COLORADO GHOST TOWNS/SITES: THEN AND NOW

 The Colorado Ghost Towns/Sites packages features a transparent overlay printed from a modern Colorado road system and placed over the four sections of the 1900 map of Colorado.  The purpose is to show the changes in the state over a period of approximately 100 years.  Place names may appear on the historical maps but may be absent on the current map. The reader should note that some of the early locations were moved from time to time while others changed their names or simply failed.  The reader should be reminded that some of the early place names might have been a post office operated in a ranch house or an early stage station as well as town sites.  Some locations were moved from time to time while others changed their names or simply failed.

Accompanying text with anecdotal stories from the history of each of the four sections of the state appears on the reverse sides of maps #3-6.   For example, the site of Tin Cup located in eastern Gunnison County , east of Jack’s Cabin shown on the railroad to Creed on the Colorado 1900 SW section map, was a wild little settlement.  it went through eight marshals in a short period of time.  Four cemeteries were required to accommodate the demand.  one was dubbed the “Boot Division” that was to care for those who died with their boots on.

While perusing and studying the maps in this collection, readers should be reminded of the limitations of early surveyors who most likely used primitive equipment and limited cartographic knowledge.  All maps in the Ghost Town series are reproduced from authentic documents on file from various archival collections such as the National Archives, Library of Congress and state libraries.