%1 http://coloradoencyclopedia.org/ en Independence http://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/independence <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--title--encyclopedia-article.html.twig x field--node--title.html.twig * field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--title.html.twig * field--string.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--title.html.twig' --> <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Independence</span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--title.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: x field--node--field-article-image--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-article-image.html.twig * field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-article-image.html.twig * field--entity-reference.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--field-article-image--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div id="carouselEncyclopediaArticle" class="carousel slide" data-bs-ride="true"> <div class="carousel-inner"> <div class="carousel-item active"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'node' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * node--2134--article-detail-image.html.twig * node--2134.html.twig x node--image--article-detail-image.html.twig * node--image.html.twig * node--article-detail-image.html.twig * node.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/content/node--image--article-detail-image.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-encyclopedia-image--image.html.twig * field--node--field-encyclopedia-image.html.twig * field--node--image.html.twig * field--field-encyclopedia-image.html.twig * field--image.html.twig x field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-encyclopedia-image field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'image_formatter' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image-formatter.html.twig' --> <a href="/image/independence-ghost-town"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'image_style' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image-style.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'image' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image.html.twig' --> <img loading="lazy" src="/sites/default/files/styles/wide/public/Independence%20Media%201.jpg?itok=TArajW_1" width="1024" height="683" alt="" typeof="foaf:Image" class="image-style-wide" /> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image.html.twig' --> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image-style.html.twig' --> </a> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image-formatter.html.twig' --> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field.html.twig' --> <div class="carousel-caption d-none d-md-block"> <h5><a href="/image/independence-ghost-town" rel="bookmark"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--title--image.html.twig x field--node--title.html.twig * field--node--image.html.twig * field--title.html.twig * field--string.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--title.html.twig' --> <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Independence Ghost Town</span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--title.html.twig' --> </a></h5> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--body--image.html.twig * field--node--body.html.twig * field--node--image.html.twig * field--body.html.twig x field--text-with-summary.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--text-with-summary.html.twig' --> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>Located west of Independence Pass at an elevation of nearly 11,000 feet, the town of Independence was established in 1879. It thrived for a few years as a gold camp but declined sharply after hitting its peak in 1882.</p> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--text-with-summary.html.twig' --> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/content/node--image--article-detail-image.html.twig' --> </div> <div class="carousel-item"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'node' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * node--2135--article-detail-image.html.twig * node--2135.html.twig x node--image--article-detail-image.html.twig * node--image.html.twig * node--article-detail-image.html.twig * node.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/content/node--image--article-detail-image.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-encyclopedia-image--image.html.twig * field--node--field-encyclopedia-image.html.twig * field--node--image.html.twig * field--field-encyclopedia-image.html.twig * field--image.html.twig x field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-encyclopedia-image field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'image_formatter' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image-formatter.html.twig' --> <a href="/image/independence-1942"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'image_style' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image-style.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'image' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image.html.twig' --> <img loading="lazy" src="/sites/default/files/styles/wide/public/Independence-Media-2_0.jpg?itok=eg4qM-bH" width="1000" height="583" alt="" typeof="foaf:Image" class="image-style-wide" /> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image.html.twig' --> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image-style.html.twig' --> </a> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image-formatter.html.twig' --> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field.html.twig' --> <div class="carousel-caption d-none d-md-block"> <h5><a href="/image/independence-1942" rel="bookmark"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--title--image.html.twig x field--node--title.html.twig * field--node--image.html.twig * field--title.html.twig * field--string.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--title.html.twig' --> <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Independence, 1942</span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--title.html.twig' --> </a></h5> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--body--image.html.twig * field--node--body.html.twig * field--node--image.html.twig * field--body.html.twig x field--text-with-summary.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--text-with-summary.html.twig' --> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>Over the twentieth century, many of Independence's cabins and other buildings were lost to the harsh high-elevation climate, neglect, and looting.</p> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--text-with-summary.html.twig' --> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/content/node--image--article-detail-image.html.twig' --> </div> <div class="carousel-item"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'node' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * node--2137--article-detail-image.html.twig * node--2137.html.twig x node--image--article-detail-image.html.twig * node--image.html.twig * node--article-detail-image.html.twig * node.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/content/node--image--article-detail-image.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-encyclopedia-image--image.html.twig * field--node--field-encyclopedia-image.html.twig * field--node--image.html.twig * field--field-encyclopedia-image.html.twig * field--image.html.twig x field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-encyclopedia-image field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'image_formatter' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image-formatter.html.twig' --> <a href="/image/independence-1950"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'image_style' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image-style.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'image' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image.html.twig' --> <img loading="lazy" src="/sites/default/files/styles/wide/public/Independence-Media-3_0.jpg?itok=Ro5uPnrb" width="1000" height="1124" alt="" typeof="foaf:Image" class="image-style-wide" /> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image.html.twig' --> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image-style.html.twig' --> </a> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image-formatter.html.twig' --> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field.html.twig' --> <div class="carousel-caption d-none d-md-block"> <h5><a href="/image/independence-1950" rel="bookmark"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--title--image.html.twig x field--node--title.html.twig * field--node--image.html.twig * field--title.html.twig * field--string.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--title.html.twig' --> <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Independence, 1950</span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--title.html.twig' --> </a></h5> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--body--image.html.twig * field--node--body.html.twig * field--node--image.html.twig * field--body.html.twig x field--text-with-summary.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--text-with-summary.html.twig' --> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>Independence is accessible via Highway 82 between about Memorial Day and early November each year. It is still possible to discern the old road that went through town.</p> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--text-with-summary.html.twig' --> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/content/node--image--article-detail-image.html.twig' --> </div> <div class="carousel-item"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'node' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * node--2138--article-detail-image.html.twig * node--2138.html.twig x node--image--article-detail-image.html.twig * node--image.html.twig * node--article-detail-image.html.twig * node.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/content/node--image--article-detail-image.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-encyclopedia-image--image.html.twig * field--node--field-encyclopedia-image.html.twig * field--node--image.html.twig * field--field-encyclopedia-image.html.twig * field--image.html.twig x field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-encyclopedia-image field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'image_formatter' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image-formatter.html.twig' --> <a href="/image/restored-cabin-independence"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'image_style' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image-style.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'image' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image.html.twig' --> <img loading="lazy" src="/sites/default/files/styles/wide/public/Independence-Media-4_0.jpg?itok=nsia57np" width="1000" height="667" alt="" typeof="foaf:Image" class="image-style-wide" /> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image.html.twig' --> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image-style.html.twig' --> </a> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image-formatter.html.twig' --> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field.html.twig' --> <div class="carousel-caption d-none d-md-block"> <h5><a href="/image/restored-cabin-independence" rel="bookmark"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--title--image.html.twig x field--node--title.html.twig * field--node--image.html.twig * field--title.html.twig * field--string.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--title.html.twig' --> <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Restored Cabin at Independence</span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--title.html.twig' --> </a></h5> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--body--image.html.twig * field--node--body.html.twig * field--node--image.html.twig * field--body.html.twig x field--text-with-summary.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--text-with-summary.html.twig' --> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>In 1973 Independence was listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and in the early 1980s the Aspen Historical Society and other volunteer groups started to work with the US Forest Service to restore and preserve the surviving buildings.</p> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--text-with-summary.html.twig' --> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/content/node--image--article-detail-image.html.twig' --> </div> </div> <button class="carousel-control-prev" type="button" data-bs-target="#carouselEncyclopediaArticle" data-bs-slide="prev"> <span class="carousel-control-prev-icon" aria-hidden="true"></span> <span class="visually-hidden">Previous</span> </button> <button class="carousel-control-next" type="button" data-bs-target="#carouselEncyclopediaArticle" data-bs-slide="next"> <span class="carousel-control-next-icon" aria-hidden="true"></span> <span class="visually-hidden">Next</span> </button> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--field-article-image--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--uid--encyclopedia-article.html.twig x field--node--uid.html.twig * field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--uid.html.twig * field--entity-reference.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--uid.html.twig' --> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'username' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/user/username.html.twig' --> <span lang="" about="/users/yongli" typeof="schema:Person" property="schema:name" datatype="">yongli</span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/user/username.html.twig' --> </span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--uid.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--created--encyclopedia-article.html.twig x field--node--created.html.twig * field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--created.html.twig * field--created.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--created.html.twig' --> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'time' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/time.html.twig' --> <time datetime="2016-12-19T16:04:57-07:00" title="Monday, December 19, 2016 - 16:04" class="datetime">Mon, 12/19/2016 - 16:04</time> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/time.html.twig' --> </span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--created.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'addtoany_standard' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * addtoany-standard--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * addtoany-standard--node.html.twig x addtoany-standard.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'modules/contrib/addtoany/templates/addtoany-standard.html.twig' --> <span class="a2a_kit a2a_kit_size_32 addtoany_list" data-a2a-url="http://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/independence" data-a2a-title="Independence"><a class="a2a_dd addtoany_share" href="https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=http%3A%2F%2Fcoloradoencyclopedia.org%2Farticle%2Findependence&amp;title=Independence"></a><a class="a2a_button_facebook"></a><a class="a2a_button_twitter"></a><a class="a2a_button_email"></a></span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'modules/contrib/addtoany/templates/addtoany-standard.