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Our first time in Victor a few years ago, we stopped here at the Vindicator Valley trailhead at dusk. The most imposing sight, visible from the road and beckoning you to come check it out, is the impressive headframe for the Theresa Mine.

We had time only to look at this but resolved to walk the whole trail if we were back in the area. And lo and behold we were in September 2025. So we walked the whole two-mile Vindicator Valley Trail. It's full of old mining ruins from many mines. It's actually hard to fathom that so many were running in the same small area. 

The Vindicator Mine was the largest and operated near the former town site of Independence. Independence has been erased by 21st Century surface mining operations. Though Goldfield is now technically the closest "town," it's an unincorporated community. In the 2020 census, population was recorded as 63. Victor is the closest "real" town, which still exists with a population of about 400. In this mine's heyday, around 1910, it alone employed 350 workers. It was the fourth highest producer in the Cripple Creek and Victor Mining District. Vindicator Lode was marked in 1893. It was years, though, before the claim started to pay but the owner had faith in the property. He was quite a wealthy man and put his money into his faith, reaping vast rewards when the mine eventually became one of the best properties in the state. Mining began in 1895. Significant expansions began in 1906. By 1908 there were over 25 miles of underground workings to depths of 1,200.

As with all underground mines, water drainage eventually becomes the consuming problem. Many early mines ceased production solely because the cost of pumping water became too prohibitive, it ate the profits. Similar to the Argo Mine closer to us, a drainage tunnel in the area was first started in 1907 but never reached the Vindicator, which therefore required pumps to handle 300 gallons of water per minute. The Vindicator was so productive, though, it was worth the cost. Finally in 1921 another tunnel was driven down to 3,000 feet to connect to the earlier tunnel to dewater the mine.

The mine shut down permanently in 1958 as the expense came to far exceed the revenue in the face of the price of gold at that time. In the 1980s the ore dumps -- the ore originally discarded as not worth processing -- were sent off for processing to recover all remaining gold from the earth that had once been so generous.

The Vindicator Valley Hiking Trail provides interpretive signage and access to the surviving historical structures that were once part of the Vindicator complex. Below is the Vindicator ore house, still an imposing structure even in ruin.

Crushing and screening building where ore was transported on a conveyor belt. 

This is quite a jumble! 

I believe this is the headframe for the Anna J. mine. 

Although others lived there after them, this is known as the Bebee House. Mr. Bebee was vice president in charge of mining operations of the Golden Cycle Mine. The Vindicator Consolidated Gold Mining Company bought the Golden Cycle Mine in 1915 for 1.5 million dollars. That's a lot of money today; imagine how much that was in 1915! The Bebees apparently hosted some pretty lavish parties and there is a large dining room, and if I remember correctly from the info plaque, dances were also held there.

The cute little brick huts are powder magazines. The explosives (dynamite) and the primers were stored separately so they wouldn't get jiggy with each other in storage and go boom. Interesting that both of these huts have a tree growing out of the top! 

In the Cripple Creek mining museum is this display of a dynamite stick warmer ... they don't explode if they're too cold, so they would be stored in this metal container in winter, each stick in their own cubby, with hot water poured in the back of container at the top and kept warm a little ironically by a candle flame underneath.

Little Grouse Mountain Trail, just a short distance outside the town limits of Victor, has historic mining ruins and Rita. At the parking area there is a nicely restored headframe and large cabin. 

A short walk on a trail downhill leads to Rita the Rock Planter, Thomas Dambo's new troll sculpture (new in 2023). Made completely of recycled wood, she is pushing rocks back into the holes left in the earth from the vast mining activity around Victor. It took 50+ volunteers to assemble her, mostly from old wood pallets. The artist/designer has similar "trolls" built all over the world doing different activities. A friend told us about this, and I was surprised at how popular it was -- had to wait for a bit to grab a shot without people in it! 

I had read about and seen photos from two roads in the area that sounded like they would be pretty drives. It was mid-September, and while the aspens had started to turn in our area, there were only a few brave souls acknowledging the coming of winter here. But the drives were still splendid. Phantom Canyon is what I had seen the most about with its tunnels on an old railroad grade.

The other road was not as scary as it name, Shelf Road, suggests. Pretty much just a regular dirt road, with some interesting rock formations along the way.

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Information for the Vindicator Valley was almost exclusively sourced from the Victor Heritage Society

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