Part 36 here
When tour to the mine was ended we went back to our car. While heading to the hotel we noticed an appealing advertisement, saying that here we can ride a narrow gauge train.
What an attraction! Of course, we made a u-turn and parked near the train station. It was evening, however, so the last train could have departed already… With crossed fingers I came to the ticket office and asked about the last train for the day. What a luck! Last excursion was expected in 15 minutes, so we bought our tickets and prepared to wait. 
Soon we noticed a little steam engine that pulled 2 cars. We smelled the engine’s smoke, and listened to it’s horn. In a short time the train was at the station and while the workers were filling the water tank, we went to the last car and found our seat. How small everything here is! Like it was made for kids, not adults.
Soon the engine made a long sound and we felt how the train started to move. During the ride our engine driver was talking about Cripple Creek history. It was a pretty large town in the past – in it’s peak there were 55,000 people living here. Town even had it’s own red district! And we heard a story about quite famous night lady, whose parents even didn’t know who she was. The price for the night with her was up to $500, try to imagine that – because the miner salary was several dollars per day only. So she kept her profession in secret from the parents until she died. Only then her parents realized the truth and they were angry with that fact, so they declined to make a funeral for their daughter. All funeral expenses were covered by town, the procession was so long so it stretched for two miles – from the town to the cemetery. Orchestra was playing music there, and drums were very loud. And people came and came and came. It was a very fancy and memorable funeral!
We were riding between the hills where we saw big holes, like some giant moles live here. Those were the trial digs, when people were looking for the gold. In these hills there are still plenty of gold, that costs billions of dollars, but the mines were closed for a long time so they became dangerous. Plus the code needs to satisfy the regulations, and a lot need to be changed to opening the mines again. That’s why entrances are closed, so neither animal nor human can go inside. Very often it is just a hole in the ground and a shaft goes straight down.
Chipmunk begs for food
Closed mine
The train stopped in the meadow between two hills and we were listening the different horns that our engine made. The engine driver told us about the time when trains were going between Cripple Creek and neighbor town Victor. Mines were around both towns and there tunnels were connected. So miners could go underground from one town to another. He shared his dream with us – to go underground and try to copy the miners. Soon our engine made the last horn and we were riding back to the station.
The big trestle was once here
Another mine
The roads shows where town blocks were before
First man who found the gold in that area lived here
Our engine driver
First tourists were riding in that comfortable car
Main street
Part 38 here