Canon City history regarding tunnels (Colorado Springs: house, middle school, live)
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Hello everyone, a friend and I are interested in some of the history of Canon City, specifically surounding tunnels underneath the city. I am attempting to find anyone who may have any information at all regarding this. I've researched some of the history of Canon City beginning at the turn of the century and throughout some tumoultous times in the early half of the 1900's. Our interest in this is strictly historical and educational. I've also researched some of the history involving underground networks in Prauge and England. If you're a history fanatic and care to share in this topic, please let me know!
Well, I cannot verify this from actual knowledge, but my step-mother's family (as well as my own) has been in the Canon City area since before the turn of the century. Her family is of Italian descent and worked in the coal mines outside of town. She has told me about underground hiding places (not sure about tunnels) where the local fellas would hide from law enforcement. Supposedly, they met frequently at the old Sali's Paradise at the south end (top of the hill) of 9th Street and they could easily hide under the establishment.
I went to Middle School and High School in Canon City. There were many rumors about the high level of Ku Klux Klan activity in the city and that many of the tunnels were built or used by them. Supposedly, one of the main tunnels connects with the Middle School.
I am also trying to get more detailed info, I know the one at the Elks lodge, and i have lived here sence 68, there was one under the old juinor high when i was a kid but i never went in it, i was told by other kids at the time that it was in the boiler room, i have a gut feeling that the big stone house on 9th and greenwood might of had one, and 9th and Fairview.This is the first time i have tried to look this up, so i will have to play some more, i hope this helped a little.
yes i know there was one under the old junior high, it was still there when i went to juinor high i had friends that told me they had been in it. My son knows a woman that was the city? and she knows of all the tunnels her name is Stacie Sifert i think, she is the city adjuster or something, her boys and my son are very good friends, So she might be the one to check with. as far as i know there was a maze of tunnels the KKK used them and slaves did as well, They found a Grand wizards robe under the elks lodge years ago, and Canon was the state head quarters for the KKK at one time.
Just last week, 1/16-17, I was down in Canyon City with close friend of mine. We were excited to go and see the Royal Gorge. Upon driving through the town, I got a really strange feeling that washed over me. Then once we crossed 9th street, I really got hit with some deep feeling of sadness that was indescribable.
So Monday this week when I came to work. I was discussing this feeling with a co worker and much to my surprise I pulled up this web site with your discussion on this very topic.
How very wild! That is about all I can say!
I just thought I would share what I personally felt. You know the feeling was so bad for me, I told my friend that maybe we should go back and spend the night in Colorado Springs. LOL everything worked out fine. In addition, we ended up having a very nice trip too! Despite the strange feelings I got.
Thank you,
Leslie
PS I am trained in Reiki Energy work with a level three teachers understanding. So, it's not so unusual for me to feel things of this nature.
I vacationed in Canyon City 21 years ago with my family and saw (and felt) some truly weird things. There is a road you can drive up and it goes through a few tunnels. My mom and grandmother stayed behind due to a fear of heights while my father and I decided to explore this road. In most places, there is only room for a single vehicle, but the road is wider in the tunnels. We passed an older (60's-70's era) car filled with 4 teenage passengers while driving through one of the tunnels. They stared at us in such a strange way that my dad and I both looked at each other to see if we had perhaps grown a 3rd eye or something. As the road continued to climb, it got very narrow so we decided to go back down. We did not pass the vehicle on the way back down. The looks we received were so creepy that we asked my mom and grandma, who stayed at the bottom, if they also received the same stares from the car that came down before us. They both immediately replied that no other vehicle came down the mountain road. There was NO OTHER WAY DOWN and no place to park or hide higher up. We also saw a young man vanish-and seriously, I mean completely disappear-after we passed him on the road coming from our Coast to Coast resort leading down into town. There was no where to run to or hide. Wide-open landscape. He waved at us and looked just strange as we passed him, which is why we looked back to see him, because we all started to talk about his strange appearance, and he was gone. Just before him, a black cat on the side of the road did not move an inch as our suv came dangerously close to hitting it. It just bared it's teeth at us. The longer we stayed there, we all continued to have what I can best describe as just odd feelings. We explored a place called Thorpe Falls (spelling?) and left after we all began to have an un-nerving feeling of predator watching prey. I was 14, and the entire family experienced these weird feelings. We don't practice any fringe religion or claim any psychic powers. Quite the opposite-regular, intelligent folks. I had never before, or ever since, had an experience like this.
