City of Mines
— City Elevation: 9693 ft —
For many who came West, their biggest dream was to find gold. With small grubstakes they came, over 12,000 of them, making Victor the 5th largest city in Colorado by 1900. The glory days brought entertainment as well. Jack Dempsey trained at the fire station and Soapy Smith promoted bull fights at Gillette. Victor was also boyhood home of Lowell Thomas, international radio and TV commentator.At its peak, Victor had 3 trains, 2 trolleys, 20 doctors, 6 churches, 12 labor unions, 15 attorneys and 48 saloons. Victor burned to the ground in August of 1899 and was rebuilt ?overnight' with the brick seen today.Gold was discovered by Bob Womack near Cripple Creek in 1890 and through the years, over 500 mines have employed more than 6000 miners.
The Cresson Mine produced 60,000 ounces of gold from a room-sized, crystalline "vug" located 1200' below the surface. The Portland II Mine was 3500' deep and the American Eagles was one of the highest at 10,750'. The legendary Independence Mine was sold by W. S. Stratton in 1899 for 11,000,000. The district has produced over 22 million ounces of gold to date.In 1994 Victor continued its heritage by supporting the largest gold mine in the state, the Cresson Mine of the Cripple Creek & Victor Gold Mining Co.Thank You
Victor Historic Preservation Commission
The Cripple Creek & Victor Cold Mining Co.
[Captions: Established 1894; W.S. Stratton's Independence Mine, Claim Staked July 4, 1891; Third St. at Victor Ave., c. 1912; Where to Go and How to Get There, See the Map; The Golden Circle Railroad. This narrow gauge subsidiary of the Gold Belt Line served the Victory area from 1896-1912; Price of Gold in 1900 - 20.67 per troy ounce; Daily Pay - 1900, $3.00 per eight hour shift; Machine Drilling 1000 ft Underground; 1 Ton Cart]
Victor Chamber of CommerceByron Signs - Colorado SpringsMany Wonderful Volunteers!
HM Number | HMVGG |
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Tags | |
Placed By | Victor Historic Preservaton Commission |
Marker Condition | No reports yet |
Date Added | Tuesday, October 14th, 2014 at 4:38am PDT -07:00 |
UTM (WGS84 Datum) | 13S E 487639 N 4284658 |
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Decimal Degrees | 38.71048333, -105.14216667 |
Degrees and Decimal Minutes | N 38° 42.629', W 105° 8.53' |
Degrees, Minutes and Seconds | 38° 42' 37.74" N, 105° 8' 31.80" W |
Driving Directions | Google Maps |
Area Code(s) | 719 |
Closest Postal Address | At or near 501 W Victor Ave, Victor CO 80860, US |
Alternative Maps | Google Maps, MapQuest, Bing Maps, Yahoo Maps, MSR Maps, OpenCycleMap, MyTopo Maps, OpenStreetMap |
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