Cripple Creek v.s. Oatman: An Ass For An Ass

c 2021 by Jan MacKell Collins

Here is something unique to see, and something tourists of all ages love: the sight of a semi-wild donkey herd, ambling through town and panhandling for snacks. Some folks say there is nothing like it, being jostled around by a group of smelly, furry four-leggeds as they nudge food out of your hand. In Colorado, Cripple Creek is well known as the place to watch, feed and pet upwards of a dozen donkeys, some of whom are said to be descendants of the same equines who once toiled in the hundreds of mines around the town. But Cripple Creek isn’t the only place to find donkeys; that claim also lies with Oatman, another historic mining community in Arizona.

Naturally these are two different places in their make-up as a whole. Oatman is located along old Route 66 in the desert hills near the Nevada and California borders. At its peak, the population only hovers between 43 and 135 souls. The hamlet is much smaller than Cripple Creek, whose population of over 1,000 people does not include people living in and around the Cripple Creek District including the City of Victor. In spite of a vast difference in altitudes—Oatman lies in the high desert at just over 2,000′ while Cripple Creek on the backside of Pikes Peak is close to 9,500’—both towns have amazing histories that continue to draw tourists from all over the world.

Despite their differences in population, altitude and accessibility, both Cripple Creek and Oatman offer quirky shops, museums and plenty of history. There are no hotels in Oatman, although the historic Oatman Hotel offers up libations and the honeymoon suite where actors Clark Gable Carol Lombard spent their wedding night in 1939. Three other saloons—Judy’s, the Olive Oatman Restaurant and Saloon and Shotgun Willie’s—offer lots of local color. Funky little cabins, gift and antique stores, and annual celebrations also are star attractions. In comparison, Cripple Creek has legalized gambling with a number of casinos, restaurants and hotels, as well as some unique gift shops and three museums.

It would seem that Oatman and Cripple Creek are vastly different, but the two cities do have several things in common. Both are located in remote places that were once teeming with life and money from local mines before fading to almost nothing before being revived as tourist towns. Both are highly accessible from well-traveled highways and are located near larger cities for a convenient getaway. Best of all, Oatman and Cripple Creek are also notable as the only two hamlets in the United States to have their own herd of wild donkeys.

The tale behind the donkeys (pardon the pun) in Oatman and Cripple Creek is similar: The sturdy little animals were brought to the mines more than a century ago as service animals, hauling ore and pulling wagons. Some were born and raised in the mines where they worked. When mining became unprofitable, the prospectors and their families moved on. Left behind, the donkeys wandered off or were befriended by the dwindling populations. In time, the former beasts of burden gained popularity among visitors and residents alike, and boosted tourism to a great degree.

Today, Oatman hosts a roaming herd of donkeys that includes descendants from the mining days, but also wild burros who wander into town on a regular basis. Because they have no natural predators, overpopulation in the last several years have resulted in occasional round ups by the Bureau of Land Management and even a contraception program beginning in 2018. In town, certain shops offer feed and carrots for tourists to hand out to the animals. There are also plenty of donkey-esque souvenirs for sale, including postcards, figurines, joke books, jewelry and other items featuring the furry figures. Donkeys adorn advertising, billboards, signs, t-shirts, bumper stickers, magnets and anything else used to tell the world about Oatman.

Like Oatman, Cripple Creek remains very proud of its donkey herd, which numbers somewhere around a dozen. The donkeys have been looked after by the not-for-profit Two Mile High Club since 1931, which sees to their care and shelters them during the harsh winter months. Visitors are hard pressed to find snacks for sale, but certain shops do carry them. The club also oversees the annual Donkey Derby Days celebration, a three-day event featuring music, vendors, parades and donkey races.

