St. Elmo - Ghost town in Colorado
Tuesday, January 06, 2009
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St. Elmo is a ghost town located in Chaffee County, Colorado, United States. Founded in 1880, St. Elmo lies in the heart of the Sawatch Range, 20 miles southwest of Buena Vista. To this day it is one of Colorado's most preserved ghost towns. Nearly 2,000 people settled in this town when mining for gold and silver became evident. The mining industry started to decline in the early 1920s, and in 1922 the train discontinued service. There are currently 8 year-round residents in this area.
St. Elmo was originally named Forest City but was later changed because of the multitude of towns with the same name. The name St. Elmo was chosen by Griffith Evans, one of the founding fathers, who was reading a novel with the same title.
The town was at its pinnacle in the 1890s. St. Elmo had everything a town during the late 1800s needed. It included a telegraph office, general store, town hall, 5 hotels, saloons, dancing halls, a newspaper office, and a school house. The Denver, South Park and Pacific Railroad line ran through St. Elmo. There were 150 patented mine claims within the area. The majority of the people who lived in St. Elmo worked at the Mary Murphy, Teresa C., The Molly or the Pioneer Mines. The Mary Murphy Mine was the largest and most successful mine in the area. The Mary Murphy Mine detained over $60,000,000 worth of gold while it was in use. While the other mines eventually shut down, the Mary Murphy Mine continued until the railroad shutdown in 1922.
Once the mining industry shut down, St. Elmo drastically declined in population. Miners searched elsewhere for gold and silver and the business district in St. Elmo shut down as well. Few people continued to live in the town. Postal service discontinued in 1952 once St. Elmo's postman passed away.
Even though St. Elmo is considered a ghost town it is still inhabited. Tourism brings many people to the St. Elmo area every year. The old mining roads are now used as jeep and four-wheeler trails. There are also many good places to fish along Chalk Creek, which runs through St. Elmo. The general store is open during the summer, where tourists can rent four-wheelers and buy other items they have for sale. Many of the buildings are still intact. However, the town hall and a few other buildings were burnt down in 2002. Buena Vista Heritage is rebuilding the town hall to its original state.
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