I awoke in the basement of an abandoned office building. I had found shelter from the biting cold winds after exploring the abandoned neighborhood (Check out my pictures from Day 1 here).
[Disclaimer: After posting this article, I have been informed that Gilman and Belden are on private property and should not be entered without express permission from the owner.]
The sun emerged from behind the mountains and a new day dawned over the deserted streets of Gilman, Colorado.
In the morning light I got a clear view of the building I had called home for the night.
And then I headed back inside to finish exploring it.
I headed past the reception desk and into the office area.
Wood-framed walls divided the main floor into offices, conference rooms and work area, giving it a distinguished feel that is missing from the stark, cubicle-filled office layouts of today.
I love finding old paperwork, and there was plenty of it lying around. Unfortunately most of it was scattered on the floor.
When I find handwritten notes I can't help but try to imagine the person who wrote them.
Several vault-like rooms contained shelves stacked with books of old records.
The New Jersey Zinc Company apparently left all its paperwork behind when it vacated Gilman. There was an unbelievable amount of sensitive information lying around, including financial records, payroll records, medical records.
A lot of office equipment got left behind too, including gadgets I've never seen before, probably because they've been made obsolete by computers.
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| An old Addressograph machine |
As I exited the office building, I ran into a guy in his 20s. He said he lives in Denver and was exploring Gilman with a large group. They'd camped out on the street just after sundown. I must have gone inside just before they set up for the night. He told me they ran into an older woman earlier that day who once lived there. She ended up giving his group a tour of the town. I realized my friend Caroline, whom I was supposed to meet up with the previous day, had seen them just before she left. For a ghost town, there sure were a lot of people there!
After we went our separate ways, I checked out the recreation center. It had a two-lane bowling alley.
In the gym/theater, someone had set up a large skateboarding ramp in front of the stage and one by the door. It seems appropriate that the room is being used for athletic activities again.
It was neat to imagine the place when it was still alive with people, yet sad to think that Gilman will never know such times again.
Or will it? According to an article in The New York Times, the site may be redeveloped. Edward R. Ginn, a real estate developer, bought Gilman and 5,300 acres of adjacent land for $32 million in 2004, intending to turn it into a $4 billion ski resort. Apparently Ginn would be protected by federal legislation passed in 2002, which limits liability for landowners who develop land that was polluted by previous owners.
It seems unlikely that any development will occur in the near future. According to the EPA website:
"EPA and CDPHE expect to issue a proposed plan in 2016 that will identify the agencies’ preferred cleanup alternative from those described in the feasibility study. The public will be invited to comment on the proposed plan before a final decision is made."
Weathered garages and workshops sit on the edge of town with windows broken and walls tagged.
Some of the graffiti actually looked pretty good.
The workshops and storage sheds contained old products that you don't see in stores these days.
One of the more disturbing artifacts was this oil smoke generator embossed with the words "Chemical Warfare Service U.S.A."
A few vehicles and pieces of heavy machinery remained in the garages.
An old clothing washer sat out in the middle of the cracked pavement
One of the most fascinating places was an old medical building that housed a laboratory and medical imaging equipment.
Countless x-rays were scattered across the floor on the ground level.
As I was looking at the discarded x-rays I ran into a group of two guys and two gals, all in their 20s. Nice people. We talked for a little while and they recommended I check out the mining structures at the base of the mountain.
I decided to take their advice, but first I had to have a closer look at the ore processing facility in the center of town.
I was not daring enough to follow the ladder underground.
The ground floor offered a glimpse into the daily life of the employees.
The locker room had dozens of chains suspended from the ceiling with hooks and baskets on the ends.
Satisfied that I'd seen just about everything of interest in Gilman, I headed down the mountain to check out the old mining structures of Eagle and Belden mines. They were truly spectacular. Click here to see them.
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Thank you!
Truly spectacular! I worked for CDOT from 2013 to 2015, and Hwy 24 was my road. I saw Gilman every single day and night, but only got to explore it a little, as I was always working and had been told by my supervisors that it was absolutely off limits. Plus, I was almost always wearing Hi-Viz gear, and I would have rather been incognito. I did, however learn a lot about it, and, while doing traffic control on 24, met a few people that had lived and worked there. I even met an old timer from Red Cliff that was born there! These pictures are amazing. Thank you for sharing them with us!