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--body--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--body.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--body.html.twig * field--text-with-summary.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item" id="id-body"><p>Located just west of <strong>Independence Pass</strong> at an elevation of about 10,900 feet, the town of Independence was established in 1879 and boomed briefly in the early 1880s, reaching an estimated population of 1,500. In the mid-1880s, the town’s harsh <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/colorado-climate"><strong>climate</strong></a> and the availability of better jobs in <a href="/article/aspen"><strong>Aspen</strong></a> led many residents to move, and in 1899 severe snowstorms drove away the final remnant. The ghost town’s buildings deteriorated for many decades until the Aspen Historical Society initiated restoration and preservation efforts in the 1970s and 1980s.</p> <h2>Boom</h2> <p>In the late 1870s prospectors from the silver boomtown of <strong>Leadville </strong>started to spread throughout the central Colorado mountains seeking to strike it rich. As miners filed over Hunter’s Pass (now Independence Pass), they discovered gold just a few miles down the <strong>Roaring Fork River</strong>. The find was made on July 4, 1879, so the mining camp that sprang up nearby was called Independence. Over the next few decades the town tried on a variety of names—including Chipeta, Sparkhill, Farwell, Mammoth City, and Mount Hope—but Independence was the only one that stuck.</p> <p>A rare gold camp in an otherwise silver-rich region, Independence became the first successful mining camp in the <strong>Roaring Fork Valley</strong>. In 1879 a group of Leadville entrepreneurs started the Farwell Consolidated Mining Company and quickly bought up most of the top mining claims near Independence. The company built a stamp mill in 1880 and produced about $100,000 of gold in 1881.</p> <p>With mining success came population growth and development. From its origins as a crude tent camp, Independence passed quickly to a town of wood cabins. The town’s population grew from 300 in 1880 to 500 in 1881, when it claimed several grocery stores, boarding houses, and saloons. A newspaper, the <em>Independence Miner</em>, was established that fall. In 1882 Independence hit its peak. By that time an improved toll road had opened over Independence Pass, allowing for daily stagecoach connections to Leadville and Aspen. The town’s population grew to about 1,500 people, who were served by three post offices and more than forty businesses, including several hotels and a bank.</p> <h2>Bust</h2> <p>Independence appeared prosperous in 1882, but the mines that formed its foundation were already in decline. Farwell closed its mines and mill, and in 1883 the area produced only $2,000 in gold. As rich silver mines were discovered near Aspen in the mid-1880s, miners in Independence moved down the hill for better pay and a milder climate. By the time the <strong>Denver &amp; Rio Grande </strong>and <strong>Colorado Midland</strong> Railroads reached Aspen in 1887–88, sparking a half-decade boom, only 100 people remained in Independence. Most businesses in the town closed or moved to Aspen.</p> <p>Intermittent mining occurred near Independence over the next few decades, especially in the late 1890s and 1907–8, but by 1900 the town had been almost completely abandoned. Severe winter storms in February 1899 had cut off the town from supplies, forcing the remaining residents to make wooden skis and flee to Aspen. Some sources say that one final resident held out until the 1910s or 1920, but since then Independence has been a ghost town.</p> <h2>Today</h2> <p>In 1920 the Farwell Mill was torn down. Many of Independence’s other buildings and artifacts have been lost over the decades to harsh high-elevation weather, neglect, and looting. In 1973 the town was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in an effort to protect it from further deterioration. At the time, Independence had nineteen surviving structures and a clearly defined main street, plus seven more structures at the Farwell Mill site a quarter-mile away.</p> <p>Starting in 1980, local preservationist Ramona Markalunas led the <strong>Aspen Historical Society</strong> and other volunteer groups in working with the <a href="/article/us-forest-service-colorado"><strong>US Forest Service</strong></a> to restore and preserve the ghost town’s remaining cabins and other buildings, which have been identified with markers and interpretive signs. In 2007 the Aspen Historical Society received a <strong>State Historical Fund</strong> grant to develop a new preservation plan for the site, which it completed and began to implement in 2010. Since then, the society has added new interpretive signs, rerouted trails, performed stabilization work, and investigated ways to improve drainage around the remaining buildings.</p> <p>Independence can be reached via Highway 82 from about Memorial Day to early November each year. A parking lot and trail provide easy access to the town, and the Aspen Historical Society offers guided tours during the summer.</p> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-author--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-author.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-author.html.twig * field--entity-reference.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-author field--type-entity-reference field--label-above" id="id-field-author"> <div class="field__label" id="id-field-author">Author</div> <div class='field__items'> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-author"><a href="/author/encyclopedia-staff" hreflang="und">Encyclopedia Staff</a></div> </div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-keyword--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-keyword.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-keyword.html.twig * field--entity-reference.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-keyword field--type-entity-reference field--label-above" id="id-field-keyword"> <div class="field__label" id="id-field-keyword">Keywords</div> <div class='field__items'> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/independence-pass" hreflang="en">Independence Pass</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/ghost-town" hreflang="en">ghost town</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/aspen" hreflang="en">Aspen</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/roaring-fork-valley" hreflang="en">roaring fork valley</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/aspen-historical-society" hreflang="en">Aspen Historical Society</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/farwell-consolidated-mining-company" hreflang="en">Farwell Consolidated Mining Company</a></div> </div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'links__node' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * links--node.html.twig x links--inline.html.twig * links--node.html.twig * links.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/navigation/links--inline.html.twig' --> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/navigation/links--inline.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-references-html--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-references-html.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-references-html.html.twig * field--text-long.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-references-html field--type-text-long field--label-above" id="id-field-references-html"> <div class="field__label" id="id-field-references-html">References</div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-references-html"><p><a href="https://aspenhistory.org/tours-sites/independence-ghost-town/">“Independence Ghost Town,”</a> Aspen Historical Society, n.d.</p> <p>Mark S. Bonomo, “Independence and Independence Mill Site,” National Register of Historic Places Inventory Nomination Form (December 26, 1972).</p> <p>Kenneth Jessen, <em>Ghost Towns, Colorado Style</em>, vol. 2: <em>Central Region</em> (Loveland, CO: J. V. Publications, 1999).</p> </div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-additional-information-htm--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-additional-information-htm.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-additional-information-htm.html.twig * field--text-long.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-additional-information-htm field--type-text-long field--label-above" id="id-field-additional-information-htm"> <div class="field__label" id="id-field-additional-information-htm">Additional Information</div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-additional-information-htm"><p>Sandra Dallas, <em>Colorado Ghost Towns and Mining Camps</em> (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1985).</p> <p>Malcolm J. Rohrbough, <em>Aspen: The History of a Silver-Mining Town, 1879–1893</em> (New York: Oxford University Press, 1986).</p> <p>Muriel Sibell Wolle, <em>Stampede to Timberline: The Ghost Towns and Mining Camps of Colorado</em>, rev. ed. (Chicago: Swallow Press, 1974).</p> </div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> Mon, 19 Dec 2016 23:04:57 +0000 yongli 2133 at http://coloradoencyclopedia.org Ashcroft http://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/ashcroft <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--title--encyclopedia-article.html.twig x field--node--title.html.twig * field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--title.html.twig * field--string.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--title.html.twig' --> <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Ashcroft</span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--title.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: x field--node--field-article-image--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-article-image.html.twig * field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-article-image.html.twig * field--entity-reference.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--field-article-image--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div id="carouselEncyclopediaArticle" class="carousel slide" data-bs-ride="true"> <div class="carousel-inner"> <div class="carousel-item active"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'node' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * node--2115--article-detail-image.html.twig * node--2115.html.twig x node--image--article-detail-image.html.twig * node--image.html.twig * node--article-detail-image.html.twig * node.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/content/node--image--article-detail-image.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-encyclopedia-image--image.html.twig * field--node--field-encyclopedia-image.html.twig * field--node--image.html.twig * field--field-encyclopedia-image.html.twig * field--image.html.twig x field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-encyclopedia-image field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'image_formatter' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image-formatter.html.twig' --> <a href="/image/ashcroft-1935"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'image_style' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image-style.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'image' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image.html.twig' --> <img loading="lazy" src="/sites/default/files/styles/wide/public/Ashcroft-Media-4_0.jpg?itok=xYsgEMwT" width="1000" height="596" alt="" typeof="foaf:Image" class="image-style-wide" /> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image.html.twig' --> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image-style.html.twig' --> </a> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image-formatter.html.twig' --> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field.html.twig' --> <div class="carousel-caption d-none d-md-block"> <h5><a href="/image/ashcroft-1935" rel="bookmark"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--title--image.html.twig x field--node--title.html.twig * field--node--image.html.twig * field--title.html.twig * field--string.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--title.html.twig' --> <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Ashcroft, 1935</span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--title.html.twig' --> </a></h5> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--body--image.html.twig * field--node--body.html.twig * field--node--image.html.twig * field--body.html.twig x field--text-with-summary.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--text-with-summary.html.twig' --> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>By the 1930s, Ashcroft had at most a few residents left. But at the same time, interest in the area was spurred by the growth of skiing, with the Highland-Bavarian Corporation acquiring Ashcroft and planning an alpine ski resort nearby.</p> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--text-with-summary.html.twig' --> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/content/node--image--article-detail-image.html.twig' --> </div> <div class="carousel-item"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'node' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * node--2118--article-detail-image.html.twig * node--2118.html.twig x node--image--article-detail-image.html.twig * node--image.html.twig * node--article-detail-image.html.twig * node.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/content/node--image--article-detail-image.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-encyclopedia-image--image.html.twig * field--node--field-encyclopedia-image.html.twig * field--node--image.html.twig * field--field-encyclopedia-image.html.twig * field--image.html.twig x field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-encyclopedia-image field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'image_formatter' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image-formatter.html.twig' --> <a href="/image/ashcroft-hotel"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'image_style' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image-style.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'image' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image.html.twig' --> <img loading="lazy" src="/sites/default/files/styles/wide/public/Ashcroft-Media-6_0.jpg?itok=tSjb1ezq" width="1000" height="667" alt="" typeof="foaf:Image" class="image-style-wide" /> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image.html.twig' --> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image-style.html.twig' --> </a> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image-formatter.html.twig' --> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field.html.twig' --> <div class="carousel-caption d-none d-md-block"> <h5><a href="/image/ashcroft-hotel" rel="bookmark"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--title--image.html.twig x field--node--title.html.twig * field--node--image.html.twig * field--title.html.twig * field--string.