Last Update: 8/7/2007 - Jens Moller
On the Main Road
Before you get to St. Elmo (if you are arriving from Nathrop) there is a turn off to go to Romley and Hancock. If you are planning to visit there, you might want to visit St.Elmo first. The road to Romley and Hancock has some potholes, but its not much more difficult than the road to St. Elmo. Most any vehicle should be able to take the trip to what left of the site of Hancock. There is a an old railroad bridge that is closed before you get to Romley, but there is a very easy to travel dirt road detour that bypasses it.If you are planning a trip up Tin Cup Pass, you will need to go thru St.Elmo, cross the bridge and head up the pass.
There is a public restroom (an outhouse) across the bridge near the White School house. Nothing fancy, but handy. If you drove up from Mt. Princeton Hot Springs, you will pass a very nice restroom facility about 1/2 mile before entering St. Elmo - this is the more modern of the to public facilities near town.
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As you enter St. Elmo, you'll pass the concrete remains of the Pawnee
Stamp Mill. You'll make a turn into the main road and see a
'Chipmunk Crossing' sign. You are entering one of the best preserved
near Ghost towns in Colorado.
The General store was at one time a Bank, and at another time was a Saloon. Its now just a pleasant store that sells a some food, candy and quite a few trinkets/tee shirts/hats. Stop in an get yourself a sample of Gold or Silver ore for between $1.00 and $3.00. |
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St. Elmo is my favorite ghost town to visit. Its easy to get to, and its always interesting look around. There are always quite a few people here, and it you look around, you'll find that many new vacation cottages have been built here recently. You could buy property here if you wanted to. The store normally operates from late May to early October, and even in the winter, people come up here to cross country ski and do some snowmobiling.
St. Elmo was originally named Forest City, but the U.S Post Office objected because there was already a Forest City in California, and they did not want to have mail delivered to the wrong place.
 residence a few feet down from the General Store |
This photo is from 1987, so if you visit now, you'll
find that the small windows with the white paint across them
is no more. At one time this was a Saloon (with horse stables
underneath it at the back) and then for a while, it was
a General Store. The people who bought this building have turned
it into a private residence and have put in large picture windows
and insulated the walls. Its not a public building, so study it,
but don't bother the people in it. People were living in it when this
photo was taken - its been occupied for many years.
There was mining going on up at the Mary Murphy mine up until the early 1920's. St. Elmo never really ever was totally deserted since its inception in the early 1870s. The railroad ran here from 1880 up until 1926; the tracks were torn up in 1926 and the railroad grade is what you drove on to get from Nathrop to St. Elmo. |
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Directly across the street from the current General Store,
you'll find a big pile of rocks and old timbers. There is a
pine tree right next to the timbers that is a home to what
appear to be around 100 chipmunks. These are quite daring
and accustomed to having people feed them goodies all summer.
They are fast and will climb up up your pants legs and onto your
back, and occasionally up on to your hat in pursuit of
sunflower and other seeds (you can buy a packet for 50 cents
at the General Store). These critters are very small, no more
than 3 inches long (not counting the tails). They are quite
persistent and will crawl all over kids and adults if they
think that there might be some food in it for them. They stock up
for the winter and fill their pouches a full as possible -
their little faces growing full as you feed them. Kids love
to spend some time here, so allow at least 30 minutes for the
kids to feed the wildlife while you explore the city or take
a look at the interesting things for sale behind the General Store.
Birds get competitive when they see all this free food, so sit down quietly and see how many get close to you and eat out of your hand. |
 Chipmunk Crossing. |
5 of the little critters scarfing down seeds.
 bottles? How about things from the 1920s or before? |
Over to the right side (as you face the General Store), there is often a sale going on. You can walk behind the General Store and over to an open garage area and have a look. This photo is one of a table showing old glassware. Have a look around and see if there is anything of interest. Some of the things are far newer, as the people here are just selling off things, sort of like a Garage Sale with very reasonable prices. There were well over 5000 people living here in the late 1800s and this was a very busy town. I bought a set of glass telephone/telegraph wire insulators for $1.00 (clear glass) and $2.00 (blue/green glass). |
The Pink House
This an interesting house - I think you could rent it if you wanted. Some of the back side and the parts of the outhouse are made of old dynamite crates. They built houses out of what was available in those days, not wasting anything that had potential. The outhouse behind the homes down at that end of the street are not that far from the cabins - something to consider when renting a place to stay. Inquire at the General Store for more info.
There are many standing buildings in St. Elmo, all of them privately owned.
please feel free to walk up and down the main street and take in a bit of
history. The White building with the bell tower used to be the town
hall and jail. Take plenty of pictures, but don't disturb the buildings or
the property. If you would like to learn more about the area, try to find
the book
From Gold To Ghosts, A History of St. Elmo, Colorado -
by Peter Anderson. There is no ISBN number on my copy, it just says that it
was 'Pr
Comments? Questions? contact Jens
Moller
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