CREEDE IN ITS PRIME

I've visited Creede, Colorado several times in the past, but not with a digital camera that I could click constantly in the hope of preserving this glorious little slice of Eden.  I have a new dent in my forehead -- Someone please drag me out of here!!

Creede is a successful fusion of old and new: retirees and river rats, history buffs and rockhounds, little league hockey players and grandfathers on ATV's, fly fishing guides, and soap makers, repurposed miners' cabins and B&B's.  Yes, it has been discovered, but thankfully, by tourists, not developers.  

At the far end of the present town, there are two "canyons" defined by branches of Willow Creek, East and West.  It was below these canyons several townships were established in the late 1800's but were eventually consolidated and re-named Creede after Nicholas Creede who had discovered the Holy Moses Mine.

East Willow Creek Road (above) and East Willow Creek (also my camping spot while I explored Creede)

Once the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad reached Creede, it became a silver mining boom town that attracted over 10,000 inhabitants.  Creede's bonanza, along with other Colorado silver mining towns, lasted until the Silver Panic in 1893 when the price of silver plummeted.  However, limited mining of other minerals continued in Creede until 1985.  Some believe a plentiful supply of silver remains in the Creede mining district -- if only the price of silver made extraction worthwhile!

On West Willow Creek, the Humphrey Mill in its heyday...

…and the Humphrey Mill remains and foundation today.  Amazing that this complicated operation was built into such a steep, vertical hillside.  Photos simply don't capture the remarkable engineering that must have been required.

Traveling further up precipitous West Willow Creek Canyon (as far as I dared to go in Second Wind), one encounters...

...remains of the Commodore Mine workings:  ore bins, the Nelson Tunnel, ore tipples, a shaft house.

Climbing the road and turning the rig around, made my skin prickle; I'm getting dizzy just looking at these photos again!

The men rushing towards the scent of silver weren’t just miners.  They were multi-tasking lumbermen, engineers, mechanics, wranglers, architects, builders, cooks and geologists.

Do the math:  these well-engineered structures have experienced and withstood time, weather, vandals and the original 1890's "rush." 

Bedrock -- or what I call "inner earth."  Grab your pick...perhaps more mineral treasures lie here! 

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Some of Creede's notorious characters included Soapy Smith (who was shot to death after moving to Skagway, Alaska during the Klondike boom); Bob Ford (who killed Jessee James); and Ed O'Kelley (who shot and killed Bob Ford).   O'Kelley was tried, convicted and eventually pardoned -- the town believed he had done the community a favor!  It's said that Bob Ford is buried here.