As I've stated in an earlier post, I love ghost towns. The history...the mystery - I just can't get enough. Our latest ghost town expedition led us to the towns of Iron City and St. Elmo....and a few others where there was little left of their existence.
"Iron City, a smelter town that lived for only two years, has disappeared, but its cemetery remains, used long after the town was dead." There are over 80 graves in this cemetery. At the entrance, this wooden sign notes all who rest in peace there as well as the causes of death. (The sign was posted by June Sheputts in 1992.)
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| "Bearing Cross" |
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| "Cross on Gate" |
St. Elmo is your 'classic' ghost town. Most of the town's 40 structures are privately owned. It's more touristy than rustic, and because of this there is quite a lot that has been preserved. "Silver and gold strikes in the Chalk Creek Mining District early in 1880 brought hundreds to St. Elmo......The failure of one mine after another and the closing of the Alpine Tunnel in 1910 began the decline of St. Elmo."
The general store in St. Elmo, the Miners Exchange, is a contemporary store full of souvenoir items and food for the ever-hungry hummingbirds and chipmunks.
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| "General Store Feeders" |
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| "St. Elmo Hummingbird" |
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| "Alvin" |
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| "St. Elmo Main Street" |
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| "St. Elmo Post Office" |
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| "Mountainous St. Elmo" |
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| "St. Elmo Church" |
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| "St. Elmo Silhouette" |
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| "Stark Bros. Store" |
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| "St. Elmo Schoolhouse" |
Reference quotes from Philip Varney's Ghost Towns of Colorado.
Links for photos on As Eye See It website:
Iron City Cemetery:
St. Elmo:
Hummingbirds and Chipmunk:
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