Colorado’s Tiniest Town is All But Deserted
There are small towns, and then there's Bonanza, Colorado.
You see, Bonanza, Colorado is a former silver mining town that, at one time, was known as Bonanza City and had a population of nearly 1,500 people.
In the 1880s, a man named Tom Cook was out looking for horses and happened to come across some silver ore deposits. That's all it took for people to come from all over in the hopes of striking it rich in Bonanza. The silver boom, however, lasted only two years.
The most interesting aspect of life back then was how they arrived at census numbers. You see, they didn't come to the town and count the people. Instead, they would count the saloons and dance halls and, at the time, Bonanza had 36 saloons and seven dance halls.
Off Highway 285, south of Poncha Springs and Salida lies one of the smallest towns in Colorado. 16 full-time residents remain in the town that you will want to see, even if it's just for the old buildings that remain in the town.
Relive a bit of history.