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--title.html.twig' --> <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Ashcroft Hotel</span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--title.html.twig' --> </a></h5> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--body--image.html.twig * field--node--body.html.twig * field--node--image.html.twig * field--body.html.twig x field--text-with-summary.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--text-with-summary.html.twig' --> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>In the winter of 1973–74, Ashcroft's surviving two-story hotel building collapsed, spurring new restoration and preservation efforts by Ramona Markalunas and the Aspen Historical Society.</p> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--text-with-summary.html.twig' --> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/content/node--image--article-detail-image.html.twig' --> </div> <div class="carousel-item"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'node' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * node--2119--article-detail-image.html.twig * node--2119.html.twig x node--image--article-detail-image.html.twig * node--image.html.twig * node--article-detail-image.html.twig * node.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/content/node--image--article-detail-image.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-encyclopedia-image--image.html.twig * field--node--field-encyclopedia-image.html.twig * field--node--image.html.twig * field--field-encyclopedia-image.html.twig * field--image.html.twig x field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-encyclopedia-image field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'image_formatter' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image-formatter.html.twig' --> <a href="/image/ashcroft-today"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'image_style' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image-style.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'image' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image.html.twig' --> <img loading="lazy" src="/sites/default/files/styles/wide/public/Ashcroft-Media-7_0.jpg?itok=JeImJL2G" width="1000" height="750" alt="" typeof="foaf:Image" class="image-style-wide" /> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image.html.twig' --> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image-style.html.twig' --> </a> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image-formatter.html.twig' --> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field.html.twig' --> <div class="carousel-caption d-none d-md-block"> <h5><a href="/image/ashcroft-today" rel="bookmark"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--title--image.html.twig x field--node--title.html.twig * field--node--image.html.twig * field--title.html.twig * field--string.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--title.html.twig' --> <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Ashcroft Today</span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--title.html.twig' --> </a></h5> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--body--image.html.twig * field--node--body.html.twig * field--node--image.html.twig * field--body.html.twig x field--text-with-summary.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--text-with-summary.html.twig' --> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>Ashcroft has nine surviving buildings arranged along a clearly defined main street. A parking lot and trail provide easy access to the town.</p> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--text-with-summary.html.twig' --> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/content/node--image--article-detail-image.html.twig' --> </div> </div> <button class="carousel-control-prev" type="button" data-bs-target="#carouselEncyclopediaArticle" data-bs-slide="prev"> <span class="carousel-control-prev-icon" aria-hidden="true"></span> <span class="visually-hidden">Previous</span> </button> <button class="carousel-control-next" type="button" data-bs-target="#carouselEncyclopediaArticle" data-bs-slide="next"> <span class="carousel-control-next-icon" aria-hidden="true"></span> <span class="visually-hidden">Next</span> </button> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--field-article-image--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--uid--encyclopedia-article.html.twig x field--node--uid.html.twig * field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--uid.html.twig * field--entity-reference.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--uid.html.twig' --> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'username' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/user/username.html.twig' --> <span lang="" about="/users/yongli" typeof="schema:Person" property="schema:name" datatype="">yongli</span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/user/username.html.twig' --> </span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--uid.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--created--encyclopedia-article.html.twig x field--node--created.html.twig * field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--created.html.twig * field--created.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--created.html.twig' --> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'time' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/time.html.twig' --> <time datetime="2016-12-19T13:31:49-07:00" title="Monday, December 19, 2016 - 13:31" class="datetime">Mon, 12/19/2016 - 13:31</time> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/time.html.twig' --> </span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--created.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'addtoany_standard' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * addtoany-standard--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * addtoany-standard--node.html.twig x addtoany-standard.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'modules/contrib/addtoany/templates/addtoany-standard.html.twig' --> <span class="a2a_kit a2a_kit_size_32 addtoany_list" data-a2a-url="http://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/ashcroft" data-a2a-title="Ashcroft"><a class="a2a_dd addtoany_share" href="https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=http%3A%2F%2Fcoloradoencyclopedia.org%2Farticle%2Fashcroft&amp;title=Ashcroft"></a><a class="a2a_button_facebook"></a><a class="a2a_button_twitter"></a><a class="a2a_button_email"></a></span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'modules/contrib/addtoany/templates/addtoany-standard.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--body--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--body.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--body.html.twig * field--text-with-summary.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item" id="id-body"><p>Located about eleven miles south of <a href="/article/aspen"><strong>Aspen</strong></a> in <strong>Castle Creek Valley</strong>, Ashcroft was established in 1880 as a silver mining camp. It quickly grew to more than 2,000 residents and briefly rivaled Aspen, but it was already declining by the late 1880s because the veins of silver ore were shallow and no railroads extended lines up the valley. At least one resident hung on until the 1930s, but today Ashcroft is a ghost town with nine surviving buildings cared for by the <strong>Aspen Historical Society</strong>.</p> <h2>Boom Years</h2> <p>In the late 1870s prospectors from the silver boomtown of <strong>Leadville </strong>started to spread throughout the central Colorado mountains, seeking to strike it rich. Some explored Castle Creek Valley in 1879. In May 1880, Charles B. Culver and W. F. Coxhead found ore where two forks of Castle Creek met, at an elevation of about 9,500 feet. Culver staked out their spot, originally called Castle Forks, while Coxhead returned to Leadville for supplies. By the time Coxhead got back, Culver’s enthusiasm about the valley’s prospective mineral wealth had drawn nearly two dozen others to camp nearby.</p> <p>Early discoveries made in May and June 1880 proved promising. In addition, the new town had the advantage of being closer to the railroads at <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/crested-butte"><strong>Crested Butte</strong></a> and <strong>Buena Vista</strong> than its rival, Aspen, because the main routes into the area went over Taylor and Pearl Passes in the <strong>Elk Mountains</strong>. The town grew quickly; by August 1880 it had a post office, and the population hit 500 the next summer. It was briefly known as Chloride but in 1882 changed its name to Ashcroft, which may have been a misspelling of the name of early prospector and entrepreneur T. E. Ashcraft.</p> <p>By 1882–83 Ashcroft was booming. The mines initially produced 14,000 ounces of silver per ton, enough to induce Leadville silver millionaire <a href="/article/horace-tabor"><strong>Horace Tabor</strong></a> to invest in the nearby Tam O’Shanter–Montezuma Mine. The town bustled with more than 2,000 people, two newspapers, about twenty saloons, a school, a smelter, and several hotels. Stage service ran over Taylor and Pearl Passes, with three lines plying routes to destinations such as Crested Butte and <a href="/article/st-elmo"><strong>St. Elmo</strong></a>. At the time, Ashcroft boasted a larger population than Aspen and seemed to have a promising future.</p> <h2>Ghost Town</h2> <p>Ashcroft’s promise faded fast. Its mines ended up having shallow deposits and were soon played out. By the mid-1880s an improved road over <strong>Independence Pass</strong> and new silver discoveries near Aspen caused much of the town’s population to relocate their cabins to the growing <a href="/article/pitkin-county"><strong>Pitkin County</strong></a> seat. The final nail in Ashcroft’s coffin came in 1887–88, when the <strong>Denver &amp; Rio Grande</strong> and <strong>Colorado Midland</strong> Railroads reached Aspen but made no plans to extend their lines up Castle Creek.</p> <p>Limited mining continued at Ashcroft until the repeal of the <strong>Sherman Silver Purchase Act</strong> in 1893 brought silver production to a halt. After that, the town’s remaining population gradually moved away. In November 1912 the post office closed for good, making Daniel McArthur’s bar the town’s only remaining business. A few single old men with mining claims continued to live in the area, but by the 1930s Ashcroft was a ghost town.</p> <h2>Ski Plans</h2> <p>Just as Ashcroft was fading into history, interest in the area suddenly revived as the sport of <strong>skiing</strong> started to become more popular in the United States. In 1936 investor Ted Ryan formed the Highland-Bavarian Corporation with two partners, T. J. Flynn and winter sports star <strong>William “Billy” Fiske III</strong>. They bought the Ashcroft town site and surrounding land at the base of <strong>Hayden Peak</strong>, where they hoped to build what would have been the state’s first alpine ski resort. In the late 1930s they constructed the Highland-Bavarian Lodge a few miles north of Ashcroft, received a <a href="/article/us-forest-service-colorado"><strong>US Forest Service</strong></a> permit for their resort, and even secured a state bond issue to build an aerial tram.</p> <p>The start of World War II derailed their plans. Fiske died in combat. Ryan invited the <a href="/article/tenth-mountain-division"><strong>Tenth Mountain Division</strong></a> to the area as a training site. When the war ended, it was Aspen—not Ashcroft—that became the center of the area’s ski development.</p> <h2>Restoration and Preservation</h2> <p>Starting in 1948, Ryan leased some of his land near Ashcroft to Stuart and Isabell Mace. The Maces built a lodge called Toklat, ran a dog sledding operation, and served as stewards of Ryan’s land. Ryan and the Maces worked to keep the area largely undeveloped, with Ryan eventually transferring much of his land to the Forest Service. In the 1950s the television series <em>Sergeant Preston of the Yukon</em> was filmed at Ashcroft using the town’s old wooden buildings and the Maces’ dogs. In 1971 Ryan opened Ashcroft Ski Touring, a small-scale cross-country skiing center that operated on trails around the old ghost town.</p> <p>In the winter of 1973–74 Ashcroft’s surviving two-story hotel building collapsed. The next year, the Aspen Historical Society, led by local preservationist Ramona Markalunas, started leasing the town site in order to reconstruct the hotel and preserve the remaining structures. This marked the first time that the Forest Service granted a permit to a historical society to preserve and interpret a ghost town. In 1975 Markalunas got the site listed on the National Register of Historic Places.</p> <p>Today three restored buildings and six buildings in their original condition survive in Ashcroft, including the post office, the assay office, a mercantile store, two saloons, and a hotel. The buildings are mostly arranged along a clearly defined main street, and some contain historical artifacts and interpretive signs. A parking lot and trail provide easy access to the town, which receives as many as seventy-five visitors per day in the summer. The Aspen Historical Society offers guided tours during the summer and early fall, as does the Aspen Center for Environmental Studies, which acquired the Maces’ Toklat Lodge in 2004. The Ashcroft Ski Touring operation started by Ryan continues to allow cross-country skiers and snowshoers to enjoy the area in the winter.</p> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-author--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-author.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-author.html.twig * field--entity-reference.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-author field--type-entity-reference field--label-above" id="id-field-author"> <div class="field__label" id="id-field-author">Author</div> <div class='field__items'> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-author"><a href="/author/encyclopedia-staff" hreflang="und">Encyclopedia Staff</a></div> </div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-keyword--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-keyword.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-keyword.html.twig * field--entity-reference.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-keyword field--type-entity-reference field--label-above" id="id-field-keyword"> <div class="field__label" id="id-field-keyword">Keywords</div> <div class='field__items'> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/ashcroft" hreflang="en">Ashcroft</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/castle-creek" hreflang="en">Castle Creek</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/castle-creek-valley" hreflang="en">Castle Creek Valley</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/ghost-town" hreflang="en">ghost town</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/silver-mining" hreflang="en">silver mining</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/aspen-historical-society" hreflang="en">Aspen Historical Society</a></div> </div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'links__node' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * links--node.html.twig x links--inline.html.twig * links--node.html.twig * links.