Creede’s wild history and emblematic beauty are a few reasons why the small but mighty town has enamored hundreds of thousands of people. Colorado’s last great silver-mining camp is nestled at 9,000 feet in the rugged San Juan Mountains. Nicholas Creede’s landmark discoveries of the Holy Moses Mine and the famous Amethyst Mine created the boom town immortalized in a Cy Warman poem ending, “It’s day all day in the daytime, and there is no night in Creede.” The boom was brief, ending in 1893 when silver prices plummeted. Mining continued in cycles until 1985. Rather than becoming a ghost town, Creede reinvented itself as one of Colorado’s favorite tourist destinations. Outstanding trout fishing and hunting attract outdoors people from across the nation. The world-renowned Creede Repertory Theatre and internationally acclaimed artists have made Creede a cultural haven. Echoes of the past remain in long-standing businesses Tomkins Hardware and the Creede Hotel, as well as the Creede Historical Society Museum, housed in the 1892 Denver & Rio Grande Railroad Depot.
Charles “Chuck” Harbert grew up in Colorado and settled in Creede in 1999 after a 30-year career as a chemist and senior executive at Pfizer Central Research. He has written four Colorado history books, including one on Creede and another on Bachelor, a nearby ghost town. Allison Quiller is a Creede native. She is an accomplished artist and serves as the Creede Historical Society photograph director.
