Rocky Mountain Bonanzas

Explore mining history from Cripple Creek to Grand Encampment.

- By Candy Moulton

It happened all across the West: a spark from a stove or fireplace set one wooden frame building on fire, and with dry wood, lack of firefighting resources and sometimes wind, the spark often led to a conflagration that could take out many adjacent buildings, even entire business districts. Cripple Creek was one of the most prosperous mining towns in Colorado by 1896, when not one but two devastating fires swept through the town. They happened in April, just four days apart.

The first blaze started in the middle of the town’s central business district at the Central Dance Hall, on April 25, 1896. The blaze began at about 1 a.m. and spread quickly when the volunteer firefighters ran out of water. Before long, other gambling and parlor houses had been consumed by flames, and other buildings were demolished when firefighters used explosives to blow them up while trying to stop the path of the fire. By 5 a.m., the fire was out, but the devastation was widespread. More than 300 buildings were destroyed and two people died.

The mining community had barely accepted the reality of the fire damage, when on April 29 a kitchen fire at the Portland Hotel quickly consumed the hotel and spread to other businesses including the Booth Furniture Store, El Paso Lumber Yard and the Harder Grocery store.

Both fires were accelerated by the dynamite stored in buildings throughout the town, which led to bigger, more devastating fire activity. In the second fire, a 700-pound dynamite stockpile at the grocery store certainly contributed to an increase in destruction.