Midway, a Halfway Point in Colorado’s Cripple Creek District

c 2023 by Jan MacKell Collins

Portions of this article first appeared in Lost Ghost Towns of Teller County, Colorado.

In the vast expanse of the historic Cripple Creek District, literally dozens of camps, placenames and whistlestops popped up within a radius of just 24 square miles. None were quite so important, however, as Midway. The community was so-named because it was conveniently located about halfway between Victor and Cripple Creek, and likely came about shortly after the Cripple Creek District Interurban Line, aka the High Line, was established. The line ran hourly between 5:00 a.m. and 2:00 a.m. daily, with stops at Midway. The elevation measured 10,487 feet, making the High Line the highest interurban railroad in North America. From Midway, one could see majestic views of the Cripple Creek District, as well as Pikes Peak and the Sangre de Cristo mountains some distance away.

Although Midway was never intended to be more than a stop for miners commuting between their homes and area mines, railcars that were meant to hold no more than forty passengers often carried upwards of one hundred men through the small camp. By about 1896, Archie McKillip and Ed Doyle had built the Grand View Saloon at Midway, providing a place for miners to stay warm and have a drink before catching a ride or, perhaps, after a long day’s work.

Eventually, a handful of cabins surrounded the Grand View Saloon. Their residents numbered about fifty people, many of them colorful characters. One of them was “Bathless Bill,” a “mucker, skinner, and dance hall sinner” who was particularly known for the pungent odor permeating his clothing, and body. Miner Rufus Porter, aka “The Hard Rock Miner,” wrote a most delightful poem about Bill. The ballad recounts that Bill’s claim paid off, and on a night while buying rounds of drinks, Bill’s friends challenged him to take a bath. Bill met the challenge for a refreshing change, filling his tub with bottles of expensive champagne at a cost of $1,400. Bill’s long-needed soaking turned the champagne black, but the story goes that:

“He dipped a handful up,

And damn his hide, his grin was wide

As he slurped sup after sup

At last all clean like a dance hall queen

Old Bill stepped out to rub—

He’d tasted the wine and said it was fine

And they all made a dive for the tub.

Bill stood there bright, his skin as white

As lilies in the rain—

Admirin’ his wealth, they drank to his health

In that filthy black champagne.” 

Midway never did have a post office; in 1900, residents could pick up their mail at the nearby town of Altman instead. Aside from the Grand View Saloon, there was also an eatery, appropriately named the Midway Restaurant. Things were relatively quiet at Midway for a number of years. A grocery and blacksmith were present by 1912, and remained in business through at least 1916. There was also “French Blanche” LaCroix, whose home was located across from the Grand View Saloon. A French immigrant and prostitute by trade, Blanche had once worked for Cripple Creek saloon owner Morris Durant. When Durant’s wife found out the two were having an affair, she threw acid in Blanche’s face, scarring her badly. Blanche moved to Midway, where she initially served miners before retiring and becoming somewhat of a recluse. Locals remembered seeing her from a distance, sitting in the afternoon sun so wrinkles would eventually mask her scars. They also noted that she wore a brown veil when out in public. 

Although Blanche’s face frightened certain children of the Cripple Creek District, others recalled visiting her and eating her delicious cookies. In time, Blanche’s only other neighbor was Robert T. “Monty” Montgomery, a miner who lived in a tiny cabin across from the Grand View Saloon. The two dated for a time, until Blanche caught Monty seeing another former working girl named Annie Bowers from Independence. Blanche and Annie stayed friends, but Blanche never spoke to Monty again. 

Blanche eventually moved to Victor. By the time she died in 1959, Midway was long abandoned. As late as 1994 much of the Grand View Saloon remained intact, but the building and the rest of Midway were bulldozed in 2001 by modern mining operations. The exception was French Blanche’s cabin, which the City of Cripple Creek was able to save and move to town. In 2010, the cabin was given to the Cripple Creek District Museum, where today it is furnished to illustrate the way Blanche kept it when she lived there.

Image: French Blanche LeCroix stands in front of the old Grand View Saloon at Midway.

