Como, 10 miles north of Fairplay on U.S. Highway 285, is a sleepy town today with less than 25 fulltime residents.
Back in its early days though, it was a different story. The Fairplay Flume of Nov. 10, 1881, said, “The state of society now existing at Como is about as bad as can be imagined,” and warned residents to take control.
In its first few years, from mid-1879 through 1885, four men were murdered within the town of Como and six more died in accidents. The employment contractor for the South Park Coal Mines was severely beaten in the Como War in 1879 and luckily survived.
