[Colorado]:

$1,500 · Offered by William Reese Company · No longer available

HISTORY OF CRIPPLE CREEK. AMERICA'S MOST FAMOUS GOLD CAMP. A rare, thoroughly illustrated promotional for Cripple Creek, Colorado, issued at the height of its meteoric rise as one of the most successful gold mining regions in the United States. Gold was discovered at Cripple Creek in 1891, and by 1900 it had become the most productive gold mine in the country, remaining so for the next twenty years. Though its population fell dramatically into the 1920s and 30s (down to about 400 in 1970), the district has seen a minor resurgence as a casino destination after gambling was legalized in 1991. While supposedly authored by a "George Daniel," the present pamphlet is primarily the brainchild of prolific Denver journalist and publisher W.C. Calhoun. Calhoun, whose portrait appears inside multiple times and who was billed by the Denver Daily Times as "probably the most extensive general advertiser in the West," was publisher of both the Denver Sentinel and Illustrated Weekly papers, and was said to advertise his papers, various products of all sort, and the West in general, in more than 1000 publications as of 1896.The present pamphlet, though described as a history, is in reality a promotional for the fast-growing mining region. After presenting a smattering of legends about the region's naming and founding, the author progresses to a florid description of the successful gold mines in the region and their output, with repeated assurances of their continued productivity. He goes on t

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