One more item of note: most everybody in Oatman and Cripple Creek loves their stinky, scruffy, ornery and totally loveable jackasses around town. Visitors coming to see them must follow these simple guidelines to assure a safe, fun and happy visit:

• The donkeys and burros of Oatman and Cripple Creek are considered wildlife and are protected by Federal law. Harming or harassing them is illegal.
• Donkeys are not toys. Respect them as you would any other wild animal and approach them gently.
• Although they are approachable and love having their ears scratched, visitors should use common sense and refrain from trying to ride them.
• Donkeys will bite, nip and kick, especially when snacks are involved. Be aware that they may surround and jostle you when they see you with snacks, so watch yourself and your children. The best way to feed them is told hold the food out with your hand flat to prevent getting your fingers bit by accident.
• Candy, cigarettes, bread, crackers, popcorn and chips are just some of the items that are never appropriate to feed wildlife donkeys. Donkey-approved snacks are sold at some retailers, or you can bring your own horse biscuits or carrots (never, ever feed a carrot to a baby donkey; it will choke).
• Feeding donkeys on the road not only holds up traffic, but it also makes them think it’s ok to stand in the road. Donkeys seldom run away; when you see them, park safely and walk to where they are.
• Please watch for donkeys on the road and slow down, especially at night.

Cripple Creek District: Last of Colorado’s Gold Booms: Introduction

The following excerpt is from the book Cripple Creek District: Last of Colorado’s Gold Booms (Charleston, SC: Arcadia Publishing, 2003), available on Amazon.com, Barnesandnoble.com and arcadiapublishing.com.

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Who would have thought that a cow pasture could yield millions of dollars in gold and spawn a city so large it rivaled Denver for the state capitol? Bob Womack did, and it is his determination we have to thank for the historic Cripple Creek District we see today.

Upon arriving during the 1870’s, Robert M. Womack’s family established a cattle ranch near what is today Cripple Creek. Wandering the hills daily, Bob’s prior prospecting experience led to his discovery of gold. Womack’s dream of a booming gold camp was finally realized in 1891.

By 1893, the city of Cripple Creek was in a constant state of progress with new construction, new stage roads and a growing population. Telephones, telegraph lines and even electricity had been installed, making Cripple Creek one of the first cities in the nation to have such modern amenities.
Within three years, Cripple Creek’s population had grown to 10,000 residents. Several more camps, towns and cities were springing up in the District. Passengers on the newly constructed Midland Terminal Railroad rolled into a typical frontier town at both Cripple Creek and Victor. Both towns were filled with wooden false-front buildings containing banks, mercantiles, saloons, churches, opera houses, schools, boarding houses, restaurants, mining and real estate offices, hardware and furniture stores, laundries, news stands, drugstores, bakeries, brothels and assay offices. Every imaginable business prospered in the District, and the wise investor stood little chance of losing money.

Fire, an ever imposing threat on boom towns across the country, was inevitable in the Cripple Creek District. Of Cripple Creek’s three early fires, two stand out as crucial turning points in the city’s development. During a four day period in April of 1896, two separate conflagrations nearly destroyed the town. In the aftermath of the first fire, over 3,600 people lost their homes and businesses as 15 acres went up in smoke. During the second blaze, all but two buildings on Bennett Avenue burned, as well as a good portion of the residential District. Thousands more were homeless and seeking shelter in makeshift tents and neighboring towns.

What could have been the demise of any other town was a mixed blessing for Cripple Creek. Within four years a bigger, better city rose from the ashes. The town rebuilt in solid brick and the city lost its rough and shabby frontier town look. A random stroll down any avenue revealed a city bustling with business. Here, one could purchase fine china at the May Co. or the best meal in the state at the National Hotel. A number of saloons, gambling halls, dance halls and parlor houses fairly seethed with life.

The District’s second largest city, Victor, also suffered a fire in August of 1899. In its wake, residents of Cripple Creek and other nearby towns came to the rescue. This time, Frank and Harry Woods hired a variety of builders, including Denver architect Matthew Lockwood McBird. Within just a few months, Victor also rebuilt into a fine working class city. By 1900, investors from around the world were flocking to the Cripple Creek District as mines produced more millions than anyone had imagined.

