Ironton, Colorado (7575397600)
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Ironton is an
extinct 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 ...
located in
Ouray County Ouray County () is a county located in the U.S. state of Colorado. As of the 2020 Census, the population was 4,874. The county seat is Ouray. Because of its rugged mountain topography, Ouray County is also known as the "Switzerland of America" ...
,
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 ...
, United States. It lay south of the present town of Ouray, adjacent to the sites Guston and Red Mountain Town, fellow ghost towns. During the 1880s and 1890s, Ironton formed part of the Red Mountain Pass mining district, the second largest
silver mining Silver mining is the extraction of silver by mining. Silver is a precious metal and holds high economic value. Because silver is often found in intimate combination with other metals, its extraction requires the use of complex technologies. In ...
district in Colorado. The Ironton post office operated from May 2, 1883, until August 2, 1920.


History

Ironton (also formerly named "Copper Glen") was built on flatter ground than surrounding towns. Settled sporadically through the 1870s and 1880s, a major period of settlement that solidified Ironton as a community saw roughly 300 structures begin construction during a three-week span. It was a staging area for supplies coming from Ouray. Ironton was a major transportation junction between Red Mountain Town and Ouray in addition to having some of its own mines. Ironton had a peak population of over 1000 and had two trains arriving daily from Silverton. There were many chain stores from the nearby cities of Ouray and Silverton on the
Silverton Railroad The Silverton Railroad, now defunct, was an American Narrow gauge railways, narrow gauge railroad constructed between Silverton, Colorado, Silverton, Colorado and mining districts near Red Mountain Pass (San Juan Mountains), Red Mountain Pass ...
. This
narrow gauge A narrow-gauge railway (narrow-gauge railroad in the US) is a railway with a track gauge (distance between the rails) narrower than . Most narrow-gauge railways are between and . Since narrow-gauge railways are usually built with Minimum railw ...
railroad backed by noted financier
Otto Mears Otto Mears (May 3, 1840 – June 24, 1931) was a Colorado railroad builder and entrepreneur who played a major role in the early development of southwestern Colorado. Mears was known as the "Pathfinder of the San Juans" because of his roa ...
reached Ironton in 1889. Mears would later introduce
toll road A toll road, also known as a turnpike or tollway, is a public or private road for which a fee (or ''Toll (fee), toll'') is assessed for passage. It is a form of road pricing typically implemented to help recoup the costs of road construction and ...
s to the area, resulting in the "
Million Dollar Highway U.S. Route 550 (US 550) is a spur of U.S. Highway 50 that runs from Bernalillo, New Mexico to Montrose, Colorado in the western United States. The section from Silverton to Ouray is frequently called the Million Dollar Highway.
." The town lived into the first part of the 20th century but slowly faded as mining operations declined. The final resident of the town, Milton Larson, appeared as a contestant on the July 1, 1963, episode of '' I've Got A Secret'', with this as his secret. He died in the mid-1960s. The town site is still occasionally visited by tourists.


See also

*
Bibliography of Colorado This is a bibliography of the U.S. State of Colorado. __TOC__ General history * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *Sibley, George. ''Water Wranglers - The 75-Year History of the Colorado River District: A Story About the Embattled Co ...
*
Geography of Colorado The geography of the U.S. State of Colorado is diverse, encompassing rugged mountainous terrain, vast plains, desert lands, desert canyons, and mesas. Colorado is a landlocked U.S. state. In 1861, the United States Congress defined the boun ...
*
History of Colorado The region that is today the U.S. state of Colorado has been inhabited by Native Americans and their Paleoamerican ancestors for at least 13,500 years and possibly more than 37,000 years. The eastern edge of the Rocky Mountains was a major mi ...
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Index of Colorado-related articles This is an alphabetical list of articles related to the U.S. State of Colorado. 0–9 * .co.us – Internet second-level domain for the State of Colorado * 4 Corners ** 4 Corners Monument * 6th Principal Meridian * 10-mile Range * 10 ...
*
List of Colorado-related lists The following two master lists include links to lists related to the United States, U.S. Colorado, State of Colorado. #Colorado-related lists by topic #Alphabetical list of Colorado-related lists Colorado-related lists by topic General lists *Bib ...
**
List of ghost towns in Colorado This is a list of some notable ghost towns in the U.S. State of Colorado. A ghost town is a former community that now has no year-round residents or less than 1% of its peak population. Colorado has over 1,500 ghost towns, although visible remai ...
**
List of post offices in Colorado A list is a set of discrete items of information collected and set forth in some format for utility, entertainment, or other purposes. A list may be memorialized in any number of ways, including existing only in the mind of the list-maker, but ...
*
Outline of Colorado The following Outline (list), outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to the U.S. state of Colorado: Colorado – List of U.S. states and territories by population#State and territory rankings, 22nd most populous, the Lis ...


References


External links


State of Colorado

History Colorado
1883 establishments in Colorado Former populated places in Ouray County, Colorado Geography of Ouray County, Colorado Ghost towns in Colorado History of Colorado Mining communities in Colorado Populated places established in 1883 {{US-ghost-town-stub