Coalmont is an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...

and

U.S. Post Office The United States Postal Service (USPS), also known as the Post Office, U.S. Mail, or simply the Postal Service, is an independent agency of the executive branch of the United States federal government responsible for providing postal serv ...

in Jackson County,

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. __TOC__

History

The town is named for the open-pit

lignite coal Lignite (derived from Latin ''lignum'' meaning 'wood'), often referred to as brown coal, is a soft, brown, combustible sedimentary rock formed from naturally compressed peat. It has a carbon content around 25–35% and is considered the lowest ...

mines in the area, from which coal was shipped out on the

Union Pacific Railroad The Union Pacific Railroad is a Railroad classes, Class I freight-hauling railroad that operates 8,300 locomotives over routes in 23 U.S. states west of Chicago and New Orleans. Union Pacific is the second largest railroad in the United Stat ...

to the mainline at

Laramie, Wyoming Laramie () is a List of municipalities in Wyoming, city in and the county seat of Albany County, Wyoming, United States, known for its high elevation at , for its railroad history, and as the home of the University of Wyoming. The population wa ...

. The Coalmont, Colorado, post office operated from March 11, 1912, until December 21, 1983. The

Walden, Colorado Walden is the Statutory Town that is the county seat, the most populous community, and the only incorporated municipality in Jackson County, Colorado, United States. It is situated in the center of a large open valley called North Park. Peo ...

, post office ( ZIP code 80480) now serves the area.

Mining history

Coalmont was a mining town associated with the production of coal from the Coalmont Coal District. In the Coalmont Coal District, commercial coal mining from the Coalmont Formation started in 1909 and continued until the close of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

when coal production ceased. Since then, the mines were inactive, until 1959 when a new open pit mine was opened and some coal was mined and sold in the Denver, Colorado area. However, coal mining ceased a year or two later and there has been no production of coal since that time, despite some coal prospecting in 1964 and 1965. The estimated coal production in 1941 was 1,438,355 tons, and the original reserves at 177,450,000 tons of subbituminous coal.Hail, W. J., Jr., I968. ''Geology of southwestern North Park and vicinity, Colorado.'' ''U.S. Geologival Survey Bulletin'', no. 1257, 119 pp.Erdmann, C. E., 1941. ''Preliminary report on the geology of the Coalmont district, Jackson County, Colorado.'' ''US Geological Survey open-file report'' no. 44-2, 207 pp.,

Geography

Coalmont is located at coordinates and elevation .

Climate

Spicer is a weather station roughly 6 miles (9.7 km) south of Coalmont, at an elevation of 8,385 ft (2,556 m). Spicer has a

subalpine climate The subarctic climate (also called subpolar climate, or boreal climate) is a continental climate with long, cold (often very cold) winters, and short, warm to cool summers. It is found on large landmasses, often away from the moderating effects of ...

(

Köppen Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Bernd Köppen (1951–2014), German pianist and composer * Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan * Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author ...

''Dfc''), bordering on a

humid continental climate A humid continental climate is a climatic region defined by Russo-German climatologist Wladimir Köppen in 1900, typified by four distinct seasons and large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot (and often humid) summers, and cold ...

(

''Dfb'').

Geology

Coalmont, Colorado, is the type locality of the Coalmont Formation.

References

External links

State of Colorado

History Colorado
{{authority control 1911 establishments in Colorado Former populated places in Jackson County, Colorado Geography of Jackson County, Colorado Ghost towns in Colorado History of Colorado Mining communities in Colorado Populated places established in 1911 Unincorporated communities in Jackson County, Colorado