Cripple Creek Colorado Tourism

The gold rush that made Cripple Creek famous started in 1890 when a ranchhand staked a claim in Poverty Gulch. Once Colorado Springs businessmen were convinced of the find, gold fever drew thousands of “tenderfeet” prospectors into the mountains on the southwest side of Pikes Peak.

In 1897 alone, the mining district produced $150,000,000 of gold. Before the gold rush was over, 22 million ounces of gold were mined from the mountains in the Cripple Creek district. It was a stomping ground for many notables including boxer Jack Dempsey and Texas Guinan, the famous speak easy hostess.

Today, Cripple Creek sports 24-hour gambling, the modern chance to strike it rich. Cripple Creek’s casinos pay over two billion dollars in new “gold” – jackpots to lucky winners yearly.

Today’s Cripple Creek is a National Historic District, with its 1896 brick buildings restored and its streets echoing the past wealth of the gold rush and the present promise of hitting paydirt in the local casinos.

Take a tour of an authentic underground gold mine, visit museums chocked full of memorabilia and antiques of days gone by, a narrow gauge train ride through historic mining country and just a short jaunt away is historic Victor, the City of Gold Mines. Join the gold rush to Cripple Creek, Colorado – the World’s Greatest Gold Camp.