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Ward, Colorado

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Ward is a former mining settlement founded in 1860 in Boulder County, Colorado. The population was 128 at the 2020 census. It's elevation is 9,462 feet (2,884 meters). The town has a total area of just 0.6 square miles (1.6 km2), all of it land. Just 20 miles northwest of Boulder, the town played a major part in the Colorado Gold Rush, it once was home to the state's oldest and longest-lasting mining camps and at one point was the richest town in the state.

Named after prospector Calvin Ward, the town was founded in 1860 following the discovery of gold at Gold Hill. Over the years, this small mountain town has certainly seen its share of ups and downs. In 1900, a fire tore through many of its buildings. Despite efforts to rebuild and with mines that were still turning a profit, Ward found itself nearly deserted by the 1920s. Ward was revived again in the 1930s. The growing popularity of the Peak-to-Peak highway, helped (it was established in 1918, making it today Colorado’s oldest scenic byway; Ward is located on a mountainside at the top of Left Hand Canyon, near the road). The town saw another surge in popularity in the 1960s, becoming an oasis for hippies yearning for a self-governed, off-the-grid lifestyle.

Ward features an alpine and subarctic mountain climate characterized by cold, snowy winters and cool, short summers. It sees an average of 147.1 inches (374 centimeters ) of snowfall per season, from late fall through early spring, with April historically being the snowiest month.

 


Peak to Peak Highway, Co Hwy 72, at Ward, looking west
(from CDOT)


Long's Peak, to the west of Ward
 (from NPS)
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