08/24/2026
The book, "Yellow Gold of Cripple Creek" by Harry J. Newton, published by Nelson Publishing Co., Cripple Creek Mines Bureau, Inc., copyright 1928, provides a unique persective of the World's Greatest Gold Camp.
Here is an excerpt from Chapter III.
"The first arrivals were attracted from the nearby centers of civilization - from farming towns in the South Park; from Buena Vista, Colorado Springs, and Manitou, Pueblo, Canon City, Florence, and Denver. Strangely the rush did not at first comprise the seasoned and experienced precious metal miners of other Colorado camps - Gilpin and Clear Creek counties, Leadville, Boulder, the camps of Summit county, the Gunnison, the San Juan or even the camps of nearby Park county. Among the early day miners of Cripple Creek there were so many farmers it was asserted that they "mined with pitchforks." The practical miner was in the minoriry; "the butcher, the baker and candlestick maker" turned gold seeker and digger and they found the gold. The roads and trails to the new El Dorado became alive with ever increasing trains of wagons, filled with household furniture, with merchandise, provisions, liquors and ci**rs, gambling outfits, bar fixtures; "everything from a stock of jewelry to a miners' outfit." They came "foot and horseback." There were some capitalists; there were many more just flat broke and trusting entirely to their luck. The argonauts roughed it, either living in tents or crudely built cabins made from green lumber. Accomodations for the visitor were at a premium. Sleeping in a chair was considered a luxury - and some had to sleep standing up if they wanted to sleep indoors. The first hotel could only feed thirty at one time, so a line outside formed, each taking his turn for the "chow." "All the accompaniments of a new mining camp were at hand; the improvised bar room with a barrel of '40-rod' for stock and a board for a bar, and the general outfitters' tent containing everything a reasonable man might ask for from gold pans, picks and overalls down to chewing to***co, bacon and flour. All kinds of gambling devices were run wide open and the 'tough' indulged in target practice with his six-shooter in the open street." The wild and woolly days, the raw state of affairs did not last - Cripple Creek was too near large cities, and the population grew so fast, progress and development came with unusual rapidity. It was but a short while until the larger towns dotting its golden hills had all the civilizing improvements and facilities of metropolitan centers.
