Fire of 1899 In August 1899, the business district was destroyed in a five-hour fire. The town had about 18,000 residents at the time. As a result, many of the historic buildings date to 1899, including the St. Victor Roman Catholic church, the First Baptist Church of Victor, and the Victor Hotel. Unionized workforce The Western Federation of Miners (WFM) began to organize workers in a fight for shorter work days and standard wages. The workforce became heavily unionized after the Western Federation of Miners conducted a significant strike in 1894. A subsequent strike in 1903 had such an impact that it came to be called the Colorado Labor Wars. At this point, the amount of available ore to mine had declined significantly and mining in the district was further impacted by slow production as the result of violent strikes. The WFM's union hall in Victor still stands, with telltale bullet holes left intact. The building has structural problems and needs renovation. Mining decline The town declined steadily in the 20th century, as the gold mines became worked out, and the cost of mining rose relative to the price of gold (fixed at $20.67/troy ounce). Area miners enlisted during World War I, and the loss of workers created a steep decline in mining activity from which the area has not recovered. Gold mining increased in 1934 when the federal government raised the price of gold to $34/ounce, but gold mining was shut down during World War II as nonessential to the war effort. Some mines opened after the war, but all mines in the district closed by 1962. Resumed mining activity The Cripple Creek & Victor Gold Mining Company formed in 1976 as a joint venture to restart mining in the district. From 1976 to 1989, the company produced 150,000 troy ounces (4,600 kg) of gold by reprocessing tailings and mining two small surface deposits. The Cripple Creek & Victor Gold Mining Company began the first large-scale open pit mining in the district in 1994. In 1995, an open pit gold mining operation, which taps into "legendary" mines, began on Battle Mountain. The Cresson mine open pits are located a few miles north of Victor. Mining continues at the Cripple Creek & Victor Gold Mine, under the ownership of AngloGold Ashanti, producing about 250,000 troy ounces of gold in 2012, in addition to several locally owned mines, all of which