The American Cyclopædia (1879)/Central City

CENTRAL CITY, a town and the capital of Gilpin co., Colorado, situated partly in the valley of a tributary of North Clear creek and partly on the slopes of the surrounding mountains, 39 m. W. of Denver; pop. in 1870, 2,360. It is irregularly but substantially built. Its site is 8,300 ft. above the level of the sea. The streets are narrow, and some of them steep and rugged. Being in the centre of an exceedingly rich gold-raining region, it is at once a depot of supply and a point of shipment. The bullion shipped in 1870 amounted to $1,650,000. The town has a United States land office and an assay office. There are two hotels, a miners' and mechanics' institute with a library of about 1,000 volumes, and Catholic, Methodist, and Episcopal churches, with the last of which is connected a parish school. The high school building is of stone, and cost $20,000. St. James library association has about 500 volumes. A daily and two weekly newspapers are published. There are a number of quartz mills, and a national bank with a capital of $50,000.