Until recently, I didn't know squat about Cripple Creek. I was aware of the name, of course.
Up on Cripple Creek, the hit song by the band called - would you believe - The Band, is to blame for that. The CC referred to in the song is in VA, but CO has it's own version. It was a mining boom town in the late 1800s, is now a tourist site with several casinos. We visited the area yesterday with friends Terry and Lisa, had a late breakfast that cost 49 cents each - plus beverages.
Cripple Creek main drag. Population was 35,000 in 1900, is now 1200.
Most of the wooden structures burned down in 1896, so they rebuilt with brick.
Cripple Creek & Victor Gold Mining Company, a huge, modern, mining operation, is still going strong, pumping out a million dollars a day in gold - with a small side dish of silver. The tailings are massive, a major landscape feature, even when viewed from the Pike's Peak summit, 15 miles away. Victor is the name of a little burg 4 miles from CC.
Bronco Billy's Casino where we had brunch is a block long,
is several buildings joined together.
Classic old hotel.
This crosscut view of one of the mines is in a museum near CC.
Looks like an ant or termite farm, huh?
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