PIKES PEAK OR BUST

GOLD

Why Gold is Valuable Rare Indestructible-Does not tarnish Medium of exchange (most societies accept this as money) Can’t reproduce it Malleable-Can be broken to any size Gold is gold-Pure in form unlike diamonds (A karat is 1/24 part of pure gold-24K=Pure gold)

Major Gold Finds 1828-Georgia-Led to Indian dispersal (Trail of Tears) 1848 Sutter’s Mill near Sacramento Ca Pike’s Peak area 1859-Va. City Nevada-Gold and silver found 1863-Montana 1876-Black Hills of S.D. 1890’s-Klondike of Alaska;Canada in Yukon area Conclusion?

Placer Mining Surface mining Panning Needs water Sluice Box Long Tom

Sluice box

HARD ROCK MINING Underground -- load mining Veins were underground Required expensive equipment (brought from east) Shafts, tunnels Quartz had to be crushed to get gold ore

MINING TOWNS Sprung up overnight Colorful names-Whiskey Creek, Poker Flat Tailings left as a monument to ambition and greed Crammed into small narrow valleys Towns were made of wood and tents; few of brick

MINING TOWNS Needed volunteer fire dept Most burned at least once Many types of business Predominance of saloons-Leadville had 82 at one time Gambling was the vice

What Kinds of people were needed to support miners? Blacksmiths Bakers Saloon keepers Butchers Bankers Retailers Barbers Gunsmiths Liverers Assayers Lawyers Hotel owners

Leadville

MINERS Dreamers Risk takers Lived in hope Most knew nothing about mining Most were not rich (long hours for $1.85/day) All types of people (lawyers, priests) Hopeless situations left many despondent Not glamorous Few independent miners Suicide epidemic in Denver Former 49ers

SPRING OF ,000 59ers rushed west; 25,000 stayed No time to organize governments-miners formed their own mining districts, laws and courts Mining camps led to many other businesses (storekeepers, Blacksmiths, saloonkeepers, bootmakers, carpenters, lawyers, doctors, teachers and ministers)

59ers Fall Leaf, who was an army scout, returned to Kansas with gold This led to the Lawrence group coming to Colorado A group from Oklahoma (Wm. Green Russell) found several hundred dollars in gold and brought others out here Led to the cry “Pike’s Peak or Bust”

FIRST GOLD STRIKES Idaho Springs Gold Hill (above Boulder) Central City (Black Hawk)

GOVERNMENT Pioneers had created their own mining districts. Now decided to create own territory instead of belonging to Kansas and Nebraska. Congress refused to accept this territory called the Jefferson Territory Slavery kept from becoming a territory because South did not want Colorado to become a free state. When the South seceded Colorado was made a territory on February 28,1861. President Lincoln selected William Gilpin as the first governor

REASONS FOR GROWTH OF DENVER Location was the key Last outpost before the Rockies Supply and service trade center for the gold rush Junction of Cherry Creek and the Platte River as well as being close to Clear Creek County

EARLY SETTLEMENTS Russell-Englewood Montana City-5 miles south of the capital St Charles-Cherry Creek and Platte Denver-Jumped St Charles claim Auraria-South side of Cherry Creek

St Charles Denver (Larimer) Auraria

OTHER FACTORS Transcontinental railroad to go through Wyoming; Denver leaders, led by John Evans, built the Denver Pacific Railroad to connect Denver with Cheyenne Silver Boom ( ) brought silver kings to Denver and brought Denver a new social class-Molly Brown, Baby Doe Tabor

OTHER FACTORS CONT. Sheep and cattle ranching and farming- packing houses and stockyards Marketing, distribution and coinage center (Denver Mint-1860) Stages came to Denver and freight trains brought supplies here

SURVIVED DISASTERS 1863-Fire destroyed the center of Denver (70 buildings rebuilt in brick) 1864-Cherry Creek flooded-buildings, including Rocky Mountain News were washed away. 11 killed

