All day in the daytime: the story of Creede’s silver boom

For a few wild months in 1892, Creede was the most talked-about town in Colorado. Silver poured out of the mountains, the trains arrived packed with fortune-seekers, and the saloons never closed. The poet Cy Warman summed it up in a line that has followed the town ever since: “It’s day all day in the day-time, and there is no night in Creede.”

The strike

In 1889 a prospector named Nicholas Creede found signs of silver along Willow Creek, in the canyon above today’s town. In 1890 he staked the Holy Moses claim, and soon other rich mines were found nearby, among them the Amethyst, the Last Chance and the Commodore. By late 1891, the Denver and Rio Grande Railroad had built a branch line up the valley, and the rush began.

The wildest town in the West

By 1892, thousands of people were crammed into the narrow canyon, living in tents and shacks and doing business in hastily built saloons and gambling halls. The confidence man Soapy Smith ran the town’s underworld from his Orleans Club, and the lawman Bat Masterson managed a gambling hall.

Robert Ford, the man who had shot Jesse James, opened a tent saloon in Creede. On 5 June 1892 a fire swept through the business district and destroyed most of it. Three days later, on 8 June, Ford was shot dead in his saloon by Edward O’Kelley.

Bust, and a long second life

In 1893 the price of silver collapsed, and the boom was over almost as fast as it had begun. Yet Creede never became a ghost town. Its mines kept working, on and off, for almost a century, producing silver, lead and zinc until 1985. The town of Bachelor, up on the hill, was not so lucky, and today it is just a meadow.

Where to see the history today

• The Underground Mining Museum: tunnels blasted into the cliff by Creede miners, with displays on how the work was done.
• The Bachelor Loop: a 17-mile drive past the Commodore, the Last Chance and other mines, and the site of Bachelor.
• Main Street: historic buildings, including some from the years after the 1892 fire.
• The Creede Historical Museum: local history displays in town.
• The Days of ’92: Creede’s Fourth of July celebration, with mining contests that honour the boom year.

Tips

• The old mines are on private land and are dangerous. Never enter tunnels or climb on old buildings.
• Buy the printed Bachelor Loop guide in town before you drive it.
• Visit the museum first: it makes everything else easier to understand.