Colorado question for old timers...

[Martinjmpr]

Older than me (and I'm 58!)

But there are a few folks here that it seems are even older than me. So I'm asking those of you who have been here longer and/or are older about a couple of places that have always kind of tickled my curiosity:

My family moved to CO in 1972 when I was 10 years old. So I've been around the Denver area long enough to have seen a lot of changes in CO.

I've always been fascinated by history (my undergrad major) and I've often remarked about how when it comes to "history", we often ignore the RECENT past in favor of the DISTANT past. It's as if the "recent past" is too close in time for us to really care about. So we'll oooh and ahhh over, say, a Pony Express station from 1860 but completely ignore that abandoned Art Deco style gas station from 1940 or the old Stuckeys from 1970.

So here's my question about a couple of places I've often wondered about:

First off: Antero Junction, which sits at the intersection of US 285 and US 24 about 15 miles Northeast of Buena Vista and maybe 20 miles South of Fairplay (at the foot of Trout Creek Pass.) On older maps, this shows up as an actual town. I've been driving past this area since at least 1980 but I don't ever recall seeing any kind of business there that was open. I seem to recall there was an old, abandoned gas station there some years ago but now even that's gone and I don't see any sign of it on Google Maps (Google is a great tool but their maps only go back to ~ 2004 or so and their street view only goes back to about 2007.)

My question is, can anyone clearly recall when the last time there was an actual functioning town or business there? I'm thinking maybe mid 60's or even early 70's?

Second: Virginia Dale. Anybody who has driven to or from Laramie has probably been through here. It's about 28 miles NW of Fort Collins and maybe 30 miles SE of Laramie, just South of the CO state line. It still has a post office but there is also an old cafe there. I'm trying to remember but I swear I cannot recall that cafe ever being open and I know for certain I would have passed through that area in the mid 1980's. Does anyone recall the last time it was open?

I don't know why things like this fascinate me, but they do. Whenever my wife and I go on long drives (which is often, since we camp all Summer long) we talk about the small towns and businesses along the way that are slowly disappearing into the dust. In many ways, they are modern "ghost towns" but unlike the old mining towns of Las Animas or St. Elmo, these "modern ghost towns" are pretty much forgotten.

[clodhopper]

Not old enough to fit your criteria and you have lived in CO longer than I have. But, Virginia Dale is up this way so maybe I can help you on it.

Virginia Dale
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virginia_Dale,_Colorado
https://www.legendsofamerica.com/vir...dale-colorado/
Cool old photos: https://fortcollinsimages.wordpress....stage-station/
Closed down in the 90's when the owner passed. https://newcountry991.com/the-bizarr...n-highway-287/

[CS1983]

some info on Antero Junction:
https://roadsidethoughts.com/co/ante...rk-profile.htm
https://www.ghosttowns.com/states/co...ojunction.html
http://www.parkcoarchives.org/photos...ojunction.html (parent of that page: http://www.parkcoarchives.org/online-resources/photos/)

Was a cafe and store there at least as late as the mid 50's according to the photos page for ParkCOArchives.

ETA: Virginia Dale: https://www.uncovercolorado.com/towns/virginia-dale/

[CS1983]

While it's a bit more distant past than recent history, if you haven't read it, I HIGHLY recommend "A Lady's Life in the Rocky Mountains" by Isabella Bird. She was a British traveler who wrote letters home to her sister, and eventually made them into a book.

I always have at least 3 copies - 1 to keep and 2 to let people borrow. It made that much of an impression on me.

https://www.amazon.com/Ladys-Mountai...7789527&sr=8-2

[Martinjmpr]

While it's a bit more distant past than recent history, if you haven't read it, I HIGHLY recommend "A Lady's Life in the Rocky Mountains" by Isabella Bird. She was a British traveler who wrote letters home to her sister, and eventually made them into a book.

I always have at least 3 copies - 1 to keep and 2 to let people borrow. It made that much of an impression on me.

https://www.amazon.com/Ladys-Mountai...7789527&sr=8-2

Ha! Wife is reading that right now.

[earplug]

Friend of mine is a railroad historian. He is working on a book of Colorado Railroad stations. Much of Colorado was served by a network of narrow gauge railroads. I'm pretty sure Antero Juction was such a stop. Steam needed lots of water.

[Holger Danske]

I was just thinking about a picture of me and my brother from 1974 sitting in the old St Elmo fire truck which was converted dodge military truck. Afterwards, my dad took us over Tin cup in a Wagoner. We didn't see another person the entire trip. I up there about 3 years ago and couldn't believe the number of people and the UTV traffic

[crays]

I was just thinking about a picture of me and my brother from 1974 sitting in the old St Elmo fire truck which was converted dodge military truck. Afterwards, my dad took us over Tin cup in a Wagoner. We didn't see another person the entire trip. I up there about 3 years ago and couldn't believe the number of people and the UTV traffic

Tincup was still pretty good into the early eighties. I used to camp there with my uncle and fish. He only had daughters, so we'd make the occasional camping trip or two just about every summer. Good times.

You sometimes don't even know how much you miss stuff until you think about it.

I ended up at Western State for college but Gunnison, specifically , and most of that region is hardly even recognizable any more.

Sent from somewhere...

[buffalobo]

Tincup was still pretty good into the early eighties. I used to camp there with my uncle and fish. He only had daughters, so we'd make the occasional camping trip or two just about every summer. Good times.

You sometimes don't even know how much you miss stuff until you think about it.

I ended up at Western State for college but Gunnison, specifically , and most of that region is hardly even recognizable any more.

Sent from somewhere...

We were probably at Wasted State at the same time.

Tincup was the bomb back in the day. My dad spent the summer there in mid sixties helping a neighbor build his cabin. Decided he liked it so much he sold his cabinet shop in Kansas to move there and started Tincup Lumber and Building. He built the family cabin(along with several others for friends and neighbors) in early 70's.

My step sister and her husband bought the cabin from my folks when they retired and moved south.

[.455_Hunter]

I was just thinking about a picture of me and my brother from 1974 sitting in the old St Elmo fire truck which was converted dodge military truck. Afterwards, my dad took us over Tin cup in a Wagoner. We didn't see another person the entire trip. I up there about 3 years ago and couldn't believe the number of people and the UTV traffic

Call me hypocritical (I don't care), but I am not a big fan of ATVs and dirt bikes. Every place you go you get to hear the continuous 2-cycle chorus, and I don't know how many times I have been crawling along a jeep trail and almost gotten a gaudy plastic cladded hood ornament. The buffoons think it's their own personal dirt track.

There are many place here in CO that I visited as a kid where the density of other people was so low you were actually excited to see somebody else. Now, the same spots are practically unusable, necessitating shuttle buses to transport people to the area from remote parking.