Montana City, Colorado, Jefferson County is a captivating ghost town with a rich history that captivates those interested in the old American West. Below is detailed information about the town.
County: Jefferson County
Zip Code: Not available
Latitude / Longitude: 39.6811° N, 105.1797° W
Elevation: Approximately 5,892 feet (1,796 meters)
Time Zone: Mountain Time Zone (MT)
Established: 1858
Disestablished: 1859
Comments: Montana City is the first settlement in what is now the state of Colorado. It was established by a group of gold prospectors from Kansas and Georgia during the Pike’s Peak Gold Rush.
Despite its early promise, the town was short-lived due to the lack of significant gold findings. The settlers soon moved to the more promising site of Denver City. Montana City was the first settlement in what was later Denver, Colorado.
It was established during the Pikes Peak Gold Rush on the east bank of the South Platte River, just north of the confluence with Little Dry Creek, in 1858. At the time, the site was in the Kansas Territory.
Remains: No significant structures remain from the original Montana City. The site is now part of the Denver metropolitan area, and any remnants of the town have been overtaken by modern development.
Current Status: Montana City’s former site is now within the boundaries of the City of Lakewood, a suburb of Denver. It is primarily a residential and commercial area with no visible traces of its ghost town past.
The Montana City site is now Grant-Frontier Park and includes mining equipment and a log cabin replica.
Remarks: Montana City’s brief existence is a tribute to the transient nature of many early settlements during the gold rush era. Its story highlights the challenges and uncertainties early pioneers faced in pursuing wealth and a new life in the American West.
Today, its legacy is part of Colorado’s rich mining history. John Easter, a butcher in Lawrence, Kansas, heard of gold found “two days sleep” from Pikes Peak from Fall Leaf in 1857.
Fall Leaf was a member of the Delaware tribe living on a reservation near Lawrence, Kansas, who met with Easter to negotiate the sale of a steer. Fall Leaf was a guide in 1857 for Major John Sedgwick’s cavalry unit to locate and attack the Cheyenne and Arapaho in a series of attacks of retribution that stemmed from the killing of a Cheyenne warrior.
That journey led the men along the Arkansas, Fountain, and South Platte rivers. During that trip, Fall Leaf found gold in the Pikes Peak area and showed a sample to Easter.
