The original assay office (right), just a few steps from White Quail
Creek, supported an enormous ridge pole which in turn held a sod
roof.
[Illustration: D.K.P., 1960]
He was never seen alive again. The next day, when the skis were in good
order, the friend followed Fulford’s tracks with no difficulty until
beyond Bowman Gulch. Then evidence of an enormous snowslide came into
view, and the footsteps went no farther. The friend retraced his path
and enlisted the help of one hundred men to plumb the depths of the
slide. Two days later Fulford’s body was found in a sitting position,
his eyes still wide open with surprise.
Shaken by the loss, the rescue party determined to rename their towns.
From that time on the camps were known as Upper and Lower Fulford. They
were incorporated in January, 1896, with a townsite comprising
fifty-nine acres. Lower Fulford grew in popularity, and gradually the
post office and many businesses moved down to the more roomy location.
Fulford’s mines were profitable until about 1903 when the camp died
away. The town had another big boom ten years later when one of the
prospectors who had stayed on made a new lucky strike. The place was
crowded, every empty cabin was appropriated, and the hotel bulged. One
mine was named the 1913 Tunnel in honor of its $200-a-ton ore—and then
in a few weeks everything fizzled out again.
In 1960 most of its log cabins had been moved down to ranches on Brush
Creek. A few old buildings in Lower Fulford had been adapted for hunting
and fishing cabins, and the rest were deserted. Upper Fulford was
completely ghost. The 1906 wooden bucket for spring water, halfway
between the two camps, was still in place, and its water still
refreshing.
But the story of Fulford was almost lost. People were more interested in
the nearby cave than in the history of the town. Nonetheless the camp
seemed unusual in that the names of Fulford and Nolan preserved the
memories of two accidents, so typical and so hazardous in the lives of
Colorado mining towns—a unique duo....
Crystal City, the other ghost town to be reached from Glenwood Springs,
is a long, but scenic drive away. The route via the Frying Pan, Roaring
Fork and Crystal River Valleys, is especially scenic but to be
undertaken with caution (as shown on the map). The ride up the Crystal
River, whose bed has been carelessly strewn with great slabs of marble
by former cloudbursts, is a fascinating preparation for the special
charm of Crystal City. The town lies tucked into a green valley at the
forks of the Crystal River and until 1955 could only be reached afoot or
on horseback—an isolation helpful to preservation.
On the way up Crystal River the visitor passes through two storied towns
that have their own dramatic pasts—Redstone and Marble. Near Marble was
the quarry which supplied the white stone for the Lincoln Memorial in
Washington, D.C., and the block for the Unknown Soldier’s Grave at
Arlington, Virginia. A standard gauge railroad, The Crystal River and
San Juan, served the town and there connected with a four-mile electric
line that served the quarry. In many places along the embankment of the
river the roadbed has been riprapped with marble, a strange sight. Our
ghost town is five miles farther up the Crystal River than the marble
finishing plant (now Marble’s special ghost).
[Illustration: Unknown, 1880’s; D.P.L.]