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/navigation/links--inline.html.twig' --> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/navigation/links--inline.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-references-html--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-references-html.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-references-html.html.twig * field--text-long.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-references-html field--type-text-long field--label-above" id="id-field-references-html"> <div class="field__label" id="id-field-references-html">References</div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-references-html"><p>John K. Aldrich, <em>Ghosts of Pitkin County: A Guide to the Ghost Towns and Mining Camps of Pitkin and Northern Gunnison Counties, Colorado</em>, rev. ed. (Lakewood, CO: Centennial Graphics, 1992).</p> <p><a href="https://aspenhistory.org/tours-sites/ashcroft-ghost-town/">“Ashcroft Ghost Town,”</a> Aspen Historical Society, n.d.</p> <p>Kenneth Jessen, <em>Ghost Towns, Colorado Style</em>, vol. 2: <em>Central Region</em> (Loveland, CO: J. V. Publications, 1999).</p> <p>Ramona Markalunas, “Ashcroft, Colorado,” National Register of Historic Places Inventory Nomination Form (August 27, 1974).</p> </div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-additional-information-htm--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-additional-information-htm.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-additional-information-htm.html.twig * field--text-long.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-additional-information-htm field--type-text-long field--label-above" id="id-field-additional-information-htm"> <div class="field__label" id="id-field-additional-information-htm">Additional Information</div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-additional-information-htm"><p>Sandra Dallas, <em>Colorado Ghost Towns and Mining Camps</em> (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1985).</p> <p>Malcolm J. Rohrbough, <em>Aspen: The History of a Silver-Mining Town, 1879–1893</em> (New York: Oxford University Press, 1986).</p> <p>Muriel Sibell Wolle, <em>Stampede to Timberline: The Ghost Towns and Mining Camps of Colorado</em>, rev. ed. (Chicago: Swallow Press, 1974).</p> </div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-4th-grade--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-4th-grade.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-4th-grade.html.twig * field--text-with-summary.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-4th-grade field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item" id="id-field-4th-grade"><p>Located about eleven miles south of Aspen in Castle Creek Valley, Ashcroft was established in 1880 as a silver mining camp. It quickly grew to more than 2,000 residents and briefly rivaled Aspen. It was already declining by the late 1880s. The veins of silver ore were shallow and no railroads extended lines up the valley. At least one resident hung on until the 1930s. Today Ashcroft is a ghost town. It has nine surviving buildings cared for by the Aspen Historical Society.</p> <h2>Boom Years</h2> <p>In the late 1870s, prospectors from the silver boomtown of Leadville started to spread throughout the central Colorado mountains. They were seeking to strike it rich. Some explored Castle Creek Valley in 1879. In May 1880, Charles B. Culver and W. F. Coxhead found ore where two forks of Castle Creek met. This was at an elevation of about 9,500 feet. Culver staked out their spot, originally called Castle Forks. Meanwhile, Coxhead returned to Leadville for supplies. By the time Coxhead got back, Culver’s excitement about the valley’s prospective mineral wealth had drawn nearly two dozen others to camp nearby.</p> <p>Early silver discoveries made in May and June 1880 proved promising. In addition, the new town had the advantage of being closer to the railroads at Crested Butte and Buena Vista than its rival, Aspen. The town grew quickly. By August 1880, it had a post office, and the population hit 500 the next summer. It was briefly known as Chloride. In 1882 it changed its name to Ashcroft. This may have been a misspelling of the name of early prospector and entrepreneur T. E. Ashcraft.</p> <p>By 1882–83 Ashcroft was growing. At first the mines produced 14,000 ounces of silver per ton. This was enough to convince Leadville silver millionaire Horace Tabor to invest in the nearby Tam O’Shanter–Montezuma Mine. Ashcroft now had more than 2,000 people. It had two newspapers, about twenty saloons, a school, a smelter, and several hotels. Three stagecoach lines covered routes to destinations such as Crested Butte and St. Elmo. At the time, Ashcroft had a larger population than Aspen, and it seemed to have a promising future.</p> <h2>Ghost Town</h2> <p>Ashcroft’s promise faded fast. Its mines ended up having little silver and were soon depleted. By the mid-1880s, people relocated their cabins to Aspen, the growing Pitkin County seat. There was an improved road over Independence Pass. Also, more silver was found near Aspen. The Denver &amp; Rio Grande and Colorado Midland Railroads reached Aspen in 1887-88 but did not extend their lines up Castle Creek. This signaled the end for Ashcroft.</p> <p>The repeal of the Sherman Silver Purchase Act in 1893 brought silver production to a stop. After that, Ashcroft’s remaining population slowly moved away. A few single old men with mining claims stayed, but Ashcroft was a ghost town by the 1930s.</p> <h2>Ski Plans</h2> <p>Just as Ashcroft was fading into history, interest in the area increased. The sport of skiing started to become more popular in the United States. In 1936 an investor named Ted Ryan with two partners, T. J. Flynn and winter sports star William “Billy” Fiske III bought the Ashcroft town site. They also bought the land at the base of Hayden Peak. They hoped to build what would have been the state’s first alpine ski resort. In the late 1930s, they constructed the Highland-Bavarian Lodge a few miles north of Ashcroft. A US Forest Service permit was given to them for their resort. There was even a plan to build an aerial tram.</p> <p>The start of World War II upset their plans. Fiske died in combat. Ryan invited the Tenth Mountain Division to the area to train. When the war ended, it was Aspen—not Ashcroft—that became the center of the area’s ski development.</p> <h2>Restoration and Preservation</h2> <p>Starting in 1948, Ryan leased some of his land near Ashcroft to Stuart and Isabell Mace. The Maces built a lodge called Toklat. They ran a dog sledding operation and took care of Ryan’s land. Ryan ended up giving much of his land to the Forest Service. In the 1950s, the television series <em>Sergeant Preston of the Yukon</em> was filmed at Ashcroft. The show used the town’s old wooden buildings and the Maces’ dogs. In 1971 Ryan opened Ashcroft Ski Touring. This was a small cross-country skiing center. It had trails around the old ghost town.</p> <p>Ashcroft’s remaining two-story hotel building collapsed in the winter of 1973-74. The next year, the Aspen Historical Society started to reconstruct the hotel and preserve the remaining structures. This was the first time that the Forest Service granted a permit to a historical society to preserve a ghost town. The efforts were led by local preservationist Ramona Markalunas. In 1975 Markalunas got the site listed on the National Register of Historic Places.</p> <p>Today three restored buildings and six buildings in their original condition survive in Ashcroft. These include the post office, the assay office, a mercantile store, two saloons, and a hotel. The buildings are mostly arranged along a clearly defined main street. Some contain historical artifacts and interpretive signs. A parking lot and trail provide easy access to the town. The Aspen Historical Society offers guided tours during the summer and early fall. In the summer, the town site has as many as seventy-five visitors per day. The Aspen Center for Environmental Studies bought the Maces’ Toklat Lodge in 2004 and they also give tours. The Ashcroft Ski Touring operation, started by Ryan, continues to allow cross-country skiers and snowshoers to enjoy the area in the winter.</p> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-8th-grade--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-8th-grade.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-8th-grade.html.twig * field--text-with-summary.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-8th-grade field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item" id="id-field-8th-grade"><p>Located about eleven miles south of Aspen in Castle Creek valley, Ashcroft was established in 1880 as a silver mining camp. It quickly grew to more than 2,000 residents and briefly rivaled Aspen. It was already declining by the late 1880s because the veins of silver ore were shallow and no railroads extended lines up the valley. At least one resident hung on until the 1930s, but today Ashcroft is a ghost town with nine surviving buildings cared for by the Aspen Historical Society.</p> <h2>Boom Years</h2> <p>In the late 1870s, prospectors from the silver boomtown of Leadville started to spread throughout the central Colorado mountains. Some explored Castle Creek valley in 1879. In May 1880, Charles B. Culver and W. F. Coxhead found ore where two forks of Castle Creek met, at an elevation of about 9,500 feet. Culver staked out their spot, originally called Castle Forks, while Coxhead returned to Leadville for supplies. By the time Coxhead got back, Culver’s enthusiasm about the valley’s mineral wealth had drawn nearly two dozen others.</p> <p>Early discoveries made in May and June 1880 proved promising. In addition, the new town had the advantage of being closer to the railroads at Crested Butte and Buena Vista than its rival Aspen, because the main routes into the area went over Taylor and Pearl Passes in the Elk Mountains. The camp grew quickly.&nbsp; By August 1880, it had a post office, and the population hit 500 the next summer. It was briefly known as Chloride, but in 1882 it changed its name to Ashcroft, which may have been a misspelling of the name of early prospector and entrepreneur T. E. Ashcraft.</p> <p>By 1882–83 Ashcroft was booming. The mines initially produced 14,000 ounces of silver per ton. This was enough to induce Leadville silver millionaire Horace Tabor to invest in the nearby Tam O’Shanter–Montezuma Mine. The town bustled with more than 2,000 people, two newspapers, about twenty saloons, a school, a smelter, and several hotels. Stage service ran over Taylor and Pearl Passes, with three lines plying routes to destinations such as Crested Butte and St. Elmo. At the time, Ashcroft boasted a larger population than Aspen and seemed to have a promising future.</p> <h2>Ghost Town</h2> <p>Ashcroft’s promise faded fast. Its mines ended up having shallow deposits and were soon played out. By the mid-1880s, an improved road over Independence Pass and new silver discoveries near Aspen caused much of the town’s population to relocate their cabins to the growing Pitkin County seat. The final nail in Ashcroft’s coffin came in 1887–88, when the Denver &amp; Rio Grande and Colorado Midland Railroads reached Aspen but made no plans to extend their lines up Castle Creek.</p> <p>Limited mining continued at Ashcroft until the repeal of the Sherman Silver Purchase Act in 1893 brought silver production to a halt. After that, the town’s remaining population gradually moved away. In November 1912, the post office closed for good, making Daniel McArthur’s bar the town’s only remaining business. A few single old men with mining claims continued to live in the area, but Ashcroft was a ghost town by the 1930s.</p> <h2>Ski Plans</h2> <p>Just as Ashcroft was fading into history, interest in the area suddenly revived as skiing started to become more popular in the United States. In 1936 investor Ted Ryan formed the Highland-Bavarian Corporation with two partners, T. J. Flynn and winter sports star William “Billy” Fiske III. They bought the Ashcroft town site and surrounding land at the base of Hayden Peak. They hoped to build what would have been the state’s first alpine ski resort. In the late 1930s, they built the Highland-Bavarian Lodge a few miles north of Ashcroft, received a US Forest Service permit for their resort, and even secured a state bond issue to build an aerial tram.</p> <p>The start of World War II derailed their plans. Fiske died in combat. Ryan invited the Tenth Mountain Division to the area as a training site. When the war ended, it was Aspen, not Ashcroft, that became the center of the area’s ski development.</p> <h2>Restoration and Preservation</h2> <p>Starting in 1948, Ryan leased some of his land near Ashcroft to Stuart and Isabell Mace. The Maces built a lodge called Toklat, ran a dog sledding operation, and served as stewards of Ryan’s land. Ryan and the Maces worked to keep the area largely undeveloped, with Ryan eventually transferring much of his land to the Forest Service. In the 1950s, the television series “Sergeant Preston of the Yukon” was filmed at Ashcroft using the town’s old wooden buildings and the Maces’ dogs. In 1971 Ryan opened Ashcroft Ski Touring, a small-scale, cross-country skiing center that operated on trails around the old ghost town.</p> <p>In the winter of 1973–74, Ashcroft’s surviving two-story hotel building collapsed. The next year, the Aspen Historical Society, led by local preservationist Ramona Markalunas, started leasing the town site in order to reconstruct the hotel and preserve the remaining structures. This marked the first time that the Forest Service granted a permit to a historical society to preserve and interpret a ghost town. In 1975 Markalunas got the site listed on the National Register of Historic Places.</p> <p>Today, three restored buildings and six buildings in their original condition survive in Ashcroft. These include the post office, the assay office, a mercantile store, two saloons, and a hotel. The buildings are mostly arranged along a clearly defined main street. Some contain historical artifacts and interpretive signs. A parking lot and trail provide easy access to the town, which receives as many as seventy-five visitors per day in the summer. The Aspen Historical Society offers guided tours during the summer and early fall, as does the Aspen Center for Environmental Studies, which acquired the Maces’ Toklat Lodge in 2004. The Ashcroft Ski Touring operation, started by Ryan, continues to allow cross-country skiers and snowshoers to enjoy the area in the winter.</p> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-10th-grade--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-10th-grade.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-10th-grade.html.twig * field--text-with-summary.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-10th-grade field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item" id="id-field-10th-grade"><p>Located about eleven miles south of Aspen in Castle Creek valley, Ashcroft was established in 1880 as a silver mining camp. It quickly grew to more than 2,000 residents and briefly rivaled Aspen, but it was already declining by the late 1880s because the veins of silver ore were shallow and no railroads extended lines up the valley. At least one resident hung on until the 1930s, but today Ashcroft is a ghost town with nine surviving buildings cared for by the Aspen Historical Society.