Buena Vista Chamber of Commerce

          Scenic Drives Around Buena Vista

Chalk Creek Canyon & St. Elmo

Round trip distance to Hancock:  55 miles

Driving time:  2 1/4 hours (excluding sightseeing)

This tour has become popular as a drive into the Colorado mountain history of the late 19th century, visiting 5 remote ghost townsites.  Chalk Creek Canyon has a lively, colorful mining town and railroad history.  The 1880's mining town of St. Elmo is an official National Historic Site.  Many of the old buildings in these historic towns are now privately owned homes.  Please respect them as private property as well as treasures of the past.

                                                                          St. Elmo

From Buena Vista, go south on US 285 for 8 miles to Nathrop.  Turn right on HWY 162 towards Chalk Creek Canyon.  After 5 miles you will pass thru Mt. Princeton Hot Springs; established in the 19th century it is now in operation as a modern hot springs resort.

On the right is the Chalk Cliffs, an unusual geologic formation making up a large area of mountainside.  Legend going back to the 17th century holds that a group of Spaniards desperately fleeing from hostile Inidans threw their store of gold into the crevices of the Chalk Cliffs, where it is still waiting to be rediscovered.

Chalk Creek Canyon climbs gradually between the steep, rugged face of Mt. Antero on the left and the south face of Mt. Princeton on the right.  The canyon offers a number of scenic views.  Soon after the Chalk Cliffs you pass Agnes Veil Falls on the right with a fairly easy hike to the falls.  Further up C.R. 162 on the left is manmade Chalk Lake (stocked with trout).  Up the hill on the right is the Cascades section of Chalk Creek, with Cascades Canyon rising to the north high above it.

The road next reaches the first old town site of Alpine, which by 1880 had a population of 500.  Besides mining, the Alpine Smelter was the main source of income.  The town consisted of a number of false front stores, saloons, and the ever-present western dance hall.  There were 2 hotels, 3 livery stables, 3 banks, a school, a church, a newspaper, and a stagecoach stop.

Proceeding west you are driving on the old narrow gauge railroad right-of-way of the Denver, South Park, & Pacific to St. Elmo.  You may take a right turn just before entering St. Elmo and drive one mile to see the Iron City Cemetery.  This is all that is left of a town which was once able to boast its own reservoir and power generating plant.

The town of St. Elmo is an authentic Colorado mining town, and now a National Historic Site.  When entering St. Elmo the remains of the mill pond can still be seen.  The pond served as a swimming hole in the summer and an ice skating pond in winter. 

St. Elmo was originally known as Forest City.  It seems unbelievable today that the now remote, deserted ghost town boasted a population of over 2,000 a hundred years ago!  The "St. Elmo Rustler" was the town's first newspaper, and it was founded in August 1880.  St. Elmo was the railhead for the Denver, South Park, & Pacific Railroad until the line was completed to Gunnison through the Alpine Tunnel.  The last train passed through St. Elmo in 1926.

Romley, on above St. Elmo, was a station on the railroad and had about 400 residents at its peak.  Most of the buildings were destroyed in the 1980's.

Few remains are now left of Hancock, the last of the 4 towns of Chalk Creek Canyon.  Hancock was active while the railroad passed through, reaching about 350 residents.

THE DRIVE TOUR FOR CARS ENDS AT HANCOCK. A 4 WHEEL DRIVE ROUTE OVER THE HANCOCK PASS WILL TAKE YOU TO THE ALPINE TUNNEL.  A HIKE UP WILLIAMS PASS WILL TAKE YOU TO THE EAST PORTAL OF THE ALPINE TUNNEL.  A TRAIL TO THE WEST PORTAL CAN BE ACCESSED THERE.

           The Alpine Tunnel was a true wonder of its time.  built in 1880-82 at an altitude of 11,500 feet, it tunneled under the Continental Divide and is at an even greater altitude than the great, modern Eisenhower Tunnel on Interstate 70.  The Alpine Tunnel is 1,830 feet in length, 14 feet wide, and 7 feet high.  In these mountains this was the only way for the railroad to reach Gunnison, which then became the railhead of the Denver, South Park, & Pacific.

Brought to you by the Buena Vista Chamber of Commerce and the Colorado Tourism Office