In Eastern Colorado, it's a far more ambiguous subject.
The Ghost Town Of Ideal,  near Walden, Colorado

I’ve been researching and photographing Ghost Towns and abandoned places in Colorado for some time now. One debate that I’ve found to be in the forefront of the subject is rather or not a place is actually a ghost town. Opinions vary and there is no clear definition nor official determination made.

There are a lot of tools and resources available for my research, including books, articles, websites and news stories. Still, some people refer to a place as a Ghost Town, only to find out that it’s not considered a Ghost Town. Colorado is littered with these marginal places. Most of the generally accepted ghost towns in Colorado are old abandoned mining towns in the Rocky Mountains, but there are a lot of abandoned towns and communities along the Eastern plains of Colorado as well. In Eastern Colorado, it’s a far more ambiguous subject.

For this article, I asked the AI engine Gemini to define what makes a place a ghost town. Here’s what it told me.

There’s no single, universally accepted definition of a “ghost town.” However, here are some common characteristics:

* **Significant Population Decline:** A dramatic decrease in the number of residents, often to near zero.
* **Abandoned Buildings:** A large number of abandoned structures, such as houses, businesses, and public buildings.
* **Declining Infrastructure:** Deteriorating roads, bridges, and other essential services.
* **Economic Collapse:** The primary industry that supported the town (mining, farming, logging, etc.) has failed.
* **Natural or Human-Caused Disasters:** Events like floods, fires, or even government actions (like dam construction) can force residents to leave.

**Important Note:** Some towns may have a small, dwindling population but still retain some services and a sense of community. These might not be considered true ghost towns, but rather declining or “dying” towns.

The term “ghost town” is often used loosely and can vary depending on the context and the specific location.

Well, that clears it up. NOT!

It sounds more like a description of a place that may or may not be considered a Ghost Town.

One must make decisions though. Seeing how it’s impossible to draw a distinct line between what is a Ghost Town or simply an abandoned place, one must make a judgment call. Give something the wrong label and you’ll suffer the wrath of those who think differently.

There are a number of locations I’ve photographed that have been commonly referred to as Ghost Towns, but there is activity in those towns to this day. A good example of ambiguity is the Ghost Town of Como, Colorado. The town of Como is in Park County, Colorado not far from the town of Jefferson (not a Ghost Town) and was at one time a stop on a railroad line for the South Park and Pacific Railroad. There are a number of abandoned buildings in Como, but there is also a small population of people still living there. Overall, the town looks like a junkyard though. One of the building was at one time a hotel attached to a train depot. The railroad abandoned this place many years ago. Today there are some wimpy efforts underway to rebuild these building but it’s nowhere near completion and seems to be more or less relegated to locals and drifters with carpentry skills volunteering their time and efforts with little sign of real progress. There’s not a lot of money to do these restorations and most of it is privately owned property and funded on shoestring budgets.

I made the mistake of referring to these buildings in Como as abandoned once. A handful of people associated with the restoration of these building jumped me and were adamant that they weren’t abandoned. My response was “well pardon me, I thought the railroad abandoned this town many years ago. Since they aren’t being used as originally intended and aren’t owned by the original owners and since the original owners left the town and these buildings to their demise, I think it qualifies as abandoned.” Today, they are just projects that will probably never be completed and temporary shelter for the people living in them on the grounds they’ll work on the building in return for free rent. Not really a plan in my opinion, more or less a form of barter for people who can’t really afford to restore the structures and have them declared a historical site.

It don’t know. What I do know if what ever you call a place, someone will get upset and want to argue with you. But, if you look at the reality on the ground, these restorations are often just putzing around with no end in sight. Most of it appears to be relegated to storing leftover junk from years gone by. I see this over and over across the state. One man’s junk is another man’s treasure.

There are places that have been restored and have obtained “historical site” designations, most of which are generally privately owned and maintained and open as museums or other business. The Ghost Town of St. Elmo in Chaffee County, Colorado. comes to mind. It’s well preserved and open for tourism. A lot of money, time and effort went into restoring St. Elmo. When I first moved to Colorado in the 1980’s, St. Elmo was just a collection of fenced off buildings that were rotting away.

One of many abandoned buildings in Matheson, Colorado

There are many towns on the Eastern plains of Colorado that fall into the crevice between Ghost Town and just simply being in the process of dying. A lot of these places are dying economically and large portions of the town are simply unoccupied and possibly in some state of restoration. While people still live there, it’s probably only a matter of time until they reach a full blown Ghost Town status. A good example is the town of Matheson, Colorado. Matheson is a small town in unincorporated Elbert County with people living there, but there isn’t much in the way of economic activity going on there. It’s one of those places that is dying a slow death and will probably just be little more than a collection of rotting buildings sometime in the future.

It’s towns like Matheson I love to explore. I feel like I’m watching a Ghost Town in progress. There is little historic significance to most of these places, other than the fact that people may still live there, but the town is dying around them.

I’m not drawing a big distinction between what is an “official” Ghost Town and what isn’t. All Ghost Towns started dying at some point. How freshly dead they are doesn’t matter to me. My goal is to document the dead and dying communities in Colorado so someone down the road will know the history of what Colorado once was and is today. I’m not waiting for the funeral, and I’m not making any proclamations. That’s not my job man. These things don’t happen overnight, but it’s pretty easy to tell when a community is dying and a town half filled with abandoned buildings is a sure sign of a future Ghost Town in my opinion.

I’m plotting my travels for 2025 and I’ll be finding more Ghost Towns and abandoned places in Colorado to photograph. The list is growing.