Turning Back the Pages

30 Years Ago - May 6, 1983 There were 216 voters who cast their ballots in Tuesday’s school board election. John Rittenhouse and Jon Jordan have been elected and Kay Lorenz, an incumbent, was re-elected. The Gilpin County Sheriff’s Department received notice this week of another lawsuit-the third this year. The latest suit is being brought by Steven Lee Bradley and Gilbert Vincent Orr, who claim they were falsely arrested and falsely imprisoned for the murder of David Hardin Dockery. The “notice of intent to sue” claims there was no probable cause for the arrests of the two individuals and as a result of the arrests, they have undergone “mental suffering and anguish, embarrassment and humiliation.” They are asking $100,000 in damages. A temporary solution to the overcrowding predicted at Gilpin County RE-1 School for next year is being addressed by using the Clark building as a storage facility to create more space at the K-12 site. Other possible solutions are: removing a wall and using the superintendent’s office as a classroom; converting the teachers’ lounge into a classroom; using a storage room in the gymnasium; or rescheduling the secondary classes so there are no periods when a classroom is vacant. The Union Pacific League Honor Band was in concert Friday night at Gilpin County School. Nine student musicians from Gilpin County School and eight from Nederland were chosen to participate. The Gilpin County RE-1 School Board has decided to have a master plan created for the school. The board voted to hire MCB Architects to draw up the plan with the cost of the plan not to exceed $20,000. County Commissioner Van Cullar said that the government has figured Gilpin County’s unemployment rate at “point nine something.” He feels it is much higher and doesn’t know how they arrived at that figure. He said 67 Gilpinites were laid-off from Amax and 130 from small county mines. Gilpin County’s three entrants in the Cub Scout’s Timberline District Pinewood Derby all came away from Saturday’s competition as winners. Zack Golden placed second in the 8-year-old category; J. J. Winn placed second in the 9-year-old category, and Paul Richardson placed fifth in the 10-year-old category. AD: Café Bardolino (in the Old Gold Coin Saloon): Your Special Ladies Deserve Our Special Treatment. Mother’s Day Champagne Brunch: Bardolino Benedict; Eggs Florentine; Crepes Mornay; San Francisco Joe’s Special; or North Beach Frittata-all served with fresh fruit cup, blueberry muffins, homemade hash browns, coffee or tea and a complimentary glass of champagne - $5.95. Judge Frederic B. Rodgers of the Central City and Black Hawk Municipal Courts has received a certificate of completion at the conclusion of the traffic court proceedings session, held at the National Judicial College on the campus of the University of Nevada-Reno. Gold Bar, a 15-year-old stallion that was rescued from the Glory Hole Mill last fall, suffering from malnutrition and dehydrations will be returned to Harold Caldwell if Caldwell brings proof to the district attorney that the animal is being stabled and taken care of at a stable in Denver. The horse was rescued by the Colorado Humane Society, put in the care of a veterinarian and nursed back to health. The district attorney has advised this action because there was some question as to who actually owned the horse. Desperately Needed: New or used three-piece suits. Sizes no problem; will alter to fit. Now that there is finally a season, I must look sharp. Contact G. at O.H. 60 Years Ago - May 1, 1953 An article in the Denver Post of last Sunday’s edition, on the front page in red ink, stated that a strike of tremendous proportions and rich beyond the dreams of any prospector had been found in Gilpin County. The article was very vague in its entirety and did not state the particular mining property where this fabulous strike was made. All this propaganda is bunk, and such adverse publicity does more harm than good. Sure we have uranium and pitchblende here, both of these metals being a foundation for radium salts, but they are not in the abundance or richness as the article intimated. We want investors here to carry on development work in our mines, but we strenuously object to stories regarding area riches that are unfounded. Insofar as the story of representatives from Russia trying to lease or buy any of the mining properties, it’s merely a myth, and the hallucination of the reporter who did not go into details regarding this so-called rich find. Surprise announcement of Dezso Ernster, contracted for the leading role in “The Merry Wives of Windsor,” was made Saturday by Frank H. Ricketson, Jr., president of the Central City Opera House Association. Word received here the first of the week told of the death in Switzerland of Nanette Swarthout on March 1 st . Since leaving here she has been living with nieces in this