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"Gold!" was the cry of the first prospectors when they discovered the Independence Lake on July 4th, 1879. They had come from Leadville to seek their fortunes in this wilderness area recently ceded from the Ute Indian Nation. A tent city sprang up, and in 1880 there were 300 people living in the camp. By 1881 the Farwell Mining Company was operating the stamp mill and a large sawmill for the site's mines and by that summer the population had grown to 500, served by four boarding houses, four grocery stores, and three saloons. By 1882 the town of Independence had over 40 businesses with three post offices and an estimated population of 1500 people. But prosperity was not to continue. Aspen, established at the same time as Independence, won the honor of county seat for the new Pitkin County in 1881. Miners were lured away from Independence by the abundant work, good pay, and milder climate of Aspen. Mining at Independence proved to be short-lived. Over $190,000 of gold was produced between 1881 and 1882 by the mines at Independence. The next year production had dropped to $2000. By 1888, only 100 citizens remained in the high mountain town, which in its brief history had been called by many names - Independence, Chipeta, Mammouth City, Mount Hope, Farwell, and Sparkill.