The first silver prospectors in the Roaring Fork Valley arrived in the summer of 1879 and by that fall a small group of entrepreneurs and speculators had staked claims and set up camp at the foot of Aspen Mountain. Before a permanent settlement could be established, news of a nearby Indian uprising prompted Colorado's Governor Frederick Pitkin to urge the settlers to flee back across the Continental Divide for their safety. Most of them did, and only a handful of settlers remained in the Roaring Fork Valley during the winter of 1879. Those that remained attempted to organize the camp and passed a resolution to respect the claims of those who had fled, as well as the claims of those settlers who stayed. This action transformed the small group of settlers into a "sovereign" body in the eyes of the State of Colorado and recognized that the rules of local mining districts under the federal mining law of 1866 were to be followed. The citizens had begun the process of organizing themselves into a political body.

By the spring and summer of 1880, those settlers, miners and speculators who had left in fear of Indian uprisings and the harsh winter of 1879, had returned and begun to lay out the town site of Aspen. In Colorado, once an area was free of Indian claims and settlers began to arrive, state law dictated that the area be organized into a political unit. The settlers in the area had already asked the state legislature for protection, but because of the isolation and transient population in the Roaring Fork Valley, the state preferred to make this area part of an already established county. Thus, in 1880, Colorado legislators incorporated the Roaring Fork Valley Settlements of Independence, Ashcroft and Aspen, into Gunnison County's 12th District. Gunnison County Commissioners appointed Warner A. Root Justice of the Peace and he spent the summer of 1880 holding court in a log cabin in Aspen, with the support of a deputy sheriff, also appointed by the Gunnison County Board.

In the winter of 1880, hundreds again fled Aspen and the other camps of Ashcroft and Independence, to wait out the winter in a more hospitable environment. The 35 or so people who braved a second winter encampment in Aspen included the Browns, Gillespies, Cowenhovens and Justice of the Peace Root. During the long winter, they met to debate the future of the area and decided to seek legal status as their own town and county, separate from Gunnison County. They lobbied the legislature to become a separate county, and on February 23, 1881, Governor Frederick Pitkin signed legislation designating the boundaries of the new county, and named Aspen as the temporary county seat. The Governor appointed the first officeholders in Pitkin County, including county judge, recorder, sheriff, treasurer, coroner, surveyor, assessor and three commissioners. Warner A. Root, as the highest ranking official of the town, was instrumental in the incorporation of the town of Aspen, which was accomplished in May, 1881.

The new Commissioners spent a substantial amount of time building roads, creating a bureaucracy and trying to collect the taxes they levied. The first tax bills were sent out in December 1881, and of the $8,000 levied only $926 was collected. Outraged citizens refused to pay their tax bills and the Commissioners spent a lot of time hearing tax appeals. Meanwhile, the County debt rose to over $37,000.

In addition to building roads, the County dealt with such modern day issues as pollution and social services needs. A grand jury impaneled in 1881 reported that sawmill tailings were endangering the water supply, and recommended prosecuting fisherman who were dynamiting the rivers and streams to catch trout. The Commissioners budgeted funds to return the insane or indigent back where they came from, or to the nearest insane asylum, thus solving the problem of providing services to the needy.

By the end of the first year, the new County government had been responsible for improvements to the roads that led to the mines on Aspen Mountain, as well as repairs to the toll road over Independence Pass. In the spring of 1882, two stages a day came over the mountain passes from Leadville. New roads had been built opening up access to Ashcroft and outlying county agricultural lands. With help from local ranchers, a road was extended all the way to the western boundary of the County. When the bid from Western Union of $3800 to put in a telegraph was too expensive, the County built its own telegraph line with volunteer materials and labor, stringing the wires all the way to Ashcroft.

By September of 1882, the Commissioners discovered that not only were roads expensive to build, but the ongoing cost of maintenance was high. These expenses, in addition to salaries, and other improvements, had escalated the County debt to $176,636. In a plan which may sound familiar to today's elected officials, the first Pitkin County Commissioners resolved to embark on a plan of increased taxes and reduced expenditures, in order to pay for the improvements and services demanded by the growing population.

On March 21, 1978, almost 100 years later, by resolution adopted by the Board of County Commissioners and passed by the electorate Pitkin County was established as a Home Rule County. This basically means that Pitkin County (via its elected officials) from that point on, had the authority to establish the organization and structure of the county government via a document known as the Pitkin County Home Rule Charter. Every county in the state is governed by State Statute. By virtue of the adoption of the Home Rule Charter the Commissioners and the staff are empowered to run the county operations in accordance with the adopted and amended Home Rule Charter. However, there are still certain provisions that do fall under State Statute as defined in CRS Article 35.