Cripple Creek was the last of the open gold camps before mining fell to giant corporations. Its life was short and violent, but towns, cities, schools, railroads, institutions and financial dynasties grew upon its yield. Today a million tourists each year pour through the region, enjoying what Teddy Roosevelt called "the ride that bankrupts the English language" through Cripple's upper reaches, and imagining the gaudy, brawling days when the quiet,...