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Area history in print:
Last updated: 6 May, 2016 12:10

Why on earth did people build railroads up here in the mountains in the first place? And, a whole total of 3 of them too, plus two Trolley lines?

Short answer to that question would probably be GOLD FEVER!!!

The long answer, well, it would still be Gold Fever, but with a longer story attached to it. graphic of a smile It all started back when mankind was not known, the earth was younger...

Oh, I see, not that long story... animated wink Okay, how about this text then from an old picture book I have? It's from around 1915 so it's not too updated, but is is a good show for that this part of my site is about, sharing texts that has been published many years ago, about the "Greatest Gold Camp on Earth" - the Cripple Creek District!

BTW, I used to have some links to other sites with background history for the area, but as sites changes and link breaks I found to hard to keep track of them, so I suggest you use your favorite search engine, like for instance Google, to search for Cripple Creek History to find those sites that might be out there.

On this page however, you can on the links to your left find various old articles about the area, all being published in some form or another, and collected here for your viewing pleasure. graphic of a smile

Or, you can find here a dated overview, an short (textual) and fast list of dates in relationship to the area's history, and my own special dates in the end.

That was better, yes?, I thought so... animated smile Okay then, let's start with this story below, which was found is a tourist brochure from about 1915;

STORY of THE CRIPPLE CREEK DISTRICT

IT IS a story of engrossing interest, not only to that large element of the world's population to whom the discovery of treasure appeals, but to the student of human achievements and human progress as well.

To the former class the story of Cripple Creek would seem like a page from the Arabian Nights. To the latter it speaks of the restless search which has been prolonged through the centuries for that fabled land in which nature had filled her storehouse with golden treasure, El Dorado.

Cripple Creek, a name to conjure with, is known wherever the English tongue is known, a familiar name wherever the yellow metal is regarded as the one great thing to be desired and earnestly sought for.

The output of its great mines, which has so materially swelled the world's supply of the precious metal, opened the eyes of the world to the fact that a section of the long-sought El Dorado had been found.

How the geologists examined the formation of these hills, and how the men versed in the lore of the books, declared that it was impossible to find gold here in paying quantities because the formation was not right, is an old story which has been often told, and the tale, although interesting, is beyond the scope of a work such as this.

The discovery and location of the Cripple Creek district was prefaced by two mining excitements, neither of which amounted to anything, the fact being doubtless due to the difference of conditions here prevailing from those known in gold-bearing regions.

Then came Bob Womack, and to the persistency and pluck of this indomitable prospector is due the fact that the world has been enriched by many millions of golden treasure.

Laughed at as a visionary, regarded by some as being weak-minded because of his ceaseless search through the hills of the Cripple Creek region for the gold which he declared existed there, Bob Womack, the discoverer of Cripple Creek, never rested until his mission was accomplished and the great gold camp had been given to the world.

Robert Womack was born in Kentucky fifty-six years ago. He was of sturdy Irish-American stock, the kind that peoples wildernesses and discovers hidden treasure.

Of the blood of Daniel Boone, it was but natural that the Womacks should be found upon the borders of civilization.

The Womacks, father and son, came to Colorado in 1872,' and located a cattle ranch about fifteen miles north of Pueblo.

Robert, for several years after coming to Colorado, worked as a cowboy in the employ of his father. In 1876 father and son came to the Cripple Creek region, and purchased the Welty homestead, which covered what is now the townsite of Cripple Creek.

As time progressed Womack acquired other lands, notably the Requa townsite and the ground in the vicinity of Mount Pisgah, which were added to the ranch, known as the Broken Box ranch.

Along in 1886 the Womacks, who had mortgaged the ranch to Bennett & Myers, found that they were unable to pay even the interest. The Denver firm foreclosed, and the elder Womack returned to the ranch near Colorado Springs.

Bob had always been impressed with the idea that the hills surrounding Cripple Creek contained gold in paying quantities, and, after the loss of the Broken Box ranch, he still continued to make it his home, performing any kind of work to pay for his board, while he spent his days in the hills, prospecting.

