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How Como got its name

Sidebar by Gary Minke

Como Mines – October 2005 – Colorado Central Magazine

The Alpine town of Como on Lake Como about 25 miles north of Milan, Italy, is in a picturesque setting. To the Italian miners who came to dig coal in Park County, their fast-growing railroad town nestled just below the Continental Divide also had its charm.

The new town overlooked a tiny intermittent lake (dry due to the drought of 2000-2005) which the miners jokingly referred to as their little Lake Como (a big stretch since the real Lake Como is 30 miles long and what they had here was little more than a stock watering pond). The name nevertheless stuck and both the “lake” and town became known as Como.