Chalk Creek Parking Lot
Welcome to St ElmoI am gonna be your guide through the history of Colorado mining life and especially St. Elmo, Colorado. Please be advised that all of the buildings in St. Elmo are private property so don’t go wandering off the beaten path or looking in windows of private homes. Make sure you scroll through all of the pictures at the top of the screen in every marked location.When going to the next marker, click on the balloon to get to the content and photos.There was life in this part of Colorado long before it was called Colorado. Chalk Creek was a rich hunting area for the Ute Indians and other tribes and the mountain streams and lakes were full of life long before a drop of gold or silver was ever found. In the 1870s, miners began to replace the Indians when gold and silver were found in the area. Silver was first found in 1870 by Dr. Abner in the Chalk Creek area where eventually the Mary Murphy Mine was located.The Mary Murphy Mine was the principal gold mine of the Chalk Creek mining district of Chaffee County, Colorado, United States, near St. Elmo, Colorado.The Mary Murphy Mine operated continuously from 1870 to 1925, and produced 220 thousand ounces of gold, worth $4.4 million then (or about $180,000,000 in 2008), plus considerable silver, lead, and zinc. The area sprung several “Boom towns” such as Iron City, -------------- and of course St Elmo. St Elmo has survived as the best preserved town in the area.Colorado has over 1,500 ghost towns, although visible remains of only about 640 still exist.Most Colorado ghost towns were abandoned for the following reasons:· Mining towns were abandoned when the mines closed; many due to the devaluation of silver in 1893.· Mill towns were abandoned when the mining towns they serviced closed.· Farming towns on the eastern plains were often deserted due to rural depopulation.· Coal towns were abandoned when the coal (or the need for it) ran out.· Stage stops were abandoned when the railroad came through.· Rail stops were deserted when the railroad changed routes or abandoned the spurs.Chalk Creek is a 27.3-mile-long (43.9 km)[2] river flowing east from the Collegiate Peaks mountain range in Chaffee County, Colorado. Mount Antero borders the southern side of the river, while Mount Princeton borders the northern side. The headwaters of the river are located at the Continental Divide. The river empties into the Arkansas River at the town of Nathrop, Colorado.The river is named after the magnificent white kaolinite cliffs that stand at the entrance to the Chalk Creek valley, and are a result of hot spring deposits. These white cliffs are visible for miles in all directions, and stand in stark contrast to the otherwise wooded surrounding mountains. Stands of aspen trees and evergreens of various species surround the river for its entire length. A lot of things changed when silver was struck but I will tell you more of that as we walk.If you turn around and look to the left you will see where the old smelting plant used to be. Once the minerals came down from the mines, they had to be smelted to get the useful elements out of the ore.Smelting is a process of applying heat to ore in order to extract a base metal. It is a form of extractive metallurgy. It is used to extract many metals from their ores, including silver, iron, copper, and other base metals.
Pawnee Mill Stable and Blacksmith Shop
Grab your mule and walk on over to the big building that looks like a blacksmith shop. That’s because it was a blacksmith shop. If you peek through the windows you can see a lot of old stuff that was in there years ago, but in its heyday this was a busy place. At the Pawnee Mill Stable and Blackcksmith Shop you would get your wagon fixed, your wagon wheel replaced, your buggy tuned up and your horses shod. This place kept the food, materials and the prospectors moving around this here valley.This building has been restored by many kind donations to the St. Elmo Historical Society. We could use your help to continue this work and there will collection stations for you to help out.
The Ghost Town Bed and Breakfast
When you look at this building you would think it is old, but it was actually built by Chuck and Sharon Cole in _____ . Chuck is quite the scavenger and the building is made up of old parts and pieces from all over Colorado and beyond. This is a private business, so please don’t walk on their property or sit on their porch. The B and B is the only place in town to get a room and a meal and the hospitality is amazing! They only have 3 bedrooms so make sure you book way ahead.Now right next door is the most popular stop on the tour, Chipmunk city. The hillside is covered with chipmunks, ground squirrels, and attracts a lot of birds as well. Why? It could be because of the sunflower seeds that the tourists give them.From xxx to xxx, the owners of the store up the street (Annabelle Stark of Starks Store) fed the critters for years and the animals would gather when she walked out the door. When the old store closed, the feeding moved down to the present location directly across from the Miner’s Exchange. You can purchase sunflower seeds at our next stop as well as get a cold drink and a snack. For the next location, make certain that you press the #4 balloon and not #15. They are next to each other.
The Miners Exchange
The miners exchange is the only surviving business in an original structure. Chris and ______ the owners are a wealth of information about St Elmo. You can get a snack, a cold drink, a souveneer, (The only St Elmo T shirts, caps, etc) and some unique antiques at the shop next door. You can also make a donation to the historical society right at the counter.You can step right outside to purchase some sunflower seeds to feed the chipmunks and enjoy the hundreds of humming birds that the store feeds with their nector on the front porch.The next stop is to the right of the miner's exchange and is now an antique store but at this spot was the longest standing bar and dance hall in St Elmo. Pat Hurley’s Saloon.