By the turn of the last century, the Cripple Creek District had become a household word not only across America, but all over the world. Everyone knew where Cripple Creek was, and many yearned to seek their fortunes there. Among those celebrities hailing from the District were boxer Jack Dempsey, travel writer and radio personality Lowell Thomas, Colorado Governor Ralph Carr, and nightclub queen Texas Guinan. Famous visitors to the District included Theodore Roosevelt, Groucho Marx, Lily Langtree, and a number of musicians and movie stars.

Two labor wars occurred in the Cripple Creek District. The first, in 1893, settled in favor of the miners. The second labor war was much more violent. Riots and gunfights broke out as striking miners were deported by train to the state borders. There were deaths, injuries and inhumane acts. At one point, a Gatling gun was temporarily installed in the middle of Bennett Avenue in Cripple Creek as a deterrent to violence. By the time the strikes were settled statewide in about 1907, the mines were thought to be playing out and people began leaving the District in search of greener pastures.

Thankfully, some of the pioneer families who called the District home for decades chose to stay, living in what was left of the District even as it decayed under their feet. Through both World War I and II, the cities and towns continued to shrink as buildings were dismantled for use in reconstruction or firewood. Others simply sank into the ground under the weight of winter snows and age. As a result, only three towns exist today: Cripple Creek, Victor and the District’s third largest city, Goldfield. Each are roughly about 1/5 of their original size. Roughly four ghost towns remain visible to the naked eye, with several others either completely gone or buried forever under mine tailings.

Beginning in the late 1940’s and continuing into the 1980’s, the District evolved into a quaint tourist destination. Then in about 1989, Cripple Creek and other towns like it began considering legalized gambling to save their historic integrity. A century after its birth, Cripple Creek’s rebirth came in the form of limited stakes gaming. Alongside the gaming came the Cripple Creek & Victor Mine, which is currently the largest open pit mine in the state.

Today, fifteen casinos line Bennett Avenue in Cripple Creek, and the city is ten years into its second boom in 100 years. The city of Victor is surviving as a non-gaming tourist attraction with a healthy residential population, while Goldfield has melded into a quiet bedroom community with no commercial businesses. Live music, street festivals and a series of other events take place regularly within the District. Many of them, such as Donkey Derby Days and Gold Rush Days, are traditions dating back as long as 70 years; others are new events spawned out of the need for tourism. True to its heritage, the Cripple Creek District continues to be a wonderful year-round destination for residents and visitors of all ages.

From Gold and Tungsten to Rock and Roll: Nederland, Colorado

c 2014 by Jan MacKell Collins

Portions of this article originally appeared in the Colorado Gambler.

Throughout its early life, Nederland Colorado was closely associated with Caribou, a Dutch gold mining community that was platted near Boulder in 1870. In 1873, some Dutchmen purchased the Idaho Shaft at Caribou for $3 million and set their sites on a nearby settlement. Originally called Dayton, then Brownsville after settler N.W. Brown in 1869, then Middle Boulder with a post office in 1871, this smaller camp became Nederland after Dutch immigrants took over the local mills. One of them, Abel Breed, purchased the Caribou Mine.

Nederland is in fact Dutch for the Netherlands. The city fathers lost no time incorporating on February 10, 1874. The post office opened under the new name on March 2. Although gold was all the rage in Colorado, tungsten was also mined near both Nederland and Caribou. In its day, the mineral served as a useful material to harden other metals such as steel, and for filaments in electric lights.

It is no wonder the Dutch settlers preferred Nederland to Caribou. Located at nearly 10,000 feet, Caribou was cold, subject to 100 mile an hour winds and terrible snowstorms with 25 foot drifts. The camp also suffered at least one scarlet fever epidemic and a diptheria epidemic. Also, there was no railroad to Caribou. Despite such inconveniences and tragedies, however, there were roughly 60 businesses including the Potosi Mine Boarding House and the 1875 Sherman House. Twenty mines served a population of 3,000.

When Caribou burned in 1879, even more folks began migrating to Nederland. A new church was erected in 1881 at Caribou, but the population had shrunk to just 549 people. The town burned again in 1899, suffered an earthquake in 1903 and burned one last time in 1905. A final attempt by the Consolidated Caribou Silver Mining Company to blast the 3,500′ Idaho Tunnel in 1946 did nothing for the town.

