Tents, trailers, trash and trommels — part of the makeshift tent city on Carbonate and Mineral hills above Cripple Creek — present another side of a place where people come to win.

That magical jackpot might be a pipe dream, but casinos are the springboard for hope for people who keep coming back.

To some eyes, Cripple Creek is on a roll, with new townhomes, apartments and the 300-room Chamonix Hotel scheduled to open next month.

But the dark side is visible in the tents and the trailers shadowing the building boom.

Mike Olson, a fourth-generation gold miner, feels like a victim as he has halted mining gold and turquoise on property for which he is a caretaker on Mineral Hill, now a tent city.

“We haven’t worked up here in six years,” he said. “I’ve had to take a job because of this when I should be mining.”

The properties above the city have several owners: Teller County, Newmont Mining Corp., Bureau of Land Management, Harriet and David Graham, who own Bad Boys Mining, the city of Cripple Creek and Shannon Murphy among them.

When he tours the property, Olson carries a rifle and a handgun, fearing he’ll be shot if he disturbs a campsite.

“We traded picks and shovels for rifles,” Olson said.

The roads are rutted, with a few recreational vehicles scattered here and there. Recently, the engine of the large trommel was destroyed, thus making the $200,000 machine used to separate mining materials useless, Olson said.

The debris of needles, a stuffed animal, toys, an elk skin, old trailers and cars around each campsite give hints about the occupants.

“See that black car over there? It’s stolen,” Olson said. “We can’t do anything about it because we don’t own the vehicle.”

Olson complains that on the county-owned land, the Teller County Sheriff’s Office hasn’t done anything about the campers.

“We have no authority to run them out of there,” said Lt. Wes Walter. “This is a civil process where the owner of the property has to work with us.”

Last week, Newmont Mining, did go ahead with a request to the Sheriff’s Office to prosecute Kenneth Crofford, who was subsequently charged with third-degree criminal trespass.

Crofford was living in a camper on property owned by Newmont. The trespassing issue came to light when Crofford’s pit bull came running down the hill toward Olson and Graham.

Put off by the yelling and screaming of the two men, the pit bull went for Graham’s Chihuahua. With the dog about to chomp down on the little dog, Olson allegedly shot the pit bull with his AR-15, ultimately killing the dog.

“Olson has a right to defend himself,” Walter said. “Newmont asked us to go ahead and prosecute Crofford.”

Olson says that he wanted to take care of the mess on the sites.

“We were going to come in with frontend loaders and demolish all the properties,” Olson said. “The Sheriff’s Office said ‘do not do that.’”

The Sheriff’s Office can issue tickets for illegal camping, Walter said.

“But until a judge signs a warrant, we can’t arrest them,” he added.

Last year, Teller County commissioners passed an ordinance that limits camping on private property by the owners to 60 days.

A permit is required for camping on vacant land and a recreational vehicle must have current licensing and registration. The ordinance establishes the Teller County Sheriff’s Office as the appropriate enforcer of the ordinance.

But the junk and the trailers are another story.

“Even if we did arrest them, we’re not moving the trailers,” Walter said.

Many of the campers come into the Aspen Mine Center for help. A nonprofit organization, the center offers opportunities for clients to be responsible citizens. The only requirement is a desire to make improvement.

“We have a policy based on the camping ordinance,” said Lisa Noble, the center’s director of client programs. “If they violate the ordinance, we will not assist them with propane or gas vouchers. If they are hungry, we will feed them.”

For clients who are willing to work on a plan, the Aspen Mine Center offers services that include addiction and financial counseling.

“As long as they try to be productive members of society, we can help them,” Noble said. “We are not enablers.”

“The illegal camping is an issue,” said Cripple Creek Police Chief Bud Bright. “It’s no secret, I don’t think they have permission to be up there. Some of them have been there for a couple years.”

If Bright and his officers find a camper on city property, rather than issuing a ticket, the officers urge them to move.

“The city is working on how to address this problem, which is good,” Bright said, referring to an ordinance in the works.

While some camping infractions are on county land, Bright keeps track of what’s going on.

“The equipment owned by one landowner has been torn up or stolen,” he said, adding that a $20,000 motor on a trommel had been destroyed. “It’s frustrating for the people around there; for people who want to develop their properties, the campers make it difficult.”

As he encounters campers on the street, Bright listens to their stories. At least two campers work at a local casino.

“They are doing the best they can, but illegal camping is not the right answer,” Bright said. “I understand the frustration of the surrounding neighbors. They pay taxes.”

For some landowners, the situation seems hopeless, especially to the landowner who installed a gate and a camera on his property.

“But somebody pulled the gate out and stole the camera,” Bright said.

While most of the illegal camping is on county property, the city feels the effects.

“It does affect us because we typically respond to help. If the county calls for help, we go,” he said.

Teller County deputies arrested two of the campers on Nov. 18, each with a warrant signed by a judge, Walter said.

Harriet Graham sees the dark side of a city on the move.

“The homeless are drug users who go into Cripple Creek to buy drugs and sell them,” she said. “We find needles up here.”

If gamblers come to the city to try their luck, so, too, do those who live on Mineral Hill.

“They sneak in at night and try to mine turquoise,” Graham said. “Our turquoise is the best in the world. Less than 5% of turquoise in the world is natural.”

Olson provides security for the Grahams’ property as well as the adjacent mining claim, she said.

Graham heard about the two arrests on Nov. 18; each with a warrant.

“I know that people can get in a bad spot but you can’t live on somebody’s else’s property,” she said.