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Central Rock Co history
Central Rock Co company history timeline
Kit Carson’s brother-in-law, Tom Boggs, and several other settlers began farming at Wagon Wheel Gap as early as 1840.
It wasn't until 1845 that a docummented visit to the high valley was made by Americans.
In 1859 one of these prospectors, Abe Lee, found placer gold in high valley of the Arkansas.
When he heard of the gold strikes of 1859 in what is now Colorado but was then part of Kansas Territory decided to move there with his family.
(Nicholas Creede & Nephew Harvey Lester, 1870 - Creede Historical Society Archive #3069-P-434)
M.V.B. Wason homesteaded the Wason Ranch in 1871.
The pioneering name of Soward became associated with the Upper Rio Grande Valley in 1876 with the purchase of the Antelope Springs Stage Station and Halfway House.
The Denver & Rio Grande Railroad began transporting eager tourists into the area as early as 1883 with the opening of the depot at Wagon Wheel Gap.
Nothing big came of it, but the first recorded silver production in the area was sent from here in 1884.
Amethyst & Last Chance Mines, Stumptown, postcard - Creede Historical Society #1885-MW-1c4
Nicholas Creede had located the Holy Moses claim on Campbell Mountain in the fall of 1889.
In 1890, the Upper Rio Grande Valley’s destiny changed dramatically.
The Sherman Silver Purchase Act was passed by Congress in 1890 almost doubling the price of silver which increased the numbers of prospectors in the Rocky Mountains.
The camp was first called Willow Camp, but in the fall of 1890 the miners voted to change the name to Creede.
In the summer of 1890, some of the business people decided to build downstream at the end of Willow Canyon and a large business district began to emerge.
In 1891, Colorado Springs railroad tycoon William Palmer extended the rail line from its terminus from Wagon Wheel Gap into Willow Creek Canyon just above present day Creede.
In the spring of 1891, Stringtown and Jimtown were still growing.
In June of 1892, Bob Ford was shot to death in his tent saloon by Ed O’Kelley, who served a prison sentence for the killing.
By 1892 over a million dollars in silver had shipped down-valley.
The boom and the excitement came to a sudden end in August of 1893 when the United States Congress repealed the Silver Purchase Act.
The silver panic of 1893 also threatened to bring an end to Nicholas Creede’s bonanza.
The silver boom for Leadville ended with the fall in the price of silver in 1893.
But back in 1901 there was no known market for molybdenum.
Aerial View of Creede fom Mammoth Mt 1902 - Creede Historical Society #377-CR-55
In 1905 the Humphreys Mill and the Amethyst Mill were built.
In 1905 the mining industry of Leadville employing three thousand miners mining 650 thousand tons of ore produced metals worth $11 million.
In 1905 another miner, Hugh Leal, staked a claim next to Senters and started driving a tunnel into the mountain.
In 1912 some investors, primarily Wilson H. Pingrey of Iowa, sent Otis Archie King to Leadville to look into the matter of investing in molybdenum mining.
There was a resurgence of gold mining starting in 1915 using a new technique called dredging.
Later the option was renewed after King had a flotation process for concentrating the ore, but it was not until 1918 that King's group exercised their option and paid Senter the $40,000.
Finally in 1918 King's group sold its holdings to American Metals for $300,000.
In March of 1919 the molybdenum operations at Climax closed down.
There were continued operations during the 1920's because the price of gold was maintained by United States government purchases at $21.67 per Troy ounce whereas the prices of the other metals fell due to market conditions.
It processed a million pounds of sand and gravel for every pound of gold it recovered. It was profitable during the first four years of its operation, but by 1920 the good sites had been worked out.
Molybdenum production had been making a comeback from the 1921 recession levels and was achieving levels far in excess of those of the war years.
But in 1926 the dredging operations in the Leadville area were shut down and the dredge disassembled and sold for operations in Central America.
A company town was built at Climax in 1928.
In 1930 the Emperius Mining Company was founded by B.T. Poxson and Herman Emperius.
When the price of gold was increased to $35 per Troy ounce in 1932 there was a resurgence of the gold industry in Leadville.
In 1932 the value of the molybdenum mines was $3.2 million.
Her body was found frozen in the cabin in 1935.
By 1945 they controlled most of the mines and purchased a mill just south of town.
In 1952 Climax Molybdenum mined over 9 million tons of ore which had a value of $22 million.
During 1952 there were produced in the Leadville area18.4 thousand ounces of gold and 322 thousand ounces of silver.
By 1960 the company operations had expanded so much that it needed the land near the mines that had been devoted to the company town and the town was phased out.
By 1966 the company produced ore worth $91 million.
View in Canyon Above Jimtown, 1982 - Creede Historical Society #616-RR-2
The local historical society took over its operation in 1984 when the society was incorporated.
Stephen M. Voynick, Leadville: A Miner's Epic, Mountain Press Publishing Co., Missoula, Montana, 1984.
Mining remained the main economy in Creede until 1985 when the last producing mine closed.
Since the loss of mining in 1985, CRT has grown and has become a nationally known theater.
Creede, Colorado History . . . . Vestige Press, 2010.
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