Turning Back the Pages

30 Years Ago - May 13, 1983 Two parades were held Saturday in Central City to celebrate John Gregory Day, but if you blinked, you missed them both. The first, the Short-Short parade was…well…short, lasting only 42 seconds. It ran from the Glory Hole Garden, part way into the street, and into the Glory Hole Tavern. Not to be outdone the Gilpin Militia had an even shorter parade inside the tavern, running from the front to the back of the bar. The U. S. Postal Service has recently sent letters to all rural route customers in Gilpin County telling them to discard the route and box numbers they have been using as mailing addresses. Instead, they are to use their house numbers and street names assigned on county maps. David Grogan, county building inspector and the one named as the person to call about addresses, said he has received over 100 calls and describes the situation as “absolute pandemonium.” By now Gilpin residents should have received the letters from the County Commissioners asking for input on the proposed one percent county sales and use tax. Democrats and Republicans, liberals and conservatives, all agree. The U.S. economy is finally recovering. There are still major problems, however, with interest rates, the federal budget deficit, underemployment and the foreign trade balance. The Central City Volunteer Fire Department, with 23 members present, voted unanimously to OPPOSE the proposed one percent sales tax increase. Richard Westerlage of Central City says he gets the run around from the city when he tries to get improvements on Roworth Street. The Sunday before last he found a small cave-in where Hooper Street crosses Roworth - approximately three feet deep, two feet wide, and six feet across - where erosion had washed the road underneath away, only an 18-inch diameter hole showed from the surface. Westerlage said the first person he approached was Mayor Russell, “who took the situation well in hand and put a small, dead tree in the opening. “ Dennis and Sara White of Central City are proud to announce the birth of their third son, Travis Davis. He was born on May 6, 1983. The Central City Council is concerned that casino nights (legal gambling for the benefit of non-profit organizations) will become more than an occasional event this summer. City councils have no direct approval or disapproval power concerning permits for these events. They are handled by the District Attorney’s office. The Council is voicing their concerns to the District Attorney and is asking that permits be issued only to local non-profit organizations and that permits not be issued for holiday periods or days of normal high traffic within the city. The prize catch of the 1983 NFL draft landed in the Rockies! John Elway, the All-American, All-Good, All-Pure, All-Everything quarterback from Stanford is a Denver Bronco. He is coming out of the draft as the number one pick in the country and touted to be the best QB to come out of college since Joe Namath. The Colorado Historical Society soon will begin administering Colorado’s portion of the $25 million historic preservation appropriation included in the recently-enacted legislation. The intent of the appropriation is to create construction jobs through rehabilitation projects. The Gilpin RE-1 Parent Teacher Organization will make a change in the structure of the club for the 1983-84 school year. PTO has previously been a service organization for the entire school. However, with the formation of the Booster Club, it was felt that the two clubs could best serve the school by dividing the responsibilities. Therefore, next year the PTO will be oriented toward the K-6 portion of the enrollment. Deputy David Martinez made contact with several bike and dune buggy drivers on the upper Gilpin Road. None of the vehicles involved were licensed and at Martinez’s request, the vehicles were loaded up and cleared the area. In honor of William C. Russell, Jr.’s 40 years with the Central City Volunteer Fire Department, he was presented with a trophy by Fire Chief Eric Klemp and an elaborately decorated cake by Sandy Schmalz. Aldermen Rand Anderson and Bruce Schmalz and City Administrator Jack Hidahl recently met with the Central City Development Corporation and negotiated a one year contract for the lease of the parking area behind Clark Gym, across from the post office. The area will be used for free bus parking. The city will pay CCDC $1,200 and “forgive the occupational tax” on the lot for the one-year lease. All of a sudden the snow is gone, and the hills are abloom with Pasque flowers, the harbingers of an actual end to the interminable winter of 1982-83. 60 Years Ago - May 8, 1953 The strike of pitchblende or uranium ore, as reported last week in the Register-Call , now seems to be a certainty, with the uncovering of a rich vein of pitchblende ore in the Woods Mine on the 600-foot level, in a crosscut from the East Jefferson Calhoun Mine, in Leavenworth Gulch. The Atomic Energy Commission is most reluctant to state the entire facts, as the find is potentially one of the richest and most important in these western states. The Gilpin County High School Committee is the recipient of a check for $100 from two Central City residents who wish to remain anonymous. The money is to be used for needed projects in the new gymnasium. Hurrah! The vote for the issuance of $45,000 worth of bonds to erect a school gymnasium and auditorium passed by an overwhelming majority last Friday, with 173 voting for the issuance of the bonds, and 48 votes against. A recent survey reveals that falls take a greater toll of adult life than any other type of home accident. The Annual Firemen’s Dance held at Fritz Hall, Black