Cripple Creek

History

For many years, Cripple Creek's high valley, at an elevation of , was considered no more important than a cattle pasture. Many prospectors avoided the area after the Mount Pisgah hoax, a mini gold rush caused by salting (adding gold to worthless rock). On October 20, 1890, Robert Miller "Bob" Womack discovered a rich ore and the last great Colorado gold rush began. By July 1891, a post office was established. By November, hundreds of prospectors were camping in the area. Rather than investing in mines, Denver realtors Horace Bennett and Julius Myers sought wealth by platting 80 acres of land for a townsite which they named Fremont. The town consisted of 30 platted blocks containing 766 lots. Each lot sold for $25 and $50 for corner lots. Within a year, the lots value increased and sold for at least $250 each. Months later, investors from Colorado Springs platted 140 acres near Fremont and called their town Hayden Placer. Bennett and Myers filed another plat near the Broken Box Ranch and named it Cripple Creek. The towns’ combined population totalled 600-800 people by the end of 1891. In 1892, the Cripple Creek Mining District was created. The Town of Cripple Creek was incorporated on June 9, 1892, From 1892, Bennett and Myers oversaw the Fremont Electric Light and Power Company. The district's first telephone was established in 1893. Thousands of prospectors flocked to the district, and before long Winfield Scott Stratton located the famous Independence lode, one of the largest gold strikes in history. In three years, the population increased from five hundred to ten thousand. The Palace Hotel and the Windsor Hotel were so full that chairs were rented out to be slept on for $1 a night. Although $500 million worth of gold ore was dug from Cripple Creek and more than 30…

Geography

The gold-bearing area of the Cripple Creek district was the core of an ancient volcano within the central Colorado volcanic field, last active over 30 million years ago during the Oligocene. Free or native gold was found near the surface but at depth unoxidized gold tellurides and sulfides were found. At the 2020 United States census, the town had a total area of , all of it land.

Race & ethnicity

Most-observed species

• Common Raven

  Corvus corax Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  2,045
• Mountain Chickadee

  Poecile gambeli (Ridgway, 1886) · Aves
  1,982
• Dark-eyed Junco

  Junco hyemalis (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  1,922
• Steller's Jay

  Cyanocitta stelleri (Gmelin, 1788) · Aves
  1,734
• American Crow

  Corvus brachyrhynchos C.L.Brehm, 1822 · Aves
  1,485
• American Robin

  Turdus migratorius Linnaeus, 1766 · Aves
  1,268
• Pygmy Nuthatch

  Sitta pygmaea Vigors, 1839 · Aves
  1,190
• Black-billed Magpie

  Pica hudsonia (Sabine, 1823) · Aves
  1,112