Show 0 g 4 to K a Mining Camp Was s a aI t p 4 r v. v A. A o N 4 1 L U II t U ra i L e n t e r Y M w t Central o City Color ado n By ELMO EtMO SCOTT WATSON HONG MONG the entries to be written down downin in Americas America's Book nook of or Time for the year ear 1 1035 35 undoubtedly will be this one A new gold rush In the West WestFor I t For the higher Bigger price of or gold and sil silver silver V ver er established by governmental go decree decree de cle- de- de id cree during the past year has revived re an nn almost prostrate Industry has caused a n bustle of oC excited activity In Inmany inmany man many a mining camp and has brought to life lire m more re than one ghost town whose deserted deserted deserted de de- de- de cabins and grown grass streets were pitiful piti- piti 4 ful reminders of the glories that had once been beeD theirs In ID the time bonanza da days s Especially has this been true of or the state of r Colorado through the tapestry of or whose history runs many a golden and silver sU thread Lead Lead- TIlle Idaho Springs Breckenridge FairPlay i V f Alma Cripple Creek Victor Oura Ouray t f L Creede Its day a all nil day in the daytime and there Is no night In Creede and Aspen once Aspen once more those are glamorous names Last March the name Dame of or LeadvIlle appeared In ID virtually every e newspaper In ID the United r States For out of that town came the news that thata a stricken poverty old woman had bad frozen to death In a a 0 tumbledown tumble shack on the side of or a aa 1 a hill In I Leadville Her name Dame was Elizabeth Ellzabeth Doe Doel l i- i Tabor and the busy world paused for a n. n moment to remember that she had been the famous amo s and b beautiful nab Baby Doe Dae Tabor that a President of ot the United States had been beeD a wedding guest when she was married to H. H A A. A W. W Tabor n a Colora Colorado o bonanza king And ADd It remembered too that when the Tabor great fortune had slipped f. f i through their fin fingers ers she had gone back to Leadville Lead there to spend her last lost poverty poverty- S stricken years guarding the Matchless mine which had been the source of or most of ot their wealth and from which she never ne ceased bellev- bellev lug Ing that wealth would come again r To the list of or those mining camps whose fame tame pas has been beeD revived recently there should be added adde another It Is Central City Little Kingdom capital of ot the Little King King- of Gilpin dom corn of ot Gilpin and l In inmany f many maDY respects the greatest of or all the Colorado gold old camps At one time Central City was not Dat only the wildest roughest I and happiest mining camp In Colorado but It was also alsa one of the theer er very richest As such It helped save e the fede federal al Union by pouring Its gal gold Into the United States treasury when the successful prosecution of oC the Civil war was at stake But nut despite these facts and the fact that Central City Is sharing with the other gold camps in a renewed prosperity a revl revival 31 of ot n Interest terest In ID J its name Dame aD and fame tame Is not Dot due to any such ma ma- reason The reason Is cultural I For Central Central Cen Cen- City has Ims nn an opera house and thereby hangs on one of or the most romantic tales In the history of the American theater First of ot all alU consider some of or the background background background back ground history of or Central City In ID prospectors prospectors prospectors pros pros- In what was then Jefferson territory washed from the sands of or Cherry creek some shining particles of ot metal Others found some of ot the same precious stuff In the Pikes Peak re region loD 75 miles south The word was carried back tack East to a people still suffering from the panic of or 1857 Immediately the great Pikes Peak gold rush was on Within a year more Than ban fortune s seekers Beckers had stampeded across the plains to this new Dew El EI Dorado I But nut most of them were do doomed med to disappoint disappoint- disappointment ment for the amount of free tree gold which could be panned out of ot the theA theA theA A Stampede to streams of or the moun moun- 1 Gregorys Diggins Diggin tamn country was relatively rel reI a ely smalL Most of ot It was still locked up tip In a matrix of or quartz On May G a 1859 1550 a fl settler named John H. H Gregory Gregory Greg Greg- I ory discovered evidences of or gold quartz In ID a gulch some CO GO miles north and west of or Denver The Rocky Mountain News e s of or Denver Den published its Us first extra to ta herald the news of or the strike e er r and a stampede for Cor Greg Gregorys Diggins began Soon the hills bills and valleys of ot that region were I covered with the tents and nud crude shacks of ot the gold The boom towns of or Black mack Hawk and Nevadaville came Into existence and since Gregorys Diggins was midway between them Nathaniel Albertson John Armous and Harrison G G. G Otis OUs who platted the town site to Include the original gold camp gave It the name of Central City Calling this mushroom camp a city was paying it a rare compliment Indeed tor It was pitched on OD a rocky hillside with some of ot Its streets run