I vacationed in Canyon City 21 years ago with my family and saw (and felt) some truly weird things. There is a road you can drive up and it goes through a few tunnels. My mom and grandmother stayed behind due to a fear of heights while my father and I decided to explore this road. In most places, there is only room for a single vehicle, but the road is wider in the tunnels. We passed an older (60's-70's era) car filled with 4 teenage passengers while driving through one of the tunnels. They stared at us in such a strange way that my dad and I both looked at each other to see if we had perhaps grown a 3rd eye or something. As the road continued to climb, it got very narrow so we decided to go back down. We did not pass the vehicle on the way back down. The looks we received were so creepy that we asked my mom and grandma, who stayed at the bottom, if they also received the same stares from the car that came down before us. They both immediately replied that no other vehicle came down the mountain road. There was NO OTHER WAY DOWN and no place to park or hide higher up. We also saw a young man vanish-and seriously, I mean completely disappear-after we passed him on the road coming from our Coast to Coast resort leading down into town. There was no where to run to or hide. Wide-open landscape. He waved at us and looked just strange as we passed him, which is why we looked back to see him, because we all started to talk about his strange appearance, and he was gone. Just before him, a black cat on the side of the road did not move an inch as our suv came dangerously close to hitting it. It just bared it's teeth at us. The longer we stayed there, we all continued to have what I can best describe as just odd feelings. We explored a place called Thorpe Falls (spelling?) and left after we all began to have an un-nerving feeling of predator watching prey. I was 14, and the entire family experienced these weird feelings. We don't practice any fringe religion or claim any psychic powers. Quite the opposite-regular, intelligent folks. I had never before, or ever since, had an experience like this.
The road you were on west of Cañon City through the tunnels (which were originally built to be used as part of a water system, but never were), according to a Cañon City native I work with (and verified with my personal observations) had long been a popular place for teenagers to go and drink (underage, of course). I haven't been back west of town on that road for awhile, but I believe it is now closed to vehicles, most likely to stop that problem. The strange looks you got were probably, "What are these 'pilgrims' doing up in our party spot?" I suppose that could be an other-worldly facial expression. Curmudgeon, out.
Tunnel Drive just west of Canon City is now closed to cars but it is a neat place to hike.
There are also tunnels under Main Street which are old storefronts one story down below ground, now built over with the more "modern" 1890's downtown buildings. If you walk along the north side of Main Street between 5th and 3rd streets, you will see patches of amethyst in-lays which were the "skylights" to the underground area of Canon City. I've known people who have been down there, although it has not been open for public tours far many years.
Also, there were reportedly a network of tunnels southeast of Canon City where the coal mines were... apparently the bootleggers and outlaws hid out there, as well as the workers during a contentious labor dispute.
I haven't heard anything about tunnels used by the KKK, although the Klan did have a large presence in Canon City in the 1920's and to a lesser extent in the 1960's, and a couple of area homes have the reputation of being KKK meeting places.
There are also several spots where murders, hangings, etc have taken place and those spots are supposed to be haunted.
During the summer months, the Prison Museum puts on local ghost-history walks through downtown and they do a good job of going over the gory and haunting history of Canon City. It's great fun - I've done the tour several times.
Another fascinating activity in Canon City is the cemetery crawls also done by the prison museum. There are some really intriguing old graves here with amazing stories of the ones buried beneath.
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