This is an incomplete list of ghost towns in Colorado, a state of the United States. Colorado has over 1,500 ghost towns. Currently only about 640 remain. Due to incomplete records and legends that are now accepted as fact, no list will ever be complete. Ghost towns are predominantly of few reasons: mining towns, abandoned when the mines closed; many due to the devaluation of silver in 1893, mill towns that were abandoned when the mining towns closed, farming towns on the eastern plains deserted due to rural depopulation, coal towns abandoned when the coal, or need for it ran out, stage stops abandoned when the railroad came through, and the rail stops that were deserted when then railroad changed routes or abandoned the spurs. Some were resort towns which never brought in enough tourists. One or two were caused by the creation of reservoirs, or covered in mining tailings, as noted below.
The ghost towns are listed sortable by town or county.
Town | County |
---|---|
Animas Forks | San Juan |
Arapahoe | Jefferson |
Ashcroft | Pitkin |
Bakerville | Clear Creek |
Bassick City, see Querida | Custer |
Bonanza | Saguache |
Buckskin Joe (Laurette, Lauret) | Park |
Calumet | Huerfano |
Capitol City | Hinsdale |
Caribou | Boulder |
Carpenter | Mesa |
Carrizo City | Baca |
Carrizo Springs | Baca |
Chihuahua | Summit |
Chivington | Kiowa |
Climax | Lake |
Coalmont | Jackson |
Colfax | Custer |
Copper City | Baca |
Crystal | Gunnison |
Dakan | Douglas |
Dallas | Ouray |
Decatur | Summit |
Dearfield | Weld |
Duncan | Saguache |
Dyersville | Summit |
Eastonville | Elbert |
Eureka | San Juan |
Fairmount | Jefferson |
Fondis | Elbert |
Galena | Custer |
Geneva City | Park |
Gilman | Eagle |
Gothic | Gunnison |
Hamilton | Park |
Howardsville (Bullion City) | San Juan |
Independence | Pitkin |
Juanita | Archuleta |
Keota | Weld |
King's Canyon | Jackson |
Kokomo | Summit |
Last Chance | Washington |
Lenado | Pitkin |
Liberty | Saguache |
Ludlow | Las Animas |
Madrid | Las Animas |
Manhattan | Larimer |
McPhee, see McPhee Reservoir | Montezuma |
Montana City | Denver |
Montezuma | Summit |
Nevadaville | Gilpin |
Oro City | Lake |
Pearl | Jackson |
Querida | Custer |
Robinson | Summit |
Rosita | Custer |
Russell Gulch | Gilpin |
Silver Creek | Clear Creek |
Silver Dale | Clear Creek |
Stout, see Horsetooth Reservoir | Larimer |
St. Elmo | Chaffee |
Saints John | Summit |
Swandyke | Summit |
Tarryall, (founded 1859) | Park |
Tarryall, (Puma City, founded 1896) | Park |
Teller City | Jackson |
Tincup | Gunnison |
Turret | Chaffee |
Ula | Custer |
Uravan | Montrose |
Famous quotes containing the words list of, list, ghost, towns and/or colorado:
“Modern tourist guides have helped raised tourist expectations. And they have provided the nativesfrom Kaiser Wilhelm down to the villagers of Chichacestenangowith a detailed and itemized list of what is expected of them and when. These are the up-to- date scripts for actors on the tourists stage.”
—Daniel J. Boorstin (b. 1914)
“We saw the machinery where murderers are now executed. Seven have been executed. The plan is better than the old one. It is quietly done. Only a few, at the most about thirty or forty, can witness [an execution]. It excites nobody outside of the list permitted to attend. I think the time for capital punishment has passed. I would abolish it. But while it lasts this is the best mode.”
—Rutherford Birchard Hayes (18221893)
“Unhand me, gentlemen.
By heaven, Ill make a ghost of him that lets me!”
—William Shakespeare (15641616)
“What youth or maiden conspires with the wild luxuriant beauty of Nature? She flourishes most alone, far from the towns where they reside.”
—Henry David Thoreau (18171862)
“I am persuaded that the people of the world have no grievances, one against the other. The hopes and desires of a man who tills the soil are about the same whether he lives on the banks of the Colorado or on the banks of the Danube.”
—Lyndon Baines Johnson (19081973)