Hawk, on Saturday night was well attended and all seemed to have a good time. Reporters and photographers from the Denver Post, Rocky Mountain News, Pathe News, United Press and Associated Press , were in Russell Gulch the first of the week to obtain pictures and data of the details of the uranium strike in Leavenworth Gulch. No details could be given out, ’cause there isn’t any. Winter isn’t giving up in Russell Gulch. Eight inches of white stuff fell Sunday. AD: Toll Gate Dining Room: Serving Meals 60 cents and up. Sandwiches - Mixed Drinks. Modern Prices. A sheet, perhaps at times two or three sheets, of a deadly poisonous gas in the earth’s upper atmosphere makes possible all life on earth. The gas is ozone. A rip in this tissue-paperish sheet would have deadly consequences for the living things it covers because it shields the earth from all wave-lengths of ultraviolet light shorter than 2,900 angstrom units. The ozone layer also stops some heat radiation coming from the earth itself and may be a minor factor in keeping up the planet’s temperature. Mother’s Day is May 10 th . Mother will ever be mother, for her instincts are as old as the first mother, were she living, and as deeply imbedded as a part of her character. Mothers of today have as great concern for the welfare of their children as mothers ever did, but mothers change with the changing times, and their conduct as mothers can’t be judged by the same standards as a few decades ago. 90 Years Ago - May 11, 1923 On and after May 15, the City Council will enforce the ordinances concerning jacks running at large, as well as the ordinance applying to dog licenses and parties interested should give this notice prompt attention. Frank Vivian shipped ore from his lease on the Two Forty, Russell District, to Idaho Springs this week, and the Belmont Mine is shipping mill dirt to the Polar Star Mill in Black Hawk. All indications point to the conclusion that Colorado is in for a “grasshopper year” in many sections of the state. During the last season a great many local small infestations were reported from a large majority of the state’s agricultural regions, and last fall the long period of open warm weather gave ideal conditions for maximum egg deposition. Colorado now has 67,608 miles of highways. The American City road was open for travel on Sunday and is passable for auto travel. The snow has been melting fast the past week, but it will be several weeks yet until it will be possible to open the state road via Elk Park to Tolland. The man who speaks ill of others speaks worse of himself. The board of county commissioners, as a body, made a tour of all the principal roads in the county on Wednesday, covering sixty miles in the Oscar Williams auto. Saturday morning was the warmest morning for the season in Apex, thermometers standing at 32 above. Saturday afternoon, there was an electric storm accompanied by snow. Messrs. J. P. Richards and Claude McKay, of Black Hawk, who shipped a carload of smelting ore from the Jennie Blanch lode, at Black Hawk, to the Leadville smelter several weeks ago, have received returns from the same, as well as a check for $1,016 in settlement of the same. The ore carried 0.26 ounces gold, 35 ounces silver and 37 per cent lead per ton. The firemen’s dance on Saturday evening was the greatest success of the department in years, and everybody had a good time. During the evening there were 40 autos parked on Main Street in front of the dance hall in Black Hawk. Another sign of mechanical progress is that pedestrians have to be mended oftener than automobiles. The Wain Mine, in Chase Gulch, in Black Hawk, is producing some of the finest grade of ore ever taken from any mine in that section of the county. The west level shows a body of solid mineral 18 inches in width, carrying a streak worth over $200 per ton, the balance being second class ore worth in the neighborhood of $100 per ton. Mr. L. G. Cavnah, superintendent of the Atlantic Mine at Hughesville, has received returns from two carloads of second class ore shipped to the sampler at Idaho Springs, one carload of 25 ½ tons, bringing a check for $1,441.90, and the other carload of 24 tons, a check for $1,947.55. The faster a broken heart bleeds the sooner the ache disappears. The loss of $7,500,000 worth of jewels belonging to the late Emperor of Austria, which the Swiss federal investigating tribunal has declared to be a “robbery without precedent,” has just been made public in its entirety. John Stroehle was awarded the contract for building the flume and bridge in Black Hawk, his bid being the lowest submitted to the state highway commission. Messrs. McDonald and Barteli came out from Central on Tuesday to look over the telephone line from Apex to American City. The line has not been used since 1911 and is badly in need of repair. Messrs. Weimer and Crook intend to install telephones in the residences at American City. There is a trapper working above Tolland, in the employ of the state fish and game department, trapping beaver which had dammed the creek and caused the water to overflow the roads in many places, causing considerable damage and inconvenience to travelers. The animals will be taken to other sections of the state where their services will be used to better advantage than at their present location. Tell your faults to your wife, and they won’t seem half as glaring to her as when she learns them from others. 