Teller County is on the western slopes of the Front
Range (Pikes Peak area) in central Colorado. Named for
US Senator Henry M.
Teller, Teller County contains 557 square miles of land and 2 square miles
of water. The county seat is
Cripple Creek.
Teller County begins 20 miles West of Colorado Springs and
is accessed via State Highway 24 West and CO State Highway 67 North. It is almost directly in the
center of the State of Colorado with elevations ranging from 8,000 feet in
Woodland Park to over 14,000 on the back side of
Pikes Peak.
Teller County was carved from the western slope of Pikes Peak.
Teller County was established on March 23, 1899.
Click here to view
original document establishing Teller County
A few years after gold was discovered in Cripple Creek, tensions escalated between Cripple Creek and Colorado Springs. Mine owners, miners and residents in
the Cripple Creek Mining District* grew tired of watching tax revenue
from their mines go to Colorado Springs, the county seat of government for
El Paso County. They wanted a Courthouse closer to mining operations
because of the number of county transactions that needed to be carried
out. Political differences between area miners and mine owners, many of
whom lived in Colorado Springs, resulted in the
division of portions of western El Paso and northern Fremont counties.
The Colorado Legislature created Teller County,
named for Senator Henry M. Teller, one of Colorado's first senators.
Within five years of its formation, Teller County became the scene of a dramatic labor struggle called the
Colorado Labor Wars.
The Cripple Creek district, in the southern part of the Front Range, about 20 miles southwest of Colorado Springs, is one of the most famous gold camps in the world. It is distinctly different from the other districts of the Front Range in having ore deposits associated with an extinct volcano of Miocene age and in having had an exceedingly large output of gold-telluride ores.
The historic rush of prospectors to Pikes Peak in 1859 resulted in no important discoveries, and it was not until 1874 that prospecting was carried on in the Cripple Creek district. A report that H. T. Wood, while connected with the Hayden survey, had found gold near Mount Pisgah brought a number of men into the district, but no valuable deposits were found.
Occasional prospecting was carried on in the district from 1880 to 1890 by Bob Womack, who found some good ore and located the El Paso claim in Poverty Gulch. In 1891, E. M. De la Vergne and F. F. Fisbee bought the El Paso and located the El Dorado claim. The first real "strike" however, was made by W. S. Stratton, who sampled a ledge of granite on the slope of Battle Mountain and found it to assay $380 to the ton. On July 4, 1891, he located the Independence claim, which later became one of the richest mines in the district.
*
At this time there were less than two dozen people living in the four-mile
wide by six-mile long area that was known as the Cripple Creek Mining
District. By 1900 more than 50,000 people lived in "the District."
Within a few short years there were 12 towns in the area ranging from the
larger population centers of Cripple Creek and
Victor to several other towns
which grew up around mining centers. These were named Goldfield,
Elkton, Altman, Independence, Anaconda, Gillette, Cameron, Beaver Park,
Arequa and Lawrence. Goldfield and Gillette are the only two which
remain.
The gold mining operations required a great deal of outside support and
several areas came to the rescue. Woodland Park had 5 saw mills
producing millions of feet of lumber per year, much of which was timber for
the mines. 200,000 railroad ties were shipped out annually.
Divide was also an important lumber and supply town, but also became known
for its high-quality, disease-free potatoes and for its fine crops of
lettuce. Each fall, produce was crated and shipped to Cripple Creek
and other locations around the United States. Ice to keep lettuce
fresh while being transported was cut from ponds in and around the area.
No other town in the Pikes Peak
region benefited from Cripple Creek mining like Colorado Springs.
Winfield Scott Stratton,
Charles Tutt and
Spencer Penrose all made their fortunes in Cripple Creek
and then made their homes in Colorado Springs. The Myron Stratton Home
(named for Winfield Scott Stratton's father), the
Broadmoor Hotel, built by
Spencer Penrose, and many of the mansions in Colorado Springs' north end
were all built with Cripple Creek gold.
Five reduction mills were constructed in Colorado City during
the turn of the century and began processing the bulk of Cripple Creek ore.
Colorado City offered water, coal and convenient rail access.
The value of the gold mined in Teller County is greater
than all other gold mining operations ever conducted in the United States
combined.
For more information on mining in the Cripple Creek Mining District -
click here.
Before 1890 most of
what is now Teller County was uninhabited, was an area that people traveled
through to get somewhere else. This area was known mostly for the old
Ute Pass Trail which was an important route because it offered passage
through the front range of the Rockies for Native American tribes, buffalo,
explorers, prospectors, cowboys and their cattle.
The first permanent settlement in Teller County occurred
around 1870 and was at the summit of the Ute Trail in what is now
Divide.
After having many names, like Rhyolite, Belleview and Theodore, Divide stuck
because the Arkansas and South Platte watershed divide in this area.
As the tracks of the Colorado Midland Railroad neared Divide
in 1887 boarding houses, saloons and restaurants sprang up to meet the
demand of railroad workers.
The Colorado Midland Railroad was incorporated
in 1883 and built by John J. Hagerman. It was the first standard gauge
railroad built over the Continental Divide in Colorado. It ran from Colorado
Springs to Leadville and through the divide at Bush Tunnel to Aspen and
Grand Junction. Later the line was extended eleven miles west of Grand
Junction to New Castle. For a short time the railroad was consolidated with
the Aspen Short Line (1893-1897) and with the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad
owned by the Rio Grande Junction Railway. After the company was sold through
the bankruptcy court on May 4, 1897, a new company known as the Colorado
Midland Railway took over operation of the railroad. The Colorado Midland
Railway, which came, first, under the control of the Atchison, Topeka &
Santa Fe Railway, and later, of the Colorado & Southern Railway and the
Denver & Rio Grande Railroad, again declared bankruptcy April 21, 1917. The
Colorado Midland Railway ceased operations in 1918. Segments of the road
were then sold to the Midland Terminal Railroad; the balance of the line,
mostly west of the Midland Terminal connection at Divide, was abandoned. The
line was scrapped in the early 1920s.
Woodland Park,
the most populous city in Teller County, originally was named Manitou Park.
It was laid out
along the Midland Railroad tracks and was quickly discovered by tuberculosis
patients looking for a place to recover. The town became a popular
spot for pleasure seekers and train passengers when the new Harvey House was
opened in 1890. At that time there were 120 residents in Woodland
Park.
Today Teller County and its cities are home to over 23,000 people. It
faces the very real challenges brought about by rapid growth and the demand
to preserve the natural habitat which drew folks to the area in the first
place.