Submitted by Pikes Peak Heritage Center
Step back into the past with the new transportation floor at the Pikes Peak Heritage Center in Cripple Creek. Under construction since June, the new wing contains some of the iconic symbols of the old West.
Starting with a model train display that winds through reproductions of the most famous Cripple Creek mines, one can take a sentimental trip in to Cripple Creek’s past. The display comes complete with touch screen informational panels, made by Mediawerx out of Colorado Springs, that will, when activated, shine a light on the particular mine and gives detailed information about that mine, with verbiage and old pictures.
One of the panels will activate the model train, which will then circle around the display. The display also includes representations of Cripple Creek, Victor and Goldfield complete with tiny people and animals.
Tim and Sheri Penland lovingly created the model train display. Tim’s love of model trains has been a life long hobby. His masterful work is indeed much appreciated by the visitors to the Heritage Center.
In a landscaped enclosure, three authentic modes of transportation stand. The first is a Studebaker Hack, circa 1892. The hack, short for hackney, was made by the Studebaker Brothers Manufacturing Company of South Bend, Ind.
This hack was designed to be a “carriage for hire” and featured a rear shelf to carry baggage. This particular one-horse buggy was used on the Kaufman Ranch, 20 miles west of Cripple Creek. The buggy was found in a riverbed where it had been used for erosion control. Robert L. Watkins painstakingly restored the Hack and donated it to the Ute Pass Historical Society. The Society has loaned the buggy to the Heritage Center.
Next is a Ranch Buckboard, also on loan from the Ute Pass Historical Society. This four-wheeled open carriage, which is larger than the Studebaker Hack, has a flexible wooden frame. Also restored by Robert L. Watkins, the buckboard belonged to Henry W. and Laura K. (Lulu) Brockhurst. In 1887, Henry and his grandmother homesteaded in Ute Pass. Brockhurst founded a riding academy and later, a dude ranch.
In 1962, the Brockhursts dedicated their property as a “home for children forever.” It is now the Children’s Ark at Brockhurst Ranch, a residential treatment center and school for at-risk children? The Brockhurst Foundation donated the buckboard to the Ute Pass Historical Society in 1984.
The next display is a Portland Cutter Sleigh, circa 1900. Made by the Ames-Dean Carriage Company out for Jackson, Mich., the sleigh has been donated to the Heritage Center by the El Pomar Foundation in Colorado Springs.
Designed by Pet Kimball and his son Charles in Portland, Maine, in 1850, the cutter was America’s favorite one-horse sleigh. This model was built to hold two people and comes with sleigh bells on the tongues. In a copy of an old Sears Roebuck catalogue, sleighs are priced from $12.95 for a “swell body cutter” to $22.50 for a Stanhope Portland Cutter. The cutter offered jaunty winter transportation.
And the piece-de-resistance is an authentic Prairie Schooner, also donated by the El Pomar Foundation. This huge wagon is painted in the colors of the Conestoga Wagons that traversed the prairie bringing settlers to the West. Also in a landscaped enclosure, a beautiful mural by Michael Noel Wallace provides the perfect backdrop for the wagon. A touch screen interactive panel, also by Mediawerx, can tell you about wagons, beasts of burden and even saddles.
Stop by the Cripple Creek Heritage Center for information and education about the Cripple Creek Gold Mining District. It is worth the drive.
The Center is open 7 days a week from 9 a.m. – 4 p.m. It will be closed for major holidays in the winter. For more information, call 719-689-3315 or visit www.visitcripplecreek.com.
