In the last two years, I have read so many wonderful
historical western romances set in Creede, Colorado. When I was asked to write
for the Proxy Bride series, I decided that Creede would be a wonderful spot to
set my book. This began my search for interesting tidbits about the town.
Early into my online search, I happened on an entry in the Colorado Encyclopedia about the Creede
Museum (https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/creede-railroad-depotmuseum).
After reading that article, my mind was set on the time and place. I wanted to
set my book in 1893.
Why that year, you might ask? The fire!
According to Creede’s website, (https://www.creede.com/discover-creede/history.html),
before 1890, the area around Creede drew tourists. It was a popular fishing
area as well as being a spa. People came to bathe in the hot springs as well as
to drink that water. Ugh! By 1883, the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad
transported these tourists. It must have been popular to have the railroad
extended to it.
At first called Jimtown, the town changed quickly after
silver was found in 1890. Its population boomed and, by the time the name was
changed to Creede, the town had an estimated population of 10,000. That’s the
Creede I wanted to imagine in my book.
But back to the fire…
One cold night a fire started in rooms above a barbershop.
This spread quickly through the wooden buildings and destroyed much of the
town. Because of the speed of the fire business owners weren’t able to even
rescue their tills. Cash burned and the coins melted together. A great
description of the fire was written twelve years later in an article for the Creede Candle (https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/?a=d&d=TCC19040604&e=-------en-20--1--txt-txIN-creede+fire+1892-------0-).
This
photo of Creede was taken in 1893, one year after a fire destroyed much of the
mining town. The Denver & Rio Grande Railroad depot, which currently serves
as a museum, is the wood frame building under construction in the center of the
photo. Boxcars are lined up to its right, and Main Street is in the foreground.
(taken from the Colorado Encyclopedia)
After researching the fire, I imagined my hero as a business
owner struggling to reestablish himself after the fire. Once I started writing
the book, the size of the town of Creede was beyond what I wanted to depict in A Bride for Darrell. The great thing about
being an author is the freedom to invite towns. So, I created Silver Town. I
used the railroad history of Creede and even set Silver Town on the same branch
line.
In my opinion, fire was the greatest threat to frontier towns. I would imagine few had insurance.
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