Editing Central City, Colorado (section)

==History==
[[File:Central City, Colorado (1862).png|thumb|left|Central City, 1862]]
[[File:OperaHouseCC.jpg|thumb|left|upright|Central City Opera House, 1934]]

On May 6, 1859, during the Pike's Peak Gold Rush, John H. Gregory found a [[gold]]-bearing vein (the Gregory Lode) in Gregory Gulch between Black Hawk and Central City. Within two months many other veins were discovered, including the Bates, Gunnell, Kansas, and Burroughs.<ref name = "Sims"/> By 1860, as many as 10,000 prospectors had flocked to the town, then known as Mountain City,<ref>The name of the post office until 1869, see page 101, Bauer, William H.; Ozment, James L.; and Willard, John H., ''Colorado Post Offices, 1859-1989: A Comprehensive Listing of Post Offices, Stations, and Branches'', Colorado Railroad Museum (May 1990), hardcover, 280 pages, {{ISBN|978-0-918654-42-7}}</ref> and surrounding prospects, but most soon left, many returning east.<ref>{{cite web |title=Central City, Colorado |url=http://www.westernmininghistory.com/towns/colorado/central-city/ |access-date=April 17, 2011 |publisher=Western Mining History}}</ref> The [[1900 census]] showed 3,114 people.

The year 1863 brought the first attempt by hard rock miners to form a hard rock miners' union. Of 125 miners signing a union resolution in Central City, about fifty broke windows and doors at the Bob Tail mine, forcing other workers out. After a night of shooting and fighting, the union effort among Central City miners failed.<ref>Mark Wyman, ''Hard Rock Epic, Western Miners and the Industrial Revolution, 1860-1910'', 1979, pages 151-152.</ref>

Many [[Chinese American|Chinese]] immigrants lived in Central City during the early days working the [[placer deposit]]s of Gregory Gulch. They were forbidden to work in the underground mines. Most of them are believed to have returned to [[China]] after making their stake.

The frontier gambler [[Poker Alice]] lived for a time in Central City and several other Colorado mining communities.<ref>{{cite web |title=Poker Alice – Famous Frontier Gambler |url=http://www.legendsofamerica.com/we-pokeralice.html |access-date=May 10, 2012 |publisher=Legends of America}}</ref>

[[Gold mining]] in the Central City district decreased rapidly between 1900 and 1920, as the veins were exhausted. Mining revived in the early 1930s in response to the increase in the price of gold from $20 to $35 per ounce, but then virtually shut down during [[World War II]] when gold mining was declared nonessential to the war effort. The district was enlivened in the 1950s by efforts to locate [[uranium]] deposits, but these proved unsuccessful.<ref name="Sims">Paul K. Sims and others (1963) ''Economic Geology of the Central City District, Gilpin County, Colorado'', US Geological Survey, Professional Paper 359, pp.7–8.</ref>

The population of Central City and its sister city Black Hawk fell to a few hundred by the 1950s. [[Casino]] gambling was introduced in both towns in the early 1990s, but had more success in Black Hawk (which has 18 casinos) than in Central City (which has 6 casinos), partly because the main road to Central City passed through Black Hawk, tempting gamblers to stop in Black Hawk instead. In an effort to compete, Central City completed a four-lane, {{convert|8.4|mi|km|adj=on}} [[Central City Parkway|parkway]] from [[Interstate 70]] to Central City, without going through Black Hawk.<ref>{{cite web |title=Central City Parkway |url=http://www.centralcityhighway.com/pdfs/onepagebrochure.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051220061326/http://www.centralcityhighway.com/pdfs/onepagebrochure.pdf |archive-date=December 20, 2005 |access-date=August 15, 2005 |website=centralcityhighway.com}}</ref> The highway was completed in 2004, but Black Hawk, which prior to the introduction of gambling was much smaller than Central City, continues to generate more than seven times the gambling revenue that Central City does. To compete, Central City has recently eliminated height restrictions for building on undeveloped land. Buildings were previously limited to heights of {{convert|53|ft|m}}, so as not to overshadow the town's historic buildings.<ref>Andy Vuong, [https://www.denverpost.com/2009/06/30/eased-gambling-building-rules-give-central-city-second-chance/ "Eased gambling, building rules give Central City a second chance"], ''Denver Post'', July 1, 2009, p.1.</ref>

Tax from the gambling revenue provides funding for the State Historical Fund, administered by the [[Colorado Office of Archaeology and Historic Preservation]].<ref>[https://www.historycolorado.org/state-historical-fund State Historical Fund], [[Colorado Office of Archaeology and Historic Preservation|Office of Archaeology and Historic Preservation]], [[Colorado Historical Society]], USA.</ref>
{{clear|left}}