Trinidad, Colorado, went from ghost town to marijuana boom town.

Population: 8,200

In Trinidad, a former mining town located 11 miles north of the New Mexico border, vacant stores line the streets. Half of the city's water pipes were installed more than a century ago.

The legal marijuana industry has fished the small town from the "abyss of nothingness," according to one longtime resident. Sixteen dispensaries — including one located inside an old Pepsi factory — supply a steady stream of customers, many with out-of-state license plates.

In 2015, city officials began to transform the town using a portion of the $850,000 in annual tax revenue generated by medical and recreational marijuana sales. They replaced 140-year-old brick streets and the dilapidated water pipes. The town also bought a new fire engine.

In 2016, Trinidad more than doubled its pot tax revenues from the year prior.