Putting the “L” in Lawrence, Colorado

c 2023 by Jan MacKell Collins

Portions of this article are from Lost Ghost Towns of Teller County, Colorado

The Cripple Creek District of Colorado lies high on the backside of Pikes Peak and fairly spills over with some of the most fascinating history in the west. Die-hard lovers of the Cripple Creek District’s fascinating history will tell you: Cripple Creek got the glory, but it was Victor that had the gold. Indeed, if it weren’t for the hundreds of mines within a stone’s throw of that city, Cripple Creek never would have grown to be the first-class city it aspired to be over a century ago. It is not surprising then, that in those early days the very first town to be platted in the District was Lawrence, which eventually evolved into a Victor suburb.

Lawrence was carved from a portion of Victor C. Adams’ cattle ranch, which had been formed back in 1888. Born in Kentucky in 1853, Adams had lived in Missouri before coming to Colorado. In 1880 he was working as a surveyor in Silver Cliff, in southern Colorado, but soon moved to his new homestead on the southeast slope of Squaw Mountain. By the time of the gold boom in the Cripple Creek District in 1891, Adams was very familiar with the old Cheyenne & Beaver Toll Road over today’s Gold Camp Road from Colorado Springs.

In 1891 Magdalene S. Raynolds, the wife of a prominent banker in Canon City to the south, took an interest in Adams’ ranch as a prime spot for a new town in the Cripple Creek District. Raynolds’ husband, Frank, had founded the Fremont County National Bank at Canon City back in 1874. Mrs. Raynolds, along with her husband’s business partner Dana Lawrence, decided to visit the area. A good portion of Adams’ ranch was on a large, flat meadow and skirted by Wilson Creek. The area was indeed ideal.

On January 4, 1892, Mrs. Raynolds purchased thirty acres of the Adams homestead. The town of Lawrence was platted on January 5, and named for Dana Lawrence. This early date confirms that Lawrence was the first official town in the Cripple Creek District. Shortly afterwards, a stage stop was constructed at the new town so travelers could easily reach the town from Canon City and Cripple Creek. Lawrence was laid out on a grid that was, not so ironically, “L” shaped. The main streets included such presidential names as Lincoln and Cleveland, but also Wilson Avenue for Wilson Creek and of course Raynolds Avenue for the Raynolds family.

It was no surprise that Dana Lawrence’s name was bestowed upon the new town, for he appears to have been more than a business partner to the Raynolds family. As early as 1887, Lawrence was secretary of the Raynolds Cattle Company. Frank Raynolds was president. When Magdalene Raynolds gave birth to a son just six months after the Lawrence plat was filed, the baby was named Dana Lawrence. The last reference to Dana Lawrence the partner, however, appears in some 1894 court documents filed in Fremont County. The documents concerned some water rights and confirmed that Lawrence still owned a portion of the Raynolds Cattle Company.

As of the 1900 census the Raynolds were still in Canon City with their five children. As they graduated high school, each child was sent to prestigious Colorado College in Colorado Springs. At least one of them, an adopted daughter named Pansy, also attended Columbia University. Following the death of Frank Raynolds in 1906, Magdalene took over as president of the Fremont County National Bank.

There is nothing to suggest that the wealthy Raynolds family, nor Dana Lawrence, ever lived at Lawrence in the Cripple Creek District. Rather, some of the earliest settlers were the McCormack family, who settled near the town in 1891 and soon formed a colony numbering over 100 Scotsmen. Upon arriving in the Cripple Creek District, the McCormacks changed the spelling of their name to McCormick in order to pass themselves off as Irishmen. Why? Because in those early days, the people of the District quickly established racial class among its communities. Scotsmen were viewed as foreigners. The Irish were not.

Lawrence’s post office opened on February 3. Other businesses included Bert Cave’s general merchandise store, a laundry and a restaurant. The short-lived Lawrence Miner newspaper reported the news. Two early roads led straight to Lawrence: the Canon City Road along Wilson Creek, and the Florence Road, a.k.a. Phantom Canyon Road. Promoters of both roads also proposed building separate railroads: the Canon City & Lawrence and the Florence Railroad. Preliminary reports for the Canon City & Lawrence Railroad resulted in three studies; in all three cases, surveyors of the hair-raising, narrow trail concluded that building a railroad along Wilson Creek would be impossible. The Florence and Cripple Creek Railroad, however, was built up Phantom Canyon and flourished for a few years before flooding shut it down for good.

