Goldfield was platted in January, 1895, and had a population of
thirty-five hundred. It served rather as a suburb to Victor but did
build a few substantial buildings, including this fire house. Its
quaint engine has been removed to Victor for display. The Bull Hill
station (below) is a reminder of three railroads that formerly
served Cripple Creek and also of the Independence station blown up
by Harry Orchard, 1904.
[Illustration: D.K.P., 1960]
_From Canon City_
[Illustration]
Two interesting mountain spots may be seen in this locality. Rosita,
which dates from 1873, is a true ghost town with no one living there in
1960 save the postmistress. But Silver Cliff is no ghost, despite the
fact that it was for a decade or more from 1910 on. Both are former
county seats of Custer County, and both lost the honor as their silver
mines gave out.
Silver Cliff is five years younger than Rosita and experienced a much
greater boom than any other mining camp in Colorado with the exception
of Leadville. Its first shipment of ore from the gargantuan and unique
silver cliff (site of both photos) was in 1878. The population rose to
some fifteen thousand in 1881 at the peak of its three-year rush. The
Denver and Rio Grande Railroad reached there in May, 1881, and was
welcomed with celebration.
Its fire department, established in 1879 in the Town Hall (the lonely
building facing this way in the 1960 shot, and now a museum), soon
distinguished itself as a frequent winner in the state tournaments of
hose cart races for volunteer firemen....
Rosita (which means “Little Rose” in Spanish) was the principal town in
the Wet Mountain Valley for five years before Silver Cliff and Westcliff
(now the county seat) usurped its priority. It had the honor of being
the subject of an article written by Helen Hunt Jackson and published in
_Scribners Monthly_ for May, 1878. The author (“H. H.”) claimed there
were three hundred mines at the time—but she probably did not know a
mine from a prospect hole. She stayed at an inn called _The House of the
Snowy Range_, and her descriptions made Rosita and its setting sound as
poetically unique as its name.
[Illustration: W. Cross, circa 1890; U.S.G.S.]