</p> <h2>Boom Years</h2> <p>In the late 1870s, prospectors from the silver boomtown of Leadville spread throughout the Colorado mountains. Some explored Castle Creek valley in 1879. In May 1880, Charles B. Culver and W. F. Coxhead found ore where two forks of Castle Creek met, at an elevation of about 9,500 feet. Culver staked out their spot, originally called Castle Forks, while Coxhead returned to Leadville for supplies. By the time Coxhead got back, Culver’s enthusiasm about the valley’s prospective mineral wealth had drawn nearly two dozen others to camp nearby.</p> <p>Early discoveries made in May and June 1880 proved promising. In addition, the new town had the advantage of being closer to the railroads at Crested Butte and Buena Vista than its rival, Aspen, because the main routes into the area went over Taylor and Pearl Passes in the Elk Mountains. The town grew quickly; by August 1880, it had a post office, and the population hit 500 the next summer. It was briefly known as Chloride but in 1882 changed its name to Ashcroft, which may have been a misspelling of the name of early prospector T. E. Ashcraft.</p> <p>By 1882–83 Ashcroft was booming. The mines initially produced 14,000 ounces of silver per ton, enough to induce Leadville silver millionaire Horace Tabor to invest in the nearby Tam O’Shanter–Montezuma Mine. The town bustled with more than 2,000 people, two newspapers, about twenty saloons, a school, a smelter, and several hotels. Stage service ran over Taylor and Pearl Passes, with three lines plying routes to destinations such as Crested Butte and St. Elmo. At the time, Ashcroft boasted a larger population than Aspen and seemed to have a promising future.</p> <h2>Ghost Town</h2> <p>Ashcroft’s promise faded fast. Its mines ended up having shallow deposits and were soon played out. By the mid-1880s an improved road over Independence Pass and new silver discoveries near Aspen caused much of the town’s population to relocate their cabins to the growing Pitkin County seat. The final nail in Ashcroft’s coffin came in 1887–88, when the Denver &amp; Rio Grande and Colorado Midland Railroads reached Aspen but made no plans to extend their lines up Castle Creek.</p> <p>Limited mining continued at Ashcroft until the repeal of the Sherman Silver Purchase Act in 1893 brought silver production to a halt. After that, the town’s remaining population gradually moved away. In November 1912, the post office closed for good, making Daniel McArthur’s bar the town’s only remaining business. A few single old men with mining claims continued to live in the area, but Ashcroft was a ghost town by the 1930s.</p> <h2>Ski Plans</h2> <p>Just as Ashcroft was fading into history, interest in the area suddenly revived as skiing started to become more popular in the United States. In 1936 investor Ted Ryan formed the Highland-Bavarian Corporation with two partners, T. J. Flynn and winter sports star William “Billy” Fiske III. They bought the Ashcroft town site and surrounding land at the base of Hayden Peak, where they hoped to build what would have been the state’s first alpine ski resort. In the late 1930s, they constructed the Highland-Bavarian Lodge a few miles north of Ashcroft, received a US Forest Service permit for their resort, and even secured a state bond issue to build an aerial tram.</p> <p>The start of World War II derailed their plans. Fiske died in combat. Ryan invited the Tenth Mountain Division to the area as a training site. When the war ended, it was Aspen—not Ashcroft—that became the center of the area’s ski development.</p> <h2>Restoration and Preservation</h2> <p>Starting in 1948, Ryan leased some of his land near Ashcroft to Stuart and Isabell Mace. The Maces built a lodge called Toklat, ran a dog sledding operation, and served as stewards of Ryan’s land. Ryan and the Maces worked to keep the area largely undeveloped, with Ryan eventually transferring much of his land to the Forest Service. In the 1950s the television series <em>Sergeant Preston of the Yukon</em> was filmed at Ashcroft using the town’s old wooden buildings and the Maces’ dogs. In 1971, Ryan opened Ashcroft Ski Touring, a small-scale cross-country skiing center that operated on trails around the old ghost town.</p> <p>In the winter of 1973–74, Ashcroft’s surviving two-story hotel building collapsed. The next year, the Aspen Historical Society, led by local preservationist Ramona Markalunas, started leasing the town site to reconstruct the hotel and preserve the remaining structures. This marked the first time that the Forest Service granted a permit to a historical society to preserve and interpret a ghost town. In 1975 Markalunas got the site listed on the National Register of Historic Places.</p> <p>Today three restored buildings and six buildings in their original condition survive in Ashcroft, including the post office, the assay office, a mercantile store, two saloons, and a hotel. The buildings are mostly arranged along a clearly defined main street, and some contain historical artifacts and interpretive signs. A parking lot and trail provide easy access to the town, which receives as many as seventy-five visitors per day in the summer. The Aspen Historical Society offers guided tours during the summer and early fall, as does the Aspen Center for Environmental Studies, which acquired the Maces’ Toklat Lodge in 2004. The Ashcroft Ski Touring operation, started by Ryan, continues to allow cross-country skiers and snowshoers to enjoy the area in the winter.</p> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> Mon, 19 Dec 2016 20:31:49 +0000 yongli 2114 at http://coloradoencyclopedia.org St. Elmo http://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/st-elmo <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--title--encyclopedia-article.html.twig x field--node--title.html.twig * field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--title.html.twig * field--string.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--title.html.twig' --> <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">St. Elmo</span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--title.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: x field--node--field-article-image--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-article-image.html.twig * field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-article-image.html.twig * field--entity-reference.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--field-article-image--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div id="carouselEncyclopediaArticle" class="carousel slide" data-bs-ride="true"> <div class="carousel-inner"> <div class="carousel-item active"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'node' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * node--1746--article-detail-image.html.twig * node--1746.html.twig x node--image--article-detail-image.html.twig * node--image.html.twig * node--article-detail-image.html.twig * node.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/content/node--image--article-detail-image.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-encyclopedia-image--image.html.twig * field--node--field-encyclopedia-image.html.twig * field--node--image.html.twig * field--field-encyclopedia-image.html.twig * field--image.html.twig x field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-encyclopedia-image field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'image_formatter' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image-formatter.html.twig' --> <a href="/image/st-elmo-historic-district"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'image_style' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image-style.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'image' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image.html.twig' --> <img loading="lazy" src="/sites/default/files/styles/wide/public/St%20Elmo%20Media%201_0.jpg?itok=3Ww9bnvU" width="1024" height="768" alt="" typeof="foaf:Image" class="image-style-wide" /> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image.html.twig' --> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image-style.html.twig' --> </a> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image-formatter.html.twig' --> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field.html.twig' --> <div class="carousel-caption d-none d-md-block"> <h5><a href="/image/st-elmo-historic-district" rel="bookmark"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--title--image.html.twig x field--node--title.html.twig * field--node--image.html.twig * field--title.html.twig * field--string.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--title.html.twig' --> <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">St. Elmo Historic District</span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--title.html.twig' --> </a></h5> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--body--image.html.twig * field--node--body.html.twig * field--node--image.html.twig * field--body.html.twig x field--text-with-summary.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--text-with-summary.html.twig' --> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>In the 1870s prospectors settled in the area that became St. Elmo in Chalk Creek Canyon. The town's growth stalled in the late 1880s, then the population declined after fires and the repeal of the Sherman Silver Purchase Act. By the 1940s the town had only two full-time residents.</p> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--text-with-summary.html.twig' --> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/content/node--image--article-detail-image.html.twig' --> </div> <div class="carousel-item"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'node' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * node--1857--article-detail-image.html.twig * node--1857.html.twig x node--image--article-detail-image.html.twig * node--image.html.twig * node--article-detail-image.html.twig * node.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/content/node--image--article-detail-image.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-encyclopedia-image--image.html.twig * field--node--field-encyclopedia-image.html.twig * field--node--image.html.twig * field--field-encyclopedia-image.html.twig * field--image.html.twig x field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-encyclopedia-image field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'image_formatter' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image-formatter.html.twig' --> <a href="/image/reconstructed-town-hall-and-jail-interior"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'image_style' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image-style.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'image' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image.html.twig' --> <img loading="lazy" src="/sites/default/files/styles/wide/public/St-Elmo-Media-4_0.jpg?itok=SZH8j2B0" width="1000" height="750" alt="" typeof="foaf:Image" class="image-style-wide" /> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image.html.twig' --> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image-style.html.twig' --> </a> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image-formatter.html.twig' --> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field.html.twig' --> <div class="carousel-caption d-none d-md-block"> <h5><a href="/image/reconstructed-town-hall-and-jail-interior" rel="bookmark"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--title--image.html.twig x field--node--title.html.twig * field--node--image.html.twig * field--title.html.twig * field--string.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--title.html.twig' --> <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Reconstructed Town Hall and Jail, Interior</span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--title.html.twig' --> </a></h5> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--body--image.html.twig * field--node--body.html.twig * field--node--image.html.twig * field--body.html.twig x field--text-with-summary.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--text-with-summary.html.twig' --> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>After a major fire burned the town hall in April 2002, Buena Vista Heritage reconstructed the building with financial help from the State Historical Fund and private donations. It reopened in 2008 as a museum of local history.</p> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--text-with-summary.html.twig' --> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/content/node--image--article-detail-image.html.twig' --> </div> </div> <button class="carousel-control-prev" type="button" data-bs-target="#carouselEncyclopediaArticle" data-bs-slide="prev"> <span class="carousel-control-prev-icon" aria-hidden="true"></span> <span class="visually-hidden">Previous</span> </button> <button class="carousel-control-next" type="button" data-bs-target="#carouselEncyclopediaArticle" data-bs-slide="next"> <span class="carousel-control-next-icon" aria-hidden="true"></span> <span class="visually-hidden">Next</span> </button> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--field-article-image--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--uid--encyclopedia-article.html.twig x field--node--uid.html.twig * field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--uid.html.twig * field--entity-reference.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--uid.html.twig' --> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'username' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/user/username.html.twig' --> <span lang="" about="/users/yongli" typeof="schema:Person" property="schema:name" datatype="">yongli</span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/user/username.html.twig' --> </span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--uid.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--created--encyclopedia-article.html.twig x field--node--created.html.twig * field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--created.html.twig * field--created.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--created.html.twig' --> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'time' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/time.html.twig' --> <time datetime="2016-08-24T11:09:29-06:00" title="Wednesday, August 24, 2016 - 11:09" class="datetime">Wed, 08/24/2016 - 11:09</time> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/time.html.twig' --> </span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--created.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'addtoany_standard' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * addtoany-standard--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * addtoany-standard--node.html.twig x addtoany-standard.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'modules/contrib/addtoany/templates/addtoany-standard.html.twig' --> <span class="a2a_kit a2a_kit_size_32 addtoany_list" data-a2a-url="http://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/st-elmo" data-a2a-title="St. Elmo"><a class="a2a_dd addtoany_share" href="https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=http%3A%2F%2Fcoloradoencyclopedia.org%2Farticle%2Fst-elmo&amp;title=St.