Casinos & Outdoor Recreation Support Historic Gold Town
Early 1890s Gold Rush Populated Cripple Creek Bringing Characters Like Pearl DeVere, Famous Brothel Owner, & Winfield Scott Stratton, The Town's First Millionaire
“A lot of places portray the old west, we still legitimately are the Wild West,” explains Steve Kitzman, director of marketing for Cripple Creek, Colorado. Cripple Creek is a gold mining town and has been one for over 100 years. His evidence for it being the Wild West is plentiful - they still goldmine, there are casinos, one can ride an ATV down the Main Street of the town, there’s 24 hour drinking, and plenty more. “The difference between 1895 and now is there isn’t any brothels,” Kitzman laughs, “But we do have a great brothel museum!”
The history of Cripple Creek starts in the 1890s. Gold was found and the rush came. In three years, from 1890 to 1893 the population grew from 500 to 10,000. Talking with Debbie Martin, former docent and current researcher and assistant to the Director of Cripple Creek District Museum, one learns a lot about the history and characters that gives the town its charm. “The building that houses the gift shop and part of the museum is the Trading and Transfer Building, built by Albert Carlton in 1893. “Carlton cornered the market on coal in the area, which included many towns, most of which do not exist today,” explains Martin. In 1895, the Midland Terminal Railroad Depot was built, which the museum also owns, and Carlton used this to ship in the coal to the area. In 1896, two fires spread through Cripple Creek a couple of days apart, destroying almost the entire town. However, “Carlton told the Fire department save my building and the depot,” Martin says, “Which proves the old saying that money talks.” Now, the Trading and Transfer Building is the only commercial wooden building still in use from that time period.
One of the characters from this time who Martin enjoys learning about is Pearl DeVere. DeVere owned the Old Homestead house, which is in the museum's possession and available for tour, and it was the most famous brothel in town. “She had the most exclusive clientele and also had a big heart,” explains Martin. DeVere started the town's first soup kitchen, took care of orphans and widows of miners that were killed, as well as made sure her “girls” were healthy. “She made sure her girls were the cleanest, most well-educated, articulate, and saw a doctor regularly,” Martin says. The brothel catered to millionaires that would come to town - the owners of the gold mines that would come in from Colorado Springs and Denver. “When most of the brothels in town were charging 50 cents, hers was charging $250 a night, equivalent to about $7000 a night now,” explains Martin. DeVere would do essentially credit checks and background checks on clients before accepting them. When her house burned down in the fires, she rebuilt it out of brick and had “indoor plumbing, and intercom system, telephone and electricity,” Martin says, “She brought furnishings in from Paris and imported wallpaper, something that didn’t go over well with the other women in town who were using old newspaper for their wallpaper.” Further research indicates that DeVere died of a possible morphine overdose in the Old Homestead in 1897 and had a lavish funeral, paid for by one of her clients.
Another character from the past is Winfield Scott Stratton. Stratton was the first millionaire in Cripple Creek by finding the Independence Lode. He was also a generous person, who gave money away to people left homeless by the fires as well as individual miners who were down on their luck. “There’s no solid evidence to support it,” Martin says, “But I’d like to believe Pearl and Stratton had something. They were both philanthropists and very smart business people.” When Stratton died, he left most of his money to build the Myron Stratton Home in Colorado Springs, a place that was to be built specifically to house the elderly, unsupported children and orphans who could not make it elsewhere. The Home is still in use today in philanthropic ways.
Even though gold has always been the reason why Cripple Creek existed, in the 1980s gold was at a low and the town was suffering. “The town council got together and thought, ‘Hey, casinos would be good revenue to the town to save the buildings,’” recalls Kitzman. The casinos opened up in the early 1990s and they were immediately successful. Not only was the is a historically accurate move, as there were casinos in town at its conception, but it provided Cripple Creek the opportunity to save the town as it once looked like. “It looks remarkably the same as it did 100 years ago,” Kitzman says. Casinos still provide the bulk of revenue into the town, however it has expanded into general tourism and outdoor recreation, also. Kitzman explains that one can see more 14,000 mountains in Cripple Creek than anywhere else in Colorado. There are hiking, ATV, and equestrian trails, as well as rock climbing and festivals throughout the summer and winter. There is even a wild donkey herd that moves around the town in the summer, available for petting and pictures. “A few of the donkeys are descendants from the original miner donkeys of the town,” explains Kitzman. Of course, one can tour the old mine by going 1000 feet underground as well as see the current mine that is still in operation a few miles away.
The history is plentiful and it is available for digging throughout the town. Some people, like Debbie Martin, find it as a wonderful place to call home. “I came from California and moved my friend here,” she recalls, “And the sun was setting so wonderfully when we came into town and I couldn’t stop thinking about Cripple Creek. So the opportunity to move came and I took it and I haven’t regretted it once.”
Andrew Malo
A graduate of Northeastern Illinois University in Education, Andrew has taught for the past decade in Chicago, New Mexico, and Japan. He enjoys tinkering with trucks and motorcycles, woodworking, reading and computer programming.
Make Sure To Stay At:
Cripple Creek KOA is the highest KOA in the world. It is always cool and there are glorious sunsets with quiet, restful nights and fabulous star gazing. The park has a Colorado high country setting and a peaceful mountain location bordering BLM forest land.