Anaconda, Co - Ghost Towns on Waymarking.com

Courtesy of "Ghosttowns.com" - Linda Stoll

Anaconda was a composite of three other mining camps: Squaw Gulch, Mound City and Barry. Once a bustling city of over 2,000 persons, the town was supported mainly by the Mary McKinney mine that yielded more than eleven million dollars in gold. It is said the mine was so rich ore was plowed out by ox teams. Anaconda had its peak in the mid 1890s . Huge log barriers holding back ore slack from the highway mark the site of Anaconda together with the old jail and a few crumbling cabins.

Anaconda’s peak population was about 1,000. Founded in 1894, the town was sprawled along a half mile of Squaw Gulch, about halfway between Cripple Creek and Victor. In 1892 the peak output for the mine was $50,000 per month.

Originally started as a miner’s town, Anaconda grew out of convenience and necessity. With so many big mines concentrated around Squaw Gulch, it was only natural that the people working them would want to live nearby.

Unlike some of the other towns of Cripple Creek, Anaconda developed its own business district. According to the book “Ghost Towns” by Leland Feitz, Anaconda sported its own hotels, saloons, drug and grocery stores, doctors, lawyers, printers, music teachers, dressmakers, an optician, and even an artist. As was the custom, the town had a nice school house and several churches . The town even had its own jail.

Anaconda hit its peak just as the Golden Era of the Cripple Creek District ended. With gold production in decline and the deep levels of the mines flooding, Anaconda was poised to begin a decline of its own. During the winter of 1904, a fire started that pretty much annihilated the town. Unlike the massive relief efforts that rebuilt Victor and Cripple Creek after their fires, Anaconda was left to die a slow death. After the fire, most residents simply moved away. Anaconda’s population fell from 1,000 to 250 and continued a steady decline. The mines were still in operation, but the town would never be the same.

Here is what is found in the book Colorado Ghost Towns & Mines by Sandra Dallas.....

Anaconda
County: Teller
Location: 2 mi south of Cripple Creek
Est: Mar 1, 1892 as Barry
Discont: Nov 15, 1917

"The wild hurrah of the average mining camp is noticeably absent" in Anaconda, reported an 1896 publication touting the Cripple Creek mining district. The statement was obvious hyper-bole, since Anaconda had its share of saloons and dance halls.

It also boasted a sizable business district and a number of churches. One of the organists was a pretty young girl, Mary Louise Cecillia Guinan, who left the district for New York. There, as Texas Guinan, she became a celebrated speak-easy operator who greeted her customers with "Hello Sucker"

Anaconda grew up around the Anaconda Mine, which, like the Maru McKinney, the Blue Bell, and the Republic, was located within the town limits. Another dozen mines were within a five-minute walk.

A fire that started in a meat market destroyed most of the town in 1904, and Anaconda never was rebuilt

The waymark pictures are of what is left of Anaconda and were taken while riding the Cripple Creek Victor Narrow Gauge Railroad , which starts in Cripple Creek Colorado and the tourist route ends here at Anaconda. The NGRR Train backs all the way back to the Cripple Creek station.

Reason for Abandonment: Human Disaster Date Abandoned: 11/15/1917 Related Web Page: [Web Link]

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