Artist fixes up ghost town near Utah-Colorado line

CISCO, Utah (AP) — An artist is trying to revitalize an abandoned old railroad town in eastern Utah by refurbishing dilapidated buildings and converting them into residences for artists.

Eileen Muza is the sole resident of Cisco, Utah, a scattering of old buildings in the high desert 30 miles (48 kilometers) west of the Colorado line, KUTV reports. The town was created in the 1880s as a fill-station for a railroad but died off when Interstate 70 was built a few miles north.

Muza first became fascinated by the town when she visited it while on vacation. She purchased it in 2015 and left her life in Chicago to move there.

She is fixing up the buildings to honor the town’s history and so other artists can work from them in a residency project she calls: “Home of the Brave.”

“The arts are one of the few things that redeem us as human beings,” Muza said.

Her longtime friend, Lauren Calhoun, recently came to visit and help rebuild the buildings that are falling apart. She laughed when she first heard about Muza’s plan to live there but said it makes sense for Muza.

“She’s had this really romantic idea of these objects that have this history, and she’s just surrounded by that here,” Calhoun said.

Muza is still getting used to living without normal amenities, such as running water, but says she loves the solitude.

“It’s a separate space away from your life that you can sort of change the way you think and be in a different environment,” Muza said.