Idaho Springs Colorado Townsite – Ghost town
Photo Mike Sinnwell January of 2005.
Well maybe not a Ghost town as it does have some really good Buffalo Burgers downtown. Skip the Big Macs out by the freeway. It is pretty hard for a town to die if it sits along side of I-70 on the way to the ski slopes.
A viewer writes August 2009 – My family lived in Idaho Springs many different times, but the most memorable time, was the mobile home we had across the street from the post office. The owner of the lot was selling it and therefore we had to move along with three or four other families with mobile homes on the lot. A few days before the truck was to come pick up our mobile home it rained and rained. There was so much rain that our mobile home (which was the last one to be moved), slowly sank into the mud. There are pictures somewhere in my parents stuff, of the mobile home almost on it side, the front is buried in the mud with the back sticking up. I think it even made the papers, but then I was only 11 at the time, so I don’t remember for sure. I remember the lady that owned the lot, lost the sell, because there was a panic that a shaft was underneath the lot and our mobile home was sinking into the shaft. This was a big deal, because as long as I could remember the public pool was closed for this very reason. Something about water kept leaking out of the pool and it took them a few years to figure out that it was sitting on top of a mine shaft. We lived there in 1980’s to early 90’s. There was no shaft under our mobile home and eventually the lady sold the lot. The public pool was re-built on the other end of town. Shortly after we moved away from Idaho Springs, they built a day care center on the site of the old public pool. Guess they figured that since they weren’t loosing millions of gallons of water down the shaft that they danger was gone. Go figure.
Thanks for the site, I really enjoyed looking at all the pictures and relearning some of the gold rush history. It’s been forever since I’ve been back up to the mountains to explore. I will have to make the time and take my kids up.
A viewer writes – Thursday July 22nd 2010 – My family has lived in Idaho Springs for generations. Your pictures show the the town perfectly. I’d love to see more of them.
A viewer writes Friday, August 20, 2010 — Ah, love those burgers at the Buffalo Bar in Idaho Springs. Love your site Rocky and the photos people submit. I lived in Colorado for a short period of time in the 70’s. Have visited too many times to count. Best state in the Union! Have to dig out some of my photos. Roy from (no mountains-just bluffs) Caseyville, IL
A viewer writes – Sunday, October 17, 2010 – Mike trying to find old friends Dave and Dawn Skinner from Idaho Springs perhaps you could post this on the Idaho Springs page thanks also there was a great old spot Two Brothers Mine in Virginia Canyon about halfway between Idaho Springs and Russell Gulch anybody out there with photos of that ? …thanks as always for keeping this alive Les
A viewer writes Wednesday October 2nd, 2013 – Dear sir, Who are you? My parents were actually the owners of the mobile home you spoke of. At the time I was actually 9/10. I remember some other kids but I don’t think we knew them well. Our home was on the end towards the houses, not the street. And yes people thought there was a mine shaft and the lady who evicted families from their homes lost the sale. I know because my family lived there in that location across from the old Post Office in Idaho Springs and continued living in IS, until I was in 10th grade and my aunt and uncle still live there today. Where I visit periodically.
I don’t know where you got your information but I do believe you are slightly wrong. There were several mobile homes all but my parent’s were moved out before the storm hit. Their’s was the last to go because of the storm and the fact that the movers couldn’t get the wheels out of the muck. So they opted to wait until the storm passed. By that time it was on its side and vertical.
Again I don’t know who you are, but unless your part of the my family I think you should get your facts straight. And since I know for an absolute fact that neither my parents or my brothers would have a website like this. I know your not. Please fix the information on your page. It is a good story by itself without the personal embellishments that have been fabricated.
By the way, If I remember correctly the owner of the pink house in your pictures of Idaho Springs were very private people and did not want their home photographed, I know because their son was my best friend. If they still own that home, I hope you took the time to get permission and have release forms signed so no legal action is taken against you. Sincerely, K
Rocky says – THANKS for the contribution. Sorry if someone has offended you. By the way I do NOT embellish reader comments. I do sometimes correct spelling and/or minor grammatical errors.
A viewer writes – Tuesday, April 07, 2015 – Mike, I scrolled on down and came to this part of the blog. I have to check with my hubby, whose memory is as poor as mine or worse, but when we lived on Wall Street in Idaho Springs, he worked at the Safeway Store on Main Street and he met a lot of neat people and a few characters. One of these was the watchman for the Apex Mine and my husband was taken back into the mine tunnel in a canoe or some similar conveyance, not too far, because of the danger of the water in the underground lake from which the water was dripping to the tunnel, breaking through and flooding. We owned mining property on the most western end of Central City limits on Eureka Street and spent a lot of time exploring mine sites. Our land had the Gold Crown mining operation on it and the Lake Superior mine where Cornish miners were killed. I wish I had written our stories down as I have been ill and my memories have become obviously muddled, so that I do not trust them, so I hope I am not leading anyone astray. Thank you for your site, enjoy it so when Google takes me to it.