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Unique Ghost Towns and Mountain Spots
Forty-two of Colorado’s romance-packed high country towns have their stories told with old and new photos, history, and maps.
96 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1967
15 people want to read
About the author
Caroline Bancroft
44 books4 followersA third-generation Coloradan, Caroline Bancroft was born into Colorado’s “upper-crust” society. Describing Denver’s history as “alive and kicking,” she was also describing herself. Known for her high-handedness and eccentricities, Bancroft spent time in the Ziegfield Follies and was once a cruise ship teacher before she wrote for the then-scandalous Denver Post. Her determination and interest in Colorado history led her to research and publish nine booklets on the topic. Armed with a master’s degree in history from the University of Denver, she focused primarily on Central City, Leadville, and the Tabor family. In her later years, Bancroft traveled to escape health problems. She was struck with cancer four times and tuberculosis three times and suffered blindness for one full year.
Bancroft is most famous for her original work on Colorado history, on which the opera The Ballad of Baby Doe and the musical The Unsinkable Molly Brown were based. Her works include Silver Queen: The Fabulous Story of Baby Doe Tabor (1950); Famous Aspen: Its Fabulous Past—Its Lively Present (1954); The Brown Place in Denver (1955); The Unsinkable Mrs. Brown: S.S. Titantic Heroine (1956); Gulch of Gold: A History of Central City (1958); Colorful Colorado (1959); Tabor’s Matchless Mines and Lusty Leadville (1960); Unique Ghost Towns and Mountain Spots (1961); Colorado’s Lost Gold Mine (with Mary B. Wills, 1965); The Unsinkable Molly Brown Cookbook (1966); Two Burros of Fairplay: Morsels of History for Young and Old (1968); and Trail Ridge Country: Estes Park and Grand Lake (1969). She also wrote a play for the television biographical series of the American Telephone and Telegraph Company, produced by the American Broadcasting Company network in 1956–1957. She wrote articles for the New York Evening Post, New York Herald Tribune, New York Times, Town and Country, Woman’s Home Companion, Western Folklore Quarterly, Colorado Westerner’s Brand Book , and other magazines and newspapers.
From Colorado Women's Hall of Fame:
http://www.cogreatwomen.org/bancroft.htm
Bancroft is most famous for her original work on Colorado history, on which the opera The Ballad of Baby Doe and the musical The Unsinkable Molly Brown were based. Her works include Silver Queen: The Fabulous Story of Baby Doe Tabor (1950); Famous Aspen: Its Fabulous Past—Its Lively Present (1954); The Brown Place in Denver (1955); The Unsinkable Mrs. Brown: S.S. Titantic Heroine (1956); Gulch of Gold: A History of Central City (1958); Colorful Colorado (1959); Tabor’s Matchless Mines and Lusty Leadville (1960); Unique Ghost Towns and Mountain Spots (1961); Colorado’s Lost Gold Mine (with Mary B. Wills, 1965); The Unsinkable Molly Brown Cookbook (1966); Two Burros of Fairplay: Morsels of History for Young and Old (1968); and Trail Ridge Country: Estes Park and Grand Lake (1969). She also wrote a play for the television biographical series of the American Telephone and Telegraph Company, produced by the American Broadcasting Company network in 1956–1957. She wrote articles for the New York Evening Post, New York Herald Tribune, New York Times, Town and Country, Woman’s Home Companion, Western Folklore Quarterly, Colorado Westerner’s Brand Book , and other magazines and newspapers.
From Colorado Women's Hall of Fame:
http://www.cogreatwomen.org/bancroft.htm
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
December 14, 2017
First off, I have to confess that I picked this book solely for the 'U' in the title. I needed one for my spelling challenge. I had a different title selected but at over 400 pages, it intimidated me, since I have four more letters to go and I really want to finish this challenge this year.
Anyway, I thought it would be interesting to read a little about the history of a few (make that 42!) ghost or near-ghost towns in Colorado. And it was interesting, to a degree. But after a dozen or so little stories, they all seemed to run together. There are 'then and now' pictures and nice maps which helped, but I did end up skimming through most of the book. (By the way, the 'now' would be 1961, the first printing of this book. People must have liked it, the seventh printing was in 1973!)
I got distracted at first by wondering how many times the author would use the word 'unique' to describe the towns. I saw the pattern after the sixth town and gave up counting. Each place earned some form of that word at least once, for various reasons: one had a "pastoral prettiness", another was unique for once having a 300-volume library and not a single saloon. One was even unique for its mystery: the details of its history are lost.
The book was set up to be a travel guide. In a triangular space between Grand Junction, Durango, and Denver, various tours are described, labeled according to whichever modern town the adventurer can best use as a base to reach the ghost towns. This would be a priceless item on a trip to Colorado, and would also appeal very much to anyone who is more interested in the history of that lovely state than I am.
In the preface to this book we learn that the author's grandfather was a Colorado pioneer and co-founder (and first president) of the Colorado Historical Society. And in the author's note before the book takes its first steps on the ghost town trail, Bancroft says this:
"But first, a word of warning: if after reading this booklet, you add one act of vandalism, or carelessly cast one burning cigarette to the winds, or messily leave a beer can in a crystal creek bed, the whole purpose of our publication has been defeated. We have written about ghost towns out of love of their dramatic past and a reverence for their present fragility. If you follow in our footsteps to these mountain spots, we entreat you to go in the same spirit."
