With the discovery of gold, however, the region’s status quickly turned from that of quiet cow camps and homesteads to several rollicking boomtowns within a short distance, each complete with the accompanying evils.
Friday, April 05, 2024
Bandits and Badmen: Crime in the Cripple Creek District
The last of Colorado’s great gold booms occurred in the Cripple Creek District, high on the backside of Pikes Peak, in 1891. Prior to that, the ranchers populating the area were hardly concerned with crime. The busy bustle of city life had yet to descend on the area.
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There's still an active gold mine in operation in the Cripple Creek/Victor area. Similar stories are echoed in mining towns throughout the state. You might look into when Oscar Wilde came to Leadville, CO.
ReplyDeleteVery good story; tough times.
ReplyDeleteI have lived here in Cripple Creek for 27 years. We have a ton of history and I have found it to be a great place to live. For me it has been my own little world far removed from the rest of the modern world.
ReplyDeleteI lived in Leadville long ago--as Debbie Reynolds said in The Unsinkable Molly Brown, "Hell, I had more fun by accident in Leadville than I ever did in this damn place!" During WWII, soldiers from Camp Hale were banned from Leadville. Not to protect the town from the soldiers, but the soldiers from the town. It was a rough and tough place back in the day.
DeleteIs this the same 'Up On Cripple Creek' as referenced by 'The Band'?
ReplyDeleteMy future wife and I were in Cripple Creek back in 1992. The casinos were just being built. It's kind of sad what's happened to the place since. We got there by driving a cool dirt road called Gold Camp Road from Colorado Springs.
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