Chalk Creek Parking Lot

Welcome to St Elmo

I 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.