Bob Womack had been telling anyone who would listen since the mid-1880s that there was gold in the Cripple Creek ranch country. His neighbors thought he was drunk. He probably was — Womack was a prodigious drinker — but he was also right. His 1890 discovery in El Paso County set off a boom that within two years was producing millions annually.
What made Cripple Creek remarkable was its geology. The gold wasn't in a river and it wasn't in quartz veins — it was disseminated through the rock of an ancient collapsed volcano called a caldera. The gold had been deposited by hydrothermal fluids circulating through fractures in the caldera walls. This made the district unusual: rich ore bodies appeared seemingly randomly, requiring aggressive exploration drilling rather than following visible veins.
By 1900 Cripple Creek supported 50,000 people and was producing $18 million in gold annually. It also produced some of the most violent labor conflicts in American history. The Western Federation of Miners organized Cripple Creek's workers, who struck twice — in 1894 and 1903 — for an 8-hour workday and union recognition. The 1903 strike ended with the National Guard deporting hundreds of union members by train to the Kansas border, dumping them in the desert.
The Cripple Creek & Victor Gold Mine — currently operated by Newmont — continues open-pit mining in the district, processing low-grade ore through heap leach operations. The caldera geology still yields millions of ounces, though at lower grades than the high-grade bonanzas of the 1890s.
AuthoriProspector overlays live BLM claims, 20-acre aliquot precision, USGS historic mine markers, and no-go zones on a single map. Tap any block to see who owns it — then stake and file from the field.
View BLM claims across Teller and Park Counties on AuthoriProspector →