Day #5 of A Ghost Town a Day For 30 Days features Puzzler, a small, short-lived gold and silver camp located in Boulder County, Colorado.
Puzzler sprang up around a rich gold deposit located in 1890 near the intersection of California Gulch and Left Hand Canyon. The small community died out shortly after a flood wiped out a trestle bridge at the head of California Gulch, ending railway operations beyond Puzzler. A handful of cabins were located at the site, as well a school house, and a Post Office which operated from 1898 to 1903.
Puzzler- Already long abandoned when these photos were taken by renowned Colorado ghost town chronicler Muriel Sibell Wolle in the 1940s
I visited the Puzzler site recently on a rumor that the simple school house still stood tucked away deep in the pine and aspen trees, but, much like all rumors, it turned out to be untrue- The school house was just another among the piles of toppled boards and logs at the site.
What may have once been the school house at Puzzler as it sits today
The concrete foundation of the stamp mill still exists, as do some of the timbers from the mine workings. Some rusty shards of tin roofing, milled wood boards, and rusted nails in various piles around the site indicate where the buildings once stood.
The concrete foundation of the mill and ore bins in the 1940s, photo by Muriel Sibell Wolle
The mill foundation today
Remnants of mine workings at Puzzler
A shack at Puzzler in the 1940s, photo by Muriel Sibell Wolle
Remnants of the same shack today, flat on the ground and nearly consumed by nature
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