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Sunnycrest, the Story of the Cheyenne Cañon Inn

new retaining wall constructed in the late 1970's to repair the southwest corner
foundation prevents entry into the house. However, a portion of the tunnel was
accidentally rediscovered in the mid 1990's by John Starr during a landscaping
project. He was removing rocks while constructing anew patio near the
southwest corner of his Cheyenne Canon Inn when the pry bar he was working
with nearly disappeared down a softball size hole. Further inspection revealed
that this was the old tunnel. Due to its deteriorated condition though, he noted its
location for posterity, and then covered the patio hole and sealed it with a
concrete slab.

There is a false rumor that the tunnel into the Sunnycrest bordello was dug all the
way to the Broadmoor. Even though this is not true, it's easy to ponder such a
possibility considering that the Colorado Springs area was a favorite haunt of the
Cripple Creek mining camp. In fact, the early Colorado Springs community of
Colorado City, whose abundant saloons and bordellos catered to miners,
employed them to construct several tunnels under both sides of the town's main
street. These tunnels offered a convenient means for slipping from one type of
establishment to another without being seen, or a handy means of escaping from
a slippery situation.

One of the oddest novelties ever built into Lillian's Sunnycrest bordello was a
section of the Brookside Water Company's main water pipeline. The Brookside
Water Company owned reservoirs in North Cheyenne Canyon and piped the
water stored there to Colorado Springs along their right of way that happened to
cross the new Sunnycrest building site. Instead of moving the pipeline away
from the house, it was kept in place and incorporated into the basement. This
probably saved some construction expense and seemed like a good idea at the
time. However, shortly after opening the Sunnycrest bordello, Lillian regretted
making that decision. The sound of constantly running water was irritating and
the leaking pipes filled the basement with water. The pipes were also difficult to
move around and took up valuable space. Lillian's frustration resulted in her
making another poor decision. She sabotaged the pipeline, causing the
Brookside Water Company to sue her for damages. They won and she was
forced to pay for rerouting the line behind the house. All that now remains of the
pipeline is the telltale outline of where they made their entry and exit through the
concrete foundation walls.

The Sunnycrest bordello operated as a successful business until sometime in the
summer of 1927 when Lillian and her tenants had a falling out. In order to evict
them, a police raid was necessary. Whether Lillian arranged this is not known,
but when the police finally arrived at the property line, she was there to meet
them and plead her case as an innocent landlord who would cooperate in
removing any illegal business. The police accepted her story -Shortly
afterwards, the bordello closed down and the problem tenants were removed.

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