48 
GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES. 
SOUTH CHEYENNE CANYON. 
One of the most romantic as well as most beautiful places in the 
region about Colorado Springs is South Cheyenne Canyon, immor- ’ 
talized by Helen Hunt Jackson and for some years the resting place 
of her body. 
This beautiful canyon lies 3 miles southwest of Colorado Springs 
and can easily be reached by trolley or _—_ conveyance. 
The 
near Mount Rs ras drew a number of 
no valuable deposits were uncovered 
e district was gra aii deser 
e reported dis- 
f placer a ee near 
tose vackh but the suppo dis- 
covery appears to have prac fraudu- 
lent, and the grassy hills of the Crip- 
ple Creek region, now thoroughly. 
discredited in the eyes of minin 
were given over to the grazing of cat- 
tle. For a long time the only habita- 
tion in the region was the log house 
of Bennett & Myers’s Broken Box 
ranch, which still stands in the south- 
ern part of the town of Cripple Creek. 
rk 
cess, but the event that was destined 
to transform a lonely cattle ranch 
into one of the greatest gold-producing 
districts of the world was the discov- 
ery by W. S. Stratton, on the Fourth 
of July, 1891, of the Independence vein, 
pment of the district was extra- 
ordinarily rapid. Before the opening 
of the spring of 1892 the hills swarmed 
with ii reg and on February 26 
the town of Cripple Creek was in- 
corporated. The main route into the 
district at this time was from the 
north, by init road from Florissant. 
In the autumn of 1893 the list of 
producing mines included the Blue 
Bird, .C. O. Dead Pine, Doctor, 
Eclipse, re a "Gold Dollar, Granite, 
e 
ngha gan, Mary McKinney, 
Moose, Morning Glory, Portland, 
Rav tton’ Independence 
other well-known properties. (See Pl. 
ie B. 
e Colorado Midland Railway oy 
re or dland Terminal), which 
nects ipple Creek th agua 
ngs by way = Divide, was com- 
pleted December 1893, and : 
Florence & sai Creek Railroad 
wR 
Ko) 
men, | was opened to traffic July 2, 1894. 
The year 1894 is memorable on ac- 
eount of a strike, during which the 
miners resorted to arms, property was 
destroyed, and liv were lost. 
spite of these sot eatin the develop- 
ent of e district made notable 
strides, and the Independence mine in 
Toe which at this time was only 
70 feet deep, revealed bodies of ore 
that were the marvel of ane <a mp. 
In 1895 th 
lying property. 
ment was caused by the d 
the remarkably rich ore shoots in the 
Moose, Raven, and Doctor mines on 
Raven Hill. About this time several 
of the mines reached water and had- 
to begin pumping. 
During the next few years the nunl- 
ber of eerieY mines continued to 
increase, and in 1900 the district made 
its maximum output, $18,000. The 
Victor and att mines ear highly 
to 1898 and 1900, re- 
