Cripple Creek

City in central Colorado, USA, in the Rocky Mountains, 32 km/20 mi west-southwest of Colorado Springs; seat of Teller County; population (1990) 584. A former gold-mining centre, some mines have been rehabilitated since the 1970s and tourism has become an important factor in the local economy. Legalized gambling was instituted in 1990.

Situated at the southern edge of Pike National Forest at 2,859 m/9,375 ft, Cripple Creek is in what was once a major gold-producing district, where the famous El Paso Lode was discovered in 1891, and the Gold Coin, Independence, and Cresson mines were worked. It was a boom town with a population that reached 50,000, until deposits were largely exhausted around 1915. In 1903-04, labour disputes arising from the attempts of workers to unionize resulted in violence and death. After 1934, new veins were found and worked.

Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument is 19 km/12 mi to the northwest.