|
Cripple Creek Then And Now By Robert Brown Hard Cover
Cripple Creek Then And Now By Robert Brown
Hard Cover
Copyright 1991 1st printing
128 pages indexed
CONTENTS
1. Cripple Creek's Geography 11
2. Zebulon Pike and His Peak 15
3. Before the Gold 23
4. The Mount Pisgah Hoax 27
5. Bob Womack and the El Paso Lode 29
6. Hayden Placer, Fremont and Cripple Creek 33
7. Winfield Scott Stratton 39
8. Life Among the Miners 45
9. The Iron Horse Comes to Cripple Creek 57
10. The Midland Terminal Arrives 71
11. Cripple Creek's Short Line 75
12. The Fires 83
13. Labor Wars at the Turn of the Century 93
14. Cripple Creek Personalities 101
15. Cripple Creek's Satellites 107
16. Victor and its Neighbors 121
17. The Bowl of Gold in the 20th Century 126
COLORADO'S CRIPPLE CREEK Mining District was an incredible place, by nearly any standard that can be applied. First of all, it occurred within the six square-mile crater of an extinct volcano, which probably had an unsymmetrical conal shape. It was located just beyond the west shoulder of America's best-known mountain. 14.110 foot high Pikes Peak. Prior to the 1890's, most of the respected mining theories held that precious metals such as gold or silver do not occur in lava complexes. But this one was different! Pikes Peak's south slope occupied the ground floor of the extinct volcano, and somewhere deep down in the Earth's core, the erupting cauldron had apparently gathered great quantities of molten gold into its stew. A series of eruptions carried the gold-impregnated lava materials to the surface, leaving them exposed as tellurides of lava. As a consequence, many previously authoritative textbooks needed to be revised.
Because of its peculiar geological structure. the Pikes Peak Region was considered to be worthless for mining prospects. It flourished as a hay ranch for a time and as a timberline cow pasture, where a handful of ranches survived. Due to its location in a recessed bowl, which afforded protection from icy winter winds, the cold months were usually fairly mild.
When gold was found in California during 1849, one of the better routes to the Pacific Coast followed the well-established Northern Branch of the Santa Fe Trail up the Arkansas River to a point about five miles west of Bent's Fort. There, the migrants turned toward the northwest, following alongside the eastern foothills of the Front Range of the Rockies. past Pikes Peak. Continuing northward, the trail intersected the California and Oregon trails, in what is now Wyoming. Lots of those who located no gold in California, trickled homeward by reversing the same route. Only an optimistic few among them considered trying their luck around Pikes Peak.
Then, in 1859, the drama was replayed, when a modest quantity of gold was found about ten miles south of the confluence of Cherry Creek and the South Platte River, within contemporary Denver. Those men and women who sought precious metals in the West were nearly always from somewhere else. Colorado Territory. in its beginning, was not old enough to have produced native sons or daughters. The Indians and those who lived in a handful of Spanish-Mexican settlements in the lower San Luis Valley were exceptions. Most of the Anglo-Americans who migrated to the West were from small towns or farms, and they brought hometown habits and customs with them.
Although there were other ways to reach the goldfields of western Kansas, now part of Colorado. once again, would-be prospectors ascended the Arkansas River path and turned toward the northwest, beyond the now crumbling remains of Bent's Fort. By this time, the cutoff had acquired a title, the Old Cherokee Trail. named for the Cherokee people from Georgia and Oklahoma, who had used this path 10 years earlier as a shortcut between the Santa Fe and Oregon-California trails. Since few other landmarks were known at that time, and because the route passed by the mountain. the entire 1859 gold excitement came to be known as the Pikes Peak Gold Rush.
There are records of prospectors who sought gold around Fountain Creek and of others who ascended Ute Pass looking for the yellow metal while on their way to South Park. Curiously, in 1859, they largely ignored the region which would become know as Cripple Creek.
For the next several years, it was gold in the Rockies that induced large numbers of Eastern victims of the Panic of 1857 (an economic depression) to move west. Currently, at this point in time, many of the so-called authorities felt that the best gold deposits in western Kansas had been tapped and depleted.
Then, in the 1870's, the pendulum swung to silver. A series of rich strikes were made around Aspen. Leadville, in the San Juan Mountains, and finally, at Creede.
Meanwhile, the ill-starred Mount Pisgah Hoax of 1884 resulted in a brief flurry of excitement over an alleged gold discovery in the neighborhood of Cripple Creek. Since the Mount Pisgah affair was only a "salted" claim, contrived solely to line the pockets of a few con men, the hoax served only to disparage the future reputation of the region among mining men.
But all of this changed in 1891. There really was gold at Pikes Peak! Before it was finished, Cripple Creek had become the second-greatest gold-producing region of the world. It was out-produced only by the great Witwatersrand fields of the Transvaal in South Africa. However, for any of the years it was going, Cripple Creek outstripped the Witwatersrand, but the the Transvaal location continued to produce for a greater number of years, leaving Cripple Creek in second place in terms of total production.
By 1899, Cripple Creek's gold output amounted to one-fourth of all the gold produced in the United States and two-thirds of all that was mined in Colorado. As noted in the acknowledgements, accurate figures are difficult to find with reference to Cripple Creek's total gold production. Usually reliable sources vary widely. A conservative, safe ball-park figure would be something in excess of $250 million. This figure, it should be remembered, is for gold that was priced at only $20 an ounce, whereas today's going rate is over $300 per ounce. Silver and copper recovery would expand this production figure, as would amounts from high-grading, which was never reported. To put it into perspective, gold from Cripple Creek alone exceeded by at least 50 percent the total for gold recovered in all of California's Mother Lode Country.
All pictures are of the actual item. There may be reflection from the lights in some photos. We try to take photos of any damage. If this is a railroad item, this material is obsolete and no longer in use by the railroad. Please email with questions. Publishers of Train Shed Cyclopedias and Stephans Railroad Directories. Large inventory of railroad books and magazines. Thank you for buying from us.
Shipping charges
US Shipments: Ebay will add $1.25 each additional items, there are a few exceptions.
Ebay Global shipping charges are shown. These items are shipped to Kentucky and forwarded to you. Ebay collects the shipping and customs / import fees. Refunds may be issued if you add multiple items to your cart and pay with one payment. For direct postage rates to these countries, send me an email. Shipping varies by weight.
Payment options
Payment must be received within 7 days. Paypal is accepted.
Terms and conditions
All sales are final. Returns accepted if item is not as described. Contact us first. No warranty is stated or implied. Please e-mail us with any questions before bidding.
Thanks for looking at our items.
| 
