Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1889-06-28
DEAD COLORADO towns.
Deserted villages That Were Once Alive
with a Bristling Population.

Deserted villages That Were Once Alive
with a Bristling Population.
The other day representative of The
Republican was on a Rio Grande
train when the brakeman yelled out In
stentorian tones:
"Cleora."
On looking out of the window only
two houses could be seen.
What change time had wrought
In June of 1879 this same town was
by far the largest place between Canon
City and Leadville. Almost every con-
ceivable branch of business was repre-
scented, and in most of them there was
active competition. Houses were go
ing up as if by magic, and lumber
commanded almost fabulous price.
Saloons were found in almost every
block, and dance halls were scattered
about in profusion. But month later
the town concluded to move, and q
few weeks later the majority of the
residents had taken up their perma-
nent abode in what is now the flour
ishing town of Salida.
Colorado has many places with a
history something similar to that of
Cleora, which, by the way, was named
in honor of the belle of the Arkansas
valley, Miss Cleora Boyles.
Rollinsville, near Caribou, was a
booming place in 1871, and town lots
were at a premium. Hundreds of
people were proud to call it their
home, and it was thought to be found
ed upon a rock. Today the rock is
there, but the population has fled to the
four winds.
"How is that town of Iona on the
Rio Grande river getting ona" said a
gentleman the other day who left the
state in 1874. II visited it just before
I left the territory, and l thought it
would likely make good place..
Jack rabbits have been jumping
through the remaining adobe build
ings for years.
Kit Carson had a population of al
most $1,000 people in 1869, and the Pc
cularity about them was that the great
majority of them resided IN dugouts.
When the railroad pushed on to Den
yer the following year, the residents
of Kit Carson headed the procession.
Sunshine in 1875 had population
of several thousand, while today there
is only q handful Of people there.
Buckskin Joe and Hall Valley in
Park county were once hourishing
places, but about all left of them is
their name.
Weston tried to put on airs in 1879,
at which time there were about 5000
people there The postoffice still re-
mains, as do one or two stores.
Along the old stage road between
Leadville and Aspen, at what was
known as Independence in 1880 and
for a few years thereafter, not a single
soul is now living. Hundreds of de-
serted houses are standing tenantless,
and some of them are quite preten
tious. A newspaper was once pub
lished in the corporate limits of the
city, and the arm of the Washington
hand press on which it was printed is
now sticking out of the office window
The proprietor was too much disgust
ed to take it away.
There was great excitement at Bo
nanza, in Saguache county, in 1882. a
daily paper was published there by w
b. Mckinney, now of The Pueblo
Press, and it was a good, one, too
; Every thing doomed except the mines
and the tenderfeet pronounced it an
other Leadville. Four thousand PEG
= pie almost broke their necks to ge
there, and of all that number not {
, hundred now remain.
} There are many other places in Col
orado with histories similar to thu
, towns mentioned. Some of them were
killed by the onward march of rail
: roads and others because the mines
: around about did not have the valu,
} with which they We're credited.
yer Republican.