high mountain country, and has been seriously ill for the past year. She was 77 years of age. She will be well remembered as the owner and proprietor of the Heidi Chalet for many years. Burt Johnson, who has been spending the winter months in California, expects to open his Smorgasbord within the next few weeks. Last year this was one of the most popular eating houses and Bert expects to double his business of ’52. A baby boy, Michael John, was born to Mr. and Mrs. Lawrence McCarthy of Black Hawk on April 14. Linda Blake, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Otto O. Blake underwent a tonsillectomy at children’s hospital last Monday. The Black Hawk City Council granted the Black Hawk Service Station a mercury vapor street light on Highway 119 with the station paying one half the expense in advance. Horses sometimes ride in planes, trains or trucks; now it is possible for a horse to take his own bathtub along when he travels. The new invention is a bathing stall. The horse walks into it, a watertight door is closed behind him and motor-powered nozzles shower his legs. The water rises until he floats. Then it swirls around him. There’s nothing like a shower and your own private tub after a hot sweaty race, the horse seems to say. Snow rain and fog have been with us for several days, which is more or less characteristic of spring weather in the mountains. While April showers bring May flowers, hain’t seen any of them posies as yet. 90 Years Ago - May 4, 1923 Miss Dale, one of the teachers in the high school at Central City, came up to Russell on Saturday, and with the Misses Ellen and Lillian Garner, hiked to the top of Pewabic Mountain. Bud Mellor ran across a mountain lion while out looking for the cows, near their ranch. The lad was badly frightened and said he doesn’t care to meet with such “cats” any more. The Fairfield Mine, Russell District, is shipping mill dirt to the mill at Black Hawk this week. When you are too tired to think, it is a poor time to talk. Major Blauvelt of the State Highway Commission has approved the Guy Hill Road as a state aid road. Just when the construction of the new road will begin is not definitely known. With a new road up Golden Gate, the people of the Gilpin County section of the state will have an outlet which they have wanted for years. The Gilpin County road to the Jefferson County line is one of the best in the state. With a good road right into Golden, and cement highway into Denver from there, people from this section will be able to make a bid for the tourist business and no automobilist will want to miss the many scenic beauties of the trip up Golden Gate and into Gilpin County in the summer, as it is one that a person will long remember. Another eternal triangle consists in a bonehead, a fast car, and an emergency ward. Polly Mattivi, of Black Hawk, came up to Apex on Tuesday, with a load of lumber for the Evergreen lodging house, which is being remodeled so that each occupant will have a room to himself instead of an auditorium for the men as heretofore. The Cornucopia shipped two cars of concentrates to the Leadville smelter the past week. The latest quotation on German marks is that one American dollar will purchase 32,520 of them. The skeleton that Dr. Aduddell had in his office in this city for many years, and which he claimed was brought over from Georgetown in the early days, is thought to have been that of Ed. Bainbridge, who shot James Martin squarely in the face for beating him at a game of cards. Friends of Martin lynched Bainbridge. A grave was dug under the shadow of the immense boulder at the southeast corner of Georgetown’s old cemetery, and the depression was still visible a few years ago. The body didn’t lie in the grave but a few hours before it was exhumed. The Georgetown Courier reported that it subsequently occupied a niche in a doctor’s office at Central City. An economic expert is any wage earner who keeps four small sons in shoes. Sparks from a chimney fire on the Mrs. Moyle’s residence, opposite the Black Hawk Post Office, set fire to the roof, and the prompt action of Marshal Klais and other persons who happened to be in that vicinity at the time, soon had the flames under control. Even wise men sometimes forget to pay their subscriptions, but the wisest of them remember their delinquency and pay up. What is the quality of your wisdom? 