Old News - The Walls of Ironton Speak.

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Last weekend, we visited the ghost town of Ironton, which is not far from Ouray. There were many interesting things to see, but one of the unexpected bits was finding old pieces of newspaper, which had apparently been used as insulating material, still nailed to the walls.

"Colorado"

Newspaper headline to an article about bees, by G.M. Doolittle, who, it turns out, is known among entomologists and beekeepers as "The father of modern queen (bee) rearing."

Mining is mentioned in many of the clippings.

Mining news from around Ouray, CO. 

This clip may to be from between 1890 and 1893. 

"The Slide" mine was only operated during those years. 

It was reopened in later years as "The Newsboy Mine." 

"The Midnight" is another mine in the area.

View of some of the Ironton structures from the outside.

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Ironton - Colorado Ghost Town

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The most prominent structure in Ironton
Saturday, October 12th, 2013

The road that led us there.

The structure pictured above, from the opposite side.

With the mountains in the background.

Inside.

Looking outside.

 

More unidentified structures of Ironton.

Inside these structures, we found some interesting newspaper clips (apparently part of pages which had been used for insulation nailed to the walls.

One of the best preserved houses.

From the entrance.

There was still wallpaper on the walls, and patterns on the floors.

Three wasp nests hanging from the ceiling.

We also saw a huge rat in the wall of this room.

An outer building with several distinct sections.

One was an outhouse.

That's the one.

A very solid looking log cabin style house

behind the ruins of a structure in the foreground.

 

E. O. Milton Larson was the last person who lived in Ironton Colorado. This interesting and amusing episode of "I've Got a Secret," from the early 1960's features Mr. Larson.

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