Creede, Colorado
Encyclopedia : C : CR : CRE : Creede, Colorado
Creede is a town in Mineral County, Colorado, United States. The population was 377 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Mineral County[Geographic references#6GR6].
Geography
According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 1.6 km² (0.6 mi²), all land.
History
Travelers to this area appeared in the early 1800s. Tom Boggs, a brother-in-law of Kit Carson , farmed at Wagon Wheel Gap in the summer of 1840. Ranchers and homesteaders moved in when stagecoach stations (linking the mining operations over the Divide with the east) were built in the 1870s, but the great “Boom Days” started with the discovery of rich minerals in Willow Creek Canyon in 1889.
Creede is located near the headwaters of the Rio Grande River, which flows through the San Juan Mountains and the San Luis Valley on its way to New Mexico, Texas, and eventually into the Gulf of Mexico. The river has played a critical role in the development of farming and ranching in the Valley.
Creede was the last silver boom town in Colorado in the 1800s. At its peak there were 10,000 people in the area. The Creede mines were in continuous operation from 1890 until 1985.
The original townsite of Creede was located on East Willow Creek just above its junction with West Willow Creek. Below Creede were Stringtown, Jimtown, and Amethyst. The Willow Creek site was soon renamed Creede after Nicholas C. Creede who discovered the Holy Moses Mine. Soon the entire town area from East Willow to Amethyst was called Creede.
In 1892, with the discovery of large silver deposits, the campsite experienced a "silver rush" and the population exploded. At the same time, the capitol city of Denver, Colorado was experiencing a major legal reform movement against the gambling clubs and saloons located in that city. Numerous owners of the major gambling houses in Denver quickly relocated to Creede's business district. One of these relocators was the infamous confidence man, Jefferson Randolph Soapy Smith. Soapy became the uncrowned king of Creede's criminal underworld, and opened the Orleans Club. Other famous people that came to Creede at this time were Robert Ford (outlaw), the man who killed outlaw Jesse James, Bat Masterson and William Sidney "Cap" Light, the first deputy sheriff in Creede, and brother-in-law of Soapy Smith. On June 5, 1892 a major fire destroyed most of the business district. Three days later, on June 8, Ed O'Kelley walked into Robert Ford's make-shift tent-saloon and shot him dead. The town of Creede was incorporated on June 13, 1892, but the anti-gambling reform movement in Denver had ceased, and the Denver businessmen moved back to their old stomping grounds.
Creede’s boom lasted until 1893, when the Silver Panic hit all of the silver mining towns in Colorado. The price of silver plummeted and most of the silver mines were closed. Creede was one of the few silver towns to have enough other minerals to stay alive – it never became a ghost town, although the boom was over and its population declined.
Demographics
As of the census[Geographic references#2GR2] of 2000, there were 377 people, 181 households, and 106 families residing in the town. The population density was 238.6/km² (622.4/mi²). There were 275 housing units at an average density of 174.1/km² (454.0/mi²). The racial makeup of the town was 96.82% White, 1.33% Native American, and 1.86% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.59% of the population.There were 181 households out of which 19.3% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 46.4% were married couples living together, 8.8% had a female householder with no husband present, and 41.4% were non-families. 33.1% of all households were made up of individuals and 12.2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.08 and the average family size was 2.70.
In the town the population was spread out with 19.1% under the age of 18, 5.0% from 18 to 24, 26.3% from 25 to 44, 33.7% from 45 to 64, and 15.9% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 45 years. For every 100 females there were 100.5 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 98.1 males.
The median income for a household in the town was $30,893, and the median income for a family was $34,125. Males had a median income of $27,250 versus $17,250 for females. The per capita income for the town was $21,801. About 12.2% of families and 13.4% of the population were below the poverty line, including 31.0% of those under age 18 and 11.1% of those age 65 or over.
External links
From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.