ReplyDeleteThank you! It's a shame you didn't get to explore it much, but neat that you got to see it all the time. Such a beautiful area. When I was there, people kept pulling over to snap pictures from the side of the highway. I bet the guy who was born there must have some interesting stories to tell!
DeleteMy father was born their on August 7th 1947....I remember my aunt and I picking up my uncle in Gilman in 1984 I was about 5 years old at the time.
DeleteGinn went bankrupt years ago so he's not developing this town.
ReplyDeleteAccording to the EPA website, Battle North LLC has taken over the redevelopment plans. Battle North must be the successor company to Ginn Battle North since Ginn went bankrupt.
DeleteMy grandpa was the doctor, my mom a nurse, my dad who is still alive was the ambulance driver and worked in the office. My mom and dad met at work in Gilman, and lived above the Murphy store next to the office. As a kid we went sledding in the alley behind the bowling alley. Kerry Stanley
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing! It sounds like your family played very important roles in Gilman. I love that your mom and dad met working there. What a sweet story. It must have been a great place to go sledding, although a little scary if you weren't careful!
DeleteThis town fascinates me. I'm one of the many who pulled off the highway to snap a few photos from the road. In the articles I've read, I can't find anything that would explain why families would leave without taking their property like cars and clothes. Has anyone offered any explanation for that?
ReplyDeleteI believe most of the personal possessions were taken when the families moved out. The houses are almost completely bare inside except for large objects such as water heaters. I'm not sure why a couple of cars were left behind though. They might have belonged to the mining company. There were a ton of artifacts left inside the office buildings and other non-residential buildings.
DeleteI also was born there in 1944. Someone was already in the labor room, so I was born in the hallway of the hospital. My parents lived in Pando in support of the 10th Mountain Division who were training to wage war in winter and mountains.
ReplyDeleteI planned to visit Pando, but ran out of time. I didn't know that military training was carried out there.
DeleteI've heard from my cousin, a former Green Beret, that the CIA trained Tibetans at Camp Hale on the late 50s to fight the Chinese. They were unsuccessful, of course.
DeleteThese photos are amazing--I've driven past Gilman many a times and have stopped to take photos and to geocache (on Hwy 24, there's one by the guard rails facing Gilman). You're lucky you were there when you were, although I'm not sure exactly when this was; the Town of Minturn has been emailing out information all summer stating the county was increasing the number of policemen in the area and would be arresting people for trespassing because of the contamination. Very grateful to see photos of a town I've always found so fascinating! Thank you
ReplyDeleteI grew up there, I remember Mr. Murphy at the general store and Dr. Stanley. We lived two houses down from the hospital.
ReplyDeleteIt was fun living there and have only great memories! My Mom worked at the Staff House and my dad worked as an electrician in the mine. We still have great iron pyrite samples that dad brought home. Loved to be able to explore Gilman once again.
I lived there until I was 19. Dad was a mining engineer and mom taught school. The main recreation there was heavy drinking. And even though you couldn't walk 400 yards without crossing the whole town, people would drive from their house to the office. Once, a man driving a Cadillac with Texas plates asked me if anyone had ever fallen off the town.
ReplyDeleteChuck Hill - again. Living in Boulder County for 32 years, I've passed by Gillman many times on my way to the Pando Valley - which contains the remains of the Army's WWII era "Camp Hale". We used to "camp" there a lot with our kids when they were growing up in our travel trailer. Never went into Gillman as it was then (1980's) clearly marked with MANY no trespassing and other foreboding warning signs. We always found plenty to do at Camp Hale including bicycling up the old, abandoned Tennessee Pass road, and up to the Climax Molybdenum mine as well as dinking around the old Camp Hale buildings and remains. Great area in the summer. Most of the rest of the year its too cold or WAY too cold. BTW: The item you identify as an "old addressing machine" appears to actually be an old mechanical calculator. I actually used one of these in my first job after college working in a lab of a large, internationally well known company. The one I used was actually more complete than this one and could calculate square roots. It could take a LOT of "grinding" to spit out the square root of some large numbers. Sometimes us smart alec young lab guys would intentionally key in very large numbers just to listen to the thing clickity-clack and grind.
ReplyDeleteThank you for this informative article and great pictures. Like so many others, I have driven by Gilman many times, wishing that I could see these sites. Thanks for bringing them to me!
