Comeback

Near Pikes Peak was a creek with banks so steep that cattlemen named it Cripple Creek. The place was poor for grazing, but some Colorado promoters in 1884 thought it looked like a fine spot for a quick killing. As the story goes, they dug a shaft and fired shotgun charges of gold dust into the sides, spread the word of their "strike," and cleaned up on the dupes who rushed in to buy claims.

The fortune hunters sadly departed when they learned that Cripple Creek had no geological formations indicating the presence of gold. Only Bob Womack, a cowhand, kept digging for gold in his spare time; he was called "Crazy Bob" for his pains. In January 1891, Crazy Bob struck gold, sold his claim for $500 while drunk celebrating. He died a pauper, but the field he opened up was one of the richest in the world. Out of Cripple Creek's famed mines (Golden Cycle, El Paso, Ajax, Independence, Vindicator, Isabella, Portland) poured a golden flood of more than $500 million.

Cripple Creek mushroomed into a city of 60,000, Colorado's second biggest. It had so many quick-triggered brawlers that an undertaker offered a special rate on Saturday killings. But gradually the richest lodes were exhausted, and mines shut down. By 1949, when the Golden Cycle Corp. closed Cripple Creek's last mine, the population had dwindled to a mere 1,250.

Last week Cripple Creek had hope of another boom. President Merrill E. Shoup opened Golden Cycle's new $1,500,000 gold-processing mill (the Carlton). The new mill is so efficient that Shoup believes that Cripple Creek's lower-grade ores can be mined profitably, and expects other mineowners to reopen to take advantage of the mill. Soon he hopes to be running his mill at its capacity of 1,500 tons a day, produce some $10 to $12 worth of gold per ton of ore.

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