A Cabin in Cripple Creek
by Sue Luxa
Ten-year-old Mary Haskins and her family head to Cripple Creek, Colorado, in 1895. Mary rides a "wild burro," witnesses two big fires that threaten to burn down the entire town, and explores railroad cars filled with all kinds of surprises. Her father loses the family savings to a dishonest man, but Mary saves the day by learning to pan for gold.
- Published
- 2004
- ISBN
- 1-932738-04-5
- Pages
- 112
- Place
- Cripple Creek
- Publisher
- Western Reflections Publishing Co.
- Listed at
- $8.95
Publication details from Open Library. The price shown is the last one on record and is historic, not a current offer.
- Direct from us info@westernreflectionspublishing.com or (336) 565-6915. We pack and post from Lake City.
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About this book
A Cabin in Cripple Creek is a children's novel set in the Colorado gold camp of 1895. Ten-year-old Mary Haskins and her family head to Cripple Creek, where Mary rides a "wild burro" and sees two big fires that threaten to burn the whole town. She also explores railroad cars filled with surprises.
The family's trouble comes from her father, who loses their savings to a dishonest man. Mary steps in by learning to pan for gold. Our catalogue lists the book as juvenile fiction about frontier and pioneer life and about gold mines and mining, first published in 2004.
Sue Luxa describes her Children of Colorado books on her own page as written for third, fourth and fifth graders to support Colorado history lessons, with activity pages in the back. She says this book follows the boom and bust days of Cripple Creek in the 1890s and brings in Winfield Scott Stratton, owner of the Independence mine.
Who it is for
This is a book for young readers learning Colorado history, and for the teachers and parents who read with them. The author wrote the series for grades three to five and added activity pages at the back for classroom use.
Ways to use this book
Reading before a family trip to the gold camp
Read the timeline with your child before you go and ask which dates match the years in the story. Then check the museum and railroad sites for current seasons.
Using the book with a Colorado history unit
The city's timeline gives plain dates for fires, railroads and mining claims. A teacher can lay those beside the novel's 1895 setting and ask which parts feel like history and which like story.
Finding a copy to share
If you want a copy for a classroom or family, write to us through /contact-us/, or browse our other children's and Colorado books on the /library/ pages.
Go deeper
Cripple Creek is a real town you can still walk, and its own museum, city history page and railroad all speak to the gold camp years that this children's novel visits in 1895.
Cripple Creek District Museum
A museum in five historic buildings that includes the old Midland Terminal Railway Depot. Its website says the depot ran trains from 1895 to 1949 and that the museum began there in 1953.
City of Cripple Creek history timeline
The city's own page lists Bob Womack's 1890 discovery, Winfield Scott Stratton's Independence claim in 1891, the arrival of railroads and the two fires of April 1896.
Cripple Creek and Victor Narrow Gauge Railroad
According to its website, a century old steam locomotive carries passengers south out of Cripple Creek on a trip through the old mining district.
Good to know
Is A Cabin in Cripple Creek fiction?
What grades is it written for?
Is it part of a series?
Where can I buy it?
Have a book of your own?
This is the kind of book the house publishes: regional history, biography, memoir and the stories that belong to a place. Send us yours and a person will read it.