Silverton

Silverton, the county seat of Briscoe County, is on State Highway 86 in the central part of the county. In August 1890 Thomas J. Braidfoot filed claim on the section of land that would later contain Silverton. He soon built a house in the area. In the spring of the following year he and his associates, most of whom had arrived from Della Plain in Floyd County, formed a townsite company. The name, submitted by his wife, was reportedly derived from the silvery reflections of the shallow lakes in the area. A post office, three stores, a blacksmith shop, and a school were established by the fall of 1891. Thomas J. Briscoe started the first newspaper, the Silverton Light