Initially, Lawrence proved an ideal place to live. Early mines around the town included the Florence E., the Gloriana, the Home Run, the London, the Lone Pine, the Lulu, the May Belle, the Monte Cristo, the St. Patrick, the Southern and the Tom Bigbee. In time, however, larger mines like the Portland, the Cresson, the Independence and many others were staked up the hill on the other side of Victor. For miners living in Lawrence, walking to work at the latter mines was a job in itself, and many of them moved to Victor. They did, however, make social visits to Lawrence, gathering at The Eureka saloon to chat and drink. The saloon proved especially popular on Saturday nights.

By 1893, Lawrence did not even merit mention in the Cripple Creek District Directory. There was, however, an experimental chlorination plant for processing gold ore. The plant was the brain-child of Joseph R. DeLamar, a Utah mining man who partnered with mill expert Ed Holden to build the plant in 1893. By February of 1894, ads for DeLamar’s mill promised the highest market price for Cripple Creek ores. For a time, even Winfield Scott Stratton brought ore from his famous Independence Mine to Lawrence for processing. By the middle of the year Lawrence had two stamp mills and was described as being “ribbed with gold bearing mineral veins.” But although the Florence & Cripple Creek railroad tracks crossed the southeastern section of town on their way to Victor, they were deemed too far from the town proper to merit a depot.

 Even so, the 1894 District Directory had much to say about the quality of life at Lawrence: “The numerous springs and flowing wells which came to the surface on the Lawrence townsite, together with its lively mountain brook, make it one of the most desirable residence spots of the entire district.” But Lawrence was just not destined to last. Victor’s Sunnyside addition eventually crossed into Lawrence, and Lawrence Avenue was actually located in Victor’s original plat map. The new addition was the first sign that Victor would soon gobble up Lawrence.

When the chlorination plant burned during the winter of 1895-1896, Lawrence’s economy took a dive. Even so, the population stayed steady at 250 through 1896. A church and a school were present. Postmaster Walter Baldwin ran a grocery. There was also a meat market, two livery stables, a hotel and two saloons, including one run by Daniel Quinn. Lawrence also provided an attorney, a cobbler, two bakeries, a barbershop, a blacksmith, a grocery, a laundry, and, at last, a small F. & C.C. railroad depot.

But even with its business district intact, Lawrence was declining. By 1897 people were referring to it as “Oldtown.” As the city of Victor continued growing down the hill towards town, those light in the wallet could still rent one of the rundown residences at Lawrence, but could only access their mail at Victor after the post office closed in April of 1898. Even so, those who loved little Lawrence just didn’t want to give it up. Property transactions also remained steady through 1899, including business with the Cripple Creek Gold Exploration Company. In fact, an amended plat for Lawrence was filed on July 3, 1899. Avenues within the town boundaries at that time included Dewey, Harrison, Logan, Allison, Cleveland, Wilson, Lincoln, Lewis, Raynolds and Independence.

By the following year, businesses in Lawrence included shoemaker Michael Brown, several teamsters, a jeweler, contractor N.A. Chester, butchers Fred Kasaner, Mark Lewman and David Wathan, physician Charles Thornburg, carpenters Henry Levett and Fred Schanuel, tailor Donald McKenzie, cemetery sexton W. R. Brush, the May Belle hotel and Morris Klein’s Lawrence Saloon. George Demorre ran a vegetable wagon. Mrs. W. H. Diggs offered laundry services. There was still a school too, overseen by principal Miss C.E.S. Crosse who made the trek on schooldays from her home in Cripple Creek. Outside of the business district proper, the wide meadows comprising the town were accommodating to larger businesses such as Amos and F.H. Aspey’s brickyard, a slaughterhouse and Edward Richard’s dairy. Most of the 300 residents were miners who lived in Lawrence or the nearby hamlet of Reigerville. But an old electric plant had been abandoned.

