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All the United States Colorado Aspen Ashcroft Townsite

Ashcroft Townsite

Silver in the hills led to the speedy creation of this boom town and a lack of it saw the town abandoned nearly as quickly.

Aspen, Colorado

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Night sky over the Ashcroft Hotel   David Crane
Night sky over the Ashcroft Hotel   David Crane
A small cabin surrounded by colorful aspens in Ashcroft   David Crane
Four buildings of the Ashcroft Townsite   David Crane
Ashcroft Hotel   David Crane
Looking out a barred window and door of the Ascroft Hotel   David Crane
Looking out the front door of the Ashcroft Hotel   David Crane
Overlooking many of the restored buildings of the Ashcroft Townsite.   David Crane
The Blue Mirror Saloon   David Crane
Introductory signage   David Crane
One of many helpful kiosks along the path   David Crane
One of few buildings not restored; this is the original condition   David Crane
5-8-22   Darrell Powers / Atlas Obscura User
5-8-22   Darrell Powers / Atlas Obscura User
5-8-22   Darrell Powers / Atlas Obscura User
5-8-22   Darrell Powers / Atlas Obscura User
5-8-22   Darrell Powers / Atlas Obscura User
5-8-22   Darrell Powers / Atlas Obscura User
5-8-22   Darrell Powers / Atlas Obscura User
5-8-22   Darrell Powers / Atlas Obscura User
5-8-22   Darrell Powers / Atlas Obscura User
5-8-22   Darrell Powers / Atlas Obscura User
5-8-22   Darrell Powers / Atlas Obscura User
5-8-22   Darrell Powers / Atlas Obscura User
5-8-22   Darrell Powers / Atlas Obscura User
5-8-22   Darrell Powers / Atlas Obscura User
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About

Mining precious metals seems to produce ghost towns almost as though they are a natural byproduct of the process, and the history of ghost town, Ashcroft, Colorado is a telling example of just why that is.  

In 1880 two prospectors, Charles B. Culver, and W.F. Coxhead, discovered silver in the Castle Creek Valley. In his greedy furor Coxhead promoted the area as Castle Forks City (changed to Ashcroft in 1882) back in the mining town of Leadville, hoping to bring other prospectors and businesspeople to the area. Meanwhile Culver recruited 23 other prospectors on site and when Coxhead returned, the 25 of them laid out city streets and constructed a courthouse in just two weeks. 

By 1885, six hotels and twenty saloons had sprung up, and the town was now home to over 3,500 people. However, as with so many towns in the boom times of Western mining, things declined rapidly from there. The early promise of a railroad passing from Ashcroft to Crested Butte never came about. In addition, the ore deposits, initially turning out 14,000 ounces of silver per ton, turned out to be shallow and were quickly depleted. 1884 had produced another rich ore vain in nearby Aspen, and by the end of 1885 only 100 residents remained in Ashcroft. Into the 20th Century, only a few men stayed in the dwindling town as mine work thinned out. Mostly they fished, hunted, and drank at the local bar.

The 1930s briefly brought new life to the town as winter sports rose in popularity and the Highland-Bavarian Lodge was built as a planned ski resort. After one of the founders of the resort died in combat in World War II, the town was leased to the U.S. Military, seeing use from the 10th Mountain Division for mountaineering training. After the end of the war, it was given over the the U.S. Forest Service.

Ashcroft saw limited activity from then on, until 1974, when the Aspen Historical Society took interest. They succeeded in having Ashcroft added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1975 and it remains as a terrifically preserved ghost town and cautionary reminder of the fleeting rewards of greed.

Related Tags

Ghost Towns Gold Rush

Know Before You Go

Drive about 11 Miles South on Castle Creek Road from the round-a-bout in Aspen. There are signs.

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Edited By

Darrell Powers

  • Darrell Powers

Published

October 8, 2014

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Sources
  • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashcroft,_Colorado
  • http://aspenhistory.org/tours/ashcroft-ghost-town/
  • http://www.examiner.com/article/history-hike-aspen-s-ashcroft-ghost-town
Ashcroft Townsite
Ashcroft
Aspen, Colorado, 81611
United States
39.053601, -106.79976
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