Atchee, Colorado

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Atchee, Colorado
ghost town
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Atchee
Location of Atchee, Colorado.
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Atchee
Atchee (Colorado)
Coordinates: 39°33′47″N108°54′46″W / 39.5630°N 108.9129°W / 39.5630; -108.9129 [1]
Country United States
State Colorado
County Garfield [2]
Elevation
[1]
6,418 ft (1,956 m)
Time zone UTC−07:00 (MST)
 • Summer (DST) UTC−06:00 (MDT)
GNIS pop ID 172111

Atchee is a ghost town in Garfield County, Colorado. It was originally a railroad village/company town owned by the Gilsonite Company that served as a shopping town on the narrow-gauge Uintah Railway. The railroad served mines in nearby Utah. [3] At a point in time, the railroad was dismantled which led to a sharp population decline. By 1938, there were only 27 voters in the town and by 1940 only two voters remained. [4]

Contents

History

The Atchee, Colorado, post office operated from September 26, 1905, until April 30, 1940. [5] The town was a company town and thus almost everyone in the town worked for the Gilsonite Company. The houses all had running water and steam heat as well as being served by electricity. Atchee was never an incorporated town. [3]

Rail line

The rail line was the lifeblood of the town, with the town's population sharply declining and eventually falling into ghost town status after the demolition of the rail line. [4] The line itself ran from Mack, Colorado, to Watson, Utah, with a spur to the Rainbow Mine in Utah from Watson. During the summer, there were special trains run for students of the Colorado School of Mines. [3]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 "Atchee, Colorado". Geographic Names Information System . United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior . Retrieved December 30, 2024.
  2. ↑ "Colorado Counties". Colorado Department of Local Affairs . Retrieved January 17, 2025.
  3. 1 2 3 Luton, Ruby (26 April 1978). "Oral history with 83 year old female, Colorado (Transcript)" (Interview). Interviewed by Kyle, Evelyn; Nelson, Justina. Center for Applied Linguistics Collection. Retrieved 11 December 2021.
  4. 1 2 "Only 2 Voters Stay in Once Thriving Town". Warsaw Union. Reub. Williams & Sons. United Press. 4 December 1940. Retrieved 11 December 2021.
  5. ↑ Bauer, William H.; Ozment, James L.; Willard, John H. (1990). Colorado Post Offices 1859–1989. Golden, Colorado: Colorado Railroad Historical Foundation. ISBN   0-918654-42-4.


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