He was regarded as very much of a nuisance by Manager Carr of the ranch, who believed that he was weak-minded upon the subject of gold.

Mr. Carr reported to Mr. Myers that every hole sunk by Womack meant the loss of a steer.

When Mr. Myers visited the ranch he and Carr went to where Womack was at work, up Poverty Gulch, at what is now the Gold King; and, calling Bob from the hole, Myers told him that he would have to leave the ranch.

Bob denied that his prospects had caused the loss of any cattle, and before the proprietor of the ranch left the prospector had partially converted him to his own opinion of the possibilities of the region, and Myers took with him to Denver a sack of rock from the Gold King.

Whether the Denver assayer who received the rock had contemptuously thrown it into the alley, or whether his tests were not of the proper sort may never be known, but the fact remains that he failed to report a single trace in what afterward turned out to be the richest ore ever found upon the American continent, and Myers was deprived of the opportunity of a lifetime.

However, Bob Womack made him exceedingly rich after all, for the despised ranch of the Womacks became the Cripple Creek townsite, the sale of which, according to Mr. Myers' own statement, netted the firm of Bennett & Myers a large fortune.

Bob Womack sold the El Paso Gold King claim for $300, and the purchaser a little later sold a third interest for $35,000.

Today the property could not be purchased for many thousands of dollars. It has already made several men rich.

During the years '90 and '91 Womack had between thirty and forty locations in the camp. Generous to a fault, whenever one of his friends was looking for a location, Bob would present him with a claim; and thus it came to pass that some of the best properties in the district passed through his hands without his having received the slightest benefit therefrom.

The Independence mine was located Fourth of July day, 1891, by W. S. Stratton. It was while he was trudging over Battle Mountain that he noticed a stream in the gulch below.

His animal was thirsty, and he started down that he might give it water. Passing down the hillside, his eye caught sight of the large blowout on the Independence and the outcropping on the Washington. Both claims were located.

Work was first started on the Washington claim, Stratton believing that the outcrop gave better promise of mineral than the blowout. In fact, he gave a bond and lease on the Independence, which, however, was not taken up; when the lease expired Mr. Stratton commenced operations on the Independence, the development of which, a few years later, enabled him to sell the entire property for $10,000,000.

Mining experts, men of great experience in underground work, now began to visit the district. Many made adverse reports.
That there was ore they admitted, but many of them put themselves on record that the ore occurred only in surface deposits.

They explained how impossible it was for gold to exist in this formation. They turned their backs on the infant camp, and left behind them the treasure-vaults long sought for.

In 1893 silver was demonetized, and business generally throughout the state was paralyzed. Miners began to flock here from the great silver camps. Capital was still wary.

Then, like a ray of sunshine through the darkness, came the announcement that the Pharmacist Company, on Bull Hill, would pay a dividend.

That news turned the tide to the new El Dorado, and people from every quarter of the globe began arriving. The stage coaches rolled in, packed to the boot.

When the close of the year 1893 came there had been shipped a total of $2,500,000 worth of ore.

In the succeeding year, 1894, C. M. McNeill erected a chlorination mill, of seventy-five tons capacity, at Lawrence, and to him is due the credit of treating the Cripple Creek ores by the chemical process.

The mill burned, and then he, together with Spencer Penrose, went to Colorado City, where they erected one of the greatest milling and reduction works in the world.

The Cripple Creek district, up to the close of 1915, has produced over $350,000,000 in gold. This enormous production came from ground between the surface and a depth of one thousand feet; and there still remains practically untouched within those limits an immense amount of unexplored territory.

The present production is about $1,250,000 a month. No other similar sized district in the world can show such a record - and its future is likely to eclipse its past, by reason of the drainage work now being carried on.

They had a way with words in the old days I must say. This book I believe is from around 1915, which sort of fit's me well since I plan to model this area not much later then this anyway...

But being that old, and me not changing the text, I can't guarantee that everything said there is the truth - look more at it as a sort of introduction and historic account of this area.

The look through the District History as Yearly Highlights is also put here:

Another look at this area's history:
(Mostly "lifted" from another page, but with some editing and comments in between)

 

 

 

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