Old mining tin can dump on Mt. Aspen, Colorado. During the silver boom days of the 1890s, Aspen?s population grew to 12,000. After the silver bust in the early 1900s, as few as 700 people remained during what is known as the ?quiet years?, until it was reborn as a ski town in the 1940s. Many remnants of the mining era can be seen on the slopes of the mountains surrounding Aspen.