%20Elmo"></a><a class="a2a_button_facebook"></a><a class="a2a_button_twitter"></a><a class="a2a_button_email"></a></span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'modules/contrib/addtoany/templates/addtoany-standard.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--body--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--body.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--body.html.twig * field--text-with-summary.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item" id="id-body"><p>Located at an elevation of 10,000 feet in <strong>Chalk Creek Canyon</strong> southwest of <strong>Buena Vista</strong>, the historic <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/precious-metal-mining-colorado"><strong>mining</strong></a> town of St. Elmo was founded in 1880 and flourished for less than a decade. Although it is actually inhabited by a small handful of full-timers and dozens of summer residents, it is considered one of the best-preserved <strong>ghost towns</strong> in the West. The town attracts roughly 50,000 tourists annually, including many who use it as a base for hiking and four-wheeling.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Early Settlement</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>In 1871 prospector Abner Ellis Wright became possibly the first to settle at the head of Chalk Creek Canyon where St. Elmo would be established. By 1875, he and his partner, John Royal, had discovered an unusually high-grade vein of silver ore on Chrysolite Mountain four miles south of the future site of St. Elmo. The claim would be named the Mary Murphy and eventually became the most successful mine in the Chalk Creek district.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Starting in 1878, the monumental <a href="/article/leadville"><strong>Leadville</strong></a> silver strikes produced swarms of new prospectors in the <strong><a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/arkansas-river">Arkansas River</a> </strong>valley. By 1880 Chalk Creek Canyon was benefiting from the boom. That year Griffith Evans and Charles Seitz hired a surveyor to lay out a townsite in the canyon called Forest City. That name was denied by the US Post Office department, however, because it was preceded by a Forest City in California, and the town was renamed St. Elmo. One story holds that Evans suggested the new name because he had recently read the novel <em>St. Elmo</em> by Augusta J. Evans (no relation).</p>&#13; &#13; <p>The population of the St. Elmo area grew from a few prospectors in 1871 to estimates as high as 2,000 in 1881 (including residents in temporary shelters at various mine locations). The town was a dynamic place. New miners arrived around the clock to cash in on the bonanza. The Mary Murphy was extracting between 70 and 100 tons of silver and gold ore daily in 1881 and employed more than 250 men at the peak of production.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>With the rush of prospectors into the Chalk Creek area, St. Elmo’s business district quickly took shape. The <em>Denver Tribune</em> observed: “St. Elmo, a town of less than 6 months, has two sawmills, a smelter and concentrator, 3 hotels, 5 restaurants and several stores.” Other new businesses and civic institutions began appearing, including a surveyor’s office, a jeweler, an assayer, an attorney, a drug store, a meat market, several saloons, a feed store and clothing store, a blacksmith, a city hall, a post office, a firehouse, and a pair of banks. Several good silver strikes were made in nearby Grizzly Gulch, and by 1883 the district had fifty producing mines.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Boomtown Growth</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>In the late 1870s St. Elmo still had canvas tents, pine-covered dugouts, and earth-roofed huts at the mine sites. These were followed by unsophisticated cabins built of the most plentiful materials to be found—spruce logs. As time passed, some of the early log structures—crude and often drafty—were boarded over with siding. Still other structures remained log, but false fronts were added to make them look more impressive. The most refined buildings in St. Elmo were balloon-frame stores and houses, which used vertical boards (studs) attached at both the foundation and roof plates to support the walls. More complex masonry structures of stone or brick, designed by professional architects, were not built in the St. Elmo camp.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Reporting on the early mining activities were the town’s first newspapers, beginning with the <em>Rustler</em> in September 1880; the paper was sold in 1881 and renamed the <em>St. Elmo Mountaineer</em>. Later a mining paper called the <em>Mineral Belt</em> took the <em>Mountaineer</em>’s place.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>The road from the Arkansas River Valley to St. Elmo and beyond had been widened from what were supposedly original game trails and Indian footpaths. In the early 1880s the road could accommodate horse travel, ore wagons, and stagecoaches. J. L. Sanderson ran a fleet of passenger stagecoaches and freight wagons out of St. Elmo on the Chalk Creek and Elk Mountain Toll Road, the pioneer route to <a href="/article/aspen"><strong>Aspen</strong></a>. A toll road also was constructed for travel south into Maysville and the Mt. Shavano mining district.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>St. Elmo was soon large and successful enough for a railroad connection. In 1880 the <strong>Denver, South Park and Pacific Railroad</strong> completed a line up Chalk Creek into St. Elmo’s Fisher Railroad Station at the east edge of town, then proceeded with an ambitious and expensive effort to drive the 1,845-foot <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/alpine-tunnel-historic-district"><strong>Alpine Tunnel</strong></a> through the <a href="/article/great-divide"><strong>Continental Divide</strong></a> southwest of St. Elmo. Completed in 1882, the tunnel cost $250,000 and opened a new trade route to the Western Slope. The Alpine’s interior was lined with California redwood for durability in its cold and damp setting.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Decline</h2>&#13; &#13; <p><a class="colorbox colorbox-insert-image" href="/image/st-elmo-historic-buildings"><img alt="St. Elmo Historic Buildings" class="image-large" src="/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/St-Elmo-Media-2_0.jpg?itok=Txcj-glG" style="float:left; height:443px; margin:15px; width:480px" /></a> St. Elmo’s growth stalled in the late 1880s. Several factors conspired to prevent the town from becoming one of Colorado’s rich mining camps. Even though it had early rail service, the town was sixteen miles off the principal routes, and it had difficulty obtaining the outside financing that was critical for new exploration and mining expansion. Its ores were of lower grade than those of more successful mining camps, which meant that the extraction and refining processes were slower and more expensive.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>In 1890 a fire burned several buildings on the north side of Main Street and destroyed every business on the south side. After the fire many St. Elmo residents packed up and left, and the town’s population declined from 750 to 500 by 1891. The repeal of the Sherman Silver Purchase Act in 1893 dealt another blow to the struggling town. Even the best silver mines on Chrysolite Mountain were nearly abandoned, and like most other silver camps, St. Elmo never fully recovered from the crash.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Later in the 1890s new gold discoveries began to revive St. Elmo’s faded economy, but in January 1898 fire again engulfed St. Elmo’s commercial district. By the end of the year some of the damaged structures had been rebuilt, but the town never completely regained what it lost.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>In 1905 the Mary Murphy was reopened under the ownership of an English syndicate, but precious metals mining declined in the years before World War I in favor of iron and other ores for the war effort. After the war, precious metals prices did not justify a return to full-scale mining in St. Elmo. The Alpine Tunnel had been abandoned in 1910, and in 1922 trains stopped running up Chalk Creek Canyon to the town. Four years later the <strong>Colorado &amp; Southern Railroad</strong> pulled up the tracks despite the town’s legal steps to prevent the action. With the tracks gone, the old railbed on the south side of the canyon was converted into an automobile road. The Mary Murphy Mine closed in 1936.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Preservation</h2>&#13; &#13; <p><a class="colorbox colorbox-insert-image" href="/image/st-elmo-town-hall"><img alt="St. Elmo Town Hall" class="image-large" src="/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/St-Elmo-Media-3_0.jpg?itok=yPFRq4UT" style="float:right; height:324px; margin:15px; width:480px" /></a> By 1943 St. Elmo had only two full-time residents, siblings Annabelle and Tony Stark. As others left, the Starks had gradually accumulated many of the town’s remaining buildings and converted them to summer cabins for tourists. In 1960 the Starks willed their St. Elmo holdings to Marie Skogsberg, a family friend. Subsequently, Skogsberg’s granddaughter, Melanie Milam (later Melanie Roth), helped her family hold on to many of the better buildings in town, which became part of the Milam Family Trust. In addition, in the late 1950s St. Elmo property owners began to care for public buildings such as the schoolhouse and the town hall. After organizing as the St. Elmo Property Owners Association, they secured ownership of the schoolhouse in 1975 and of the town hall in 1989.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Many of the town’s buildings have vanished from the wear of time, heavy <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/snow"><strong>snow</strong></a> loads, and wind, but roughly forty early structures remain intact. In addition to the Miner’s Exchange building (1892), which served as a bank and saloon before becoming a general store, surviving buildings include Pat Hurley’s Saloon (1892), the Pawnee Mining and Milling Company building (1880), and the Home Comfort Hotel/Stark Store (1885).</p>&#13; &#13; <p>In 1979 Melanie Roth and <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/colorado-springs"><strong>Colorado Springs</strong></a> architect Doug Hagen successfully got St. Elmo listed as a National Historic District. The goodwill of the Starks, Roth, and other local property owners over the past century has helped St. Elmo remain one of the West’s best-preserved ghost towns (though the town’s few full-time residents and its fifty or sixty summer residents might dispute the notion that it is a true ghost town).</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Today</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>The National Register listing protects St. Elmo from federal projects, but nothing prevents private development in the area. In the 1960s, before St. Elmo was listed as a historic site, a development group called Consortium B bought property near the town with the hope of turning it into a ski resort. A multi-year drought derailed that plan, however, and the Milam Trust acquired much of the developer’s property. Later, with increases in gold and silver prices, the American International Metal Company leased the Mary Murphy Mine and planned to reopen it in the early 1980s. The company quickly demolished the historic mine buildings and mill, claiming that they were an insurance liability, but gave up on the project because the area received too much snow to make mining there financially viable.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Perhaps the greatest threat facing the wooden buildings in St. Elmo is fire. In April 2002 a major fire destroyed five buildings in St. Elmo, including the town hall, which dated to the early 1890s and had survived several previous fires. After the fire, the St. Elmo Property Owners Association transferred ownership of the charred town hall and the schoolhouse to the nonprofit Buena Vista Heritage. With financial help from a State Historical Fund grant and private donations, in 2004–5 Buena Vista Heritage restored the schoolhouse, which opened to the public in June 2006 as the St. Elmo Schoolhouse Museum. In 2006 Buena Vista Heritage began to rebuild the burnt town hall. Completed in 2008, the new town hall building also operates as a museum of local history.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>In 2010 Melanie Roth and others formed a new nonprofit called Historic St. Elmo and Chalk Creek Canyon to support further preservation work in the area.</p>&#13; &#13; <p><strong>Adapted from Lawrence Von Bamford and Kenneth R. Tremblay Jr., “St. Elmo, Colorado: The Little Mining Camp that Tried,” <em>Colorado Heritage</em> (Spring 2000): 2–18.</strong></p>&#13; </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-keyword--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-keyword.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-keyword.html.twig * field--entity-reference.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-keyword field--type-entity-reference field--label-above" id="id-field-keyword"> <div class="field__label" id="id-field-keyword">Keywords</div> <div class='field__items'> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/chalk-creek-canyon" hreflang="en">Chalk Creek Canyon</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/ghost-town" hreflang="en">ghost town</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/mary-murphy-mine" hreflang="en">Mary Murphy mine</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/denver-south-park-pacific-railroad" hreflang="en">Denver South Park &amp; Pacific Railroad</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/alpine-tunnel" hreflang="en">Alpine Tunnel</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/silver-mining" hreflang="en">silver mining</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/melanie-roth" hreflang="en">Melanie Roth</a></div> </div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'links__node' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * links--node.html.twig x links--inline.html.twig * links--node.html.twig * links.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/navigation/links--inline.html.twig' --> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/navigation/links--inline.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-references-html--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-references-html.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-references-html.html.twig * field--text-long.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-references-html field--type-text-long field--label-above" id="id-field-references-html"> <div class="field__label" id="id-field-references-html">References</div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-references-html"><p>Clint Driscoll, “<a href="https://www.cozine.com:8443/2003-july/st-elmo-legacy-faces-a-variety-of-threats">St. Elmo Legacy Faces a Variety of Threats</a>,” <em>Colorado Central Magazine</em>, July 2003.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Lisa Everitt, “<a href="https://www.denverpost.com/2006/07/25/st-elmo-remains-a-real-town-frozen-in-time/">St. Elmo Remains a Real Town Frozen in Time</a>,” <em>Denver Post</em>, July 30, 2006.