Although city marshal George Cooper kept the peace at Lawrence during its twilight years, the town did see its fair share of lawlessness—mostly petty thievery but also shootings over mining wages and claims. In September of 1899, local papers reported on Henry Nelson who fired two shots at former miner Alec Carlson from the Pittsburgh claim. One of the bullets grazed Carlson’s head just above the left eye. Carlson survived, and Nelson was arrested. Then in February of 1900, H.C. Rhien was found hiding at a Lawrence boarding house after bilking several merchants around Colorado out of $8,000 in general merchandise.

In 1901, Victor C. Adams platted more land in Lawrence with partners John C. Adams and John Wilson, but it was too late. By 1902, Lawrence had been officially absorbed by Victor. For many more years, Lawrence survived as a suburb of Victor. As of the 1920 census, ninety five people were left in Lawrence proper. Ten years later, however, residents of Lawrence were counted as citizens of Victor in the census. Although a handful of residents continued living there over the years, the town of Lawrence has settled back into the meadow today, with only one private home from the old days left to prove it was there to begin with.

Stratton’s Town: Independence, Colorado

c 2023 by Jan MacKell Collins

Portions of this article are excerpted from Lost Ghost Towns of Teller County

Of all of the Cripple Creek District’s historic cities, Independence stands out as one of the most interesting. Named for the Independence Mine staked by Winfield Scott Stratton in 1891, the city spilled down the hillside of Montgomery Gulch in what is now known as the Vindicator Valley. Stratton eventually relocated to a more upscale and modest house in Colorado Springs, but his former home at Independence remained well known.

Independence was platted on November 11, 1894. Nearby was the Hull City Mine, a big producer throughout the early 1900’s. Upwards of eleven streets made up the fledgling town, surrounded on all sides by such mines as the Vindicator, the Teresa, the Portland #1 and #2, the Findley and of course, the Independence.

In time, the Midland Terminal Railroad tracks would divide Independence from Goldfield, located across Montgomery Gulch. Founded in 1895, Goldfield eventually became a suburb of Victor. In turn, Independence sort of became a suburb of Goldfield when the two towns grew to meet each other in the gulch.

Perhaps because there was already another town named Independence, located along the pass of the same name near Aspen, the post office was called Macon when it first opened in February of 1895. Part of the reason for opening the post office was because the one at Altman, above Independence, was being revisited by the postmaster general to make sure there were enough residents up there merited having mail service. Altman eventually got their post office back, and the Macon post office continued service to Independence.

By 1896, the population at Independence was around 500. Businesses included an assayer and jeweler to service the rich mines surrounding the camp. One boarding house and two hotels sheltered miners. There was also a drugstore, grocery, two meat markets, a milliner, a cobbler, a photographer, one physician, one restaurant and two saloons. A lumber mill and a general contractor serviced mines, merchants and homesteaders alike. The Midland train dropped passengers off at First and Montgomery. A harness maker and hay and feed store served the equine population.

Over the next few years, Independence grew fast. In 1899, the Macon postmaster succeeded in renaming the post office to Independence. In spite of having a population of 1,500 by 1900, Independence was never able to form its own town council or elect a mayor. The town was instead governed by Goldfield. The decision to do this is puzzling, as services at Independence included telephone and telegraph service, and an inventory of the business district also included a number of stores, nine boarding houses, two hotels and two churches. The school was run by Mrs. S.L. Leazer. Three doctors and a dentist had put up their shingles. There were also now eight saloons. Numerous productive mines continued to surround the town, including the Vindicator, the Delmonico and the Atlanta.

Not all of the citizens of Independence liked the arrangement with Goldfield. In late 1900, the Independence Mining & Townsite Company purchased a large plot of land and started advertising the new town with vigor. “In twelve months, it will be the commercial center of the great Cripple Creek District,” the town fathers declared. Despite their intentions, however, the men failed in their mission and Independence remained under Goldfield’s shadow. Still, the town was not without some memorable residents. Among them was the “Queen of Independence.” The unidentified young lady was the toast of the town according to the late Rufus Porter, a.k.a. the “Hard Rock Poet,” who actually lived in Goldfield. Porter recalled the “Queen’s” story of watching two gamblers sitting on a wooden sidewalk, each with a stack of gold pieces. The men were spitting at a crack between the boards on $20 bets.

