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Show AMERICANA Cities to 8 Colorful Central City I , ' Vi , r .' i ' "rtV t , "tf Ifl Gilpin County, Colorado has been referred to as 'The Richest Square Mile on Earth" and Central City as "the center of its splendor." splen-dor." In 1859, ten years after the discovery of gold In California, John H. Gregory discovered gold at the site which now lies between Central City and Black Hawk. The news of Gregory's diggings started the second American Gold Rush bringing miners, prospectors, and fortune hunters into the wilderness soon to be known as Gilpin County. Towns sprung up all over and by October of 1859, Central City was officially designated by the Post Office Department. Central City became not only the county seat and business center cen-ter for some twenty surrounding towns, but a city of wealth and poveriy, hope and despair. Carriages Car-riages filled with richly dressed ladies and gentlemen anxious 'to attend the opera or the latest show from Broadway rolled up and down the narrow hilly streets. Notables Nota-bles from all over the world were feted at the Teller House; saloons, dance halls and gambling joints were filled with prospectors, promoters, pro-moters, adventurers, women of easy virtue, characters, now familiar fa-miliar in history. Gilpin County led the world in gold production for many years and was also rich in silver, copper, cop-per, lead and zinc deposits. The boom lasted until 1900 when high labor costs and the unchanging gold standard caused, many mines to shut down. Central City is still colorful. Visitors Vis-itors can see old silent movies, have Tin Type pictures taken, visit historical museums, or take jeep or horse tours of the surrounding sur-rounding area and see the three mines open to visitors. Many quaint saloons offer old time barroom bar-room piano playing and the old music boxes and an outstanding attraction is the famed "face on the barroom floor." |
