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Photo Gallery of Cripple Creek

A picture is surely worth a thousand words when it reflects the diligence and industrious nature of the miners and families who came to Cripple Creek in the late 1800s. In the images are buildings, businesses and people that were a part of the country’s biggest gold rush. Their successes brought fortune and their hardships paved the way for a more prosperous life.

Miners in the gold camp made about $3.00 a day. Most lived in tents or simple log cabins. It was hard work digging, shoveling, and washing the ore. Many worked lying down or kneeling in the mines that were often muddy or flooded with water. Photo courtesy Colorado Historical Society.

A hydroelectric power plant southwest of Cripple Creek began operating in 1901 and generated some of the first electricity for the Victor and Cripple Creek area. The availability of electricity changed residents' way of life. Photo courtesy Denver Public Library, Western History Collection.

A miner's life was not without entertainment. Here, a rookie endures the traditional "blanket toss." With the growth of the district also came amenities - at its height there were 15 newspapers, 90 doctors, two undertakers, four department stores, 49 grocery stores, 20 meat markets, 14 bakeries and 11 laundries. Photo courtesy Colorado Historical Society.

Charles Tutt entered the gold mining business in Cripple Creek in 1891. When he needed a partner, Tutt called on his friend Spencer Penrose. Penrose and Tutt prospered and put their money into their mine, the Cash-On-Delivery, and various Cripple Creek properties, from homes to retail businesses to brothels. Photo courtesy El Pomar Foundation.

During its heyday, the Cripple Creek Mining District was home to 150 saloons, dance halls, theaters, and a variety of brothels and cribs in a renowned Red Light district. Photo courtesy Denver Public Library, Western History Collection.

Passenger trains weren't the only form of modern transportation in the district. Two electric streetcar systems - the Low Line and the High Line - offered service day and night to Cripple Creek and Victor and to the biggest mines. Photo courtesy Pikes Peak Library District.

The news of Bob Womack's discovery of gold in 1890 brought fortune-seekers by the thousands to Cripple Creek and Victor. The Cripple Creek Mining District was formed in 1891 and the state's last gold rush was on. Photo courtesy Denver Public Library, Western History Collection.

Miners, businessmen and their families had many diversions in the gold camp including events that would attract crowds of thousands. Bennett Avenue in Cripple Creek was the site of many celebrations. Photo courtesy Denver Public Library, Western History Collection.

When the first trains steamed into the mining district, everything changed for the people who lived and worked in the mines and the mine owners themselves. Trains offered a seemingly lightning-fast way to transport people to other cities, carry gold ore down to mills where it was processed, and bring coal and supplies up to the gold camp. Photo courtesy Colorado Historical Society.

Miners often brought non-perishable foods with them - flour, beans, dried meat. At the camp, they supplemented their diet by hunting and fishing. Some even grew vegetable gardens.

Cripple Creek and Victor loved a celebration - and a competition. Horse races, baseball games and even a bullfight were entertaining pastimes in the Gold Camp. Photo courtesy Pikes Peak Library District.

Finding gold on Pikes Peak was exciting. Removing it proved to be difficult. Pikes Peak gold wasn't formed in nuggets or flakes. Instead, it was embedded in the rock as tiny particles and grouped with other chemical elements. Photo courtesy Denver Public Library, Western History Collection.

Between 1890 and 1951, nearly 500 mines in the Cripple Creek Mining District produced $433 million in gold. Many of the most profitable mines were financed by wealthy men who lived in Colorado Springs. Occasionally, a hard-working prospector struck it rich. Photo courtesy Colorado Historical Society.

Hundreds of businesses sprang up in the gold camp to accommodate the growing population. Photo courtesy Denver Public Library, Western History Collection.

Residents of the World's Greatest Gold Camp could use public transportation, even in the early days. In 1908, when Cripple Creek was Colorado's fourth largest city, street cars operated on its main streets. Photo courtesy Denver Public Library, Western History Collection.

The narrow-gauge Florence & Cripple Creek was the first train to reach the Gold Camp. It traveled forty miles from Florence, Colorado up steep grades through Phantom Canyon and into Victor. Photo courtesy Denver Public Library, Western History Collection.

One of the first tasks for incoming prospectors was to find a place to live. Many camped, pitched tents or built small cabins for shelter during the cold mountain winters. Photo courtesy Denver Public Library, Western History Collection.

"Pikes Peak or Bust" was the slogan adopted by a surge of prospectors who headed to Colorado in search of their fortunes. Photo courtesy Denver Public Library, Western History Collection.