The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1896-03-07
AT CRIPPLE CREEK
Characteristic Scenes and Inci-
dents Of the New Town.
Busting Times In the Colorado Eldorase
Much Activity in Real Estate
and An Kinds of
Business.

Cripple Creek is made up almost en-
tirely of small frame buildings occu-
Red by saloons and gambling houses.
Merchandising Is overdone, l should
say. l saw one grocery store where
Il clerks were at work. Groceries, dry
goods. clothing, etc, are sold very rea-
sonably. but beer is sold at two glasses
for quarter; whisky. the same price
\ gambler is as good IS anybody IN
Cripple Greek and a saloon keeper bet
ter. The town, however, is not
tough" You do not see men in the
streets carrying pistols, but the gam
bling games are wide open. Cripple
Creek is in the same county (El Pasol
with Colorado Springs. where no liquor
can be sold. Colorado Springs, how
ever, has five stock exchanges. two OF
which are kept open day and night,
Ike a restaurant These exchanges
are always crowded. and the Colorado
Springs people, although so good about
liquor, have no hesitancy in robbing
the unwary by selling them worthless
stocks.
Cripple Creek has electric light. gas
and watervvorks. The water comes
from an artificial lake on Pixies Peak,
which is only 10 miles away. AT night
the town reminds you of the Midway
At the worlds fair. The main street is
five blocks long. There are three other
business streets of about equal length.
A corner lot on this best street, 15x120
feet, sold lately for $4,000. A real es-
tate boom has been added to Che mining
boom and the result is pandemonium.
1t is said that at this season there
are from 80 to 40 deaths daily at Cripple
Creek from pneumonia, largely due to
exposure. Visitors are unable to find
proper accommodations, and. if man
who is not acclimated takes pneumonia
from exposure, he is pretty apt to die.
Hundreds of men keep bachelors hail.
in cold rooms, and live on improperly
cooked food AS the altitude is very
high a great many of the tenSerfeet
die.
While I was in town heard man
offer $3.50 month for desk room in
the Office of the Palace hotel. the only
brick building in Cripple Greek. The
offer was indignantly refused. Lots
that were worth $500 three months
ago are now being held for S. ZOO. A
fool is born every minute.
From three TO five hours are required
to get a chance to inquire at the post
Office for mail; from 200 TO 500 men
are in line constantly at the post Office,
and the post office is full of mail that
has never been distributed. Everybody
is crazy about everything. This is the
rule at Cripple Creek.
There are over a thousand incorpo-
rated mining companies in Cripple
Creek, and of this number less than
IS yield a return on the investment;
perhaps you know that gold mines are
not producers. but actual consumers
of the worlds wealth. In other words,
more money is spent in gold mining
than is obtained from it; every dollar
in gold dug out the ground costs good
many dollars. II is said that about 90
Cripple Greek mines ship ore, but only
is pay dividends; into the other 925
mines money is being poured like wa
ser. Over a thousand companies have
been incorporated. but only IS pay
dividends, there are thousand of other
claims" which are probably worth
less. I heard It estimated that there
are 5000 men in the district earning
wages, certainly $500 of them receive
their pay not from what is produced
in Cripple Creek, but from fools who
send money there.-Thomas Barton,
in Atchisoa Globe.