rUD- zing Ding almost perpendicular from the gulch where Gregory made his discovery In fact there used to be a n saying In Central City that If It a man fell off his bis front steps hed he'd roll for days das However Howe the camp grew grev both in population and In n Importance Ira irn and when the tile county of ot Gilpin was organized and named for Thomas Gilpin first territorial governor of or Colorado Central City became the county seat cent While the rush to Gregorys r s was on OD a certain J J. J S S. S nn an eastern theatrical producer remembered the success of ot Lotta Adah Menken and Lola Montez during the California gold rush 10 years earlier He decided that there was a golden opportunity for tor him In the new Dew dl diggings III s and started west But h hp didn't reach Denver until the fall Call of 1800 when It was too toolate toolate late ato to penetrate the time snow locked val valleys ej's of or the Little Kingdom of or Gilpin So he opened in fn Denver Den as ns In His Last Legs followed followed fol Col fol- fol lowed by a farce furce Nature and Philosophy In which his wife wire was starred slurred I After Arter a successful season ot ut six months in lri I I Denver he went to Central City the nest uett spring I r r v S S re S 1 ir f Kj air a. a A l W A Once Paved With Silver v- v Cy t f M K f and established himself In a log building called he the Montana theater The seekers gold ers were hungry for entertainment and venure yen ven- ture ure was Immediately successful Ills season there here lasted lusted for three months Then be he returned to 0 Denver Den But nut year ear after neter year ear came back to Central CIt City According to a contemporary contemporary por ry chronicler They give I e us a change of or bill dally daily and n a satisfying variety each evening Everything E In ID the entire range from tragedy to farce tonight It will be Young witha with a 1 real horse on the stage and a trifle of oC English corned remedy comedy such as She Stoops to Conquer tomorrow tomorrow to to- morrow a stirring melodrama relieved by a n light force farce on Saturday night or RIchard SI Six months of or the year the company played In Denver or visited the mining camps of Montana Three months montha were given to Central City and the he Little I Kingdom ln om of Gilpin and the other three months to other ather camps George camps George Gulch Delaware Delaware Del Del- aware Flats Buckskin Joe Jae Gulch and Frenchmans Frenchman's Frenchmans Frenchmans Frenchman's French French- mans man's Gulch But for nil all that Central CIt City was wasa wasi a i crude boom town In the heart of the moun moun- tarns difficult of access and Inhabited for the most part by miners there were perhaps 50 0 families whose education and und cultured culture tastes kept ept alive the Interest of ot the better type tYlle of thel theatrical the the- productions They were cre the main support sup SliP port part of the little theater in fact they supported It t to the extent of 00 DO consecutive performances performances' every ery year earA ear A disastrous fire swept Central City In 1874 1 and the Montana theater along with most of the other buildings In n the A Fire and place went up In smoke But Its Aftermath fire lire could not Dot kill the Interest of ot Its Us citizens In ID the fine arts They conceived conc the Idea ot a really fine One opera house Financed by popular subscription 11 u ft uVas was Vas finished In the spring of ot 1878 It was a substantial structure with walls of or stone four tour feet thick A Denv Denver r newspaper of or that tIm time describes the Interior thus The large and comfortable gallery gallery gal goal lery Is swung across the rear of ot the auditorium but not carrIed down dowD the sides The floor of the and dress circle slopes gently to the time stage giving ever every spectator a clear view of the performers It Is well lighted and heated the central chandelier chandelier being being a counterpart of oC the theone theone theone one In Central Presbyterian church In Denver Den There Is not much gln gingerbread about lIe he woodwork wood work ork of ot the Interior which Is neat not mot ot gaudy but the frescoing Is fine very ery fine tine as ns elegant in Its line as anything In the country The artist appears to have been more at home In the th theater than In the church The centerpiece Is Isan Isan isan an open dome and one oue can almost Ima Imagine lne he hl heIs heIs hlIs Is looking through h the roof roaf at nt the 81 sky overhead with angry clouds hurrying by en route raut to Georgetown direct without change as ns the railroad railroad railroad rail rail- road guides say The drop curtain Is also very tine representing a Rhine scene shown through parted drapery The great stage Is fully equipped with handsome new scenery scenery everything everything Is new about the time building from roof to basement basement and and there are four elegant nt dressing rooms besides all aU the necessary space for the multitudinous properties properties' of the profession Besides the opera house bouse they also built a square stone school house and churches of many denominations for Cor Central City was flourishing both