Canon City & Cripple Creek, CO I

Travels continued in CO to area west of Colorado Springs. A lot of history of gold mining, ruff characters and scenic sites! We found a campground west of Canon City, Royal View Campground. The first pic is the view we had out our front window into the Royal Gorge with the Arkansas River flowing through it.

This "pedestrian only" bridge was bridge in 1929 for $350,000

Skyline Drive - a 3 mile one-way road paralleling US 50 built in 1932. Views points of the surrounding mountains and Canon City can be seen from various view points. There is a special treat.

Dinosaur Tracks trace back 107 million years. Wet lands have fossilized and turned to stone.

They use the 1935 Women's Prison as a museum today. Main Prison is still active today but only retains minimal security personnel.

Original tower still stands.

Gas Chamber

Larry loves his off-roading, back road between Canon City and Cripple Creek and follows Cripple Creek. There is a 4000 elevation gain! We only went about 10 miles and turned around.

Cripple Creek flowing along the road

The next day we drove the civilized, black-top, road between Canon City and Cripple Creek (Route 9). Pike's Peak (snow covered) can be seen in the background.

Cripple Creek was put on the map when Bob Womack, 1891, rode into now Colorado Springs to celebrate his new wealth. He sold his claim for $500, never dreaming that more than $350 million in gold ultimately would come from it. Of course word traveled fast and soon the population grow to 18,000. A major fire burned down the town in 1896 and it was quickly rebuilt using bricks versus wood. The real boom ended in 1904, but became active again during the depression years. The area still yields a large amount of gold, many from surface mining.

The Heritage Center is a great place to gather the local history and see the transition to today.

View from visitor center to surrounding area. This is Poverty Gulch.

Model of the Mollie Kathleen Mine scale 1 ft to actual 72 ft. mine

First woman file a gold mining claim. Men were very superstitious having a woman as a boss, so she hired her son to manage the operation. Whenever she would show up the men walked out of the mine until she left.

Pike's Peak - Zebulon Pike was sent by President Thomas Jefferson in 1806 to explore the southern region of the Louisiana Purchase. Pike's party tried to climb the mountain in November, 1806 but weather stopped the climb. Pike named the peak "Highest Peak". In July, 1820; Major Stephan Long successfully climbed the mountain, his mission was also to explore the southern region of the Louisiana Purchase. It has had several different names over the years but final name is Pike's Peak.

While touring the Heritage Center they announced an "Open Pit" Mine tour was available so we jumped at the chance! Safety requirements were shoes and long pants. We had the shoes but had to purchase the one size fits all pants!

This open pit mine is opened by Newmont and produces about 350,000 - 400,000 ounces of gold per year. Lets see gold is currently running about $1300 per ounce ($1300 x 350,000 = $455,000,000) looks like a good business to me! Mine is about 1200 feet deep.

250 Ton Trucks haul the material to the separators, Larry wants to take it for spin!

Wouldn't want put tires on this "BEAST"

Trucks travels about 5 MPH up the grade. The tour guide must stop and allow them to pass or they could loss their job for safety reasons.

Exposed old mine shaft

Trucks dump their loads and material is separated and gold is finely leached out of the ground and rock.

An old mine tower.

Bishop Castle - "elaborate and intricate" one-man project named after its constructor Jim Bishop. He bought the land for $450 and started constructing a family cottage in 1969 when he was 15. After surrounding the cottage with rocks the neighbors told him it looked like a castle. He has a continuing battle with Washington since he took most of the rocks from the National Forest surrounding the property. He is a free thinker!