Ghost Towns of the Colorado Rockies [Paperback]

Robert L. Brown (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1, 1968

Distributed by the University of Nebraska Press for Caxton Press

This book features information and travel directions for sixty of Colorado's ghost towns and mining camps. There is an informal history of each town, along with early and contemporary photographs to aid in site identification.

Editorial Reviews

Review

" Ghost Towns of The Colorado Rockies follows a unique format which adds to the interest and value of the book. The author has included a present-day picture taken from the same angle. Furthermore, Mr. Brown personally visited each of the towns or town sites described and includes in his work detailed information for the reader wishing to do likewise. The book thus becomes a "must" for anyone planning to visit the lesser-known early Colorado mining camps." — Journal of the West

(Journal of the West )

About the Author

The late Robert L. Brown was a Colorado resident for more than fifty years. He devoted much of his life to collecting information on the pioneer days. He is the author of several books on exploring the state's backcountry.

Product Details

• Paperback: 401 pages
• Publisher: Caxton Press (January 1, 1968)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0870043420
• ISBN-13: 978-0870043420
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.5 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #753,632 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Ramblin thru the Unseen Rockies, April 23, 2000

By 

Albert Owen (North Florida) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Ghost Towns of the Colorado Rockies (Paperback)

After reading this material, I would strongly recommend the avid frontiersman to the novice to take advantage of Brown's testimony to lost and unseen towns that "once were." Brown's attention to detail is above no other; the exquisit portraits he provides makes you shiver in anticipation and almost to a point, turn back in time to actually see how we might have lived during this now lost and not too distant era.

I recommend this book highly.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Robert L. Brown is without peer, January 10, 2010

By 

Rhonda C. Holtgreive - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Ghost Towns of the Colorado Rockies (Paperback)

I was a student of Robert L. Brown at Abraham Lincoln High School in Denver. He is without question the best teacher that I have ever had and I can attribute my love of Colorado History directly to him. A student of Colorado History must consider the writings of Brown or their exposure is incompete. There are stories and anecdotes in his books that are found no where else. He used the before and after photographic style that Fielder popularized long before Fielder did.

3.0 out of 5 stars Great for ghost town history, not so much as a guidebook, January 4, 2012

By 

E. Steele - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Ghost Towns of the Colorado Rockies (Paperback)

If you are looking for a book that gives the histories and anecdotes relating to the Rockies' old and ghost towns, I'd say this book is a 4 or 5 star offering. It is informative, interesting and written in an informal manner. It makes the places you visit more meaningful. You aren't just looking at a tomb oddly placed on the side of a hill; you are looking at the spot where an early settler dug his own grave and shot himself to death in such a manner that he fell into the grave. So, what's the problem? Well, if you are looking for a guidebook that identifies true ghost towns (which I define as abandoned and having at least the remanants of significant structures), this isn't the book. Time after time, after reading the author's well written histories, which I enjoyed, I learned that nothing remains of the subject "ghost town", or the current town was built over the old, leaving nothing of the original. The good thing is, for most of the towns addressed, the author included "then and now" pictures, taken from the same vantage points. So, you know what to expect before you go. Another disappointment of the book is that the author elected to omit ghost towns for which he was unable to uncover or verify historical information, regardless of what may remain from the town. Thus, it is likely (although I didn't verify this) that a ghost town with significant structures still standing is not mentioned in this book because the author was unable to find a verifiable historical anecdote to report. So, as a guidebook, I'd rate this book a 2. Thus, overall, it's a 3 star effort. To summarize: If you are looking for historical information, get it. If you are looking for a guidebook to sites worth visiting, don't get it. If you are looking for both, there's probably better works out there.