Midway Saloon Colorado
Photo of water color painting of Midway Saloon by David Gardner
The two color photos from David Gardner (Copyrighted)
One Black and White from Penny Taylor
From David
I enjoy your website and have visited many of the ghost towns you feature. In fact, I have painted watercolors or oils of quite a number of them. Many of those that I have sold have been of South Park locations. We have a summer cabin there.
I photographed the saloon at Midway around 1997; a couple of years later it had been demolished, as a mining company spokesman confirmed at a meeting I attended. He said it was for safety; perhaps it was more for expediency. The saloon was the Grand View Saloon, as you state, but I remember a rustic sign identifying the cross roads, not the saloon, as Midway. That too is gone.
It is doubtful that I still have a photograph, but I can look. I painted a watercolor of the saloon, based on the 1997 photograph. Last week, I decided that I should strengthen the foreground, which is why I suddenly became interested recently. I have inserted a photograph of my painting. You may publish it on your website if you choose, provided that you indicate that it is copyrighted by me, David Gardner. My email address is dnhgardner@msn.com my telephone is 303-377-3445 if interested in paintings.
From Penny
Michael,
I know this may sound a little odd, but I was raised in Colorado Springs and haven’t been back for 45 years. It’s been bugging me that as a teenager I drove the Cripple Creek / Victor area and as I was driving along I saw an old saloon right off the road that looked like it dated to the 1800s. The sign was still painted on it and I’m sure it said Midway Saloon… so it must have been before Colorado made that weird law that a bar couldn’t be named a saloon (with the idea that it would be less rowdy, I guess). (don’t know if that was ever repealed. Anyway, I’m all the way in California & I drove the street view version of hwy 67 on the Google map and I can’t find it. Does anyone in your office or someone in the community have any idea where it was and if it’s still there and are there any pictures. I couldn’t stop that day, didn’t have a camera and now over 45 years later it’s buggin’ the heck out of me.
I found your photos of Midway, Colorado and wondered if it was the same area, but can’t find Midway on any Google map. Where was it? I can picture that building like it was yesterday, nestled among some pine trees and, I think, some aspen. About 40 to 50 yards off the road. The area where you took pictures of Midway looks more barren. I never saw any other buildings around the saloon. I got it in my head over the years that it was named that because it was midway between Victor and Cripple Creek.
Got any ideas?
Thank you so much. Penny Taylor
— — Penny
Rockys response –
Penny, Thanks for visiting my site. I appreciate the visits. Midway is almost straight north of Victor and straight east of Cripple creek. You probably will not find it on any maps today. The photos on my site were taken in 2003. The midway saloon had a false front on it and it was called “The Grand View” Saloon. By now it is probably in the bottom of the open pit mine in the area. See this google earth location — https://maps.google.com/maps?q=cripple+creek+colorado&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Cripple+Creek,+Teller,+Colorado&gl=us&ll=38.742837,-105.142508&spn=0.028954,0.055747&t=f&z=15&vpsrc=6&err=1
I do not believe there was ever a “Midway” saloon. The grand View Saloon was still standing at Midway behind a chain link fence in the mid 1980’s but has since fallen down. The area is now probably deforested and part of the open pit mine operation. Part of the reason it looks more barren in my photos is because of the clear cutting and beetle kill in the area to get at the mines. Sure wish you had taken pictures…… Again THANKS for visiting my site.
The saloon was run by Mckillip and Doyle. The Doyle was my grandfather.
Jack Rodgers