Whites – Colorado Ghost Town

by local author & historian: John LaBorde

North of SH 94 on CR 24 is the Post Office of is now White’s – Colorado Ghost Town. It sat on the banks of the South Fork of Rush Creek. Today there is a corral where the map shows White’s being located. Here one can pause and look out over the small valley and see the lure of the land, and why people would settle here.

Rush Creek has carved out a lush oasis. There are small pools, scattered trees, and lush green meadows on the creek bottom. Swifts circle overhead putting on an aerial show capturing insects. Ducks float over the glassy sheen of the pond watching. Nearby, deer laze in the cool grasses during the heat of the day. On the far ridge you’ll see the curious antelope watching the strangers. A startled owl scurries out of its nest in the trees and the Western Meadow Lark serenades the onlookers. Bobolinks’ are lined up on the barb wire watching the tableau of the prairie unfold.

Here a settler had water, well watered grasses for grazing, and nearby level rolling land for farming. Today a ranch house sits on the north bank overlooking the creek.

To the far horizon the land rolls on forever, only the eye was the limit. To the west rises the majesty of snow capped Pikes Peak looking out over amber waves on the high plains. During the late 1800’s this land would set a settlers heart ablaze. Here he could set down stakes and raise his family. Take his claim to nearby Hugo and file his patent at the land office. A few years later, travel to Hugo and prove up his patent and the land was his.

It was probably from Hugo that the mail for White’s Post Office came. Here the train stopped, delivering mail, supplies, and other goods. A drayage service would carry the mail into the country along with other goods. Places like White’s would also have a small general store associated with their Post Office. Here the neighbors could pick up a few staples without going to town and exchange the local news. White’s Post Office probably became an Amy Post Office, considering the close proximity to the Amy community. White’s may have also failed or left his settlement for reasons and somebody else got the Post Office.

There is nothing left of White’s but the wonderment of earlier times. There were probably Indian camps in the area.

It is a landscape awaiting the mind’s eye. Rush Creek was the roadway of earlier days. Along its course there were other communities or Post Offices listed like Damascus and Wezel’s. A wagon road followed the creek and there were early cattle drives over the land.

To discover more Ghost Stories from Lincoln County, Colorado, see the links below or in the right column of this page.