When Colorado Territorial Prison opened in June 1871 just west of Cañon City, it drew a mixed reception from law-abiding locals, some daunted by the possibility of felons on the loose and others eager for the jobs and services that came with the facility. Over time, the economic benefits outweighed the hazards of occasional jailbreaks, and by the early twentieth century the prison had emerged as one of Fremont County's key assets. Local leaders actively courted new institutions housing ever-larger numbers of convicts, and although this proliferation of cells made some residents jittery, the attendant profits were welcome. In 1994 the county brought in four new federal penitentiaries, including an ultra-high-security building called SuperMax for the nation's most dangerous criminals, raising Fremont County's total of state and federal prisons to thirteen. Fremont County also made use of convict labor: in 1905 Cañon City officials employed prison work crews to build scenic Skyline Drive at a cost of just $1,200 to taxpayers, and area leaders later used prison laborers for infrastructure projects, most notably U.S. Highway 50. These programs yielded public benefits, made the prisons seem less threatening, and by the early twenty-first century Fremont County had come to accept, and even take pride in, its unusual industry, billing itself as the "Corrections Capital of the World."