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Arrow, Colorado (Arrrowhead) ~ Elevation 9,585 feet ~ Denver 76.5 miles (GPS: N 39.91528 ~ W 105.76037)
Research by James R. Fariello
Just a short drive west of Denver is a metal detector and coin hunters paradise. The old ghost town of Arrow lies on the western side of Rollins Pass and offers a nice weekend outing, hiking, camping and treasure hunting adventure for you and your family. I have found that the old ghost town areas are becoming full of tourists and not much fun to go too. My hobby of metal detecting for old coins in Colorado has taken me to some way out places in our State but this one was the best. This ghost town when I first research it for a place to metal detect was not worked out. It is refreshing to go out of the norm and find a ghost town that is out of the way and not on the topographic maps. A ghost town that is accusable by motor vehicles for street use and not 4x4 only. True Colorado ghost town nuts should have Arrow in their research material but without structures still standing they tend not to place it at the top of their list. I have not been to Arrow in years and the last time it was metal detecting in that area it yielded some nice turn of the century coins. There are also some nice collectable items scattered around the town and old outhouse holes can be found as the bottle collectors dug to recover those items in history. If you do some research on Arrow you will discover the past history of it will list men of ranching, logging and railroading spent most of their time doing the normal things done at the turn of the century. Drinking, gambling and working hard topped that list.
Arrow is located on the western foothills of Rollins Pass about a thousand feet above Middle Park. Arrow (or Arrowhead) was initially developed as a logging camp that later became a railroad construction camp and then a boom town that ended as a lost ghost town. Over the years a lot of people that contacted me wanted to know the location of Arrow as they couldn’t find it listed on a road map or topographic maps. I would direct them west of Denver on I-70 to US 40 thought Winter Park. Just outside of Winter Park is the road that goes left called the Denver Water Works Road or sometimes called Co Hwy 81. That would be the road to Arrow and was in the past part of the rail road bed for the tracks. Other roads past Winter Park will go to Arrow but this was the best road I found.
Arrow was originally located on forest land so it was technically illegal to sell alcohol in the town site. Well, the local businessmen were pretty clever and saloons were set up in portable tents and a various "social clubs" were started to get around the liquor laws of that time period. After all of this skirting around the merchants quickly decided to incorporate the town to get business going like other towns of that time period.
In 1904 the Denver Northwestern and Pacific railroad laid its tracks to Arrow over Rollins Pass and things really picked up in that area. The town of Arrow in 1905 went down in the Colorado history books as being the first incorporated town in Grand County. The United States Post office showed over 2000 people getting their mail though the Arrow post office. Arrow was also a tourist town with train rides out of Denver for summer excursion. A fine dining hall was built as well as other nicer amenities with only one long main street in town.
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. When the Moffat Tunnel was constructed this high section of the railroad over Rollins Pass was no longer needed and Arrow started to become a ghost town. The town soon fizzled and what was left was packed away or turned into fire wood.
A 1910 map from the rail road shows the layout of Arrow and is helpful to place the streets and building of the town.
A topographic map shows the area of Arrow but the town is not listed on it. Arrow spring, Arrow well and cemetery is shown on the map.
If you get a chance to got to Arrow please email me at [email protected] and let me know what you found. This area should have a lot of good potential still and is off the beaten path still. Good luck and keep you coil to the ground.
The Ghost Town of Arrow near Winter Park, CO