Where Caribou failed, Nederland did not. In 1870 a mill was built to process ore from Caribou’s mines. In 1873, when it was announced that President Ulysses S. Grant was coming to visit nearby Central City, Abel Breed’s mill produced silver bricks that were later laid across the sidewalk where Grant would enter the Teller House in Central. Within four more years, the population of Nederland was 300. Despite its great aspirations, however, author Helen Hunt Jackson visited Nederland that same year and referred to it as “A dismal little mining town, with only a handful of small houses and smelting mills. Boulder Creek comes dashing through it, foaming white to the very edge of town.”

Nederland was obviously not Jackson’s cup of tea, but the town thrived throughout the 1870’s, 80’s and into the 1890’s. Boardinghouses included the Antlers, Cory, Hetzer, Sherman House and the Western, all of which rented beds in shifts when mining was at its height. Restaurants followed suit, allowing their customers only 20 minutes to consume their meals before ushering them out for the next set of hungry miners. During its boom time, Nederland produced 60 percent of the tungsten in the United States, and at one time realized one million dollars in the stuff annually.

Nederland proper served chiefly as a supply, smelting and shipping town for area mines. Those mines, in fact, experienced great success. The Primos Mill, located at the community of Lakewood some three miles away, was the largest tungsten-producing mill in the world. Around Nederland were several camps and towns, but Nederland appears to have only been rivaled by Tungsten Camp with its alleged population of 20,000.

Tungsten was also known as Steven’s Camp and Ferberite. Today, however, most of Tungsten lies underneath Barker Reservoir. A less popular town among Nederlands’ proper families was Cardinal City, a sin city founded expressly by saloon keepers and prostitutes from Caribou beginning in 1870. Cardinal City was originally located conveniently between Caribou and Nederland. For a time, the scarlet ladies and barkeeps of Cardinal City hoped to overtake both towns. A plan in 1872 to build a courthouse, possibly to keep the barkeeps and wanton women in check, never came to fruition.

In about 1878 Cardinal City picked up and moved to a site closer to Nederland because of the railroad, and re-christened itself New Cardinal. But by 1883 the new city had lost its appeal, and its 2000 or so citizens began migrating elsewhere. Some moved to the 1860 gold mining town of Eldora (known originally as Happy Valley and Eldorado). The hard drinking and hard gambling miners at Eldora were nobody to fool with; the first day the Bailey Chlorniation Mill failed to make payroll, miners shot the manager and burned down the mill.

Other towns close to Nederland included Bluebird and the 1892 silver town of Hessie, which was named after its first postmistress. In 1914, Hessie also briefly made the papers following a mysterious murder. Grand Island, Lost Lake, Mary City, Phoenixville, Sulphide Flats and Ward were other camps. Most of these camps were fading by 1916. With the beginning of World War I and the call for more tungsten, however, Nederland experienced a surge while towns around it were dying off. The exception was the old town of Tungsten up the road. Within no time, real estate prices at both towns soared.

Of course the price of tungsten also went up. Upwards of 17 mills were working between Tungsten and Nederland. In 1917, nearly $6 million in tungsten was mined. Eventually, imports of the stuff from South America and Japan killed off the boom. Quickly. By 1920 Nederland was hanging on as a mere resort town with a handful of pioneer families living there full time. When author Muriell Sybil Wolle stayed the night there, she recalled that at the time, the boys from Nederland were playing a heated baseball game against a team from nearby Blackhawk.

Although Nederland has held its own as a resort and summer escape since the 1930’s, its reputation also received a boost with the repurpose of the old Caribou Ranch in the 1970’s. Homesteaded on the road between Nederland and Caribou in the 1860’s by Caribou Mine owner Sam Conger, no less than four films were shot at the ranch before music producer James William Guercio purchased it in 1972. All told, Guercio bought a 4,000+ acre parcel and set up a private, unique recording studio for major recording artists. Joe Walsh and Bill Szymczyk were the first musicians to finish an album (Barnstorm) there. The second project to be recorded at the ranch included Rick Derringer’s hit single, Rock & Roll, Hoochie Koo.

