Kokomo History
Kokomo was the center of activity in what came to be known as the Tenmile District. Minor placer gold discoveries were made as early as 1861 but significant mining in the area did not begin until after the rich silver deposits in nearby Leadville were discovered in 1877.
Significant silver deposits were discovered in the Tenmile Valley in the summer of 1878, and by 1879 Kokomo was a growing camp with a bank, post office, hotels, and at least one smelter. From "fifteen to twenty paying mines" were in operation that year.
By 1881 the town of Kokomo was booming with a reported 10,000 inhabitants. While this mining metropolis had many of the features of a proper city, it also experienced the lawlessness typical of Western boom towns. A July 1881 describes the murder of two men:
In a shooting scrape this morning John D Morrissey was shot through the lungs and Dennis McDonald through the thigh, and also badly beaten about the head. Both men are in a precarious condition. Thomas Galligan, Charles Madden and Thomas Lowrey were arrested on charge of committing the deed. Cause unknown.
As with many hastily-built mining camps of its day, Kokomo experienced devastating fire in 1881 that burnt most of the town to the ground. The citizens rebuilt, but the local mines were already in decline and Kokomo never again reached the bustle of 1881.
The winter of 1889 brought record amounts of snow. One account states that heavy snow and wind persisted for 71 days, and the snow is seven feet deep on flat ground, often drifting up to twenty-five feet in depth.
Railroads across Colorado were unable to operate in the deep snow, raising the possibility of mass starvation at remote mining camps and cities. Kokomo was one of the most affected towns, at one point facing a food supply that would last just ten more days. Ultimately the tracks were cleared and the crisis averted, although the citizens must have suffered immensely, the details of which we will probably never know.
As with most silver camps, Kokomo experienced periods of boom and bust over the years but remained active for many decades. The town endured until the 1960's, when the Climax mine began buying the land under the town in preparation for using the area as a tailings dump for the nearby open-pit operation.
The Kokomo post office closed in 1965. By the early 1970's tailings were being dumped at the townsite and today nothing is left of Kokomo.
Census records for Kokomo reveal the following populations:
1880 768
1910 193
1930 44
1940 113
Kokomo in 1881
The following article from the May 21 1881 edition of the Leadville Weekly Democrat described progress at Kokomo at the height of its boom.
What is Being Done in the Highest Town in the World - There is a Good Time Coming
Winter's reign is almost over. The snow still continues to fall but disappears as fast as it falls.
Business men are biding their time, confident of a lively summer.
New and good strikes are being made constantly.
Elk Mountain promises to give the Ten Mile district a regular boom this summer.
The Gold Hill mines are dally increasing in value.
The smelters are not running now, but not because of any lack of mineral. There are tons of ore on the dumps of the different mines but the roads have been impassible of late. It is expected that within the next week as many as twenty-five teams will begin ore hauling. This will add in no small degree to the business interests of the town.
A number of now faces are seen on the streets every day. Prospects and capitalists are coming in.
The weather has been all that could be desired until within the last three or four days.
Stages are now running regularly to Breckenridge. It is not probable that there will be any more blockades on the road.
A contract has been let for the erection of a school building 28 by 56 feet in size to cost about $1,500, the money for the same having been raised entirely by private subscription. Such a building is badly needed and that it is to be built reflects great credit on Kokomo's intelligent, liberal-minded citizens.
The wife of City Clerk Chase arrived Wednesday from Buffalo, and will spend the summer with her husband in Kokomo.
Services are held regularly in the Methodist church, Rov. J. F. Coffman, of Breckenridge officiating alternatively with Rev. Bickford, of Robinson.
Hon. William S. Gillett, of Cleveland, has returned to Kokomo for the summer, having spent the winter in the east.
Miss Cora Henderson, one of Kokomo's most popular young ladies, has gone to Cleveland to spend a part of the summer months.
Trains to the Ten Mile district are all crowded.
Charles Dickens, of London, is registered at the Western.
The new Hibernian hall, being erected on (illegible) street, blew down on Wednesday last. The building was twenty-five by forty feet, two stories in height, and was fast approaching completion. It will be rebuilt at once.
Messrs, Lake & Koch have, opened a new restaurant, called the Eureka Dining hall. They have neat rooms and are doing a fine business.
Tho proprietor of the Summit House is making a number of improvements in his hotel, with a view to making it more commodious, the increase of travel to Kokomo creating a necessity for more room.
A new stack and new roasters are being built at the White Quail smelter, thereby enlarging the capacity for treating ore.
Mr. W. H. Delleker, business manager of the White Quail Smelting Company, has returned from a trip to Denver and Santa Fe.
Mrs. Gowenlock, who has been very ill, is now convalescent.
Mr. 0. H. Woodward has returned from Middle Park, and will now remain in Kokomo.
Tho hotels are all doing a good business, and no house is receiving greater or more deserved patronage than tho Western Hotel. The host, Strong, understands and supplies the the wants of the traveling public perfectly.
Cherries and strawberries have made their appearance in the market. Bonanza kings can hardly afford to indulge in them. Spring chickens shipped from Kansas last fall serve as a delusion and a snare to tho epicure.
The good people of Kokomo feel themselves greatly aggrieved by the Denver and Rio Grande railroad company, and it certainly is exasperating to have the railroad "so near and yet so far" for so many months. Three or four days work would run it down from Robinson and yet that work is so long delayed. However, there is now a certainty that the road will be completed to Leadville within a very short time. It will, it is understood, be pushed right on to Frisco and Breckenridge. Kokomo will then have a much more direct railroad route to Denver. A number of railroad officials spent part of Monday in Kokomo.
Mining men who have spent the winter east are returning to Kokomo for the Summer.
Mr. Max Boehmer of Leadville, spent Wednesday in Kokomo.
A new Masonic Lodge has recently been organized.
Mr. James L. Clark is expected home from Baltimore soon.
Everything indicates a prosperous season in the entire Ten Mile region. That mineral abounds in great quantities has long been an established fact, and the present season will undoubtedly reveal many fine ore veins. A great deal of capital will be invested here. The confidence felt in the district is certainly not misplaced.
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