Eldorado Springs in Boulder County, Colorado — The American Mountains (Southwest)

Welcome to the Crags Hotel

1908 - 1912

Photographed by McGhiever, December 10, 2017

1. Welcome to the Crags Hotel marker

Inscription. If you were here in 1908, you'd be singing, dancing or playing poker at the luxurious Crags Hotel. The Hotel's success was short lived. A fire destroyed the building in 1912.

Archaeologists who studied this site discovered significant artifacts of Colorado history. For instance, the rock wall remains provide one of the best preserved examples of retaining walls used in this era.

Catch a ride on the Moffat Railroad to the Crags Hotel. A dollar in your pocket in 1908 would buy a round-trip train ticket from Denver. The railroad tracks, above you to the south, are still in use today. You could also drive up "Crags Boulevard," today's Rattlesnake Gulch Trail, or even hop on the "funicular," an ingenious gravity and water tramway traveling up the mountainside.

It remains a mystery whether arson or nature caused the Crags Hotel fire. Future studies and newly discovered artifacts may tell the full story. On behalf of the past and the future, please help preserve this site. Tread lightly. Move nothing. Play your part in preserving history and let others experience this place as you have.

Topics. This historical marker

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is listed in these topic lists: Anthropology & Archaeology • Entertainment • Industry & Commerce • Railroads & Streetcars. A significant historical year for this entry is 1908.

Location. 39° 55.604′ N, 105° 17.691′ W. Marker is in Eldorado Springs, Colorado, in Boulder County. It can be reached from Rattlesnake Gulch Trail. Marker is in Eldorado Canyon State Park on the Rattlesnake Gulch Trail. Touch for map. Marker is at or near this postal address: 321 Eldorado Springs Drive, Eldorado Springs CO 80025, United States of America. Touch for directions.

Regionally, this marker is in Colorado’s Front Range.

It is also in the American Mountain West.

Globally, it is in North America,

the Western Hemisphere,

the Western World,

and the Anglosphere.

Historically, it finds itself in what was once the Louisiana Purchase.

Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within 10 miles of this marker, measured as the crow flies: The Second Plainview School (approx. 3.6 miles away); At the Foot of The Slabs (approx. 5 miles away); The Denver-Boulder Turnpike (approx. 6.3 miles away); White-Davis Mercantile Building (approx.

Marker with some traces of the Crags Hotel beyond image. Click for full size.

Photographed by McGhiever, December 10, 2017

2. Marker with some traces of the Crags Hotel beyond

6.4 miles away); Boulder County Courthouse Fountain (approx. 6.4 miles away); The Gettysburg Address (approx. 6.4 miles away); Historic Leyden Mine (approx. 8 miles away); The Holiday Drive-In Marquee 1953 (approx. 9.4 miles away).

<i>Hotel Crags and Eldorado Spgs., Moffat Road</i> (Left top marker photo) image. Click for full size.

Louis Charles McClure (courtesy of the Denver Public Library), circa 1910

3. Hotel Crags and Eldorado Spgs., Moffat Road (Left top marker photo)

"Bird's eye view across top of Hotel Crags down South Boulder Canyon to Eldorado Springs, Colorado and the Plains; hotel & viewpoint via Denver, Northwestern & Pacific Railway (later called Denver & Salt Lake); resort and cabins at one time reached only via Moffat Road."

Credits. This page was last revised on March 23, 2025. It was originally submitted on November 7, 2021, by McGhiever of Minneapolis, Minnesota. This page has been viewed 4,307 times since then and 289 times this year. Photos: 1, 2. submitted on November 7, 2021, by McGhiever of Minneapolis, Minnesota. 3. submitted on November 10, 2021. • Andrew Ruppenstein was the editor who published this page.