Victor Heritage Society
Working Together to Preserve 
Historic Victor, Colorado
City of Gold MInes
  • Home
  • Preservation Successes
  • Activities
  • Landmarks
  • Guidelines & Galleries
    • Guide to Preserving Our Architectural Heritage
    • Photo Gallery of Victor Residential Gems
    • Photo Gallery of Victor Businesses Operating in Historic Buildings
    • This Old Victor House--Then & Now
    • Photo Gallery of Historic Gold Mines >
      • Stratton's Independence Mine
      • Restoring the Historic Headframe of Stratton's Independence Mine
      • Gold Coin Mine--Part of the Woods Empire
      • Vindicator Mine
    • Photos From 1903-04 Labor Strike in Cripple Creek & Victor Mining District.
    • Step Back in Time with Glimpses of Historical Photos Featuring Victor, Colorado & the Surrounding Mining District
  • Oral History
    • Memories of H. L. Turner (1882-1967) and His Experiences in the Early Days of the Cripple Creek Mining District.
    • Tragedies When I Was Growing Up In Victor by Charles Spray (AKA Jeep Hack).
    • Memories of James Garth Payne & How He Came to Letter Names on the Original WWII Roll of Honor in Victor and Cripple Creek, Colorado.
    • Winters in Victor, Colorado during the 1940's & 50's by Charles Spray (AKA Jeep Hack)
    • Biking & Hockey in Victor, Colorado -- The Passions of Brian Hayes
    • Sports in Victor, Colorado & Memories of the 1949 Pikes Peak Junior High Basketball Tournament
    • Abbott Family Memories Made in Victor, Colorado: The House & Antiques Shop -- by Debbie Abbott.
    • Abbott Family Memories Made in Victor, Colorado: Digging At the Dump -- by Steve Abbott.
    • Abbott Family Memories Made in Victor, Colorado: Mom & Her Victor Friends -- by Dave Abbott.
    • A History of VICTOR, COLORADO--THE CITY OF MINES, compiled and published in 1933 by S. E. Poet, Superintendent of Public Schools at Victor.
    • Carl Roy's Oral History Videos -- Life in Victor, Colorado
    • The Miner’s Photograph: A Pathway to the Past by Steven Wade Veatch.
    • Recollections of My Life in Victor, Colorado during the Depression, WWII, & After By Charles Norman Spray (AKA Jeep Hack)
    • Memories of Washington Elementary--My First School in Victor, Colorado by Charles Spray (AKA Jeep Hack).
    • Adventures at the Beaver Valley Ranch While Growing up in Victor, Colorado by Charles Spray (AKA Jeep Hack).
    • Memories of the Ina & Henry Cleveland Hack Family by Charles Norman Spray (AKA Jeep Hack).
    • The Lighter Side of a Visit to Hack's Victor Barber Shop by Charles Norman Spray (AKA Jeep Hack).
    • Memories of Margaret & Henry C. "June" Hack, Jr. by Charles Norman Spray (AKA Jeep Hack).
    • Memorabilia from Cripple Creek & Victor High School Bands Directed by Ernest T. Sly from 1939 to 1950.
    • A Day in the Cresson Mine by Charles Spray (AKA Jeep Hack).
    • Firewood For Victor, Colorado by Charles Norman Spray (AKA Jeep Hack).
    • Memories of My Grandfather, John Reed Gardner (1864-1951)--Gardner Mercantile Owner, Bank President, Insurance Company Executive. By John Reed Gardner, II (grandson).
    • Tarie Huber Oral History Videos -- Life in Victor, Colorado
    • 1896 Shooting Affray at Union Theater in Victor, Colorado.
    • Memories of Mrs. Katy Bemore, resident of Independence when the deport was blown up in 1904.
    • Working Underground in the Cripple Creek & Victor Mining District, 1972 to 1979: How I Got the Shaft, the Gas, and the Broken Steel by Randall Stewart.
    • INSTALLMENT #1. Seven Generations In Victor, Colorado and The Mining District—The Way It Was as Recalled by Eleanor Musser Baker.
    • INSTALLMENT #2. Seven Generations In Victor, Colorado and The Mining District—The Way It Was as Recalled by Eleanor Musser Baker.
    • INSTALLMENT #3. Seven Generations In Victor, Colorado and The Mining District—The Way It Was as Recalled by Eleanor Musser Baker.
    • Memories of Edward Franklin Page: Watchman at the Stratton Mines and Subsequently a Mine Manager, Farmer, Retail Businessman, & Banker.
    • Tom Schryver's Memories of Growing Up in Victor, Colorado and His Parents--Mayme & Charles "Bumps" Chapman.
    • McCormick Family Connections to Victor, Colorado (1893-2014) by Mary Ann McCormick Hamm.
    • Paying the Piper by Gertrude Moore McGowan.
    • Gold Camp Celebration--Fourth of July in Victor, Early 1900's by Gertrude Moore McGowan.
    • Memories of Lulu Ella Manson & Harry Gordon Moore by Gertrude Moore McGowan
    • Memories of Fannie & Alfred Osborn by Marge Breth
    • Memories of Cripple Creek & Victor, 1945-62, by Mary Alice Orazen
    • The Story of Axel Olson & His Golden Girl, Betzi Johnson, by Shirley Beach.
    • Memories of Mr. and Mrs. Axel Olson by KC Garver
    • Victor Recollections--Mountain Doctor, Small Town Cop, Gus's Sporting Goods, & Little Toy Pocket Knife by Floyd Frank
    • Memories of Lowell Thomas--Victor"s Most Famous Former Resident
    • Memories of the Gold Rush Era in Victor by Edgar McGowan
    • A Day In the Life of a Miner by Chuck Clark
    • Underground Mining Experiences at the Cresson and Ajax by Myron House
    • Hynes Brothers "Clean Ice" for Victor, Colorado--Memories of Mary Ellen Hynes Chetelat.
    • Marguerite Clark--One of Victor's Angels by Chuck Clark
    • Charlie Clark & the Quality Cash Market by Chuck Clark
    • Pop Sly -- Ernest T. Sly, The Band Man by Chuck Clark
    • Mr. Mortenson--The Victor Shoemaker by Chuck Clark
    • Heninger Family Memories of Victor, Portland Junction, & Independence: 1909-1916, by Virginia & Edgar Heninger
    • Reflections on Goldfield by Carol Roberts
    • Growing Up In Victor in the 1930's by Bob Penman
    • Victor's Welcome to Vice-President Roosevelt
  • Visit
Picture
VICTOR'S WELCOME TO VICE-PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT--as reported by The Denver Times Newspaper, August 10, 1901.