LEADVILLE 1860-Gold found in this area Established as Oro City 10,000 people here by 1861 Horace Tabor and his wife Augusta were some of the first arrivals into this area and Augusta was the first woman in the area and would remain the only one for quite some time

TABOR Horace Tabor had been to many of the gold camps (Idaho Springs, Central City) with no luck. He finally struck for $7,000 He opened a general store, became the postmaster and also the mayor. As mayor he played a role in naming the town “Leadville” Tabor grubstaked many of the miners-Food and supplies for a part of their claim This area began to fade after the initial gold rush of the 1860’s

LEADVILLE One major problem was a heavy black sand that kept clogging the sluice boxes. Analyzed in 1876 and it was carbonate of lead-loaded with silver Earlier silver, lead and zinc were looked upon as a nuisance-no market Increasing industrial activity and governmental purchases increased the value The silver rush was on

LEADVILLE Population People ,000 people ,000 people

Leadville built an Ice Palace in 1896

Ice Palace Cont’d Built in 36 days with 5,000 ton of ice Housed: Ball room 180 ft ice rink Curling rink Restaurant Dance floor Gaming room Theatre Toboggan runs

LEADVILLE Tabor grubstaked two shoe cobblers. Result of this grubstake was “The Little Pittsburgh” which brought Tabor $20,000/wk. Sold his share for $500,000 “Matchless” produced $10,000,000 worth of silver Bought a mansion in Denver but spent most of his time in Leadville

LEADVILLE Noticed Elizabeth McCourt-Baby Doe Secret divorce in Durango and secretly married Elizabeth in St. Louis Durango priest had refused to sign divorce papers-living in sin led to a scandal and not complete acceptance from Denver’s social elite

TABORS Spent lavishly until silver crashed in 1893 Horace became postmaster in Denver for $3,000/year He died 16 months later and 14,000 attended his funeral He told Baby Doe to hold on to the Matchless. She turned into a reclusive old woman who eventually froze to death in the cabin by the Matchless mine.

LEADVILLE By the end of the silver rush Leadville had given over $500,000,000 worth of ore The hills had also been stripped of their trees and tailings were everywhere

GEORGETOWN 1859 Had a minor gold rush Became Colorado’s first silver queen Belmont-Lode was the first silver mine in the state The first power drill was also used here August 1877 the Colorado Central came to Georgetown. The Georgetown Loop was a narrow gauge went from Georgetown to Silver Plume Silver Plume is 1.5 miles from Georgetown and 1,000ft higher yet it took 3 years and 4.5 miles of track to complete

GEORGETOWN Georgetown became the shopping center, distribution center and transportation center for the district Over $100,000,000 worth of ore taken out of Georgetown At one time the only town in Colorado without a mayor

ASPEN Only camp to rival Leadville Silver gave Aspen it’s start Almost passed Leadville in the 1890’s Had the richest ore-93% Largest nugget ever found-over 1 ton.1840lbs after it was trimmed Population went over 15, depression and the population dropped to 700

CRIPPLE CREEK In the shadow of Pike’s Peak Pike’s Peak had given it’s name to the gold rush yet none had been found there 1890’s Cripple Creek became Colorado’s greatest gold district Bob Womack discovered gold here in the 1880’s taking the sting out of the silver crash

CRIPPLE CREEK Winfield Scott Stratton-Most famous millionaire His independence Mine (July 4,1891) made several million before he sold for $10,000,000 (with no income tax) Last of the great 19 th century mining rushes Mining was big business and miners began to join labor unions 1894 strike over low pay and long hours led to 8 hour days at $3/day

SAND CREEK MASSACRE 1864-Indians had attacked or at least blamed for an attack outside of Denver Gov. Evans wanted war

The Arapaho and Cheyenne had surrendered all land except for a triangular shaped reservation between the Arkansas River and Sand Creek

SAND CREEK Chivington led a surprise attack and lost control of his men Resulted in a massacre Investigated by Congress Led to an attack at Julesburg

Approximately killed Mostly women, children and older men