That is not the royal we, she is referring to Daniel Peterson, the man who took the 'now' pictures featured throughout the book. Just thought I'd mention that. Bancroft was really not as snooty as this quote might make her sound!.
Wrapping up her tour book, the author says "There is sadness, as well as serenity and romantic nostalgia, hanging in the aura of these high-country towns." If anyone has ever been in a ghost town you can certainly understand this feeling. Just reading the short but bloody history of Lulu City gives one the shivers.
However, one place mentioned had a happier story. Does anyone remember the 1964 movie 'The Unsinkable Molly Brown' starring Debbie Reynolds? I saw it in theaters way back in the day and loved it. "Molly Brown" was actually Margaret Brown, a real woman who lived for some years in Stumptown, in its boom days when she was the wife of a mining engineer. Stumptown is one of the ghost towns in this book, and one of Caroline Bancroft's many other titles is The Unsinkable Mrs. Brown. As of today Project Gutenberg does not have that book listed, but maybe Someday they will. I would love to read it!
Anyway, I thought it would be interesting to read a little about the history of a few (make that 42!) ghost or near-ghost towns in Colorado. And it was interesting, to a degree. But after a dozen or so little stories, they all seemed to run together. There are 'then and now' pictures and nice maps which helped, but I did end up skimming through most of the book. (By the way, the 'now' would be 1961, the first printing of this book. People must have liked it, the seventh printing was in 1973!)
I got distracted at first by wondering how many times the author would use the word 'unique' to describe the towns. I saw the pattern after the sixth town and gave up counting. Each place earned some form of that word at least once, for various reasons: one had a "pastoral prettiness", another was unique for once having a 300-volume library and not a single saloon. One was even unique for its mystery: the details of its history are lost.
The book was set up to be a travel guide. In a triangular space between Grand Junction, Durango, and Denver, various tours are described, labeled according to whichever modern town the adventurer can best use as a base to reach the ghost towns. This would be a priceless item on a trip to Colorado, and would also appeal very much to anyone who is more interested in the history of that lovely state than I am.
In the preface to this book we learn that the author's grandfather was a Colorado pioneer and co-founder (and first president) of the Colorado Historical Society. And in the author's note before the book takes its first steps on the ghost town trail, Bancroft says this:
"But first, a word of warning: if after reading this booklet, you add one act of vandalism, or carelessly cast one burning cigarette to the winds, or messily leave a beer can in a crystal creek bed, the whole purpose of our publication has been defeated. We have written about ghost towns out of love of their dramatic past and a reverence for their present fragility. If you follow in our footsteps to these mountain spots, we entreat you to go in the same spirit."
That is not the royal we, she is referring to Daniel Peterson, the man who took the 'now' pictures featured throughout the book. Just thought I'd mention that. Bancroft was really not as snooty as this quote might make her sound!.
Wrapping up her tour book, the author says "There is sadness, as well as serenity and romantic nostalgia, hanging in the aura of these high-country towns." If anyone has ever been in a ghost town you can certainly understand this feeling. Just reading the short but bloody history of Lulu City gives one the shivers.
However, one place mentioned had a happier story. Does anyone remember the 1964 movie 'The Unsinkable Molly Brown' starring Debbie Reynolds? I saw it in theaters way back in the day and loved it. "Molly Brown" was actually Margaret Brown, a real woman who lived for some years in Stumptown, in its boom days when she was the wife of a mining engineer. Stumptown is one of the ghost towns in this book, and one of Caroline Bancroft's many other titles is The Unsinkable Mrs. Brown. As of today Project Gutenberg does not have that book listed, but maybe Someday they will. I would love to read it!
September 1, 2025
Unique Ghost Towns and Mountain Spots is a fun little book full of historical and geographical tidbits about colorful former Colorado locales that have now become ghost towns, either fully or partially, that Caroline Bancroft and Daniel K. Peterson visited and chronicled back in 1960. I knew quite a bit of these locations and this information, but it was fun to learn some more morsels of history of the whole state and its lesser-known mining towns (and they were all mining towns) that got abandoned. Doing a statewide Colorado ghost town road trip has been on my bucket list for years at this point, and reading this book helped to respark some of that curiosity about where to visit someday.
I found this book at my local independent bookstore for $1.00. However, you can also read it online here: https://www.gutenberg.org/files/51678...
I found this book at my local independent bookstore for $1.00. However, you can also read it online here: https://www.gutenberg.org/files/51678...
February 1, 2019
Pretty thorough and amazing book on the Ghost Towns of Colorado. The author, Caroline Bancroft, creates a historical route to travel and visit these ghost towns, with a short history and unique aspects of each town. In addition to excellent field-level guidance, she also provides contrast pictures from the turn of the century, and pictures she (or someone else) took around the 1960s. The passage of time on some of the towns is quite astounding.
It was a fairly quick read, extremely well researched, and obviously a passionate book to write. I would be interested in reading an update, almost 60 years now after the original printing happened (my copy was from 1984, though it seems not much has changed over the 11 printings).
It was a fairly quick read, extremely well researched, and obviously a passionate book to write. I would be interested in reading an update, almost 60 years now after the original printing happened (my copy was from 1984, though it seems not much has changed over the 11 printings).
September 9, 2024
Fun historical (1961) history. Lots of ideas and inspiration to go explore Colorado. I got this as a birthday gift from Aven - enjoyed it!
July 3, 2013
there so many towns that are completely ghost towns nobody lives there anymore.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews