Gothic, Colorado 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 ...
in the
American state 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 ...
. It is in the
West Elk Mountains.
Now, it is not a true ghost town, as in the warmer months it is the high-altitude biological field station of the
Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory, near
Crested Butte.
Gothic's history
In 1879, an explosion at the nearby Sylvanite Mine rocked the Gothic area. The blast shot strands of "wire-
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. ...
." Soon, prospectors arrived, and Gothic exploded.
Getting its name from
Gothic Mountain, Gothic was incorporated on July 17, 1879, a
mining town.
Gothic was a silver
boomtown in the 1880s, and had over 100 residents and a post office. Also discovered was
galena,
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 ...
,
ruby silver ore, and
pyrite.
In 1880, former US president
Ulysses S. Grant visited.
Horace Tabor put money in the Elk Mountain Bonanza newspaper. Reality seemed ideal.
Silver prices crashed with the
Sherman Silver Purchase Act in 1893. By 1914, town had one resident. From the initial building boom, only the
saloon still stands.
Over a decade since Gothic had been declared a ghost town, the land was purchased by one Dr. John Johnson. It was converted into the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory. In the summer, around 160 live there,
and
billy barr, who prefers lower-case, has been there since 1973, and has done important
environmental observations.
See also
*
Bibliography of Colorado
*
Billy Barr (naturalist)
*
Geography of Colorado
*
History of Colorado
*
Index of Colorado-related articles
*
List of Colorado-related lists
**
List of ghost towns in Colorado
*
Outline of Colorado
External links and references
Current weather in and round GothicMuch historyThings to do in GothicUncovercolorado.com on GothicA modern map of Gothic, complete with the Rocky Mountain Biological LaboratorySome photosThe Colorado Ghost Town Of Gothic Has A History Thanks To This Century-Old Laboratory. Now It Has A Future, Too
References
Colorado Mining Boom
Ghost towns in Colorado
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