Gold was first discovered in 1874 by T. H. Lowe, one of Hayden’s surveying corps, who picked up rich float on a meadow near the present site of the city and, becoming excited over his discovery, organized a prospecting party to examine all the nearby gulches. Not enough gold was found to warrant mining and the area was forgotten for 10 years.

In the spring of 1884 a new gold strike was reported. Chicken Bill, a prospector, was taking nuggets out of the ground by the fistful. Over 3,000 men started on a dead run for the slopes of Mt. Pisgah (west of Cripple Creek), where the excitement centered. By night the whole region was covered by stakes, but no outcroppings were found nor any evidence of mineral except from one shallow hole. Even the hole was an old one having been dug by some previous prospector. The dirt from it was barren of gold. The hole had been salted. When the hoax was discovered everyone started looking for Chicken Bill but he had vanished.

William W. Womack came to Colorado from Kentucky in 1876 and filed on a homestead where Cripple Creek now stands. In 1884 he sold his land to a cattle company and they in turn sold it the following year to the cattle firm of Bennett and Myers. Bob Womack, the son of the original owner, rode this range during the eighties and was always on the lookout for pieces of float in hope that they might contain gold. Finally he staked a claim which he called the Chance, and proceeded to work it for six years without bothering to record it. In December 1890 he got E. M. De la Vergne and F.F. Frisbee sufficiently interested in his gold samples to go with him to the pasture land and see for themselves. After inspecting his shaft in Poverty Gulch, and they too began to prospect.

They soon located the Eldorado lode. By the summer of 1891 Womack had found good float that assayed $25.00 to the ton and several days later, when he struck the vein, he hurried to Colorado Springs to celebrate. In his drunken excitement he disposed of his mine, which he had relocated as the El Paso, for $500.00 in cash. As soon as his discovery became known men flocked to the cattle land and began staking claims all over an area six miles square.

Tents and cabins were erected on the site of the present city and a mining district was organized in the fall of 1891. Bennett and Myers, having discovered that gold was being found on their land, plotted 80 acres for a townsite, calling it Fremont, and began to sell lots like hot cakes. Other names were proposed for the camp but E. M. De la Vergne suggested Cripple Creek.

The year 1892 was called the “year of expectancy.” Most of the mining was from placers and had it not been for them the camp might have failed, for the great lodes were not discovered until 1893. Two stage lines carried people to and from the camp and the population quickly rose to 4,000. During the winter of 1892 the brokers arrived and sold shares of stock with amazing rapidity. Mining companies were organized by the hundreds and the entire country was staked for miles around.

During 1893, the big mines were discovered and developed and after the demonetization of silver, thousands of miners who were thrown out of work by the closing down of the silver camps, flocked to Cripple Creek to dig for gold.

By 1900 the year’s production was $23,000,000. The Colorado Short Line, a standard gauge road, reached the district from the Springs and with its arrival Cripple Creek became a tourists’ paradise. In 1903 two electric lines connected Cripple Creek and Victor—the High Line running over the hilltops that separate the the two camps and the Low Line around the edge of the same hills. Labor troubles in 1894 and again in 1903 closed the mines but the hotbed of the strike activities centered around Victor.

Between 1894 and 1900 new camps appeared in the district—Goldfield, Gillett, Anaconda, Arequa, Mound City, Independence, Elkton, Cameron, Altman and Victor. Victor was called the “Core of the Cripple Creek Mining District” for the biggest mines were located on the fringes of the city. The two greatest were the Independence and the Portland.