My Colorado: Memories of old Cripple Creek

By Vevalee Padilla


Cripple Creek
© Ivanna Reznichenko

I was born in the mining town of Cripple Creek, Colorado in 1942. How many people do you know who can say that? The hospital where I was born is now the Hospitality House/Hotel. It is a great place to stay. The rooms still have the old hospital nameplates above the doors, such as Labor Room or Operating Room.

My father came here from Bygstad, Norway. He was a gold miner in the Cripple Creek and Victor areas from 1940 to 1953. He met and married my mother, and moved to Victor where they lived in a small white frame house way up on the hill. My parents separated when I was young, and my mother brought me to Denver, but my father continued to live in Victor until he was killed in an automobile accident in Glenwood Canyon in 1953. His body was never recovered from the Colorado River.

After he died, my mother took me back to that little house on the hill. I remember the drive through Manitou Springs with all the motels with swimming pools (new at the time) and the winding road up to Cripple Creek. The one-way tunnel seemed really scary to me as a child.

My mother made a lot of repairs on the house: fixing the wood, painting the inside and outside of the house, and wallpapering the rooms. We cooked on the old wood-burning stove. Sometimes my cousin and I would play “dress up” in my dad’s clothes and hats. I still have the black and white photos to remind me. One day, we went into the old shed in the backyard—a scary, dark place full of cobwebs—when the floor gave way and my cousin disappeared!

I thought she might have fallen into an old mine shaft—we were always warned to be careful not to fall into the mine shafts which dotted those mountains. Thankfully, it wasn’t a mine shaft and my cousin wasn’t hurt. But later, she said that maybe a mine shaft would have been better than falling into an old outhouse pit, which is where she ended up. We still laugh about that.

Eventually, Mom sold that little house. We recently visited the area again when relatives came to visit from Norway. The little house is still there but has had a facelift. We went down into the Mollie Kathleen Mine on one of their tours, to get an idea of what Dad went through every day in the mines.

We now enjoy the casinos of Cripple Creek, but still appreciate our visits to the antique shops and old hotels. Those old towns hold lots of history and our trips bring back many memories.

There is a story in my family of how Dad rode his horse into one of the local Victor saloons one night and shot a bullet hole into the ceiling. He didn’t do it to scare anyone—just to let them know he had arrived. Have you ever heard of a Norwegian cowboy? I have.

Your Turn
Do you have a special memory or humorous story about living in Colorado? EnCompass is looking for original essays (sorry, no fiction or poetry) that capture the uniqueness of our state. Starting from the Jan/Feb 2011 issue, we will print all suitable essays on our website, and choose the best for publication in the print magazine. If it’s chosen for print publication we will pay you $60. Entries can be 200-400 words. Please include your mailing address for check payment, and a daytime phone number. Email your story to Carrie Patrick at community@colorado.aaa.com.

>>>Return to Table of Contents