as us a business and cultural center Among lm I the people of or all grades and conditions of society who who were sere ere flocking Into the he Little of were several sc destined for tor Inter later fame I When a narrow Durrow railway us lull I worn rum i Denver cr to Central City IL ii boomed still more lint But or for nil all this the opera house was an nn expert mint n that was not always a n success l Even len en with the ra railroad II rum Central City ty r s still remote und and I It was sometimes to persuade lle the thc Ins best I theatrical companies to ta make the trip trill Into limbo the th mountains Then too other r mining towns were wean springing up Leadville had hud struck the time sl pay dirt ever e found In trie state stale Slowly III Iy but bin surely an nn exodus from i Cut it rut CIt City begun an When II 11 A A. A IV W. W Tabor built bunt his opi-ni opi house in U Denver lIn r the le If of or that theater quite overshadowed o ed 1 City's of house But Hul It helped the theater In one WU way the brought bronchi lo to the Ilu t West is 1 every every 1 four I In hi lug c II II I 11 of nr 1111 any C maul nu when I they hi I pla cd lu In Deliver beaver they tucy ulao cd lu fu Central I City Y m r l Ji iI m t da e w f sr rr i i j C Central City's ruinous Opera House So o such stage notables as Edwin Booth Lawrence Lawrence Lawrence Law Law- rence Barrett Joseph Jaseph Jefferson erson Emma Abbott Lotta Crabtree Christine NilA Nil Nil- A Roll Call son Madame Ia e aJ and of Notables the time great Modjeska Modjeska-in Modjeska n-In n In fact virtually every great actor and actress of that period period period-at at one time or another another an- an other trod the boards In Central City's Op Opera ra house Moreover er It continued to have other othe- celebrities as ns visitors for Cor the Teller house hause built by Senator Henry M M. M Teller was one of or the most famous hostelrIes In the whole country President President President dent Grant stayed there when he came to Colorado Colorado Colo Colo- rado and at the time of his visit the citizens of or Central City did a n spectacular thin thing They paved an entire street to ta the very ery doors of the hotel with silver bricks In In honor of or the le Presidents President's coming This of ot course was In the days of or Central CIt City's s greatest glory But that glory glary soon saon br began nn to fade As other mining camps prospered Central Cen Con City began bean to decline At one time a hundred hundred hun hun- dred families moved from Central City to Denver Den In one group Eventually E the town dwindled away ny to n- n town a-town of only a n few hundred people The old opera house hause was lark dark now for months and years yeara on end Mountain rats took It over o as- as their playground Ownership of ot the building finally passed to Peter McFarlane one of the orl original contractors for the building who kept It In memory of or the splendor that had once been Central Several everal years n ago ngo o the heirs of or the estate decided to present the historic old building building build build- In ing to the University of Denver A group of pub spirited lie Denver citizens decided to restore the opera Ollern house and make a n living monument of ot it by reviving the time romance of or the gold days and by preserving for tar posterity the best traditions of or orthe the American stage e. e Among them was was Allen AileD True a n na nationally known mural artist who volunteered vol to restore the Interior decorations atthe of at the the theater burled under years ears of or accumulated grime As a result of or the work wark of or this group the old opera house has resumed Its former furmer splendors and find every ery summer a play festival Is presented resented there I For or the last four Jour years year's ears Central City has hus a again been a n center of culture us as expressed In Inthe inthe the art urt of or the theater In 1032 it captured the Imagination of or the world by presenting Lillian in Camille In 1133 The Merry Widow was produced there with Glad Gladys s 's Natalie Hull flail und and Richard Bonelli stars of or the Metropolitan opera taking the lending leading roles In Iu WH Walter alter Huston closed the Broadway success to play the lend lead In Othello supported supported sup sup- ported by Nun Sutherland Helen lichen Freeman und anti l Kenneth McKenna lust year there was a 11 u re revue City Nights written by Richard RIchurd Edmund Ed Ed- mom mund Junes Jones s und and time till music arranged ed under the direction of or i Frank rank St. St Leger Iler conductor of or the Houston Symphony orchestra und and formerly director di dl- r rector clor of the lil u o Grand opera So II while there theme hits lias been Iwen a revival In thc tho un- un of ur must lIst of Colorados Colorado's prosperity ln a rumps 11 lipS I In re has also been n it revival rc of suit sort lu In one une of lIr them It Is n a cultural revival rc In inthe the ilie one that was S once mince fumed d us a place where II tin tin- tinn ii n on 1111 n ol of the theater nourished nourished-in In Central City and amid its old uld Opera lIIl h house 0 Western Newspaper Union |