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>“<a href="https://www.buenavistaheritage.org/St-Elmo-Projects">St. Elmo Projects</a>,” Buena Vista Heritage.</p>&#13; </div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-additional-information-htm--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-additional-information-htm.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-additional-information-htm.html.twig * field--text-long.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-additional-information-htm field--type-text-long field--label-above" id="id-field-additional-information-htm"> <div class="field__label" id="id-field-additional-information-htm">Additional Information</div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-additional-information-htm"><p>Peter Anderson, <em>From Gold to Ghosts</em> (Nathrop, CO: P. Anderson, 1983).</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Sandra Dallas, <em>Colorado Ghost Towns and Mining Camps</em> (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1985).</p>&#13; </div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-4th-grade--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-4th-grade.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-4th-grade.html.twig * field--text-with-summary.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-4th-grade field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item" id="id-field-4th-grade"><p>The historic mining town of St. Elmo started in 1880. It is one of the best-preserved “ghost towns” in the West. People use it as a base for hiking and four-wheeling. It is in <strong>Chalk Creek Canyon</strong> near <strong>Buena Vista</strong>. It is high in the mountains at an elevation of 10,000 feet.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Early Settlement</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>In 1871, Abner Wright settled in Chalk Creek Canyon. By 1875, he and his partner, John Royal, had discovered a rich vein of silver ore. They named their mine the Mary Murphy Mine. It would become the most successful mine in the area.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>In 1878, silver was discovered near Leadville. People came to the area hoping to strike it rich. By 1880 they were looking for silver in Chalk Creek Canyon. That year two men marked out land for a new town. They named it Forest City. However, that name was already taken by a city in California. The US Post Office asked them to pick a different name. They renamed it St. Elmo. It was named after a popular book called <em>St. Elmo</em> by Augusta Evans.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>In 1871 only a few people lived in the area. By 1881, the population was 2,000. The town was an exciting place. New miners kept arriving to search for silver and gold. Every day, tons of silver and gold were mined from the Mary Murphy. More than 250 men worked at the mine. Several silver strikes were made in nearby Grizzly Gulch. By 1883 the area had 50 gold and silver mines.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>St. Elmo grew quickly. In less than 6 months it had 2 sawmills, a smelter, 3 hotels, 5 restaurants and stores. Soon, other businesses started. They included a surveyor’s office, a jeweler, an attorney, a drug store and plenty of saloons. There was a meat market, a feed store, a clothing store and a blacksmith. Finally, a city hall, a post office, a firehouse, and 2 banks were added.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Boomtown Growth</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>In the 1870s, people in St. Elmo lived in tents, dugouts, and huts. As the town grew, cabins were built of pine logs. Later, some of the cabins were covered with boards. Some buildings added “false fronts” to make them look more impressive. There were not any brick and stone buildings in St. Elmo.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>The road to St. Elmo grew with the town. The original road was built on trails and Indian footpaths. In the 1880s the road was wide enough for horses and wagons. Later, passenger stagecoaches and freight wagons ran to St. Elmo.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>St. Elmo was large and successful enough to have a railroad. In 1880 a train line was put into the town. In 1882, the railroad built a tunnel through the <strong>Continental Divide</strong>. It was called the <strong>Alpine Tunnel</strong>. It connected St. Elmo with the Western Slope.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Decline</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>St. Elmo stopped growing in the late 1880s. The town never became one of Colorado’s rich mining camps. There were some reasons for this. The town was not on a major travel route. Also, it was hard for miners to get money to explore and expand the mines. And, the silver and gold were low grade. This meant the refining process was slow and more expensive. Then, in 1890 a fire burned through the town. It destroyed many businesses on Main Street. After the fire, many St. Elmo residents packed up and left.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>In 1893 the government passed a new law. It made silver much less valuable than it had been. Silver mines in the area were abandoned. Like many other Colorado silver camps, the town was never the same. Then in 1898, another fire burned St. Elmo. Some of the damaged structures were rebuilt, but the town struggled even more.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>In 1905 the Mary Murphy Mine was reopened. But gold and silver mining declined in the years around World War I. People were mining iron and other ores for the war. After the war, in 1936, the mine closed.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>The Alpine Tunnel closed in 1910. In 1922 trains stopped running to St. Elmo. Four years later the railroad pulled up the tracks. With the tracks gone, the old rail bed was made into an automobile road.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Preservation</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>By 1943, only two people lived in St. Elmo. They were brother and sister, Annabelle and Tony Stark. The Starks bought many of the town’s buildings. They changed them to summer cabins for tourists. In 1960, Marie Skogsberg, a family friend, became the owner.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>The Skogsberg family wanted to care for the properties. One granddaughter, Melanie Milam Roth, started the Milam Family Trust. In the 1950s, the Milams and other property owners began to take care of the public buildings. They bought the schoolhouse in 1975. The bought the town hall in 1989.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>About 40 forty buildings are still standing in St. Elmo. One is the Miner’s Exchange building. It was a bank and saloon before it became a general store. Other buildings include a saloon, a mining company building, and a hotel.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>In 1979 the town was listed as a National Historic District. The property owners have helped make St. Elmo into one of the West’s best-preserved ghost towns. A ghost town is a place that people don’t live anymore, but where buildings are still standing. St. Elmo is not really a ghost town. The town has a few people who live there all year. In the summer about 50 people live there.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Today</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>In the 1960s, some businessmen bought property near the town. They hoped to turn it into a ski resort. It was not successful. In the 1980s, a mining company reopened the Mary Murphy Mine. They tore down the historic mine buildings. They said that they were dangerous. But then, they left the area because it had too much <strong>snow</strong>.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>In 2002 a fire destroyed five buildings in St. Elmo. It burnt down the town hall. It had been built in the 1890s. It had survived all the other fires. In 2005, a group fixed up the schoolhouse. It opened as the St. Elmo Schoolhouse Museum. In 2008, the burnt town hall was rebuilt. It is now a museum about St. Elmo’s history.</p>&#13; </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-8th-grade--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-8th-grade.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-8th-grade.html.twig * field--text-with-summary.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-8th-grade field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item" id="id-field-8th-grade"><p>The historic mining town of St. Elmo was founded in 1880 and flourished for less than a decade. It is considered one of the best-preserved ghost towns in the West. It is located in <strong>Chalk Creek Canyon</strong> near <strong>Buena Vista </strong>at an elevation of 10,000 feet. The town attracts roughly 50,000 tourists a year. It is used as a base for hiking and four-wheeling.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Early Settlement</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>In 1871 prospector Abner Wright settled in Chalk Creek Canyon. By 1875, he and his partner, John Royal, had discovered a high-grade vein of silver ore on Chrysolite Mountain. They named the claim the Mary Murphy Mine. It eventually became the most successful mine in the Chalk Creek district.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Starting in 1878, the <strong>Leadville</strong> silver strikes produced swarms of new prospectors in the <strong>Arkansas River Valley</strong>. By 1880 Chalk Creek Canyon was benefiting from the boom. That year Griffith Evans and Charles Seitz planned a town site. They named their new town Forest City. However, the US Post Office denied the name because it was the name of a town in California. The town was renamed St. Elmo. It was named for a popular novel called <em>St. Elmo</em> by Augusta J. Evans.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>The population of the St. Elmo area grew from a few prospectors in 1871 to 2,000 people in 1881. This included miners living in temporary shelters at their mines. The town was a dynamic place. New miners arrived around the clock to cash in on the bonanza. By 1881, the Mary Murphy extracted 70 to 100 tons of silver and gold ore each day. The mine employed more than 250 men at the peak of production. Several silver strikes were made in nearby Grizzly Gulch, and by 1883 the district had fifty producing mines.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>With the rush of prospectors into the Chalk Creek area, St. Elmo’s business district quickly took shape. <em>The Denver Tribune</em> observed: “St. Elmo, a town of less than 6 months, has two sawmills, a smelter and concentrator, 3 hotels, 5 restaurants and several stores.” New businesses and institutions began appearing. These included a surveyor’s office, a jeweler, an assayer, an attorney, a drug store, a meat market, several saloons, a feed store, a clothing store, and a blacksmith. Soon a city hall, a post office, a firehouse, and a pair of banks were built.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Boomtown Growth</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>In the late 1870s St. Elmo still had canvas tents, pine-covered dugouts, and earth-roofed huts at the mine sites. These were followed by cabins built of the most plentiful material to be found—spruce logs. As time passed, some of the early log structures were boarded over with siding. Other structures remained log, but false fronts were added to make them look more impressive. The most refined buildings in St. Elmo were frame stores and houses. These used vertical boards attached at both the foundation and roof plates to support the walls. More complex buildings of stone or brick were not built in St. Elmo.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>The early mining activities were reported in the town’s first newspapers. <em>The Rustler</em> started in September 1880. It was sold in 1881 and renamed the <em>St. Elmo Mountaineer.</em> Later a mining paper called the <em>Mineral Belt</em> took the <em>Mountaineer</em>’s place.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>The road from the Arkansas River Valley to St. Elmo grew with the town. The original road was built over game trails and Indian footpaths. In the early 1880s the road could accommodate horse travel, ore wagons, and stagecoaches. J. L. Sanderson ran a fleet of passenger stagecoaches and freight wagons out of St. Elmo. The road was on the Chalk Creek and Elk Mountain Toll Road, the pioneer route to <strong>Aspen</strong>. A toll road also was constructed for travel south into Maysville and the Mt. Shavano mining district.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>St. Elmo was soon large and successful enough for a railroad. In 1880 the <strong>Denver, South Park and Pacific Railroad</strong> completed a line to St. Elmo The railroad built an ambitious and expensive tunnel through the <strong>Continental Divide</strong>. The <strong>Alpine Tunnel</strong> was completed in 1882. It cost $250,000 and connected St. Elmo with the Western Slope. The Alpine Tunnel’s interior was lined with California redwood to protect it from the harsh winter conditions.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Decline</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>St. Elmo’s growth stalled in the late 1880s. Several factors kept the town from becoming one of Colorado’s rich mining camps. Even though it had early rail service, the town was miles off the principal routes. Miners had difficulty obtaining the financing for new exploration and mining expansion. The area’s ores were of lower grade than those of more successful mining camps. This meant that the extraction and refining processes was slower and more expensive.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>In 1890 a fire burned through the town. It destroyed every business on the south side of Main Street and burned several buildings on the north side. After the fire many St. Elmo residents packed up and left. The town’s population declined from 750 to 500 by 1891.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>The repeal of the Sherman Silver Purchase Act in 1893 dealt another blow to the struggling town. The new law made the value of silver fall to low levels. Even the best silver mines on Chrysolite Mountain were nearly abandoned. Like most other silver camps, St. Elmo never recovered from the crash.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Later in the 1890s new gold discoveries began to revive St. Elmo’s economy. But in January 1898, another fire engulfed St. Elmo’s main street area. By the end of the year some of the damaged structures had been rebuilt. Again, the town never regained what it lost.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>In 1905 the Mary Murphy Mine was reopened under English ownership. But mining for gold and silver had declined. In the years around World War I, mining was focused on iron and other ores needed for the war effort. After the war, gold and silver prices did not justify a return to full-scale mining in St. Elmo. The Alpine Tunnel was abandoned in 1910. In 1922 trains stopped running up Chalk Creek Canyon to the town. Four years later the railroad pulled up the tracks despite the town’s legal steps to prevent the action. With the tracks gone, the old railbed on the south side of the canyon was converted into an automobile road. The Mary Murphy Mine closed in 1936.