Old Roach, Colorado
Encyclopedia
Old Roach is a ghost town
in northwestern Larimer County
, Colorado
, United States
. Once a company logging
town, occupied roughly between 1923 and 1938, it lies in northern Colorado
near the Wyoming
border.
Old Roach was built by the Otto Lumber Company for the purpose of railroad logging, or tie hacking. Railroad ties were needed to build and maintain the growing railroad network in the American west, and tie hacks were the loggers who cut the timber and shaped it into railroad ties. Old Roach was an extensive company town which had homes as well as a post office, a store, and a school. It was inhabited from the early 1920's to the 1930's when it was dismantled from the National Forest lands where it was located. All that remains today in this ghost town are a few foundations, and the remains of a wooden flume and splash dam located along nearby Stuck Creek. The splash dam and flume were used to regulate water flows needed to float the new railroad ties down to the Big Laramie River during the annual spring tie drive. The ties were collected in Laramie, Wyoming where the Union Pacific Railroad was located.
Old Roach is located on the Roosevelt National Forest
. Archaeological exploration of Old Roach is currently being conducted by the U.S. Forest Service through the Passport in Time (PIT) program. The town site was examined and surveyed by Forest Service archaeologists and PIT volunteers in the summer of 2006. The splash dam and Stuck Creek flume were also surveyed and artifacts noted. In 2007, archaeologists expanded the survey to include the search for the remains of Forrester Camp, a satellite logging camp operated by the Otto Lumber Company. This camp was found located about 5 miles southeast of Old Roach. The 2008 field survey resulted in the finding of another satellite logging camp known as "Camp 3" located about 3 miles west of Old Roach. Another satellite camp known as East Beaver Creek was located and recorded during the 2009 field survey. East Beaver Camp is about five miles northwest of Old Roach. Several other satellite camps of the Otto Lumber company remain in the forest and hope to be located and recorded in future years.
The history of Tie Hacking in northern Colorado and southern Wyoming is described in Logging the Rockies: The Langendorf-Olson Story by Patricia Langendorf, Spruce Gulch Press (1992), ISBN 0962571490.
Ghost town
A ghost town is an abandoned town or city. A town often becomes a ghost town because the economic activity that supported it has failed, or due to natural or human-caused disasters such as floods, government actions, uncontrolled lawlessness, war, or nuclear disasters...
in northwestern Larimer County
Larimer County, Colorado
Larimer County is the seventh most populous and the ninth most extensive of the 64 counties of the State of Colorado of the United States. The county is located at the northern end of the Front Range, at the edge of the Colorado Eastern Plains along the border with Wyoming...
, Colorado
Colorado
Colorado is a U.S. state that encompasses much of the Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains...
, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. Once a company logging
Logging
Logging is the cutting, skidding, on-site processing, and loading of trees or logs onto trucks.In forestry, the term logging is sometimes used in a narrow sense concerning the logistics of moving wood from the stump to somewhere outside the forest, usually a sawmill or a lumber yard...
town, occupied roughly between 1923 and 1938, it lies in northern Colorado
Colorado
Colorado is a U.S. state that encompasses much of the Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains...
near the Wyoming
Wyoming
Wyoming is a state in the mountain region of the Western United States. The western two thirds of the state is covered mostly with the mountain ranges and rangelands in the foothills of the Eastern Rocky Mountains, while the eastern third of the state is high elevation prairie known as the High...
border.
Old Roach was built by the Otto Lumber Company for the purpose of railroad logging, or tie hacking. Railroad ties were needed to build and maintain the growing railroad network in the American west, and tie hacks were the loggers who cut the timber and shaped it into railroad ties. Old Roach was an extensive company town which had homes as well as a post office, a store, and a school. It was inhabited from the early 1920's to the 1930's when it was dismantled from the National Forest lands where it was located. All that remains today in this ghost town are a few foundations, and the remains of a wooden flume and splash dam located along nearby Stuck Creek. The splash dam and flume were used to regulate water flows needed to float the new railroad ties down to the Big Laramie River during the annual spring tie drive. The ties were collected in Laramie, Wyoming where the Union Pacific Railroad was located.
Old Roach is located on the Roosevelt National Forest
Roosevelt National Forest
The Roosevelt National Forest is a National Forest located in north central Colorado. It is contiguous with the Colorado State Forest as well as the Arapaho National Forest...
. Archaeological exploration of Old Roach is currently being conducted by the U.S. Forest Service through the Passport in Time (PIT) program. The town site was examined and surveyed by Forest Service archaeologists and PIT volunteers in the summer of 2006. The splash dam and Stuck Creek flume were also surveyed and artifacts noted. In 2007, archaeologists expanded the survey to include the search for the remains of Forrester Camp, a satellite logging camp operated by the Otto Lumber Company. This camp was found located about 5 miles southeast of Old Roach. The 2008 field survey resulted in the finding of another satellite logging camp known as "Camp 3" located about 3 miles west of Old Roach. Another satellite camp known as East Beaver Creek was located and recorded during the 2009 field survey. East Beaver Camp is about five miles northwest of Old Roach. Several other satellite camps of the Otto Lumber company remain in the forest and hope to be located and recorded in future years.
The history of Tie Hacking in northern Colorado and southern Wyoming is described in Logging the Rockies: The Langendorf-Olson Story by Patricia Langendorf, Spruce Gulch Press (1992), ISBN 0962571490.