It was abandoned in 1984 by order of the environmental protection agency because of toxic pollutants, including contamination of the ground water, as well as unprofitability of the mines. The author has included a presentday picture taken from the same angle. Mountain gems include aspen and breckenridge and growing international cities include colorado springs and denver. Ghost towns of the colorado rockies follows a unique format which adds to the interest and value of the book. Excerpts from the fourteen book series on ghost towns and mining camps in colorado. This is an incomplete list of ghost towns in colorado, a state of the united states. The examples from the book that ive gone to see are pretty much ghostfree small mountain towns filled with more than a few current nonghost residents. This list of current cities, towns, unincorporated communities, counties, and other recognized places in the u. Colorado towns top cities, towns, and communities in co to visit. The best small towns in colorado moon travel guides. He is a regular contributor to arizona highways magazine and frequently leads travel groups on ghosttown tours. You can also access biographies of notable coloradoans here and hispano. Photographer john drew, along with his wife susan, teamed up with varney for ghost.
Longtime ghosttown hunter philip varney is the author of six ghosttown guides, including ghost towns of colorado, ghost towns of northern california, and ghost towns of the pacific northwest. Photography coffee table books john fielder colorado photo. Guide to ghost towns in colorado ashcroft ghost town. A kids guide to colorado mining towns by sandra hageboeck and sandra. Gazetteer of cities and towns, published by the colorado state planning division for inclusion in the. Before i could get the books into book stores, it needed to be more than fifty pages. These photographs along with very good directions to each town, make it easy to tell if you are in the right place. In it he has photographs of what the town looked like in its heyday and also what was left of the town in 1968. During the great gold rush in the second half of the 19th century, settlers headed west in search of their fortune. For an alloutdoors adventure, try moon colorado camping.
He devoted much of his life to collecting information on the pioneer days. Ghost town remnants of colorado s mining days carolyn bowron. The definition of ghost town for the purpose of this book seems to be a town that was once larger than it currently is that has an abandoned building or two somewhere near it. The remains of an old cabin at dyersville, colorado. List of incorporated cities and towns in colorado colorado. It has gone through many revisions, but the original stories remained the same. Colorado is a state filled with a rich, wild west history, which can be easily experienced with a trip to a ghost town. Founded in 1886 during the colorado silver boom, the town later became a center of lead and zinc mining in colorado, centered around the nowflooded eagle mine. He has written books on ghost towns in arizona and in southern california. He works for the loveland reporterherald and has two weekly columns. Rather it is a directory of towns, and compilation of known information about those towns. Guide to the colorado ghost towns and mining camps ohio. In 1987, i published the first in a series called the adventures of pass patrol. Remains of the bassick silver mine, querida, colorado.