Quick facts Elevation: 9,780 Population: 455 Statutory city Platted: 1893

Victor, City of Mines, is located at nearly 10,000 feet on the southwestern side of Pikes Peak, Victor, Colorado. The city sits on the side of Battle Mtn., offering a unique setting of 1890's gold mining structures and turn-of-the-century architecture, clean, cool air and plenty of sunshine.

Victor's modern-day treasures are the results of its rich gold rush history. Victor was platted in 1893. By that time it was already known as the City of Mines because the largest and richest gold mines of the Cripple Creek Mining District were located on Battle Mountain just above Victor. Today head frames of the Ajax, Strong and Independence give Victor its historic gold mining atmosphere.

The streets of Victor were paved with gold during the heydey of the 1890's gold rush. Today the streets are lined with a wealth of history as 100-year-old buildings stand as legacy to the hustle and bustle of previous times. Today's Victor is quiet, offering an authentic 1890's mining town get-away. The Victor Lowell Thomas Museum houses artifacts and displays that depict the town's golden history - as well a room full of memorabilia from Lowell Thomas, America's celebrated radio and television journalist.

Street-side benches and views from several historic interpretive trails offer a look at the golden era of the 1890s gold rush that made this area famous.

2007 Colorado's Gold County Visitor Guide Now Online

This Guide is available in hard copy by sending $4 postage and handling to:

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Three roads in the Cripple Creek-Victor area designated as part of the Gold Belt National  Byway offer you an adventure for a variety of transportation - bicycles, cars, Jeeps and hiking boots.
One of the first five such routes designated by Colorado, the Gold Belt Tour National Scenic  Byway is an excursion along the southern edge of the Front Range in historic mining country. The Gold Belt includes a trip up Phantom Canyon Road, down Shelf Road, over Teller County Road 1 and down High Park Road.  The Gold Belt route is named after the old Florence and Cripple Creek Railroad’s Gold Belt Line, and all three routes are partly in Teller and Fremont counties.
Phantom Canyon Road, which follows the historic Florence and Cripple Creek Narrow Gauge Railroad route,  linked the Cripple Creek District gold camps with the towns of Florence and Canon City during the mining  boom at the turn of the century.  It is the most easterly of the three roads and runs south from Victor, intersecting  U.S.Highway 50 between Pueblo and Canon City.  It winds through a deep canyon past huge granite boulders and, as U.S. Highway 67, ends up in Florence.
Shelf, the middle road, starts just south of Cripple Creek on Highway 67 and goes directly to Canon City.  It  provides access to an important rock-climbing area and the renowned Garden Park Fossil Area and parallels the stream of Cripple Creek.  The lower half of the road near Canon City  is literally carved out of the sheer canyon wall, thus the  name ‘SheIf.”
Teller County Road 1 is a meandering hard-surfaced road that was the first stage route to Cripple Creek. The road heads south from Highway 24 at Florissant past the Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument. It passes High Park Road at Evergreen Station and then winds uphill to Cripple Creek.
High Park Road, the western-most route, runs from the intersection at Evergreen Station on Teller County Road 1 & 11 to Colorado  Highway 9, ending at Highway 50, just 10 miles west of Canon  City.  This route provides views of breathtaking mountain scenery, along a more open landscape of grasslands and ponderosa pine forests.
Note: All are narrow, winding and low-speed roads accessible by most vehicles. Winter travel can require chains and four-wheel drive.
Rvs, trailers and other large vehicles are not recommended for Phantom Canyon or Shelf Roads.
Other scenic drives in the area include Gold Camp Road from Victor’s west side to Colorado Springs. This road is narrow and winding; therefore trailers and Rvs are not recommended.