Streets paved with gold

We decided to go to Cripple Creek – if only to sing along with The Band as we drove through town. Click here and join in while you read this!

We’d been warned that behind the Victorian facades in what was once an elegant main street is casino after casino- and that was no exaggeration. It was really weird.

Cripple Creek used to be the third largest city in Colorado. It was very wealthy, it had electricity before New York and they say that the streets really were paved with gold – inferior gold ore was used as the hardcore on the sidewalks. 25,000 people lived there; there were 5 daily newspapers, a stock exchange, 3 banks, 16 churches, the main street was lined with fine department stores, and there were scores of gambling halls as well as about 70 24/7 saloons. The Grand Opera House was so large that a rodeo could be staged in it.
Now people just go there to play the machines.