120 Years Ago - May 5, 1893 Senate Bill No. 40, which compels a husband, however vicious, cranky, or unfaithful he may be, to support the wife he solemnly swore at the altar to love, cherish, honor, together with the helpless children born to them, is one of the best laws enacted by the Ninth General Assembly. The Indian scare has subsided, the murderers of ranchman Welsh have been surrendered to the state authorities, and peace and quiet reign in the section where a week ago today everything pointed to a bloody Indian war. All persons owning horses, mules or jacks, are hereby notified not to permit them to run at large within the city limits of the City of Central at any time. The towns of Central City and Black Hawk are working under special charters, and members of the school boards are elected by the city council. That is the only reason why the ladies of these two cities did not have a chance to vote on last Monday, as their sisters did in Nevadaville, Denver and other cities and towns in the state, for members of school boards. Police Judge Schellenger held a May Day picnic on Monday at his court on Gregory Street. Saturday night seven lads of the city got hold of a keg of beer and getting into a blacksmith shop proceeded to have a general good time, until the argus eye of night-watch Sam Ede rested on the place. Three of the young bloods were arrested and on Monday they were brought before the police judge who fined them $3 each and costs. The citizens of Yankee Hill petitioned Clear Creek County Commissioners to build one and a half mile of wagon road in that vicinity, and offered to contribute forty days’ labor toward its construction. The general road overseer was instructed to repair the Fall River and Yankee Hill wagon road, which will include the building of the piece of road mentioned in the petition. There has been considerable discussion, and we think unnecessary excitement and emotion raised by miners and mine-owners of this and Clear Creek counties, over the fact that the mines or a majority of them located at Yankee Hill, west of this city, were upon school land, being in section 36. Railroad rates to the World’s Fair have been reduced to $30 for the round trip from Denver to Chicago. Died: In Nevadaville, April 30, 1893, Mrs. Bessie, wife of John Atkinson, aged 29 years. Interment in the Bald Mountain Cemetery. Died: In Leavenworth gulch, April 28, 1893, Otto C., infant son of Mr. and Mrs. John Ross, aged 4 months. Interment in the city cemetery west of Central. Died: In Lake Gulch, April 28, 1893, Edna May, daughter of George and Eliza Channing, aged 4 years and 3 months. The body was embalmed and shipped to Denver for interment at Riverside Cemetery. William Harvey, a trammer employed by the New Gregory Mining Company in their incline shaft on the Gregory mine at Black Hawk, came to Central Monday afternoon and hiring a saddle animal started over to Russell Gulch to have a good time with the boys. Everything went along smoothly until he was on his way back to Central. In coming down Williams Avenue at a pretty lively gait, the animal threw him off, and he received a fracture of the back part of the skull which rendered him insensible. He was picked up, a conveyance secured from this city, and the unfortunate man was taken to the St. Charles hotel in Black Hawk where he boards and rooms. He has been attended to by Dr. E. F. Lake and Dr. Abe Ashbaugh, but remains in an unconscious state. San Juan Prospector , April 29: Snow is up to the second story windows at Summitville. It is said there are only two ladies in camp and one of them wants a new dress. Silver = 84 1/8; Lead = $4.00 Just at present the Sutton mining property is idle, but measures are being taken to resume work in a short time. The Aurora Mine in Illinois Gulch is working but two miners, they being engaged in extending the east and west levels at a depth of 160 feet, both of which have from five to eight inches of solid copper iron, which nets over $100 per ton, besides quite a streak of stamp mill dirt. The Fiske Gold Mining Company has received a 60-horse power double engine and friction hoister, of the Bolthoff improved pattern, and a new 70-horse power boiler, which is being put in position at the mine on Bobtail Hill. Mr. H. l. Morris of the Rialto Mine, secured one 25-stamp section of the Bobtail Mill, which has been started up on ore from the Rialto. The lessees of the Golden Cloud Mine in Russell District have struck a rich streak of smelting ore in the lower workings of this property, which assays at the rate of $290 per ton in gold and silver, the former metal predominating. The ore is a very bright yellow copper and very fine grained. Among other business transacted by the board of county commissioners last Monday was the adoption of a resolution ordering the opening up of the road which had been partially fenced in at the Penaluna ranch, which forms an outlet to the valley via Ralston Creek. An ambitious Black Hawk Chinaman sticks to his native costume, but as evidence of his conversion to American ideas, he wears creases in his trousers. The immodesty of a young thing like spring in allowing winter to linger in her lap, is getting very disgusting to the gardeners and ranchmen about the Quartz mill city. Something ought to be done about it as it is causing a great deal of talk.

Patrick Henry Sweeney

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