The 1960 shot was at the upper end of Bonanza and depicts the
farthest house in town, opposite a well and the Wheel of Fortune
mine dump.
_From Buena Vista_
[Illustration]
A drive up Chalk Creek around the south side of Mt. Princeton and past
the Chalk Cliffs (as famed in their way as those of Dover) will bring
you to St. Elmo. This mining camp was located first as Forest City in
December, 1880, but shortly after received a post office under the name
of St. Elmo. Its main reason for existence was the Mary Murphy mine
which had been located five years before and was sold in 1880 to a St.
Louis company. There were other gold and silver mines in the locality,
such as the Brittenstein group, but many did not warrant the capital
expended.
St. Elmo’s second reason for existence was the arrival of the narrow
gauge, Denver, South Park and Pacific Railroad, which was building
toward Gunnison. The grade required a tunnel under the continental
divide, west of St. Elmo. In the face of howling blizzards and much
labor trouble, work on the Alpine Tunnel went on while St. Elmo acted as
a supply depot. The tunnel was completed the following year in December,
1881, and regular service through the tunnel commenced in the summer of
’82. According to the Colorado Business Directory, St. Elmo’s population
was three hundred in these years but dropped to two hundred and fifty
when some of the mines proved to be mirages.
But the Mary Murphy held up through the years, employing around one
hundred men. According to Louisa Ward Arps (Chalk Creek historian), its
peak year was 1914 when a crew of two hundred and fifty was hired. The
mine had a tramway nearly 5000 feet long which ran down Pomeroy Mountain
from the tunnel outlet at the fourth level to the railroad grade in the
gulch. The Mary Murphy finally ceased operation in the 1920’s with a
total production of around $14,000,000.
[Illustration: Unknown, 1884-90; D.P.L.]