Books by Marshall Sprague

“No novel could contain more dramatic events than the history of Cripple Creek.”—Wyoming Library Roundup“This is the fascinating story of the great Cripple Creek gold mines. But it is not told with fantasy: here are the plain facts of one of the most unbelievable incidents of our history, of a place in the Colorado mountains where a man threw his hat into the air, dug where it fell, and struck a rich vein of ore. . . . It is a fascinating story and the author has told it well.”—Paul Engle, Chicago Tribune“Money Mountain mines as rich a vein of human interest, of solid accomplishment combined with picturesque skullduggery, as one is likely to find in all the annals of the western frontier. . . . Virtually every page bears evidence of patient researching through old newspaper files, court records, pioneer reminiscences and other obscure sources likely to throw light on events in and about the town during the fifteen years [1892–1907] when it was riding high. . . . Highly rewarding reading to anyone curious to know what manner of life was lived in the wide-open mining towns of the West.”—Oscar Lewis, New York Herald Tribune Books“A roaring story of a roaring town. . . . It’s an authentic contribution to the matter of the American West and dandy reading.”—Saturday Review“Cripple Creek has found its historian. Money Mountain is sure to stand for years as a valid picture of that bizarre camp.”—New York Times Book Review

In 1871, General William Jackson Palmer, a Civil War cavalry hero, dreamed of a Rocky Mountain resort town where sedate, temperate, wealthy folk could enjoy life in tranquil comfort. From its inception as a tiny resort hamlet, Colorado Springs has grown into the second largest city in the Colorado Rockies, with a projected population by 1990 of 400,000. Marshall Sprague tells the remarkable and colorful story of a community that, despite its massive growth, never abandoned its original vision of comfort and gentility. His account, illustrated with rare archival photographs, has been revised and enlarged for the 1990s. In the town's early years, rich easterners and Englishmen came seeking adventure, romance, and gentility. But when gold was discovered at nearby Cripple Creek in 1900, Colorado Springs became an instant boom town. A second major boom came several decades later, when local boosters persuaded the Army to choose Colorado Springs as the site for Fort Carson, a training center for 30,000 troops. Other military projects followed, including Peterson Field, Ent Air Force Base, the underground North American Air Defense Command Combat Operations Center, and in 1954, the U.S. Air Force Academy. More recent projects, discussed in a new final chapter, include the Olympic Training Center and the Olympic Hall of Fame, as well as high-tech industries and advances in culture, education, and recreation.As the city sprawls eastward onto the prairie, it bears little resemblance to General Palmer's 1871 village. Yet the general's dream of a quality town in a quality environment has continued to inspire generations of administrators and boosters who have made Colorado Springs a model of urban prosperity.

Those who travel to look at Colorado will find as much meaning in Marshall Sprague's well-told story of its historical conflict as will those who live with the beauty-and the challenge.