Colorado Porch

Tag

ghost town

13 Porch Notes tagged “ghost town,” from counties across Colorado.

History and culture - Eagle County

Gilman, a ghost town clinging to a cliff above the Eagle River

The abandoned company town of Gilman clings to Battle Mountain above the Eagle River, a striking sight from US 24 with a rich mining and cleanup story.

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Cars and driving - Washington County

Last Chance: the crossroads that named itself for the empty road ahead

A plains junction at US 36 and SH 71 that earned its name warning drivers about the long empty stretch toward Denver.

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History and culture - Chaffee County

St. Elmo is a preserved mining ghost town up Chalk Creek

St. Elmo, a mining town founded around 1880 high in Chalk Creek Canyon southwest of Buena Vista, is widely described as one of Colorado's best-preserved ghost towns, and the place lasted only as long as its mines and railroad did.

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History and culture - Hinsdale County

The Ute-Ulay Mine and the ghost camps explain Hinsdale's high country

Silver and lead mines like the Ute-Ulay, plus vanished camps such as Capitol City, are why roads and ruins reach so far up Hinsdale County's gulches.

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History and culture - Pitkin County

Ashcroft is a preserved ghost town up Castle Creek

Ashcroft was an 1880s silver camp in the Castle Creek valley that briefly rivaled Aspen, and its remaining buildings are now a cared-for historic site.

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History and culture - Gunnison County

Gothic: a silver ghost town turned research station

Gothic, north of Crested Butte, boomed as a silver camp, emptied into a ghost town, and was reborn as the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory.

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History and culture - Pitkin County

Independence is a ghost town high on Independence Pass

Independence was a short-lived gold camp near the top of Independence Pass, and its remaining cabins are preserved as a historic site reachable only when the pass is open.

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History and culture - Mineral County

The Bachelor Loop is a self-guided drive through Creede's ghost towns

The Bachelor Loop is a marked Forest Service driving tour above Creede that visits old mines and the ghost town of Bachelor, with numbered pullouts that explain the silver district.

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History and culture - San Juan County

Animas Forks is a real ghost town, kept by the BLM

Animas Forks above Silverton is a preserved mining ghost town on the Alpine Loop, managed by the Bureau of Land Management, where the standing buildings are protected and meant to be left as found.

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History and culture - Saguache County

Bonanza was a silver boomtown that became a tiny mountain village

North of Villa Grove, the silver camp of Bonanza grew after ore was found around 1880 and later shrank to a handful of residents, and a cleanup project still manages old mine waste there.

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History and culture - Grand County

Lulu City is a ghost town at the top of the Colorado River

Lulu City was a short-lived silver-mining town near the Colorado River headwaters, and its ruins now sit inside Rocky Mountain National Park.

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History and culture - Gilpin County

Nevadaville: the quiet ghost town just above Central City

A couple of miles above Central City sits Nevadaville, an early gold camp that emptied out and now makes a free, easy, photogenic side trip.

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Cars and driving - Pitkin County

Highway 82 over Independence Pass is part of a national scenic byway

The drive from Aspen over Independence Pass is the high point of the Top of the Rockies Scenic Byway, passing the Independence ghost town site near the summit.

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