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Fort Peabody Co Ghost towns

 Photos Mike Sinnwell July 2013

Sometimes you get introduced to a location that has a unique and interesting history. This is one of those spots. You could drive by it, as many have, and not understand or even consider the importance. Why should you. For years it was just a pile of rubble. Thanks to the San Miguel County Open Space and Recreation office and the USDA Forest Service for the stabilization and restoration efforts completed in 2010.

This sentry post was built in 1904 during the height of statewide labor disturbances. It was abandoned in 1908. The reason it turned into a pile of rubble was due to extreme weather at 13,365 feet.  The Fort Peabody site is on a ridge above and southeast of the Imogene Pass road summit’. It was named after the Governor Peabody because he approved the request for the national guard troops.

It was a Colorado National Guard sentry post that included a small guardhouse, a flag mount and what some characterized as a sniper's nest. The sentry post commands a breathtaking view above Imogene Pass between Ouray and Telluride. When it was built the Western Federation of Miners was managing legal strikes in the San Juan district, Cripple Creek district, Colorado City, and other regions of the state. The Colorado National Gaurd Troop A, First Squadron Cavalry specifically built the post on the county line to prevent union miners or their sympathizers from entering San Miguel County, and to thwart deported men, classified as "undesirable citizens," from returning home via Imogene Pass.

Fort Peabody is the highest sentry post of its kind in the USA.