectors into this area looking for Gold, and they didn't find anything. He had an option; prove there was Gold here or meet his maker. As luck would have it, he survived to tell about it. There was never much Gold here, but lots of Silver.
When leaving Tin Cup, there are 3 routes.
- If you are planning on going to Pitkin/Western Portal of the Alpine Tunnel, you head towards the Grave Yard and on to Cumberland Pass. Cumberland Pass is a well maintained pass that few cars will have any problems with.
- If you are planning on going to St. Elmo, you head towards Mirror Lake. If your destination is Mirror Lake, most any car can make it up this graded road. If you plan to continue on past Mirror Lake and cross Tin Cup Pass, you should be driving a 4WD.
- If you are planning on heading for the Tailor Park Reservoir (and over Cottonwood Pass) - head north out of town.
If you are driving a regular car the trip starting in Buena Vista and visiting Tin Cup, The Western Portal of the Alpine Tunnel and eventually ending up in Pitkin is an excellent trip to make. Other than an occasional pot hole and washboard roads this is not particularly difficult to do and gives you a chance to see nature up close.
Comments? Questions? contact Jens Moller
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