The Old Mercantile
Let me remind you again that all of the houses in St Elmo are private property so be polite and be careful whose windows you look in. You are liable to find somebody in their drawers.The next stop has been many things. It started out as a hotel in 18?? And was burned to the ground in one of the many fires in St Elmos History. It was rebuilt as a Mercantile in 18—right on top of the ashes of the hotel fire, This caused a great deal of problems for the current owners Jim and Linda Latimer who have had to lift the building and replace the support beams with beams that they took out of a local mine. The old beams had been rotted out by the acid that was in the ash.This building still has a two story outhouse (not used) around the back. The second story was for when the first story outhouse would get covered up with snow. 6 to 8 ft drifts are nothing unusual to St. Elmo so this was a back up plan so the one of the guests wouldn’t have to spend his winter in the privy .Look for the picture of the brass band. Now step off of the sidewalk and look to the left and you will see the same background as in that photo. A great look at Maumee circa 1890's.
View of Main Street and Old Maumee
If you step off of the sidewalk and look to the left, you will see a fenced-in area that formerly hosted businesses on Main Street.Below is a street shot of that same view in 1890 with the local brass band playing in the street. This postcard shows Mt. Maumee.All of these stores and businesses were burned down in the fire of 19--. Notice the firewall to the right that saved the few building on that side of the street. The building next to the firewall that looks like a warehouse is the only structure that survived on that side of the street.
American House Parlor
This building is the official museum of the St Elmo Historical society. It resides in a rebuilt version of the American Hotel Lobby that was on this site. You can see by the photo attached that it was the largest hotel in town. It was rebuilt in 2019 with lumber from the original hotel, this is probably as much of it as will be built back.
The Starks store and Comfort Hotel
Street scape St Elmo
Every boom town exhibited the same progression of growth. Commuities would start out as a Tent Town with settlers living in tents and wagons to stave off the elements. Then log cabins would start to pop up and stoves would start to arrive. Many of the log cabins would burn down and the settlers would simplymove on and build another. About the same time, outhouses started popping up behind the cabins.When the town got big enough to warrant a saw mill, the planks became available to be used to build houses and businesses. Many of the businesses would build second story false fronts to give the appearance of the business being bigger than it was. You can see this on the Mercantile building on Main Street. Sometimes the towns would also begin to put down plank sidewalks to keep customers from walking in the very dirty streets.A fourth stage of development was homes being built from stone. Stone would usually be used first on the chimney stacks and then eventually move to the whole home.A fith stage of home deveopment was brick homes which were the most solid and longest lasting.Unfortunately, St .Elmo never made it past the third stage of plank homes. You see a few stone fireplaces but no stone or brick homes. This is one of the reasons why fire has been such a devistating enemy to the town. The town is very sensitive to fire so please no smoking or burning of any type in the area. As you walk the streets of St Elmo you will see the names of the original families and the date that the houses were built on wooden placards.
St. Elmo Town Hall & Jail
Both the Town Hall and jail serve as well-preserved examples of governmental buildings erected in the Colorado mountain mining camp in 1880. The buildings and their furnishings vividly recall their civic and penal functions. Architecturally, the hall with its belfry clearly denotes its vote as center of governmental authority and civic identity, recalling similar buildings in other camps, now vanished or replaced.Unfortunately the original structure burned along with several other buildings in 19__. The historical society immediately launched a plan to rebuild the building EXACTLY as it was. This was accomplished and the building was reopened in ____.Every mining town had at least two notable buildings: a saloon and a jail. Many miners spent a night behind bars, recovering from their time in the saloon. The jail had no windows and no mattresses. You can still see the old ankle shakles hanging on the wall. You were not going far in these.The town center kept records and deeds and housed the sherriffs, which there were a few of. One had to sue to get paid so the job was not a great carreer opportunity. Usually on Monday mornings, the mine foreman showed up to bail a few of his miners out of jail so they could go to work.
The Bridge at Chalk Creek and the Road to Tin Cup
The bridge across Chalk creek because it leads to the roads up the mountains, across the contenental divide and the only roads to many of the mines. This is a picture of citizens circa 1890 at the same spot where the bridge stands today. The bridge will take you to Tin Cup which is on the Cumberland Pass but you will need a heavy duty vehical to get over the mountains to get there. This is not a road for "city cars". _____
The original drug store
This building was the entrepenial idea of _____ to build the first drug store in St Elmo. Unfortunately he mis-judged where main street was going to develop and ended up on the wrong side of the street. He ended up renting out his building and renting space on the main street.
St Elmo School House
The St. Elmo Schoolhouse is a well-preserved illustration of the wooden frame, one-room school built in many mining camps of Colorado during the 1870s and 1880s. Few other mining camp schoolhouses in the region have survived with so much of their historical details intact. It is also the best preserved and most substantial building surviving from St. Elmo's first boom of 1880-85.It was often used as a church on Sundays as well. Look inside to see the way it really was in a small town school.
Public Out House
This is the only public restroom in St Elmo so please use it well. If you don't like the smell, don't be tempted to go outside of the outside. One of our locals who lives close has a bullhorn and knows how to use it. Because of water limitations in the area, we can't have running water in our outhouse so grab some hand sanitizer. Be glad we have one!
Return to the Miners Exchange
Get a snack, buy some food for the chimpmunks and make a donation to the historical society for future projects. We need your help to continue the work of restoration.
