Editing Victor, Colorado (section)

==History==

===Gold discovery===
Victor was founded in 1891, shortly after [[W. S. Stratton|Winfield Scott Stratton]] discovered gold nearby. The town was named after the Victor Mine,<ref>{{cite web|url=  http://www.epodunk.com/cgi-bin/genInfo.php?locIndex=9725|title= Profile for Victor, Colorado, CO|publisher= ePodunk |access-date= September 22, 2012}}</ref> which may have been named for an early settler, Victor Adams. In 1892, Harry, Frank and Warren Woods founded the Mt. Rosa Mining, Milling and Land Company.<ref name="Victor History">{{cite web | url=http://www.victorcolorado.com/history.htm | title=History | publisher=Victor, Colorado | access-date=May 22, 2013}}</ref>{{#tag:ref|Harry and Frank Woods arrived in the Victor area in 1892 with their father Warren Woods. Warren, born in Ohio in 1834, "was the president of most of the Woods' enterprises." Frank managed the Woods Investment Company operations. Harry was a newspaper man before moving to Colorado; he was born in Illinois in 1859. In addition to the Gold Coin Mine and the Victor Bank Block, the Woods also owned or invested in the Pikes Peak Power Company, Golden Crescent Water and Light Company and the First National Bank of Victor. The power company sold power to Pueblo, Cripple Creek and Victor. In 1927, their "empire ended".<ref name="Victor History" />|group="nb"}} Battle Mountain, located just above Victor, had the largest, most prolific mines in the mining district and the town became known as the "City of Mines." Victor officially became a city on July 16, 1894.<ref name="Victor History" /> In 1894, the Woods brothers discovered gold when they began digging the foundation for a building, which resulted in the creation of the Gold Coin Mine. At that time, 8,000 people lived in Victor.<ref name="Victor History" />

The town boomed as the surrounding Cripple Creek mining district quickly became the most productive gold mining district in Colorado.<ref>{{ cite book | author=Mark W. Davis, Randall K. Streufert | year=1990 | title=Gold Occurrences of Colorado | publisher=Colorado Geological Survey, Resource Series 28 | page=28 }}</ref> Mines in Victor and Cripple Creek provided 21 million ounces of gold. In 2010, the value of the gold would have been more than $10 billion. The mining district, which hit its peak in 1900, became the 2nd largest gold district in the country's history.<ref name="Varney p. 63" />

Although Victor's fame was overshadowed by that of its neighbor, [[Cripple Creek, Colorado|Cripple Creek]], many of the best gold mines of the Cripple Creek district were located at Victor, including [[Stratton's Independence Mine and Mill]]<ref name="Victor History" /> and the Portland Mine. Half of Battle Mountain's gold was extracted by the Portland Mine, which was called the "Queen of the District". Heavyweight boxing champion [[Jack Dempsey|William Harrison "Jack" Dempsey]] was a mucker in the Portland Mine.<ref name="Varney p. 63" />

Mine owners and investors lived in Cripple Creek, while most of the miners for the districts' 500 mines lived in Victor.<ref name="Victor History" /><ref name="Varney p. 63">{{cite book|author=Philip Varney|title=Ghost Towns of the Mountain West: Your Guide to the Hidden History and Old West Haunts of Colorado, Wyoming, Idaho, Montana, Utah, and|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qtYK6OD3RX8C&pg=PA63|access-date=May 22, 2013|date=July 4, 2010|publisher=Voyageur Press|isbn=978-1-61060-090-3|page=63}}</ref>

===Fire of 1899===
In August 1899, the business district was destroyed in a five-hour fire.<ref name="Fire in a Colorado Town">{{cite web | url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-new-york-times-fire-in-a-colorado-to/136818705/ | title=Fire in a Colorado Town.; Business Section of Victor, Near Cripple Creek, Destroyed -- The Loss Estimated at $2,000,000 | newspaper=[[The New York Times]] | access-date=December 14, 2023 |place=Cripple Creek, Colorado |page=5 |date=August 21, 1899 |publication-date=August 22, 1899 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> The town had about 18,000 residents at the time.<ref name="Victor History" /><ref name="Clark">{{cite book|author=Alexandra Walker Clark|title=Colorado's Historic Hotels|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZAUG2JZ2vHoC&pg=PA232|access-date=May 22, 2013|date=July 28, 2011|publisher=The History Press|isbn=978-1-60949-301-1|page=232}}</ref><ref name="Victor Hotel history">{{cite web | url=http://www.victorhotelcolorado.com/history.htm | title=History | publisher=Victor Hotel | access-date=May 22, 2013}}</ref> As a result, many of the historic buildings date to 1899, including the St. Victor Roman Catholic church, the First Baptist Church of Victor, and the [[Victor Hotel]].{{citation needed|date=May 2013}}

