Breckenridge - Colorado Ghost Town

BRECKENRIDGE

NAME: Breckenridge
COUNTY: Summit
ROADS: 2WD
GRID: 2
CLIMATE: Cold winter with snow, cool summer
BEST TIME TO VISIT: Summer

COMMENTS: Near Dillon off I-70, semi-ghost, Ski-town.
REMAINS: A few original buildings.

This town is southwest of Denver on highway 9 north of Alma. It was named after John C. Breckinridge, Vice- President of the United States. The population was predominantly Union. When it became known the Vice-President was sympathetic to the cause of the Confederate South, eliminating the first "i" changed the spelling of the name and substituting an " e ". When the placer gold was exhausted, quartz mining re-vitalized the town and started a new boom on its way. Breckenridge enjoyed real prosperity during the 80s with saloons, prostitutes, gamblers and a fair number of shootings. Although Breckenridge is very much alive today, it still has enough of the early town left to make a visit very interesting. Submitted by Henry Chenoweth.	Detroit Mine Courtesy David Johnson

This town is southwest of Denver on highway 9 north of Alma. It was named after John C. Breckinridge, Vice- President of the United States. The population was predominantly Union. When it became known the Vice-President was sympathetic to the cause of the Confederate South, eliminating the first "i" changed the spelling of the name
and substituting an " e ". When the placer gold was exhausted, quartz mining re-vitalized the town and started a new boom on its way. Breckenridge enjoyed real prosperity during the 80s with saloons, prostitutes, gamblers and a fair number of shootings. Although Breckenridge is very much alive today, it still has enough of the early town left to make a visit very interesting. Submitted by Henry Chenoweth.

Detroit Mine
Courtesy David Johnson

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