Cripple Creek is a statutory city that is the county seat of Teller County, Colorado, United States. The city population was 1,155 at the 2020 United States Census. Cripple Creek is a former gold mining camp located 20 miles (32 km) southwest of Colorado Springs near the base of Pikes Peak. The Cripple Creek Historic District, which received National Historic Landmark status in 1961, includes part or all of the city and the surrounding area. The city is now a part of the Colorado Springs, CO Metropolitan Statistical Area and the Front Range Urban Corridor.
Leadville is a statutory city that is the county seat, the most populous community, and the only incorporated municipality in Lake County, Colorado, United States. The city population was 2,633 at the 2020 census. It is situated at an elevation of 10,158 feet (3,096 m). Leadville is the third highest incorporated city in the United States behind Alma and Montezuma and is surrounded by two of the tallest peaks in the state.
Encampment is a town in southern Carbon County, Wyoming, United States. The population was 450 at the 2010 census.
Belmont is a ghost town in Nye County, Nevada, United States along former State Route 82. The town is a historic district listed in the National Register of Historic Places. It is Nevada Historical Marker number 138.
Hamilton City, or Miner's Delight as it was commonly known, was a town in Fremont County, Wyoming, United States, on the southeastern tip of the Wind River Range, that prospered during the mining boom in the American West in the second half of the 19th century. It was a "sister city" of Atlantic City and South Pass City. Today a few buildings still stand as a reminder of an era in Wyoming's past history.
Old Colorado City, formerly Colorado City, was once a town, but it is now a neighborhood within the city of Colorado Springs, Colorado. Its commercial district was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982. It was founded during the Pikes Peak Gold Rush of 1859 and was involved in the mining industry, both as a supply hub and as a gold ore processing center beginning in the 1890s. Residents of Colorado City worked at some of the 50 coal mines of the Colorado Springs area. It was briefly the capital of the Colorado Territory. For many years, Colorado Springs prohibited the use of alcohol within its border due to the lifestyle of Colorado City's opium dens, bordellos, and saloons. It is now a tourist area, with boutiques, art galleries, and restaurants.
Hannah Connell Barker (1844–1918) was an early resident of Boulder, Colorado. Barker was a teacher, civic leader, businesswoman and land developer in an era when industrious women were not commonly recognized for their contributions. Among other things, Barker served as a teacher; as director of the Boulder Bank; and was instrumental in platting and developing significant parts of the City of Boulder. She also owned the land that was used for the construction of Barker Meadow Reservoir, Boulder's primary source of water.
Saint Elmo is a ghost town in Chaffee County, Colorado, United States. Founded in 1880, Saionr Elmo lies in the heart of the Sawatch Range, 20 miles (32 km) southwest of Buena Vista and sits at an elevation of 9,961 feet (3,036 m). Nearly 2,000 people settled in this town when mining for gold and silver started. The mining industry started to decline in the early 1920s, and in 1922 the railroad discontinued service. The community is listed on the National Register of Historic Places as the Saionr Elmo Historic District. It is one of Colorado's best preserved ghost towns.
The Frederick Mitchell Mooers House, also known as the Wright-Mooers House, is an ornately detailed Victorian house built in 1894 at 818 South Bonnie Brae Street in the Westlake area of Los Angeles, California. It is named after the wealthy gold miner who owned the house from 1898 to 1900.
The Sweetwater Brewery, also known as the Green River Brewery, was built in 1900 in Green River, Wyoming. The present structure is the surviving remnant of a three-building complex comprising an office/saloon, engine house, and the present brewery building. It was the first brewery in Wyoming, with operations dating to 1872 when Adam Braun began the business, the first of a series of ethnic German brewers. The brewery was further developed by Otto Rauch and Karl Spinner. The present structure was built by the fourth proprietor, Hugo Gaensslen, a Chicagoan who decorated the building with turrets reminiscent of the Chicago Water Tower.
The Virginian Hotel is a historic hotel in Medicine Bow, Wyoming, United States. Construction on the hotel began in 1901 and was completed in 1911. It was built by August Grimm, the first mayor of Medicine Bow, and his partner George Plummer. The hotel is thought to be named for the famous novel written in Medicine Bow, The Virginian by Owen Wister. Although it provided a place for cowboys and railroad workers to stay while they were in town, the hotel was actually built to serve a much broader clientele. It became a headquarters for all to meet and eat as well as a setting for many business dealings.