===Unionized workforce===

The [[Western Federation of Miners]] (WFM) began to organize workers in a fight for shorter work days and standard wages.<ref name="Varney p. 64">{{cite book|author=Philip Varney|title=Ghost Towns of the Mountain West: Your Guide to the Hidden History and Old West Haunts of Colorado, Wyoming, Idaho, Montana, Utah, and|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qtYK6OD3RX8C&pg=PA64|access-date=May 22, 2013|date=July 4, 2010|publisher=Voyageur Press|isbn=978-1-61060-090-3|page=64}}</ref> The workforce became heavily unionized after the Western Federation of Miners conducted a [[Cripple Creek miners' strike of 1894|significant strike in 1894]]. A subsequent strike in 1903 had such an impact that it came to be called the [[Colorado Labor Wars]].<ref>{{ Cite journal | author=William Philpott | title=The Lessons of Leadville, Or, Why the Western Federation of Miners Turned Left (Monograph 10) | journal=Monograph | location=Denver |publisher=Colorado Historical Society | year=1994 | issn=1046-3100 }}</ref> At this point, the amount of available ore to mine had declined significantly and mining in the district was further impacted by slow production as the result of violent strikes.<ref name="Varney pp. 63-65">{{cite book|author=Philip Varney|title=Ghost Towns of the Mountain West: Your Guide to the Hidden History and Old West Haunts of Colorado, Wyoming, Idaho, Montana, Utah, and|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qtYK6OD3RX8C&pg=PA63|access-date=May 22, 2013|date=July 4, 2010|publisher=Voyageur Press|isbn=978-1-61060-090-3|pages=63–65}}</ref>

The [[Western Federation of Miners union hall|WFM's union hall]] in Victor still stands, with telltale bullet holes left intact. The building has structural problems and needs renovation.<ref>{{cite web |title=Victor hall hanging by thread In 2014, the Hall was struck by lightning and burned. It is now just a shell. |author=Deedee Correll |date=March 30, 2005 |work= The Gazette |publisher=Colorado Springs }}</ref>

===Mining decline===
The town declined steadily in the 20th century, as the gold mines became worked out,<ref name="Varney pp. 63-65" /> and the cost of mining rose relative to the price of gold (fixed at $20.67/troy ounce).<ref>{{cite book |last1=Shapiro |first1=Alan |last2=Hanouna |first2=Paul |title=Multinational Financial Management |date=December 12, 2019 |publisher=Wiley |isbn=978-1118572382 |page=70 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gDLDDwAAQBAJ&q=%2420.67%2Foz&pg=PA70}}</ref> Area miners enlisted during [[World War I]], and the loss of workers created a steep decline in mining activity from which the area has not recovered.<ref name="Varney p. 65">{{cite book|author=Philip Varney|title=Ghost Towns of the Mountain West: Your Guide to the Hidden History and Old West Haunts of Colorado, Wyoming, Idaho, Montana, Utah, and|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qtYK6OD3RX8C&pg=PA65|access-date=May 22, 2013|date=July 4, 2010|publisher=Voyageur Press|isbn=978-1-61060-090-3|page=65}}</ref>

Gold mining increased in 1934 when the federal government raised the price of gold to $34/ounce, but gold mining was shut down during [[World War II]] as nonessential to the war effort. Some mines opened after the war, but all mines in the district closed by 1962.<ref name=Timeline>{{cite web | url=http://www.ccvgoldmining.com/ccvminingdistrict.html | title=Cripple Creek Mining District Timeline | publisher=Cripple Creek & Victor Gold Mining Company | access-date=May 22, 2013}}</ref>

===Resumed mining activity===
The Cripple Creek & Victor Gold Mining Company formed in 1976 as a joint venture to restart mining in the district.  From 1976 to 1989, the company produced 150,000 [[Troy weight|troy ounces]] (4,600&nbsp;kg) of gold by reprocessing tailings and mining two small surface deposits.  The Cripple Creek & Victor Gold Mining Company began the first large-scale open pit mining in the district in 1994.<ref>Keith Dyas and Jerry Marcus (1998) ''The Cresson project'', Engineering & Mining Jour., 6/1998, p.32KK-32OO.</ref> In 1995, an open pit gold mining operation, which taps into "legendary" mines, began on Battle Mountain.<ref name="Varney p. 63" />  The Cresson mine open pits are located a few miles north of Victor.  Mining continues at the [[Cripple Creek & Victor Gold Mine]], under the ownership of [[AngloGold Ashanti]],<ref name=Timeline /> producing about 250,000 troy ounces of gold in 2012,<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.ccvgoldmining.com/ccvideo.html | title=Cripple Creek & Victor | publisher=AngloGold Ashanti - Cripple Creek & Victor Gold Mining Company | access-date=May 22, 2013}}</ref>
in addition to several locally owned mines, all of which provide employment and revenue for the community. Ownership has recently changed from Anglo Gold to Newmont mining.

<gallery mode=nolines widths="220px" heights="180px">
Image:VictorCO CityHall (5x4).jpg|The Victor City Hall is one of several historic buildings that have been restored in [[Victor Downtown Historic District|downtown Victor]].
File:Victor, Colorado and the Gold Coin Mine - c1900.jpg|Gold mine in Victor, Colorado, around 1900
File:MUWestern Federation of Miners union hall 1903 (straightend).jpg|Western Federation of Miners union hall
</gallery>

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