Ashcroft, Colorado

Infobox_nrhp | name = Ashcroft, Colorado

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caption = The ghost town at Ashcroft, Colorado after a 1941 blizzard.
locator_x =
locator_y =
location = Pitkin County, Colorado, USA
nearest_city =Aspen, Colorado
lat_degrees = 39
lat_minutes = 03
lat_seconds = 13
lat_direction = N
long_degrees = 106
long_minutes = 47
long_seconds = 59
long_direction = W
built = 1880
added = May 12, 1975 [http://www.nr.nps.gov/nrloc1.htm NRIS Database] , National Register of Historic Places, retrieved Oct. 2006.]
governing_body = Aspen Historical Society

Ashcroft originally known as Castle Forks City and then Chloride until 1882, was a mining town located ten miles south of Aspen near Castle Creek, in Pitkin County, Colorado, United States. A few buildings remain standing as a testament to the town's past.

History

The early years

In the spring of 1880 two prospectors, Charles B. Culver and W.F. Coxhead left the mining boomtown of Leadville in search of silver deposits in the Castle Creek Valley. Silver they found and Coxhead promoted their discovery with zeal back in Leadville. When he returned to "Castle Forks City," as it had been dubbed, he found that 23 other prospectors had joined "Crazy Culver." Together the men formed a Miner's Protective Association, built a courthouse and laid out the streets in Ashcroft in just two weeks. Each of their association's members paid a $5, or one day's work, and $1, to draw for building lots. In all there were 97 members in the Ashcroft Miner's Protective Association. [http://www.aspenhistoricalsociety.org/ac.html Ashcroft Ghost Town] , Aspen Historical Society.]

The town was renamed Ashcroft in 1882 after a rich ore strike was uncovered in Montezuma and Tam O'Shanter Mines. The mines were partially owned by H.A.W. Tabor of Leadville mining fame. Reportedly, Tabor and his second wife visited Ashcroft in 1883 and hosted a grand ball and banquet. Tabor also reportedly bought rounds of drinks for everyone in each of the town's 13 saloons. [http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/D?hawp:4:./temp/~ammem_tKmj:: American Memory Collection] , Ashcroft, Colorado. Library of Congress]

The same year that Tabor visited Ashcroft the town population had risen to around 2,000. Ashcroft was also home to two newspapers, a school, sawmills, a small smelter and 20 saloons. At this point in its history the town was larger than Aspen and closer to the railroad in Crested Butte.

By 1885 the town was home to about 3,500 people, had six hotels and 20 saloons. As quickly as the town went boom it went bust

Decline

The silver deposits that Culver and Coxhead initially discovered produced 14,000 ounces of silver to the ton at their onset. This production, however, was short-lived as the deposits were but shallow ones. Though there were promises of a rail line to Crested Butte the promises never materialized and investors and workers were lured away to places such as Aspen. In 1884 another rich strike was discovered, this one, however, was in Aspen, not in Ashcroft. This would lead to the end of the prosperity in Ashcroft as people began moving to Aspen instead.

By the year 1885 there were only 100 summer residents and $5.60 in the town coffers. Only a handful of aging, single men made Ashcroft home by the turn of the 20th century. Though they all owned mining claims they spent most of their time fishing and hunting or reading and drinking in a local bar. The men traded stories for drinks and served as an informal employment agency, matching up men with the sporadic remaining work at the mines. Every four years the remaining citizens would hold municipal elections and choose officers from amongst themselves.

The town's last resident, Jack Leahy died in 1939, making Ashcroft an official ghost town.

Renewed interest

The 1930s saw a new flurry of interest in the village. This time it wasn't mining but the burdgeoning winter Olympics and winter sports that drew attention to Ashcroft. International sportsman Ted Ryan and his partner Billy Fiske, who was captain of America's gold medal Olympic bobsled team, built the Highland-Bavarian Lodge north of Ashcroft. They planned to build a European style ski resort complete with an aerial tramway leading up to Mount Hayden. World War II put an end to their plans as Fiske was killed in combat and Ryan ended up leasing Ashcroft to the U.S. Army for $1 a year.

During WWII the Army's 10th Mountain Division used Ashcroft for mountaineering training, mostly during the summer of 1942. Following the war most of the area's ski development centered on Aspen and Ryan later deeded the site to the U.S. Forest Service.

In 1948 WWII veteran Stuart Mace, also a well known dog sledder, brought his family and dog sled operation to Ashcroft. In 1955 Mace and his Toklat huskies were featured in the television series "Sgt. Preston of the Yukon", and the ghost town was fitted with false fronts to imitate a Canadian set for the filming of the series through 1958. Mace was given the use of five acres of land in exchange for caretaking what remaining holdings Highland-Bavarian had in the Ashcroft area. He devoted the remainder of his life to protecting the area from development and restoring the ecology. He was joined in that effort in 1974 by the Aspen Historical Society which helped Ashcroft make it to the National Register of Historic Places in 1975.

Trivia

*Ashcroft has an overpopulation of Richardson's ground squirrels also known as gophers or picket pins. [http://www.aspenhistory.org/acquest.html The Most Asked Questions About Ashcroft Ghost Town] , Aspen Historical Society.]

*Stuart Mace died on August 4, 1993 and turned over his sled dog operation to Dan MacEachen, a former apprentice back in 1973. Today the operation is one mile west of Snowmass Village.

Notes

External links

* [http://www.rockymountainprofiles.com/Ashcroft.htm Photos of Ashcroft Colorado Ghost Town Site provided by Rocky Mountain Profiles]
* [http://www.colorado.com/article21 Ashcroft] , Colorado Tourism Office. [http://www.colorado.com/index.php]
* [http://www.ghosttowns.com/states/co/ashcroft.html Ashcroft, Colorado] , on ghosttowns.com.
* [http://www.aspenhistoricalsociety.org/drctrip2.html First Hand Account] of a wagon trip to Ashcroft.
* [http://www.mccullagh.org/location/ashcroftcolorado.html Photo Collection of Ashcroft] , Declan McCullagh Photography.