Pike's Peak: A Mining Saga

by Frank Waters

Book Overview

During the fabulous reign of Colorado Silver, innumerable prospectors passed by Pike's Peak on their way to the silver strikes at Leadville, Aspen, and the boom camps in the Saguache, Sangre de Cristo, and San Juan mountains. Then, in 1890, a carpenter named Winfield Scott Stratton discovered gold along Cripple Creek. By 1900, this six square mile area on the south slope of Pike's Peak supported 475 mines and led the world in gold production. Against...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0804005036
• ISBN13: 9780804005036
• Release Date: December 1987
• Publisher: Ohio University Press
• Length: 751 Pages
• Weight: 3.05 lbs.
• Dimensions: 2.0" x 6.4" x 9.4"

Customer Reviews

Three Generations of A Mining Family

This is a compelling account of the Rogier family, who moved to the Pike's Peak, Colorado region soon after the Civil War. The character development of the family members is intricate, but not tedious. Each person is real, and the accounts of their lives during the mining boom in Pike's Peak, the Union Organization of the Miners, the entry of big business to buy up all the mining property are just like reading an eyewitness account. The family are strong, proud, and humbled at the same time by the spectre of brooding Pike's Peak that remains timeless and immovable. How they look at the mountain, and the progress of civilization all around them is a good glimpse for readers on the actual experiences of the early pioneers of the Western United States. The descriptions of the beauty and primitiveness of the territories are just as if the reader was there. Also, the writer's interpretation of Indian mysticism is interesting, as he explains the native American's oneness with the earth. Very satisfying reading.