"The Richest Square Mile on Earth" around Central City, Colorado - Central City CO Off the Beaten Path

Preview: At one point in history, Central City vied with Leadville for the bonanzas. They called Central City the Richest Square Mile on Earth. In all, so me $75 million in gold was found there. Tourists can still do a bit of gold panning in nearby creeks. And through Labor Day you can ride a re-created narrow-gauge railway along the bleached mountainsides, past the old abandoned mounds of earth, the mines of yesteryear. Sloping, winding Eureka Street has been kept up. The redbrick buildings look as well preserved as those of Denver’s restored Larimer Square. Central City’s pharmacy and several other stores put their oldest relics into the windows. For an overview of the area’s history, visit the Gilpin History Museum, located at 228 East High Street. Housed in a brick building built in 1870 and used as a school until the 1960s, this two-story museum includes a replica of a classic Main Street of the past. The Gilpin History Museum, the Thomas House Museum, and the well-appointed Central City Opera House contrast with the miners’ dwellings. The latter are small, modest cubes scattered across the pale gold or ochre and russet slopes. The first frame houses sprang up during the 1860s, along with the mine dumps. Gold! Not just in a river but in the mountain, too. A man named John Gregory had plodded to 8,500-foot-high Central City from Denver, a trip of some 35 miles with an elevation gain of more than 3,000 feet. That was in 1859. Gregory soon dug up a fortune. The word raced as fast as the spring waters of Clear Creek. Horace Greeley, a New York editor, heard about Gregory Gulch and traveled west to take a personal look. Greeley reported: “As yet the entire population of the valley, which cannot number less than four thousand, sleep in tents or under pine boughs, cooking and eating in the open air.” The above description is an excerpt from "Colorado: Off the Beaten Path." Whether you're a visitor or a local looking for something different, this chapter from the Off the Beaten Path series will help you take the "road less traveled" and discover hidden attractions, unique finds, and unusual locales that most tourists miss.
© Copyright Curtis Casewit; revised and updated by Alli Rainey published by Insiders' Guide all rights reserved.


This travel guide comes from:
Colorado Off the Beaten Path Guide Book