     Vice-President Theodore Roosevelt visited Colorado in August, 1901.  Coverage in The Denver Times Newspaper on August 10, 1901 included the following “Editorial” about the occasion, and the somewhat surprising “Text of Roosevelt’s Brief Unplanned Speech” at the Gold Coin Club in Victor.

     The EDITORIAL (reproduced below) was accompanied by a captioned photo showing numerous men dressed in suits standing in the “Shaft House, Portland Mine, No. 2, Victor, Just Before the Descent.” 
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Victor’s Welcome to Mr. Roosevelt
​    "The people of Victor are to be most heartily congratulated on their enthusiastic reception of Vice President Roosevelt yesterday.  They have shown, by the demonstration, either that Colorado has been redeemed from the rule-or-ruin reckless variety of politicians, or, what is more likely, that the insults and assaults to which Mr. Roosevelt was subjected on his visit to the gold camp last year were the work of an irresponsible few hot-headed men, who, though Americans in name were utterly un-American in principle and behavior."

    "Such enthusiasm as was displayed at both Victor and Cripple Creek must have made Mr. Roosevelt’s heart beat high with pleasure.  It was also not less gratifying to Hon. A. M. Stevenson and others who were with him on his previous memorable visit.  To all of the people of Colorado, except perhaps a minute handful of men, who dishonored the state before and may not yet have repented, it is exceedingly pleasant to read that "cheer after cheer from thousands of lusty throats" greeted the distinguished American and that "ten thousand cheering men and women of Cripple Creek followed him as he went along the streets."

    "Mr. Roosevelt’s visit to Colorado from the first moment that he emerged from the car at Colorado Springs, through his grandly patriotic, sturdily American and appreciatively Western address, to the hour of his approaching departure, has been a triumph for an Easterner who has grown so large that his mental stature covers all America.  To Colorado, Mr. Roosevelt will ever be a favorite son, albeit by adoption.  And from one end of the state to the other will go up glorious acclaims if he shall yet attain the highest of all earthly honors—the presidency of the United States."  

      Just 35 days after this editorial was published, William McKinley was assassinated and Theodore Roosevelt became President.



     THE TEXT OF MR. ROOSEVELT'S BRIEF, UNPLANNED SPEECH AT THE GOLD COIN CLUB dinner at Victor was as follows:

    “Fellow Citizens, Men and Women of This Giant City:  We are all good Westerners and good Americans, for all good Westerners are good Americans.  I cannot thank you too heartily for this reception.  You have a great state of mines—so great that we forget our great agricultural resources.  What we need in the Western states is irrigation.  Irrigation must and shall be.  I was told that I would not be called on for a speech, so I will not continue.  If you have enjoyed my visit a one-tenth part as much as I have enjoyed coming to your camp, I am delighted.  It is a privilege to come to your district, but it is even a greater privilege to see your women and men.  I thank you.”

     LATER THAT DAY, Roosevelt attended a ceremony to lay the corner stone of the Y.M.C.A building under construction in Colorado Springs.  The Denver Times reported that Roosevelt was hoarse and recovering from a heavy cold after going on a coyote chase earlier in the week.  Consequently, the Vice-President only spoke for about 10 minutes and no text for those remarks was provided.

THE PAST MATTERS.  PASS IT ALONG.
The Next Generation Will Only Inherit What We Choose to Save and Make Accessible.
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Please Share Your Memories, Family Connections, and Newspaper Clippings about Victor & the World's Greatest Gold Camp

By Contacting Victor Heritage Society, PO Box 235, Victor, CO 80860 or e-mail VictorHeritageSociety@gmail.com.

CLICK HERE FOR MORE MEMORIES AND STORIES OF FAMILY CONNECTIONS TO VICTOR & THE WORLD'S GREATEST GOLD CAMP.
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