"Cripple Creek was the last of the open gold camps before mining fell to giant corporations. Its life was short and violent, but towns, cities, schools, railroads, institutions and financial dynasties grew upon its yield. Today a million tourists each year pour through the region, enjoying what Teddy Roosevelt called 'the ride that bankrupts the English language' through Cripple's upper reaches, and imagining the gaudy, brawling days when the quiet, patched and peeling facades of the town were new. Those are the days that Marshall Sprague, New York Times correspondent, calls back to life.
A fun read. The town is still pretty small and mining is done by strip mining
Bigger than life characters and more violence that I knew had happened. Just good history. The writing takes you back to those times. Still a lot of those times remain in the area.
A really cool book about the history of Cripple Creek. I work for the company that now owns the mines and it was really interesting to learn about how it all began.