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Preservation</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>By 1943 St. Elmo had only two full-time residents, brother and sister Annabelle and Tony Stark. The Starks bought many of the town’s remaining buildings and converted them to summer cabins for tourists. In 1960 the Starks willed their St. Elmo properties to Marie Skogsberg, a family friend.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>The Skogsberg family wanted to preserve St. Elmo. Melanie Milam Roth, a granddaughter helped her family hold on to many of the better buildings in town. These became part of the Milam Family Trust. In the late 1950s, the Milams and other property owners began to take care of the public buildings. They organized the St. Elmo Property Owners Association. They bought the schoolhouse in 1975 and the town hall in 1989.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Many of the town’s buildings have vanished from the wear of natural forces. However, roughly forty early structures remain. One is the Miner’s Exchange building (1892), which served as a bank and saloon before becoming a general store. Other surviving buildings include Pat Hurley’s Saloon (1892), the Pawnee Mining and Milling Company building (1880), and the Home Comfort Hotel/Stark Store (1885).</p>&#13; &#13; <p>In 1979 the town was listed as a National Historic District. The property owners have helped St. Elmo become one of the West’s best-preserved <strong>ghost towns</strong>. A ghost town is a place that is totally abandoned, while the structures remain. St. Elmo is not really a true ghost town, since it has a few full-time residents and about fifty summer residents.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Today</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>The National Register listing protects St. Elmo from federal projects. But it did not prevent private development in the area. In the 1960s, before St. Elmo was listed as a historic site, a development group bought property near the town. They hoped to start a ski resort. That plan was abandoned after a multi-year drought. Fortunately, the Milam Trust was able to acquire much of the developer’s property.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>In the 1980s, gold and silver prices increased. The American International Metal Company leased and planned to reopen the Mary Murphy Mine. They tore down the historic mine buildings and mill. They claimed that the buildings were an insurance liability. Then, they gave up on the project because the area had too much snow to make mining profitable.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>The greatest threat facing the wooden buildings in St. Elmo is fire. In April 2002 a fire destroyed five buildings in St. Elmo. This included the town hall, which dated to the early 1890s and had survived several previous fires. A new preservation group called Buena Vista Heritage was formed. After the fire, the St. Elmo Property Owners gave ownership of the charred town hall and the schoolhouse to the group. In 2005, with financial help from a State Historical Fund grant and private donations, they restored the schoolhouse. It opened to the public as the St. Elmo Schoolhouse Museum in June 2006. The Buena Vista Heritage rebuilt the burnt town hall. It was completed in 2008 and also operates as a museum of local history. In 2010 Melanie Roth and others formed a new nonprofit called Historic St. Elmo and Chalk Creek Canyon. It supports further preservation work in the area.</p>&#13; </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-10th-grade--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-10th-grade.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-10th-grade.html.twig * field--text-with-summary.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-10th-grade field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item" id="id-field-10th-grade"><p>The historic mining town of St. Elmo was founded in 1880 and flourished for less than a decade. It is located in <strong>Chalk Creek Ca</strong>nyon near <strong>Buena Vista</strong> at an elevation of 10,000 feet. It is considered one of the best-preserved <strong>ghost towns</strong> in the West. The town attracts roughly 50,000 tourists annually, including many who use it as a base for hiking and four-wheeling.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Early Settlement</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>In 1871 prospector Abner Ellis Wright was the first to settle in Chalk Creek Canyon. where St. Elmo would be established. By 1875, he and his partner, John Royal, had discovered an unusually high-grade vein of silver ore on Chrysolite Mountain four miles south of the future site of St. Elmo. The claim would be named the Mary Murphy and eventually became the most successful mine in the Chalk Creek district.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Starting in 1878, the <strong>Leadville</strong> silver strikes produced swarms of new prospectors in the <strong>Arkansas River Valley</strong>. By 1880 Chalk Creek Canyon was benefiting from the boom. That year Griffith Evans and Charles Seitz laid out a townsite called Forest City. However, the name was denied by the US Post Office, because it was preceded by a Forest City in California. The town was renamed St. Elmo. One story holds that Evans suggested the new name because he had recently read the novel <em>St. Elmo</em> by Augusta J. Evans.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>The population of the St. Elmo area grew from a few prospectors in 1871 to estimates as high as 2,000 by 1881. This included residents in temporary shelters at various mine locations. The town was a dynamic place. New miners arrived around the clock to cash in on the bonanza. The Mary Murphy was extracting between 70 and 100 tons of silver and gold ore daily in 1881. The mine employed more than 250 men at the peak of production. Several silver strikes were made in nearby Grizzly Gulch and by 1883 the district had fifty producing mines.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>With the rush of prospectors into the Chalk Creek area, St. Elmo’s business district quickly took shape. <em>The Denver Tribune</em> observed: “St. Elmo, a town of less than 6 months, has two sawmills, a smelter and concentrator, 3 hotels, 5 restaurants and several stores.” Other new businesses and civic institutions began appearing. These included a surveyor’s office, a jeweler, an assayer, an attorney, a drug store, a meat market, several saloons, a feed store, a clothing store, a blacksmith, a city hall, a post office, a firehouse, and a pair of banks.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Boomtown Growth</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>In the late 1870s St. Elmo still had canvas tents, pine-covered dugouts, and earth-roofed huts at the mine sites. These were followed by unsophisticated cabins built of the most plentiful materials to be found—spruce logs. As time passed, some of the early log structures—crude and often drafty—were boarded over with siding. Still other structures remained log, but false fronts were added to make them look more impressive. The most refined buildings in St. Elmo were balloon-frame stores and houses, which used vertical boards attached at both the foundation and roof plates to support the walls. More complex masonry structures of stone or brick, designed by professional architects, were not built in the St. Elmo camp.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Reporting on the early mining activities were the town’s first newspapers, beginning with the <em>Rustler</em> in September 1880. The paper was sold in 1881 and renamed the <em>St. Elmo Mountaineer</em>. Later a mining paper called the <em>Mineral Belt</em> took the <em>Mountaineer</em>’s place.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>The road from the Arkansas River Valley to St. Elmo had been widened from what were original game trails and Indian footpaths. In the early 1880s the road could accommodate horse travel, ore wagons, and stagecoaches. J. L. Sanderson ran a fleet of passenger stagecoaches and freight wagons out of St. Elmo. The road was on the Chalk Creek and Elk Mountain Toll Road, the pioneer route to <strong>Aspen</strong>. A toll road also was constructed for travel south into Maysville and the Mt. Shavano mining district.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>St. Elmo was soon large and successful enough for a railroad connection. In 1880 the <strong>Denver, South Park and Pacific Railroad</strong> completed a line up in St. Elmo. Fisher Railroad Station was located at the east edge of town. The railroad began an ambitious and expensive effort to build the 1,845-foot <strong>Alpine Tunnel</strong> through the <strong>Continental Divide</strong>. The tunnel was completed in 1882 and cost $250,000 and opened a new trade route to the Western Slope. The Alpine Tunnel’s interior was lined with California redwood for durability in its cold and damp setting.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Decline</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>St. Elmo’s growth stalled in the late 1880s. Several factors kept the town from becoming one of Colorado’s rich mining camps. Even though it had early rail service, the town was sixteen miles off the principal routes. Miners had difficulty obtaining the outside financing that was critical for new exploration and mining expansion. Its ores were of lower grade than those of more successful mining camps, which meant that the extraction and refining processes were slower and more expensive.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>In 1890 a fire burned through the town. It destroyed every business on the south side of Main Street and burned several buildings on the north side. After the fire many St. Elmo residents packed up and left, and the town’s population declined from 750 to 500 by 1891. The repeal of the Sherman Silver Purchase Act in 1893 dealt another blow to the struggling town. The new law devalued silver, leaving it worth much less than it had been previously. Even the best silver mines on Chrysolite Mountain were nearly abandoned. Like most other silver camps, St. Elmo never fully recovered from the crash.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Later in the 1890s new gold discoveries began to revive St. Elmo’s economy. But in January 1898 fire again engulfed St. Elmo’s commercial district. By the end of the year some of the damaged structures had been rebuilt. The town never completely regained what it lost.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>In 1905 the Mary Murphy Silver Mine was reopened under the ownership of an English syndicate. But precious metals mining declined in the years before World War I in favor of iron and other ores for the war effort. After the war, precious metals prices did not justify a return to full-scale mining in St. Elmo.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>The Alpine Tunnel had been abandoned in 1910, and trains stopped running up Chalk Creek Canyon in 1922. Four years later the <strong>Colorado and Southern Railroad</strong> pulled up the tracks despite the town’s legal steps to prevent the action. With the tracks gone, the old railbed on the south side of the canyon was converted into an automobile road. The Mary Murphy Mine closed in 1936.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Preservation</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>By 1943 St. Elmo had only two full-time residents, siblings Annabelle and Tony Stark. As others left, the Starks bought many of the town’s remaining buildings and converted them to summer cabins for tourists. In 1960 the Starks willed their St. Elmo holdings to Marie Skogsberg, a family friend. Subsequently, Skogsberg’s granddaughter, Melanie Milam Roth, helped her family hold on to many of the better buildings in town. These became part of the Milam Family Trust. In the late 1950s, St. Elmo property owners began to take care of the public buildings, such as the schoolhouse and the town hall. After organizing as the St. Elmo Property Owners Association, they became the owners of the schoolhouse in 1975 and of the town hall in 1989.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Many of the town’s buildings have vanished from the wear of time, heavy snow loads, and wind. However, roughly forty early structures remain intact. The Miner’s Exchange building (1892), which served as a bank and saloon before becoming a general store still stands. Other surviving buildings include Pat Hurley’s Saloon (1892), the Pawnee Mining and Milling Company building (1880), and the Home Comfort Hotel/Stark Store (1885).</p>&#13; &#13; <p>In 1979 Melanie Roth and <strong>Colorado Springs</strong> architect Doug Hagen got the town listed as a National Historic District. The goodwill of local property owners over the past century has helped St. Elmo remain one of the West’s best-preserved ghost towns. A ghost town is a place that has been abandoned, but the structures still remain. The town’s few full-time residents and about fifty summer residents might dispute the notion that it is a true ghost town.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Today</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>The National Register listing protects St. Elmo from federal projects. But nothing prevents private development in the area. In the 1960s, before St. Elmo was listed as a historic site, a development group called Consortium B bought property near the town. They hoped to turn it into a ski resort. That plan was abandoned after a multi-year drought. The Milam Trust was able to buy much of the developer’s property to enable its preservation.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>In the 1980s with increases in gold and silver prices, the American International Metal Company leased the Mary Murphy Mine. They planned to reopen it and they demolished the historic mine buildings and mill. They claimed that they were an insurance liability. Then, they gave up the project because the area had too much snow to make mining there financially profitable.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Perhaps the greatest threat facing the wooden buildings in St. Elmo is fire. In April 2002 a major fire destroyed five buildings in St. Elmo. This included the town hall, which dated to the early 1890s and had survived several previous fires.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>After the fire, the St. Elmo Property Owners Association transferred ownership of the charred town hall and the schoolhouse to the nonprofit Buena Vista Heritage. In 2005, with financial help from a State Historical Fund grant and private donations, they restored the schoolhouse. It opened to the public as the St. Elmo Schoolhouse Museum in June 2006. The Buena Vista Heritage began to rebuild the burnt town hall. It was completed in 2008 and also operates as a museum of local history. In 2010 Melanie Roth and others formed a new nonprofit called Historic St. Elmo and Chalk Creek Canyon to support further preservation work in the area.</p>&#13; </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> Wed, 24 Aug 2016 17:09:29 +0000 yongli 1745 at http://coloradoencyclopedia.org