In 1974, Elton John further immortalized the place with his album, fittingly called Caribou. Dozens of other performers recorded there as well, including America, Badfinger, the Beach Boys, Chicago, Phil Collins, Dan Fogelberg, Waylon Jennings, Billy Joel, Kris Kristofferson, John Lennon, Stevie Nicks, the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Tom Petty and Frank Zappa. Legendary musicians might still be recording there today, but in March of 1985 the control room at the studio suffered a fire with an amazing $3 million dollar loss. The roof was replaced, but the original recording studio was never rebuilt.

Guercio began selling off parts of the Caribou Ranch in 1996. About half of it is owned today by the City of Boulder and Boulder County. An additional 1,489 acres were placed under a conservation easement. The remaining parcel is still owned by Guercio’s Caribou Companies, an exclusive gated community containing 20 unique mountain home sites encompassing over 700 acres. As for the old studio, there have been hints for several years now of a reprise of the ranch’s famous recording past. Guercio’s remaining 1600 acres, which continue to serve as a working ranch, are currently listed for sale with Mountain Marketing Associates of Breckenridge-for the modest price of $45,000,000. The right seller could indeed make Nederland and its surrounding communities experience a whole new boom of a different kind.

Central City Represents Colorado’s Earliest Mining Days

c 2014 by Jan MacKell Collins

When John H. Gregory made the first gold discovery in the central mining belt on May 6, 1859, little did he know that Central City and other towns like it would soon be dotting the landscape. In fact, Central City and its surrounding “Richest Square Mile on Earth” grew to rival Denver, as well as any other city in Colorado’s mountains. In actuality, Central City sprang from the loins of nearby Mountain City, founded due to John Gregory’s discovery of gold in 1859. Rocky Mountain News publisher William Byers suggested the name of the new camp be tailored to its location in the center of the other gold camps. In October of 1869 the new town managed to have its post office moved from Mountain City; hence Central City was born. In time, Central City grew to be the county seat of Gilpin County and bigger than Denver, at least for a little while.

The mines around Central City produced half a billion dollars in minerals, mostly gold. Yarns of gold discoveries are still plentiful today, including the time Pat Casey struck it rich while digging a grave on Quartz Hill. Central City’s colorful citizens built their homes wherever they could find flat ground, whether it be in the bottom of the canyon or perched high on a mountainside. So closely situated were many homes that the joke around Central City was that “a fella can’t spit tobaccy juice out his front door without putting out the fire in his neighbor’s chimney.”

No doubt Central City was a wild mining town, but it was also a cultural center with much entertainment. The first theater was erected in 1861, with plenty of competition. The grand Teller House was built in 1872. A number celebrities passed through, including Horace Greeley, Mark Twain, midget General Tom Thumb, P.T. Barnum, and George Pullman, who liked the idea of miners folding their bunks into the walls in their tiny cabins to make extra space and incorporated the idea into his train cars. Ulysses S. Grant visited Central City both before and during his presidency, when he was treated to a walk over a silver-bricked sidewalk in front of the Teller House. In addition, U.S. senators Henry Teller, Jerome Chaffee and W.A. Clark came from Gregory Gulch, as did Colorado Senator Henry R. Wolcott.

The Colorado Central Railroad, which had reached Black Hawk in 1872, took several more years to reach Central City. Travel writer Isabella Bird, who visited Clear Creek Canyon in 1873, marveled at the narrow gauge tracks of the Colorado Central Railroad perched precariously along the canyon walls and called the railroad “a curiosity of engineering.”

In May 1874 a fire in the city’s Chinatown nearly wiped out Central City, causing $500,000 worth of damage. Most of the businesses burned, but the Teller House and five other commercial buildings survived. In the fire’s wake, the Belvedere Theater was built and Central City decided an Opera House was in order too. The Central City Opera House opened next to the Teller House in 1878. Performers there in the early days included Edwin Booth, Lotta Crabtee, Christine Nilsson, Madam Janauschek, Emma Abbott and California’s famous Helena Modjeska.

