Alta Lakes Ghost Town

The nicely-preserved ghost town structures of Alta are encountered on the Alta Lakes Road just about a mile below the Alta Lakes Recreation Area near Telluride. There are several buildings in varying stages of decay from the old town that was active from 1877 to 1948. Nikola Tesa and George Westinghouse worked at this site in conjuction with the Ames power plant, which was the first commercial use of AC hydroelectric power. The ride up the Alta Lakes Road, which passes through the ghost town, makes a good mountain bike ride.