ReplyDeleteI worked for the Rio Grande Railroad in 1978-79. I lived in Minturn and ran the helper engines that pushed trains up to Tennessee Pass. We passed Belden every trip, of course. The Eagle River was a strange color. The early summer of '78 the river flooded and rose over the tracks so we had slow orders going through there. I knew Gilman was above us, but I never saw the town, of course. The "old head" railroaders from Minturn had some good stories about the New Jersey Zinc Co. and I wish I could remember them. Camp Hale, too, and the German POWs held there during the war.
ReplyDeleteIn the early 80s, a friend who worked at EPA was assigned to investigate the PCB contamination in the Eagle Mine.
My mom and Dad met in Gilman and were married. My Dad was the accountant for New Jersey Zinc until it closed. Dr Stanley sewed up my very injured thumb and put many stiches in my older brother's head from multiple assorted injuries. We lived "up town" and yes all of the men drove their cars the 2 blocks to work at the administration office. Heavy alcohol use a reality in the adults. Many of red rubber balls were lost being kicked over the wire fence and down , down , down into the canyon and rail road tracks. Parents did fear kids falling the many cliffs surrounding the town. The "poorer "people lived in a lower level of houses called "Rock Creek". There was a night watchman who wore overalls and carried a huge fob watch and was scary as Boo Radley in To Kill a Mocking Bird. I distinctly remember one of my first grade teachers who lived above Murph's store, who my Mom and I went to visit one day. She had been badly beaten in the face and arms, she was scared, frail and hiding. My Mom told me not to tell anyone. I have wondered about her my whole life... What was her story, what became of her? Kick the can was our evening street game. These pictures bring so much back so vividly. I could go on and on.....
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for sharing your memories of this amazing place!
DeleteDoing some research on why so many xrays of the miners lungs were left behind. Do you k ow by any chance?
ReplyDeleteI've seen Camp Hale one time and that was from the road. It was about 10 years ago and nothing was left. My dad was always proud that his brother trained there in WWII as part of the ski corps. By chance, (long story) I met his Sargent (by phone) He was beside him when he was killed, and as a side note, he wasn't in the 10th but the 99th infantry. They were on a secrete mission behind enemy lines and used the 10th as a cover. I told dad soon after but dad was suffering with dementia and did not comprehend what I said.
ReplyDeleteJeffrey, I have been there many times and love to ponder the history of the area. My wife and I actually drove through the area and got to were we think the barracks were, but as you said, there was nothing but the foundations left. I think what got me was the whole idea that this was were thousands of men and women worked, trained, and lived. As we explored the ruins to the north of the main area, I could just imagine the soldiers marching down the "avenues", which some remnants remain. I had a feeling of awe when I thought of what these brave men and women did.
DeleteI love stopping by Camp Hale when we travel south of where we live. My wife and I have noticed that since our exploration, they have closed off the area we were in due to asbestos concerns. Long story short, the sign was from 2012, but we were there in 2018. Guess we either didn't see it, or someone slipped up on their job.
How would one be able to tour this area. I know about the toxic concern, but would love to walk around, take pictures, and explore, but will not do that unless I have permission or someone to show me around. This is one of my favorite places to stop along highway 24.
ReplyDeleteDid you ever find an answer?
DeleteI have family history from Pando with photos dating prior to 1910 and mail posted from Pando. In winter they traveled by ski. The area has a rich history. It is not possible to visit Gillman to be caught there will result in great legal expense and a criminal record. As a young boy I was there many times i remember the town when it was active and pristeen with no broken windows.
ReplyDeleteThe deterioration is to be expected but the graffiti is a shame and disrespectfull to our history.
I grew up in Gilman went to school there father miner and mom well she worked in vail ski resorts not big at the time .. rock creek not for the poor i read one post and alcohol wasn't the main pastime .. I only hoped people who lived there would realize it was amazing and clean living i miss it and always will ..gibo madrid
ReplyDeleteMy husband was born there in Gilman and his father worked as an Electrician for the New Jersey Zinc company, his father gave him a very large piece of Iron Pirate, after my husband passed away I donated it to a place in the town of Leadville that is near by there at a Rock shop called The Rock Hut. My husband and his sisters and brother lived in Red Cliff all their lives along with his mom and dad. He told me many stories of Gilman and his father always talked about his times at the Gilman mine. Simpler times when life was easy and care free and kids could run and play till the street lights came on then you ran home.
ReplyDelete