Two Days of History

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Day 1
1. Arrive in the Victor at 9 a.m. Stop in at the Fortune Club or Gold Camp Bakery for a bit of breakfast or cup of coffee.

2. Just across the street is the Victor Lowell Thomas Museum. From Memorial Day through Labor Day the museum is open daily from 9:30 to 5 p.m. Visit the museum displays and learn about the 1899 gold rush. Try your hand at panning for real gold and gems just outside the museum.

3. If you make reservations ahead of time at 719-689-4211 or there are seats available, you can take a tour of the modern gold mine - the bus leaves the museum every day except Thursdays from Memorial day to Labor Day.

4. Step out of the past in the museum into the past of downtown Victor. Pick up a walking tour guide and follow the map to the interpretive signs along city streets; or head off to the Cresson Headframe and onto the Independence Mine and Mill Site and Golden Circle Trail. If you are ambitious and want to take a lunch, hike to the Vindicator Valley Trail and then back into the town to the Museum.

5. Drive out of Victor on County Road 81 to the top of Bull Hill, turn left and drive up to the American Eagles Scenic Overlook for top-of-the-world views of historic and modern mining.

6. Back in Victor, enjoy pizza, burgers and ice cream or hand made pastries and sandwiches at one of the local eateries. Retire to a room in the Victor Hotel.

Day 2

1. Enjoy breakfast at a Victor eatery and head west out of town to Cripple Creek.

2. Take a walk down Bennett Avenue and visit some of the gift shops located there.

3. Stop by the Cripple Creek District Museum at the east end of Bennett Avenue.  The Cripple Creek District Museum is a private, non-profit foundation founded to preserve the history of the fabulous Cripple Creek District.  Located on Bennett Avenue in the former Midland-Terminal Railroad Depot, the Museum complex contains three buildings with six floors of mining memorabilia, maps, paintings, glass and china, children's items, furnishings, an assay office, a photograph gallery, Indian artifacts, mineral displays and tow Victorian apartments. Open daily May-October; open Weekends only November-April.

4. Walk next door and board the Cripple Creek & Victor Narrow Gauge Railroad for a scenic ride through mining country. The train is open from mid-May through fall, weather permitting.

5. Head up the hill and stop at the Cripple Creek Heritage Center, where helpful folks can offer you brochures and info on the area.

6. On the way up the hill, stop in at the Mollie Kathleen Gold Mine. During the 45-minute tour visitors will explore the evolution of all four phases used to extract gold from the 1890's Mollie Kathleen Mine. Witness the operation of numerous pieces of air powered gold mining equipment from drifter drills, tuggers, slushers, stoper drills, jack leg drills, rocker shovel mucking machines, and even an early 1900’s air-powered steam hoist that is believed to be the smallest steam hoist ever manufactured. In a newly opened tour area of the mine, visitors will stand on the 1,000 foot level and gaze upward into the Queen Bess stope that extends 700 feet to the Mollie Kathleen 400 foot level, as they learn the life of the stope-rat miner.

7. June through December, take in a show at the Butte Theater or during the year, check the schedule for live theater performances. Shows are at 1 and 7 p.m. so you can take in a show mid-day or after dinner.