A few miles southwest of Idaho Springs, another mining area had a similar, though less productive, history. In 1859, placer and lode gold were discovered near what is now Georgetown. Placer mining dominated here between 1859 and 1863. Gravel and crushed rock from decomposed quartz and sulfide veins were washed through sluiceboxes in the same way as placer gravel, gold being caught in riffles or gunny sacking on the bottoms of the troughs. The veins were found to be decomposed to depths of about 40 feet; below this the gold occurred closely associated with sulfides such as pyrite, sphalerite, galena, and chalcopyrite, from which it could not easily be separated. However, smelters were developed in 1866 for treatment of these sulfides, and gold, silver, lead, and copper were recovered. Gradually, as the gold was worked out, silver and lead became the important products of the mines. [Illustration: Sluicebox mining was a common sight near the early gold camps, where primary recovery was from placer deposits or decomposed quartz and sulfide veins. (State Historical Society of Colorado photo)] Leadville Placer gold was discovered in 1859 in California Gulch, about seven miles north of the present town of Leadville. The rush that followed was short but sweet; the camp was called Oro—gold! About $5,000,000 was produced from the placer mines within two years, though by 1861 the area was all but deserted, for the easily won placer gold was gone. [Illustration: Early-day Leadville sprawled among its mine dumps at an elevation of 10,200 feet. The Sawatch Range, in the background, contained many smaller mining communities, now deserted. Mt. Massive, the state’s second highest peak, forms the crest of the continental divide here. (State Historical Society of Colorado photo)] In 1875 a smelter was erected a few miles downstream from Oro to process cerussite—silver-rich lead carbonate—that occurred in the placer sands. For years this mineral had been considered a nuisance because, being much heavier than sand, it tended to separate out with the gold. The new town of Leadville sprang up near the smelter and shortly afterward more lode deposits were discovered south of the placer workings. From $63,000 in 1875, production climbed to $2,500,000 in 1878 and more than $15,000,000 in the peak year of 1882.