Ghost Towns of Colorado
GHOSTS OF
THE EASTERN SAN JUANS

Bachelor

Mineral County

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[ Commodore Mine at Bachelor ]

Some ore was found in this area in the mid-1880s, but Bachelor didn't flourish until the Creede boom occurred in the early 1890s. A burro is credited with one of the first discoveries. Apparently the animal strayed away one night, and was located on Bachelor Mountain the next day. He refused to move, so his owner picked up a rock to throw at him. Sure enough, it was ore.

The first buildings in Bachelor were a home and a boarding house erected near two springs by C. L. Calvin and his wife on September 6, 1891. Shortly thereafter, the Last Chance Mine struck paydirt. The mining company built a mess hall and bunkhouse near the springs.

A town was laid out, and prospectors swarmed over the area. Claims were even staked on the planned sites for the schoolhouse and other public buildings. The governor personally came to the townsite, and restored order to the chaos that existed. His visit brought new interest and more miners to the mountain.

By 1893, Bachelor was the largest town in the area aside from Creede. Two saloons and a parlor house entertained the residents, and accidents and shootings occurred daily. Prostitutes provided a favorite pastime, and the miners from the Creede area would "tip" the hoistmen of the Last Chance and Commodore mines to lift them to the delights of Bachelor.

Fires were common, but Bachelor had a well-organized volunteer fire department, so the town never suffered total destruction.

Bachelor requested a post office in 1892, but the government refused to give them their desired name because of possible confusion with a California town of the same name. Instead, the post office name was given as Teller, for Colorado's popular governor. The residents, however, continued using the name Bachelor, except on their mail.

Aside from the drinking and gambling, Bachelor also had legitimate activities. Dances, plays, and musical events were common. The town had its own opera house, and the Bachelor City Dramatic Club was one of the best.

Before the 1893 crisis, Bachelor had as many as six thousand residents. A couple hundred of them were prostitutes. But, the Silver Crash caused Bachelor to decline, and it never recovered. The population was down to eight hundred by 1896. A few people lingered on into the early 1900s, but eventually everyone moved down to Creede or left altogether.

Among the trees on the east side of the meadow there is an interesting grave. Three bodies are said to be buried there, one on top of the other. A widowed minister and his sixteen year old daughter lived in a cabin at Bachelor. The girl became ill, and the reverend had to leave to conduct a funeral, so he cautioned his daughter to stay in the cabin until he came back. Upon his return three nights later he found a horse tied outside and a strange man leaning over his daughter in her bed. He promptly shot and killed the stranger. The girl screamed and explained that he was a doctor who had come to treat her worsening illness. Apparently she had bronchitis which had turned into pneumonia. Exhausted from the incident, the daughter died, and the minister turned his gun on himself. The three were found the next morning. There was a storm raging, and digging was tough in the frozen ground. Consequently, they were all interred in the same grave.

Only a few ruins remain at the site of Bachelor. One lonely cabin still stands in the trees on the west side of the meadow.

Ghosts of the Eastern San Juans is one of a series of fourteen small books on the ghost towns and mining camps of Colorado. Included in this book are:

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