Turning Back the Pages

30 years ago – June 13, 1986

  The 39th annual Gilpin County Arts Association exhibit opened in Central City for the summer on June 8. The exhibit presents a variety of art work including paintings, photography, sculpture, pottery, jewelry, stained glass, fiber, and hand blown glass. This year’s winner of the William E. Snyder Award, for the best representational painting, is John P. Cullen of Boulder, for his pencil drawing entitled “Last of the American Cowboys.” There is also a soft sculpture, named “Maggie” by Susan Heaton of Commerce City. The Gilpin County Arts Association, located on Eureka Street in Central City, is open to the public daily from 11:00 in the morning until 6:00 in the evening. The gallery will be open throughout the summer until September 14. Admission to the exhibit is free. All of the works of art are for sale.

A weekend long training session for the Gilpin County Search and Rescue turned into an actual search on June 6. Originally, the members had scheduled a training session, but according to Joe Rittenhouse, commander of search and rescue, he received a call at 10:22 p.m., on June 6, from the Clear Creek Sheriff’s Department. Alpine Search and Rescue needed help in finding an 18 year old, Richard Chisolm. Apparently, Chisolm was to do a solo hike from St. Mary’s Glacier to James Peak and back. He failed to return to a certain designation by the scheduled time and the authorities were notified that he was missing. Gilpin County Search and Rescue was asked to cover the backsides of James Peak, Kingston Peak, and Mammoth Gulch Basin into the Echo Lake area, in case Chisolm had wandered into those areas. Rittenhouse said that by 11:00 p.m., 12 people had shown up for the search. The group was split into three teams, with each team covering a certain area. At 2:30 a.m. He said that team two had sighted a light on the east ridge of James Peak. Before they could reach the area, where the light was seen, bad weather had moved in, and the terrain was covered in fog. Rittenhouse said that Alpine confirmed that none of their people were in that area. According to Rittenhouse, by 4:00 a.m. they could not find the light and the three teams headed back to the base. Then by 7:30 a.m. the search party reported to the Gilpin County Sheriff’s Department that no one had been found. Rittenhouse said that he was informed later Saturday that Chisolm had been found where Mill Creek Drainage crosses Fall River Road, about five miles south of Gilpin County. Dick Allen, a member of Gilpin County Search and Rescue, said that apparently Chisolm had followed the creek, which had led to the road. Rittenhouse said that he was “extremely happy with the response we got at 11:00 p.m.” And that the three teams “we’re performing very well” considering the bad weather they encountered and the terrain they had to cover. Rittenhouse explained that their only difficulty was in communicating with each other. He said that they needed better portable communication devices.