Souvenir Mining Spoons/Souvenir Mining Spoon Cripple Creek

Souvenir Mining Spoons

Souvenir Mining Spoon Cripple Creek.JPG - SOUVENIR MINING SPOON CRIPPLE CREEK - Sterling silver spoon, 5 1/2 in. long, embossed mining scene in bowl with engraved CRIPPLE CREEK for Cripple Creek, CO, handle engraved with miner panning for gold and marked COLORADO, reverse marked Sterling [Cripple Creek, Colorado sits on the southwest slopes of majestic Pikes Peak in the beautiful Colorado Rockies. The first homesteaders arrived here in the mid-1800s. In October 1890, a ranch hand named Bob Womack discovered gold and the last great Colorado gold rush began. Thousands of prospectors flocked to the region, and before long W. S. Stratton located the famous Independence lode, one of the largest gold strikes in history. The town was incorporated on June 9, 1892 and by 1893, the population had increased to ten thousand. By 1900 the population had spiraled to fifty thousand. Although half a billion dollars' worth of gold ore was dug from Cripple Creek, Womack himself would die, penniless, in 1909. During the 1890s, many of the miners in the Cripple Creek area joined a miners' union, the Western Federation of Miners (WFM). A significant strike took place in 1894, marking one of the few times in history that a sitting governor called out the National Guard to protect miners from anti-union violence by forces under the control of the mine owners. By 1903, the allegiance of the state government had shifted and Governor James Peabody sent the Colorado National Guard into Cripple Creek with the goal of destroying union power in the gold camps. The WFM strike of 1903 and the governor's response precipitated the Colorado Labor Wars, a struggle that took many lives. Along with its sister city Victor, mining in the district peaked in 1900. By World War I, mining had substantially declined and by the 1920s, only 40 mines remained open. After the remaining mines closed in World War II, few mines resumed operations. However, a new opportunity, that of tourism, offered Cripple Creek a new lease on life. With many empty storefronts and picturesque homes, Cripple Creek once drew interest as a ghost town. At one point the population dropped to a few hundred, although Cripple Creek was never entirely deserted. In the 1970s and 1980s travelers on photo safari might find themselves in a beautiful decaying historic town. A few restaurants and bars catered to tourists who could drive by weathered empty homes with lace curtains still hanging in broken windows. Then in 1991, Colorado voters allowed Cripple Creek to establish legalized gambling. Today, Cripple Creek is more of a gambling and tourist town than a ghost town. Casinos now occupy many historic buildings and the venerable gold camp has reinvented itself as a full-service tourist destination.]

Souvenir Mining Spoon Cripple Creek | SOUVENIR MINING SPOON CRIPPLE CREEK - Sterling silver spoon, 5 1/2 in. long, embossed mining scene in bowl with engraved CRIPPLE CREEK for Cripple Creek, CO, handle engraved with miner panning for gold and marked COLORADO, reverse marked Sterling [Cripple Creek, Colorado sits on the southwest slopes of majestic Pikes Peak in the beautiful Colorado Rockies. The first homesteaders arrived here in the mid-1800s. In October 1890, a ranch hand named Bob Womack discovered gold and the last great Colorado gold rush began. Thousands of prospectors flocked to the region, and before long W. S. Stratton located the famous Independence lode, one of the largest gold strikes in history. The town was incorporated on June 9, 1892 and by 1893, the population had increased to ten thousand. By 1900 the population had spiraled to fifty thousand. Although half a billion dollars' worth of gold ore was dug from Cripple Creek, Womack himself would die, penniless, in 1909. During the 1890s, many of the miners in the Cripple Creek area joined a miners' union, the Western Federation of Miners (WFM). A significant strike took place in 1894, marking one of the few times in history that a sitting governor called out the National Guard to protect miners from anti-union violence by forces under the control of the mine owners. By 1903, the allegiance of the state government had shifted and Governor James Peabody sent the Colorado National Guard into Cripple Creek with the goal of destroying union power in the gold camps. The WFM strike of 1903 and the governor's response precipitated the Colorado Labor Wars, a struggle that took many lives. Along with its sister city Victor, mining in the district peaked in 1900. By World War I, mining had substantially declined and by the 1920s, only 40 mines remained open. After the remaining mines closed in World War II, few mines resumed operations. However, a new opportunity, that of tourism, offered Cripple Creek a new lease on life. With many empty storefronts and picturesque homes, Cripple Creek once drew interest as a ghost town. At one point the population dropped to a few hundred, although Cripple Creek was never entirely deserted. In the 1970s and 1980s travelers on photo safari might find themselves in a beautiful decaying historic town. A few restaurants and bars catered to tourists who could drive by weathered empty homes with lace curtains still hanging in broken windows. Then in 1991, Colorado voters allowed Cripple Creek to establish legalized gambling. Today, Cripple Creek is more of a gambling and tourist town than a ghost town. Casinos now occupy many historic buildings and the venerable gold camp has reinvented itself as a full-service tourist destination.]

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