Postcard Friendship Friday ~ Arrow, Colorado

Another great find in the box of 150 vintage postcards I got at auction a while back, Arrow Colorado, now a ghost-town.  Click on the photo and check out all the detail... the ladies on the track huddled.  The card was never mailed.  On the back of the card:  "Arrow on the Pacific Slope and eleven miles from Corona, is the terminus of the longest one day scenic trip from Denver.  The trains leave Denver at convenient hours in the morning, and arriving there, return at six o'clock in the evening.  Ample time is provided for sightseeing at Corona and Arrow, and for luncheon at the later point." 

From the Denver & Rio Grande

Arrow, CO
Elevation  9,585 feet.  Denver 76.5 miles.

Located on the western foothills of Rollins Pass about a thousand feet above Middle Park, Arrow was initially a logging camp, then railroad construction camp, then boom town, and finally ghost town.

This was another wild outpost in the west, and plenty of mountain men, ranchers, loggers and railroad workers spent their time off there doing the normal stuff, mostly drinking and gambling. Since Arrow was originally on forest land it was technically illegal to sell alcohol there. Well, the folks were plenty thirsty so the clever saloon owners set up shop in portable tents and formed various "social clubs" to get around the liquor laws. All this skirting around was a pain, and the merchants quickly decided to incorporate.

In 1904, after the Denver Northwestern and Pacific railroad laid its tracks to Arrow, things really picked up in the area. Arrow was the first incorporated town in Grand County and in 1905 over 2000 people got their mail at the post office. 

For part of its life, Arrow was a tourist town on the summer excursion runs out of Denver. A fine dining hall was built as well as other nicer amenities. One of the things Arrow was noted for was the presence of two electric street lights. At its peak the permanent population was 200 and all were proud to boast of their lighted street.

Arrow became a fair sized town but a fire destroyed most of it in 1920. Furthermore, when the Moffat Tunnel was constructed this high section of the railroad over Rollins Pass was no longer needed. The town soon fizzled and what was left was packed away or turned into fire wood.

Thank you Beth for hosting Postcard Friendship Friday.  

To see other postcards... click here!