Wednesday, June 25, 1974
University Daily Kansan
Gold Revives Mining Camp as Tourist Traps Falter
By ROY CLEVENGER
By ROT CLEVENGER
Kansan Correspondent
CRIPPLE CREEK, Colo. -Colorado is a state of paradoxes, of large industrial centers, booming tourist towns and sleepy ghost towns of the gold mining days.
It is also a state that is seeing profound changes in its way of life.
Nearby Colorado Springs and Manitou Springs, long the state's greatest tourist traps, were probables the harbies hit areas in the nation during the spring months. The state was rumored to be almost completely unavailable. Tourism dropped precipitously, and, despite ample fuel supplies now, the area is still far from
The changes have been remarkable. One small motor owner in Mantou Springs said his business dropped 40 per cent last year. And, he said, the town's bad gasoline reputation was unearned.
"No one ran out of gasoline here," he said.
"That's ridiculous."
He said business was back to normal, but his comment was based more on hope than on fact.
Tourist attractions once crowded from dawn to dark are now at least half empty. A street in Manitou Springs lined with gift shops stands almost deserted each day at the hours it used to be jammed, Traffic is only a fraction of what it was. All of this is despite an intensive winter-long
publicity blitz by area chambers of commerce,
businessmen and tourists attractions to lure summer
The blitz just hasn't worked. Tourism is still at least a quarter less, but it was two years ago.
There are other, less obvious causes, than just the gasoline shortage. Probably the most important was the construction of a bypass of 'S. Highway 24, allowing hundreds of thousands of people annually to pass the town. The old road run right through the main streets of Manitou Springs and Colorado Springs.
Most businessmen refuse to admit that tourism is still crippled. They seem to believe that the small crowds of late June will blossom into the traditional masses of July and August.
Their optimism is thin
"Things are a little better than last year, but we're not nearly as good as we used to be," said an employee in a gift shop at the Royal Gorge, a 1,083-foot deep canyon south of here.
The tourists themselves have changed. The large, young families are nearly gone, as are the college-people who slept in a large park at the edge of Manitou Springs. In their place have come older couples, families and young people working or hitching their way across the country.
Tourism is by no means completely dead at Colorado Springs. Each morning about 450 people walk up the hill to enjoy the sunny weather.
to the top of 14,118-foot Pikes Peak, the area's greatest single tourist lure. There are still enough tourists to keep businesses open, even if many are operating on razor-thin profit margins.
The story is different here in Cripple Creek, once one of the biggest gold mining camps in this country's history. Because of inflation and complex changes in the basic nature of world monetary relationships, this sleepy village is on the road to booming again.
Cripple Creek is preparing for a new spurt of growth not unlike the gold boom days of the 1880s. The town is filled with a new optimism, a feeling that prosperity is just around the corner.
What killed Cripple Creek is now reviving it. A 1933 law prohibits Americans from owning unprocessed gold. Mine operators must sell their gold increasingly behind world market prices.
The official price for gold is $42 an ounce. The market price is two to three times that. Mines just can't operate profitably under such conditions.
Those conditions probably won't last long. William Simon, secretary of the treasury, wants to permit Americans to own gold legally. A landmark step in that direction came earlier this month when the world's major money powers agreed to abandon the ban on private exchange systems system based on the values of 16 world currencies.
That was the key condition President Richard
Nixon wanted before he would approve legal ownership of gold.
Experts estimate that the price of gold on a free American market might skyrocket to as much as $300 or $40 an ounce, and that is where Cripple Creek's hopes lie. Mine owners could receive that price if their mine could reach the highest bidder. At that price range, dozens of mines in this area would be profitable again.
Already one gold mine is being worked full-time. The El Paso Pine—adjacent to Victor, another tiny town near here—already has 200 miners working and plans to rush in another 100 this month. Housing is so short that a large area has been leveled near Victor for trailers for the miners.
Even if housing were available, few could afford it. The area has undergone an incredible real estate boom. A small decrepit shack on a small lot was purchased for $30,000. The shell of an old drug store went for $30,000.
The only thing holding back full-scale mining is the lack of a large mill to process and refine the gold. One small mill has already processed a few gold bars, but the only large milk in the area is out of reach if it was built in 1831 and dismantled in 1962. It is now rebuilt and will open early next year.
The same problems that hindered Cripple Creek and Victor in their first gold boom are hurting now. These are still small towns high in the mountains.
There is only one doctor for both towns, and a helpip has just been installed so that injured miners can be flown to the closest hospital, which is in Colorado Springs.
Victor still remains its small-town atmosphere. Everyone knows everyone else by first name, and residents still store at tourists who chance into the town's two small cafes. (Chelsea Times)
Cripple Creek, on the other hand, is fast becoming a tourist mecca. A few years ago the town attracted only the more adventurous and those who knew its more adventurous main street is crowded with young families and small towns almost oblivious to the town's history. A dozen new gift shops have opened in the last two years.
One reason for the tourist boom here is the rumor that gold will again be king. Probably more important was the improvement of the highway from here to there, a smooth four-lane thoroughfare cut right through it.
the mountains.
It is ironic that while the arena's largest tourist attractions stand half-heavy, this one desired town is on its way to prominence again. It can surpass Colorado Springs, which has become a metropolis on its own, but Cripple Creek may soon be one of the state's most important cities.
The change is no surprise to residents.
once, one told me a half dozen years ago. Some day I would be back, better than ever, just you wait.
New Law Emphasizes Prisoner Rehabilitation
TOPEKA (AP)-Rehabilitation, rather than punishment, carries the major emphasis in a Kansas penal reform law that goes into effect next Monday.
The law is more than two years old. It was passed by the 1972 legislation, then refined to its current form in 1986.
More than 320 other new laws go into effect then.
