March 12th 1896 Stock Certificate 'Anaconda Gold Mining Company' Cripple Creek, Colorado, 500 Shares, Rare! Grades. Moffat was one of Denver's most important financiers and industrialists in late 19th- and early 20th-century Colorado, and he was responsible for the development of the Middle Park area. He served as president, treasurer and as a board member of railroads, banks and city government posts. Over the years he had claims to over one hundred Colorado mines and nine railroads. Anaconda was one of numerous towns that formed around the rich mines of the Cripple Creek District. The town of Anaconda had several mines, and was almost entirely built of wood. A fire in 1904 burned most of the town, and it never fully recovered. A 1904 newspaper states that the fire "wiped the entire town of Anaconda off the map" and "was one of the worst fires ever experienced in the district". At the time, Anaconda had about 300 residents.