The Fort Laramie Three-Mile Hog Ranch was built to serve as a social center away from the soldiers' post at historic Fort Laramie. Fort Laramie was a 19th-century military post in eastern Wyoming. It became notorious as a place for gambling and drinking, and for prostitution, with at least ten prostitutes always in residence. The location is notable as an example of one of only a few military bordellos still standing in the United States by 1974, the time of its nomination to the National Register of Historic Places The Fort Laramie site was one of a number of so-called "hog ranches" that appeared along trails in Wyoming.
Josephine "Chicago Joe" Airey, was an Irish-born American prostitute, madam, and proprietor of brothels, dance halls, a variety theatre, and saloons in Helena, Montana. She eventually became the most influential landowner in Helena. She was known as "Chicago Joe" Hensley following her marriage to James T. Hensley.
The George Ferris Mansion in Rawlins, Wyoming is one of the most significant Queen Anne style buildings in Wyoming. Built during 1899–1903, the house's design was published by the Knoxville, Tennessee architectural firm of Barber and Klutz in an architectural pattern book. The house was built for George and Julia Ferris.
The Ferris-Haggerty Mine Site was one of the richest components of the Grand Encampment Mining District in Carbon County, Wyoming. The site was first exploited by Ed Haggerty, a prospector from Whitehaven, England, in 1897 when he established the Rudefeha Mine that would later be known as the Ferris-Haggerty Mine on a rich deposit of copper ore. Haggerty was backed by George Ferris and other investors, of whom all but Ferris dropped out. The partners sold an interest to Willis George Emerson, who raised investment funding for improvements to the mine. These facilities included an engineering feat of its day by developing a 16-mile (26 km) aerial tramway to carry high grade copper mined at the Ferris-Haggerty Mine (FHM) over the Continental Divide to the smelter in Encampment. The tramway was longest aerial tramway the world had ever seen. The mine was eventually acquired by the North American Copper Company for 1.23 billion. By 1904 the mine had produced $1.4 million in copper ore, and was sold to the Penn-Wyoming Copper Company. However, even with copper prices peaking in 1907, the company had difficulty making a profit from the remote mine site. The company was over-capitalized and under-insured and was suffered devastating fires at the mine site in March 1906 and May 1907 which halted production. Business disputes and a fall in copper prices prevented re-opening of the mine even after it was rebuilt. Machinery was salvaged after a foreclosure in 1913. A total of 23 million pounds of copper ore was extracted from the mine during its life.
The Dumas Brothel was a brothel in Butte, Montana. The brothel was founded by French-Canadian brothers Joseph and Arthur Nadeau in 1890 and named after the nominal owner, Delia Nadeau, née Dumas, who was Joseph's wife. It grew considerably through the years, with the miners employed by the city's copper mines often patronizing the establishment. After several changes of the "madams" and continuing pressure from authorities, the brothel closed in 1982, described as "a rare, intact commentary on social history". At the time of its closure, it was the longest operating brothel in the United States, having operated years after prostitution was made illegal. After closing, the brothel changed hands several times, eventually becoming a tourist attraction owned and managed by a series of Butte residents.
The Downtown Rawlins Historic District comprises the historic center of Rawlins, Wyoming. It comprises the area between Second and Sixth Streets and Front to Buffalo Streets and along 5th Street between West Spruce and West Cedar. The town owes much of its living to the Union Pacific Railway, which took advantage of spring in the Rawlins area to establish services there.
The Hanna Community Hall, also known as Linden Hall and presently used as the Hanna Basin Museum, was built in 1890 in Hanna, Wyoming as a saloon by its proprietor John Linden to serve coal miners in the area. In 1981 he moved the saloon into the center of Hanna with the Union Pacific Coal Company's permission. When Prohibition was established it became a pool hall, operated by John Thomas After Thomas' accidental death in the 1920s it became the small town's community center. It was renovated in 1931 with company funding. The community hall is now the Hanna Basin Museum.
The Boston Wyoming Smelter Site was the site of a copper smelter that processed ores from the nearby Grand Encampment Mining District in Carbon County, Wyoming in the early 20th century. The site includes the former town of Rudefeha and is near Encampment, Wyoming. The smelter was constructed in 1902 by Grand Encampment promoter Willis George Emerson, connected to the main Ferris-Haggerty Mine location by a 16-mile (26 km) aerial tram over the Continental Divide. The smelter initially produced matte, an intermediate product in copper refining. In 1903 it was upgraded to produce blister copper. Power for the blowers needed for the blister refining process came from a water turbine at the end of a 4-foot (1.2 m) diameter wood-stave pipe from the South Fork of the Encampment River, 4 miles (6.4 km) away. The smelter could process 300 to 400 tons of ore a day.
