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.

French Blanche: Last of the Harlots

c 2020 by Jan MacKell Collins

For more on French Blanche, see Jan’s new book, Good Time Girls of Colorado: A Red-Light History of the Centennial State. Click here to order.

Of all the forgotten soiled doves in the Cripple Creek District of Colorado, French Blanche=s story is one that bears mention.

Born in France, Blanche LaCroix first came to America to work as a prostitute in New Orleans. She later stated that she was hired by Morris Durant to come to Cripple Creek. A saloon owner in Cripple Creek and Victor, Durant apparently commissioned several girls from France to work on Myers Avenue, Cripple Creek=s notorious red light district.

Naturally, French was quite beautiful in her youth. Durant fell in love with her. When his wife heard French Blanche was pregnant with his child, she accosted French and threw acid in her face. The wounded harlot retreated to the nearby town of Midway, where for many years she concealed her scarred face behind a veil. At Midway, she could still service miners coming to the Midway Saloon along the High Line railway. When her daughter was born, French was forced to give her up for adoption.

For years, French=s only company at Midway was a handsome man who lived next door. The two had a brief courtship until French discovered he was seeing another woman. Despite his being her only neighbor in Midway, French never spoke to the man again, and he eventually moved away.

During her remaining years at Midway, French Blanche lived a quiet life. No one is certain when she ceased doing business. After a time she would accept groceries delivered to her door, and old timers recalled seeing her sitting in the window with the evening sun on her face. She waved at folks passing by, but if someone happened to knock at her door, French never answered the door without her veil in place.

As she grew older, wrinkles disguised her scars and French stopped wearing the veil. Certain children of the district began visiting her and recalled she made wonderfully delicious cookies. Her tiny cabin was wallpapered and clean, with a green and white porcelain cook stove.

Perhaps the children gave French Blanche courage, for she began making monthly trips to Victor for groceries. Before long, a local woman began giving her rides back to Midway and learned she received no more than $35 per month to live on because she wasn=t a U.S. citizen.

Lack of money and failing health are probably what enticed French to move to Victor in the 1950’s. The same woman who had given her rides to Midway put her up in a small cabin next to the family home. In the early 1960’s, French contracted pneumonia and died at St. Nicholas Hospital. Per French=s instructions, the woman who cared for her found $200 stashed in a drawer for her burial.

French Blanche=s story doesn=t end here. Two years after she died, the daughter she had given up years ago came looking for her. The woman said she had been adopted by a doctor in Kansas, who revealed her mother=s true identity on his deathbed. She received a photograph and a few of French=s belongings, and disappeared. All that remains of French Blanche is a small metal sign, which marks her grave at Victor=s Sunnyside Cemetery.