The penal reform law creates a new Department of Corrections, a cabinet-level department to be led by a secretary of corrections.
The new secretary has been selected and is familiarizing himself with the Kansas
He is Robert R. Raines, 49, a former Oklahomaian. Raines has seen service in correctional programs in his home state, and most recently, the state of Washington.
Under the new law, the state will have a unified system of corrections.
Institutions in the system will include the state penitentiary and the correctional
institution for women, both at Lansing; the Industrial Reformatory at Hutchinson; the Reception and Diagnostic Center and a new medium security correctional and vocational center that is nearing completion, both at Topeka.
Immates can be moved from institutions, from one type of security to a lesser type of security, as they progress in their social development and be in the other direction if they regress.
A five-member Kasala Adult Authority is established to succeed the state Board of Parole. The authority is assigned respon-
tibilities by a caseload of paroles, and for final release from parole.
From Page One
The new law also creates a 15-member citizen's advisory board to bring about a greater degree of public involvement in penal administration.
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However, the probation and parole officer will be under the supervision of the assessor.
A resolution was passed authorizing Chancellor Dykes and Kansas State University President James A. McCain to serve on the board of a newly formed University of Mid-America.
Max Bickford, executive officer,
Counter, chairman of the Board, were re-
elected.
The new university is the result of increased interest by the Mid American State University and its subsequent post-secondary education. It is to be a corporation, drawting heavily on pioneer work in education.
In other action, the Board of Regents approved three new KU programs: master of urban planning, a Bachelor of Science in environmental studies and a professional development degree in the school of Engineering.
The Board authorized the purchase of two new vehicles (a van and a carryall) for the State Biological Survey and the Museum of Natural History from funds appropriated by the 1974 legislature for other operating expenses.
The Board also voted that the KU extension Center located in Wichita would be closed by June 30, 1975. Nitcher said, "We are asking you to move your business from Kansas City, Colby, Garden City and Wichita. We're trying to shift the direction and administration of the Wichita center to Kansas City. We're trying to share their area. We're not contempating shifting any people or budget support to WSU. The
people working there will have the option of returning to KU."
The Board also approved the move of the two temporary buildings located west of Fraser Hall to the botanical research area in West Campus at an estimated cost of $50,000. The investments were given to the University by the Kansas University Endowment Association.
The Regents vote to change the terms of sabbatical leaves for Robert Angebunck, associate professor of geography, from full pay for three half months; James L. Enyart, assistant professor of history of art, from full pay for five half months to half pay for eleven months; Kenneth C. W. Kammeyer, professor of foreign languages; and Carl Leban, associate professor of Oriental languages and literature, from half pay for nine half months to full pay for four and one-half months.
The Regents voted to authorize James G. Stacbouchow, professor of psychology to act as a consultant to the Wichita State University Collaborative Internship program.
Science Library Addition Sought
The Board also voted to cancel sabbatical leave for Mahafud Nazario, former associate professor of biochemistry and KU Medical Center, by killing the KU Medical Center, because of his death.
A request for an addition to Malott Hall to house the Science Library is now before the Kansas Board of Regents, H. Robert Malinowsky, assistant director for reader services for the University of Kansas libraries, said recently.
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Malinowski, who was a member of the committee that developed plans for the addition, said all science materials in Watson Library and the School of Pharmacy were available. This would be the first step toward consolidating the department's library, he said.
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John L. Glinka, associate director of the KU libraries, said there were 100,000 to 150,000 science volumes stored in the basement of Spencer Research Library.
"Adding to the present Watson Library would cause twice as many problems," Mr. Schwarz said.
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The Malott expansion would also provide space for the housing of laboratory animals.
Malinowski了 the committee discussed the construction of a new main library, but that no decision was made. A new central building something that had to be suitably canonized.
Watson Library couldn't be remodeled because all the remaining walls were made from brick.
By DONNA HOWELL Kansan Staff Reporter
Glinka said inflation would hinder plans for library expansion. He said the cost of a foot, or $85 to $86 a square foot, and in five years the cost of a square foot. The shortages of steel and
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Glinka used use of the libraries had been greater this year, adding to costs. He said this was probably because undergraduates were more sophisticated and knew how to obtain materials usually used only by undergrads. Undergraduates used these materials because of great competition for undergraduate materials, be said.
other building materials could also hinder plans for expansion, he said.
By MIKE MEESKE Kansan Staff Reporter
Inflation has greatly increased the price of books and maintenance materials, such
Infation, Glinka said, has forced the KU libraries to cancel many magazine subscriptions. He said each department was required not used frequently would be cancelled.
as card stock, which has gone up to 10 to 25 as card stock, which has gone up to 10 to 25. The KU libraries would have to pay the high prices and realign their exhibition space in order to purchase a less important items. Glinda said.
The formation of ad hoc task forces by the university administration was criticized yesterday at a meeting of the University Senate Executive Committee (SenEx).
Ad Hoc Task Forces Criticized
Glinka said the libraries would receive an additional $100,000 from the university budget for the coming year.
The criticism came after a letter to James Seaver, chairman of SenEx and professor of history and western civilization, from Delbert Shankel, who was read. The letter asked for nominations to a task force on library personnel policies.
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One SenEx member said ad hoc committees shouldn't be established outside of the university governance system. The library task force would duplicate the work
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Richard Paxson, Baxter Springs graduate student and vice chairman of SenEx, and Arthur Breiphol, SenEx member and professor of electrical engineering, talked with Shankel after the meeting about the task forces.
Shankel said after the meeting with Paxson and Breipohl, "I can only say that we had an interchange of ideas."
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Similar comments were made at a SenEx meeting June 18 when Shankel announced the appointment of a group to discuss university planning.
Another committee member said this was a poor way for the administration to formulate policy.
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