Cabin in Independence Ghost Town, just off State Highway 82 through the "Top of the Rockies" route through Independence Pass in Pitkin County, below the Continental Divide in the Colorado Rockies. It was the first settlement established in the Roaring Fork Valley, after gold was struck in the vicinity on Independence Day, July 4, 1879, hence its name. The town has also been known historically by other names—Chipeta, Mammoth City, Mount Hope, Farwell, Sparkill and Hunter's Pass.
Like other early settlements in the upper Roaring Fork Valley, it lost population over the course of the decade as Aspen emerged as the ideal location for commerce in the region. Independence was never able to overcome the severe winters that resulted from its location at a high elevation in the mountains, and at the end of the 19th century all but one of the remaining residents abandoned Independence en masse after a particularly heavy snowstorm to settle in Aspen. It has been a ghost town since at least 1912. The remaining structures, all log cabins of various sizes, are now on land partially in White River National Forest. Photo by Carol Highsmith.