Billy Goats At My Door

Billy Goats At My Door

Wednesday, October 16, 2019

October 16, 2019. Old Colorado City.


















October 16, 2019.  Old Colorado City.  We got a late start today, so we drove the twenty miles to Old Colorado City, which is on the west side of Colorado Springs, in the shadow of Pike's Peak.  OCC began as a provisioning settlement during the 1859 Pike's Peak Gold Rush.  It is now a shopping district featuring art galleries, boutiques, restaurants and tourist shops.

OCC was briefly the capitol of the Colorado Territory in 1862.  The legislature met for five days in the old log cabin shown above.  The accommodations were so inadequate that the legislators moved to Denver which, of course, became the territorial capitol and later the state capital.  

Typical of a mining town, OCC was a pretty rough place to live in the late 1800s.  It had saloons, gambling establishments, bordellos and opium dens.  After being annexed by Colorado Springs, most of the sin parlors were wiped out, many by fires of suspicious origin.

In addition to gold mining, there were over 50 coal mines in the area.  In the 1890s, there was another gold strike in Cripple Creek.  OCC became prosperous again as a gold processing hub.  

Today, OCC is both a community and a tourist attraction.  Several of the homes we looked at while preparing for our stay here are in Old Colorado City.  However, most of the homes there are remodeled relics more than 100 years old.  Well, there is one tiny house shown above.  I don't think I could turn around in it.

There are a couple of hidden images in the windows of the buildings in the pictures.  See if you can find them.  Hint:  one is a lurker spying on his neighbors across the street.  Another is a strikingly handsome couple crossing the street.    

Tomorrow is another day under the crystal blue skies of Colorado.  We've decided that October is a good month to spend time here.   

Goodnight. 

2 comments:

BJ said...

Look at those two cuties holding hands.

Fred said...

See them both. The photographer has a good eye.