Morley CO - townsite

This is the Morley town site in Southern Colorado. You can see the old spanish mission church from I 25 at about mm 4. Originally part of the Santa Fe Trail over Raton Pass. (NM - CO line) The site has the ruins of the St. Aloysious Church, Known locally as the "old Morley Church" There are some foundations from other buildings. There used to be a coal mine and town on this site until the mine closed in the 1950's.

Ashcroft Colorado

Ashcroft started in 1880. it was a silver town. there is a long an varied history. Silver town, WWII training camdp, potentional ski area, Olympic traidning area, and finally in the 1970's it was preserved. The Aspen Historical Society takes care of it now. They have done a good job. The building at the far end is a two story hotel. it still has some the fancy wood work at the roof line and around the windows. inside, the stairway up was rickety, and we probably shouldn't have went upstairs, but we did. It wasn't gated off like some other buildings. what a view. This is one of my favorite areas of Colorado. Although, one sign said that Ashcroft gets about 18 feet of snow in winter. Brrr! There are a lot of ground squirrls here. you see them and their holes everywhere. looks like the hawks and ermine have a lot of work to do.