Old buildings like this in Cripple Creek used to be cheap enough that even a person like me could buy one and set up a shop or a restaurant, because normally a buildings only worth the income it can make for its owner. And for the most part there wasn't a big income to be made in Cripple Creek. But you could make a living in the summer, and if you were lucky you might even survive the winter. This is one of the properties that I sold to the casinos, I had a barbecue joint on this spot. Since Colorado bases its property tax on what your neighbors sell for it didn't take long for my property tax to reach almost $30,000 a year. So even though I'm not the smartest guy in the room I was still able to figure out that selling barbecue was not the highest and best use for this piece of property. This is the 1890s courthouse where I had to go for jury duty about once a year. The building was kind of chilly in the winter, and a little too hot in the summer so jury's seldom deliberated for very long, nonetheless justice was meted out in this building for over 100 years, and as far as I know still is. Many famous people from the old days walked the streets of Cripple Creek. Wyatt Earp came through town, heavyweight boxing champion Jack Dempsey got his start fighting in the saloons of Cripple Creek, famous prohibitionist Carrie Nation tried and failed to wreck Cripple Creeks saloons and called Cripple Creek a foul cesspool, Teddy Roosevelt visited here and was run out of town by union miners, the TV show "Dr. Quinn medicine woman" was based on a real female doctor from Cripple Creek, famous comedian Groucho Marx went broke in Cripple Creek and drove an ice wagon on these streets. I could go on and on because at one time Cripple Creek's fame as the "World's greatest gold camp" was known worldwide.
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