Colorado hiking trip, day 2: A blast from the past, GHOST TOWNS.

The Colorado high plains have a fascinating history from rags to riches to bust. Towns sprang up and grew rapidly, then died, leaving a skeleton proof that a bustling life did once exist on the high plains.

When I walked through the main street of one of these ghost towns, Model, Colorado, I imagined houses built on hopes and dreams and excitement of what the future would bring. Multiple different events would lead to the complete ruination of these hopes and dreams, and a few decaying buildings are all that remain of these communities’ long busted hopes and dreams.

Model, Colorado, located a ways north of present day Trinidad, was platted and incorporated on February 10, 1913, as a railroad town along the old Santa Fe trail. A reservoir and multiple irrigation ditches were constructed with the hopes that this community would grow and develop into a successful farming/railroad community. Model got it’s name from the fact that it was to be a “model” town on the high plains, a town that others should be “modeled” after. At it’s height, Model had a post office, grocery store, RR depot, hardware store, livery stables, churches, gas stations, bars and cafes, amongst a multitude of other businesses. The ATSF railroad platted communities along the old Santa Fe trail on what is now HWY 350 in the early 1900s. Some of these communities, such as Model, Thatcher, Tyrone, Delhi, and Timpas were important cattle shipping points on the former ATSF. Rural Colorado ranchers bought and sold cattle in these towns. The cattle was to be shipped to points north and east.

These towns thrived for a short while, but weather extremes such as devastating blizzards and droughts ruined hopes of a consistent cattle/agricultural industry. The ATSF closed down most of their small town railroad depots and opened a more efficient to the company, “central hub” railroad stop farther south in Trinidad, Colorado. The construction of the interstate system was the final straw. The lifeblood of these small towns was cut off, resulting in the slow but steady bleeding out of the commerce, life, and thus, proof of existence of each and every one of these towns. The commerce and life are long gone, and the proof of existence is all that is left. Even that continues to bleed out. Eventually, the only proof that these towns existed, will be in photographs, such as the ones below.

I walked down the old main street early in the morning, enjoying the wonderful, fresh, morning cool summer breeze, lots of birds chirping, and the Spanish mountains visible to the west. I imagined how idyllic this little town was in the early 1900s, before the above mentioned hardships dashed the hopes and dreams of the inhabitants. There was one feral cat that kept an eye on me while I walked down the once bustling main street. I wondered if this was one of the last remaining descendants of domesticated house cats that once lived in this town. How many other cats remained that successfully evaded my eyes?? Once their owners died, they had to fend for themselves. A few of these houses still had pictures hanging on the walls.