Business at Independence continued to boom. As of 1901, the Volunteer Fire Department had upwards of twenty members. Hull’s Camp, at the northwest section of town, was becoming part of the city. Business houses of every kind still ran through the downtown area. Among them was Mrs. Mamie Crooks’ Hotel Montgomery, advertised “A nice home for miners. Good board and clean rooms at reasonable rates.”

Independence made national news in 1903, when professional assassin Harry Orchard set off a bomb in the Vindicator Mine above town during the famed Cripple Creek District labor strikes. Orchards’ targets—an elevator full of scabs working for non-union mine owners—escaped unharmed but superintendent Charles H. McCormick and shift boss Malverne Beck died instead. Next, in June of 1904, Orchard bombed the Florence & Cripple Creek train depot in the downtown area. There were twenty seven miners standing on the platform when the bomb went off. Thirteen were killed instantly when “their dismembered bodies were blown 150 feet up the hillside.” Orchard’s actions were on behalf of the Western Federation of Miners who were striking against unfair mine owners, but his deeds were so dastardly that they played a big part in the mine owners winning the strike.

The strikes also had an unfavorable affect on Independence. By 1905 many businesses had closed and the population hovered around a thousand people. At least some money was still flying around, as evidenced by the robbery of the Silver Bell Saloon in Independence on a February night in 1906.

It was widely known that the Silver Bell was happy to cash miners’ paychecks, so a bit of money had to be on hand at all times. At 10 p.m. on February 11, Eddie Foy, “Two-Gun Wild Bill” Gleason, Frank Edmunston, Jimmie Welsh, Frank Drake, deputy marshals Hardy Potts and Cal Webster, and several other men were in the bar when two masked robbers walked in and ordered everyone to put their hands up. Drake headed for a room in the back but was shot by one of the robbers, Harry Harris. Deputies Potts and Webster, along with Gleason, returned shots. More gunfire broke out. When it was all over the second bandit, Fred Powell, was dead. So was Drake. Harris absconded with $1,800 in cash. It is unknown whether he was ever caught.

Independence’s population in 1907 was around 1,200 and a handful of business remained open. But as the mining opportunities around the Cripple Creek District downsized, so did the towns within the district. By 1912 only one assayer, one dry goods, one hotel, and one saloon were still in business at Independence. Those needing medical attention had to go to Dr. L.D. Louis in Altman. Fifteen mines continued to provide limited employment. By 1919 there were only 500 people left in town. Some of them, including Leslie Carlton and W.E. Ryan, were superintendents of area mines. Only a hardware store and two cigar stores were left.

Independence was given a brief reprieve in 1921 when Les Carlton’s brother, millionaire A.E. Carlton, purchased the old Vindicator Mine and tried to work it. Unfortunately the mine was plagued by water for years. After Carlton’s death his wife, the former Ethel Frizzell, successfully built the Carlton Tunnel to release the water from the Vindicator and other area mines. Twenty five thousand gallons per minute gushed from the tunnel, and the Vindicator successfully operated for nearly four more decades.

As the old mines around Independence continued being worked, a few families continued living in town. As late as 1939, Mr. and Mrs. Alfred H. Bebee were mentioned in the Cripple Creek Times Record as hosts of an evening get together at Independence (notably, the Bebee house still stands, and was never a brothel per the graffiti scribbled on some of the walls.) Others who lived there in the 1950’s included a man named Skinny Ward and the family of former Victor mayor Kathy Justice. Justice remembered her brothers finding sticks of dynamite at the Hull City Mine. “They brought it into town and sold it to the police chief for two cents a stick, and then we would buy candy at Harshie’s [now the Fortune Club in Victor] with the money,” she said.

   Not until 1954 did Independence’s post office close. The Hull City Mine closed in 1958, and the Vindicator closed for a final time in 1959. The last of Independence’s early residents moved away, although a couple of homes were occupied as late as 1982. Almost the entire town was engulfed by modern mining efforts in 2004, although some structures at the very east end of town were preserved. The Hull City Placer was moved and a hiking trail was installed. Today visitors can walk the trail and read interpretive signage about Independence and its surrounding mines.

Image: The Beebe House in Independence as it appeared in 2004. Copyright Jan MacKell Collins.