Swift – Colorado Ghost Town

by local author & historian: John LaBorde

Swift was a Post Office in 1910, not sure for how long, but it appears it may have been in a ranch house. Swift is situated east of Karval, south of the junction of CR R and CR 38. The US Geological Survey map shows two locations on this half section of land. It is on private property and there are no remains in the field. Now there is a ranch house at the SW corner of the intersection.

Here at Swift the neighbors could stop in, get the latest gossip, exchange pleasantries, and take care of their mail. Weather is always a good topic in the country or how the crops are doing and how the family is. To visit for a spell in the country was a treat for many a settler. See how things are with their neighbors or get the news of goings on. Is there a quilting bee or maybe a dance that weekend? Has the new school teacher arrived or maybe it is a new pastor.

Out in that open field there had been a home, outbuildings, and life being lived out. It was a place of community.

Today the dust of ghosts swirl over the parched land, and birds float overhead. Perched on the fence post is the Meadow Lark serenading the prairie. No longer does the bell of the country school house ring. Children now ride the bus to a neighboring town. Times past watch the yellow shadow of a bus sliding into the horizon. Clothes no longer flutter in the wind by the post office.

Here is the emptiness of dreams that were once. A silence settles over the land that can be heard beyond the rise. Hopes and dreams vanished, returning back to the earth.