The City of Idaho Springs is the Statutory City that is the most populous municipality in Clear Creek County, Colorado, United States. Idaho Springs is a part of the Denver–Aurora–Lakewood, CO Metropolitan Statistical Area. As of the 2010 census it had a population of 1,717. Idaho Springs is located in Clear Creek Canyon, in the mountains upstream from Golden, some 30 miles (50 km) west of Denver.

Founded 164 years ago in 1859 by prospectors during the to the lead days of the Pike’s Peak Gold Rush, the town was at the middle of the region’s mining district throughout the late nineteenth century. The Argo Tunnel drained and provided access to many lodes of ore in the middle of Idaho Springs and Central City. During the late twentieth century, the town evolved into a tourist center along U.S. Highway 6 and U.S. Highway 40, which comply Clear Creek Canyon through the historic mining district.

The town today is squeezed along the north side of Interstate 70, with a historical downtown in the central portion, a strip of tourist-related businesses upon its eastern end, and mostly residences on its western end. It furthermore serves as a bedroom community for workers at the Loveland Ski Area farther happening the canyon. The town today is the largest community in Clear Creek County, but, for historical reasons, the county seat has remained at Georgetown.

On January 5, 1859, during the Colorado gold rush, prospector George A. Jackson discovered placer gold at the gift site of Idaho Springs, where Chicago Creek empties into Clear Creek. It was the first substantial gold discovery in Colorado. Jackson, a Missouri native with experience in the California gold fields, was drawn to the area by clouds of steam rising from some nearby warm springs. Jackson kept his find secret for several months, but after he paid for some supplies next gold dust, others brusque to Jackson’s diggings. The location was originally known as “Jackson’s Diggings”. Once the location became a unshakable settlement, it was variously called “Sacramento City”, “Idahoe”, “Idaho”, “Idaho City”, and finally “Idaho Springs”.