By 1887, Central’s population had climbed to 2,625. The figure may have included Mountain City, which was annexed to Central in 1880. During its heyday, Central City was said to have more than 5,000 people. By 1895 Central City boasted 20 saloons, including two breweries. In 1897, Ignatz Meyer took a building that had formerly housed restaurants, a funeral parlor, the post office and a newspaper and converted it into a saloon. The building later served as a grocery store before being purchased by Emmy Wilson in 1947 and called the Glory Hole. Emmy is best remembered for hanging through the a hole in the ceiling, thus allowing her patrons to gaze up her skirt. The Glory Hole still exists today.

Another landmark is the Gold Coin Saloon, also constructed in 1897. In more recent decades, the Gold Coin became known for bartender “Smiling Jack” Brown who would buy you a drink if you could make him smile (this author failed to do so during a visit in about 1989). In the 1970’s the campy film, “The Dutchess and the Dirtwater Fox” starring Goldie Hawn and George Segal, was filmed there.

Towns near Central City included American City, which in 1911 was the scene of at least one movie filmed by the Selig-Polyscope Picture Company of Chicago and starring leading lady Myrtle Stedman and actor Tom Mix. American City was part of the Pine Creek Mining District, whose headquarters were at the town of Apex a few miles away. Apex also had two hotels, the Palace Dance Hall, a newspaper, a school and no less than two churches. The Pine Creek District also supported mining camps like Elk Park, Twelve Mile, Kingston, South Kingston, Nugget, and its own Pine Creek.

Other towns around Central City included Black Hawk, Bortonsberg, Clifford, Eureka and Dogtown, Gregory Gulch with seven small mining camps, Mammoth City and Missouri Flats, which was absorbed by Central. There were also Springfield, Wide Awake and Yankee Bar. More important cities of the time included Russell Gulch, where William Green Russell made his second strike during the beginning of Colorado’s gold boom in 1859. Most of the gold at Russell Gulch was mined within just a few years, but mining activity continued for over two decades.

Another town was Nevadaville, one of Colorado’s oldest mining towns. Founded in 1859, the population soon numbered at over 1,000. A fire in 1861 did little to deter the town from growing; there were 6,000 people there in 1864. For a time Nevadaville was renamed Bald Mountain, but stubborn miners refused to acknowledge the post office’s change. Miners in particular enjoyed calling Nevadaville home. The town’s peak population was 1200 in the late 1890’s while Central City stayed steady with 3,114 souls in 1900.

As prohibition loomed on the horizon, Central City struggled to stay alive. Bootlegging became popular, especially around Russell Gulch. The last Colorado Central Train came through in 1931. Around that time, author Muriel Sybil Wolle recalled being the only guest of Senator Teller during her stay at the Teller House with its exquisite “Face on the Barroom Floor”. Later that year, former Governor John Evans’ daughter Anne purchased the Teller, restored it to its former glory, and operated it as part of the Central City Opera Association. The Opera House, which had closed some years before, reopened in 1932. Players have included have included Lillian Gish, Buffalo Bill Cody, Walter Huston, Henry Ward Beecher, Julia Harris, Mae West, Shirley Booth, Ruth Gordon, Helen Hayes, and George Gobel.

Even with the Opera House’s success, the city fell on such hard times that many homes in suburban Central City were demolished in order to avoid paying taxes on them. In 1970 the
population hit an all time low at 226. That figure had doubled by 2000, ten years after gambling was legalized in Central City and Blackhawk. The resident population still enjoys casino action, but also has a local grocery and other favorite hangouts.

Today, Mountain City also survives as a suburb of Central City. In its heyday, Mountain City was the subject of a riotous play at Central City’s Opera House, titled “Did You Ever Send Your Wife to Mountain City?” Today, the old town has found new life as a refuge for historic buildings that have been threatened with demolition in and around Blackhawk, Central City and other parts of the district.