Saint Elmo is a

ghost town A ghost town, deserted city, extinct town, or abandoned city is an abandoned settlement, usually one that contains substantial visible remaining buildings and infrastructure such as roads. A town often becomes a ghost town because the economi ...

Chaffee County, Colorado Chaffee County is a county located in the U.S. state of Colorado. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 19,476. The county seat is Salida, Colorado, Salida. History Chaffee County has a confusing origin. Between ...

, United States. Founded in 1880, Saint Elmo lies in the heart of the

Sawatch Range The Sawatch Range or Saguache RangeThe place name "Saguache” is pronounced “Sawatch” . This name derives from the Ute language noun "''sawup''" meaning "sand dunes" and is spelled using the Spanish language version of this name "Saguach ...

, southwest of Buena Vista and sits at an elevation of . Nearly 2,000 people settled in this town when mining for

gold Gold is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol Au (from Latin ) and atomic number 79. In its pure form, it is a brightness, bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile metal. Chemically, gold is a transition metal ...

and

silver Silver is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Ag () and atomic number 47. A soft, whitish-gray, lustrous transition metal, it exhibits the highest electrical conductivity, thermal conductivity, and reflectivity of any metal. ...

started. The mining industry started to decline in the early 1920s, and in 1922 the railroad discontinued service. The community is listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

as the Saint Elmo

Historic District A historic district or heritage district is a section of a city which contains historic building, older buildings considered valuable for historical or architectural reasons. In some countries or jurisdictions, historic districts receive legal p ...

. It is one of

Colorado Colorado is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States. It is one of the Mountain states, sharing the Four Corners region with Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. It is also bordered by Wyoming to the north, Nebraska to the northeast, Kansas ...

's best preserved

ghost towns A ghost town, deserted city, extinct town, or abandoned city is an abandoned settlement, usually one that contains substantial visible remaining buildings and infrastructure such as roads. A town often becomes a ghost town because the economi ...

History

Saint Elmo was originally named ''Forest City'' but was later changed because of the multitude of towns with the same name. The name ''Saint 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 peak in the 1890s, when it included a

telegraph Telegraphy is the long-distance transmission of messages where the sender uses symbolic codes, known to the recipient, rather than a physical exchange of an object bearing the message. Thus flag semaphore is a method of telegraphy, whereas ...

office, general store, town hall, five hotels,

saloons Saloon may refer to: Buildings and businesses * One of the bars in a traditional British pub * An alternative name for a bar (establishment) * Western saloon, a historical style of American bar * The Saloon, a bar and music venue in San Francis ...

, dancing halls, a newspaper office, and a school house. The town's first and longest running newspaper, the ''St. Elmo Mountaineer'', began reporting on the town's mining activities in August 1880 and ran until 1895. The

Denver, South Park and Pacific Railroad The Denver, South Park, and Pacific Railroad (later called the Denver, Leadville and Gunnison Railway) was a historic narrow gauge railroad that operated in Colorado in the western United States in the late 19th century. The railroad opened up ...

line ran through Saint Elmo. There were 150 patented mine claims within the area. The majority of the people who lived in Saint 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 recovered over $60,000,000 worth of gold while it was in operation. While the other mines eventually shut down, the Mary Murphy Mine continued to operate until the railroad was abandoned in 1922.Saint Elmo, Colorado - A Photo Gallery
/ref> Once the mining industry shut down, Saint Elmo drastically declined in population.

Miner A miner is a person who extracts ore, coal, chalk, clay, or other minerals from the earth through mining. There are two senses in which the term is used. In its narrowest sense, a miner is someone who works at the rock face (mining), face; cutt ...

s searched elsewhere for

and

and the business district in Saint Elmo closed down as well. Few people continued to live in the town. Postal service was discontinued in 1952 after the death of Saint Elmo's postmaster.

Saint Elmo today

Saint Elmo is considered a ghost town, though it is still inhabited. Many tourists visit Saint Elmo, and the former mining roads are now used as off-road vehicle trails. There are places to fish along

Chalk Creek Chalk Creek is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed March 31, 2011 river flowing east from the Collegiate Peaks mountain range in Chaffee County, Colorado. Mount Antero ...

, which runs through Saint Elmo, but the creek is all private property. There is a campground next door (Iron City Campground) that has public access in a few spots if you are looking to fish. The general store is open during the summer, when tourists can rent off-road vehicles or buy items. Many buildings are extant, though the town hall and a few other buildings were destroyed by fire in 2002. Buena Vista Heritage is rebuilding the town hall to its original state. Due to many break-ins and vandalisms, though there are few inhabitants of St. Elmo, Colorado, they are fiercely protective of the history and their neighborhood, and request that any and all visitors treat the town with consideration and respect.

Gallery

File:St. Elmo ghost town.jpg, Saint Elmo File:St. Elmo ghost town - the town hall and jail.jpg, The town hall and jail File:St. Elmo ghost town gasoline filling station.jpg, Gasoline filling station File:St. Elmo ghost town general store.jpg, General store File:House with bay window, Main Street, St. Elmo, Colorado.jpg, House with bay window

References

{{authority control Ghost towns in Colorado Former populated places in Chaffee County, Colorado Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Colorado Tourist attractions in Chaffee County, Colorado National Register of Historic Places in Chaffee County, Colorado Populated places on the National Register of Historic Places in Colorado

History

Saint Elmo today

Gallery

See also

References