CF&I kept the trend of keeping Primero the best mining camp available alive with the houses they built in Primero.  According to Camp and Plant,

"Residents of Primero take a pardonable pride in the houses that compose their town. Every one of the dwellings put up by the Company is a workman's model abode. They  have projecting eaves and porches, are painted outside in various pleasing colors, are plastered inside throughout, and have nothing in common with the well-named "box-car houses" so common in many coal camps of other corporations. The rents are extremely moderate, being based on a charge of $2 a month for each room. There are but few "shacks,'' "dug-outs," "shanties" or "adobes" left in the town, and these the company is having demolished as rapidly as the owners' consent can be obtained. Such as remain serve but to mark the violent contrast in point of healthfulness and comfort between the dwellings erected by the former residents of this region and those put up by The Colorado Fuel and Iron Company for its men."

To keep the houses looking nice, Primero hosted several beautification contests where each miner would attempt to make their house the most aesthetically pleasing house in town, with cash prizes being given to the winners.  Continue the path to find out more.

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