Carbonate

Carbonate is a ghost town in Garfield County, Colorado, with a storied if brief past as a mining camp. It was founded in 1879 and, when Garfield County was established on February 10, 1883, Carbonate was named its original county seat — a distinction it held only until voters shifted that designation to Glenwood Springs later the same year. A post office served the community from April 1883 through November 1886, and the population has long since dwindled to zero, as confirmed by the 2020 census.

Visitors today will find a place that exists largely on paper and in history. No year-round population remains, and the setting reflects decades of abandonment. The site is worth a stop for those drawn to Colorado's early settlement era, but expectations should be modest — this is a historical footnote on the landscape more than a destination with visible infrastructure.