Like many other true ghost towns, Carson sits in an unspeakably beautiful setting. Like a few others, it is unoccupied. This combination makes Carson one of my favorite mining camps anywhere.
Christopher J. Carson, prospecting along the Continental Divide, found gold and silver in 1881 and staked a claim for the Bonanza King. The small camp named for Carson struggled through the early 1880s because of transportation problems, but miners still managed to work 150 claims in which silver outproduced gold by a hundred ounces to one.
Transportation woes were eased when a road coming from Lake City was begun in 1883, led by an overseer named Wager, for whom the gulch was named. Another road from Wagon Wheel Gap reached the south side of the divide in 1887.
The reliance on silver crippled Carson in 1893 when silver prices plummeted. But in 1896, promising gold deposits were found, bringing more than four hundred miners back, principally to the St. Jacobs and Bachelor mines. At this time, buildings were constructed north of the pass at a “new” Carson. “Old” Carson was on the south side. By 1902, however, the Gunnison Times reported, “Carson with its many promising properties is practically abandoned.”
Standing at the new Carson today are seven structures, one made of logs and the others of cut lumber. Each has a sturdy metal roof, thanks to the town’s owner. (Carson is private property, but it is not posted against trespassing at this writing.)
The largest building was a boardinghouse for Bachelor Mine employees and may also have served as a hospital. It is interesting architecturally because it was built as if it were three separate structures connected by hallways. The walls are covered with graffiti, one reason why sites like this become closed to the public.
Two nearby homes for the Bachelor Mine foreman and superintendent had tongue-in-groove interior woodwork, indicating that these buildings were not of slapdash construction. North of those homes is a buggy shed and stable.
The nearby Bachelor Mine is posted against trespassing, but you can see it nonetheless. Behind the Carson buildings is a faint trail that heads to the southeast. In perhaps thirty yards, you’ll come out behind the mine, where, without trespassing, you can view the operation, including a boiler, cable winch, dumps, and rotting boards.
The living quarters for the mine’s foreman and the superintendent have a touch of class that the other five buildings at Carson do not: tongue-in-groove interior woodwork. Unfortunately, the residences, like the others in town, are marred by graffiti.
Very little remains at old Carson, south of the Continental Divide. When Muriel Sibell Wolle hiked there in 1948, she saw mine buildings, houses, an old hotel, and the post office.
WHEN YOU GO
From Lake City, head southeast on Colorado Highway 149 for 2.3 miles to Road 30, the turnoff to Lake San Cristobal and Cinnamon Pass. Drive 9 miles to Wager Gulch Road (Road 36), which goes south. The next 3.6 miles to Carson require a four-wheel-drive vehicle, especially in wet conditions.