120 Years Ago - May 12, 1893 The Bay State School District No. 9 levied a special tax of five mills on the dollar for school purposes for the ensuing year. The district will provide two American flags for the school and will procure the services of a carpenter for making all necessary repairs on the schoolhouse. The salary of the teacher was raised from forty dollars to forty-five dollars per month. A petition, signed by twenty local business men and citizens, was presented to the Central City Council at their meeting on May 11, requesting that they enact an ordinance closing all business places on Sunday, excepting such business as is necessarily an accommodation to the public, such as drug stores and liveries. Born: In Black Hawk, May 10, 1893, to the wife of John Beattie, a son. Born: At Gold Dirt, May 10, 1893, to the wife of Fred Rudolph, junior, a son. The Central City aldermen condemned the barn in the rear of the Hal Sayre lot, fronting on Eureka Street, and the street commissioner was instructed to notify Major Hal Sayre, or his agent, to remove it. Tuesday evening the gyrations of a fractious broncho whom parties were attempting to break to the saddle, on Lawrence Street, caused considerable amusement to a large crowd of spectators. The fun closed with a spirited foot race between Undertaker Ed. Harris and Billy Shaw, Morrison’s hack driver. The undertaker carried off the sweepstake. The water in the main shaft of the Buell Mine has been lowered to a point 80 feet below the 400 foot level. As soon as Mr. Grimm can clean out the accumulated debris, and re-timber the shaft from the 400 foot station down to the bottom, sinking will be resumed. The Central City Council will visit Packard Gulch and examine the line of proposed new flume. McFarlane & Co. and Trebilcock & Co. have both submitted bids for its construction. Mr. Theodore Nelson is now running the Polar Star Mill - 40 stamps - in Black Hawk, by water power. Every stamp was dropping yesterday. Wm. Jefferson, a colored man, and an old resident of this city, has been acting very strange of late. The past few days he had become violent, and as imaginary as violent. Yesterday he was brought before Judge Hicks of the county court, and a hearing had before a jury of six, to determine the question of his sanity. After hearing Jefferson’s statement and the examination of one of the witnesses, his case was given to the jury, who in a few minutes, returned a verdict of insane. The unfortunate man was committed to the care of Sheriff Hooper, who will take him to the insane asylum just as soon as room can be made for him. Last Saturday while a miner named O’Neil was engaged at work in the 500 foot east level of the Rialto Mine, a scale weighing over 50 pounds broke loose from above and struck him on the back of the head, cutting a deep gash. Dr. Ashbaugh dressed and stitched up the cut. O’Neil has been nursing a very sore head ever since. The citizens of Gilpin County should stand by home enterprises. That is the only way to build up the hamlets of the county and make them prosperous. Mr. L. Sternberger has just about completed the erection of a shaft building on the Lotus Lode, Russell District, 32 x 64, which will enclose a 25-horse power engine. The shaft is down to a depth of 110 feet and will be sunk an additional 200 feet, before levels are extended. West of this shaft some 200 feet, the Michigan Boy forms a junction with the Lotus. The Lotus is on the same mountain as C.C. Miller’s Hillhouse Lode, but south of it. There was crushed at the Randolph stamp mill in Black Hawk this week 2 2/3 cords of ore from the Golden Treasure Mine, Nevada District, which yielded 10 ounces and 19 pennyweights of gold of very good quality. If you have money to spend, spend it at home. Monday afternoon, John Penrose, one of the miners working in the Argyle Company’s Topeka Mine in Russell, was pretty badly hurt. It appears that he was riding up on the skip, and throwing his head too far to one side it came in contact with a protruding timber, nearly knocking him off the skip. He sustained terrible gashes above and below the right eye, besides receiving scalp wounds. Mr. Grenfell, agent of the Union Pacific railway company at Black Hawk, kindly furnishes the Register-Call the following statement of the number of cars of ore and tailings shipped to the valley smelters during April last: 169 cars averaging 15 tons to the car, or 5,070,000 pounds. The Golden Goose of the Buell Mine last week laid another golden egg weighing 270 ounces, product of 100 cords of stamp mill ore treated at the New York Mill. Friday night or early last Saturday morning, some unknown person effected an entrance into Dr. A. H. Day’s drug store on Main Street, through a transom over the back door. The burglar secured about $5 in cash and three Columbian watches. The latter were found Saturday morning by Mr. O. L. Peers, wrapped up in a towel and stowed away in a pile of wood in the yard back of Harris block. The great wonder is that the burglar did not attempt to crack the safe. An alarm of fire was sounded in Black Hawk between 12 and 1 o’clock Sunday morning, which awakened a large number of the citizens from a sound sleep. It was caused by the burning of a mattress in the building on the south side of Gregory Street, formerly occupied by Mr. F. A. Rudolph as a boot and shoe store. It has been occupied of late by a party of Italian miners as a sleeping place. How the fire originated is unknown. The damage done was slight. The billiard room of Mr. Ben Olsen on Main Street, Black Hawk, was entered Sunday morning at an early hour, and robbed of two gold rings, an Odd Fellows pin, gold and silver coins of an ancient date, and several small gold retorts. Strange to relate a number of large and fine pieces of ore containing quantities of free gold running through the ore were undisturbed. The deed was perpetrated shortly after 1 o’clock, the time Mr. Olsen closed the room for the night. The value of the articles taken, including $12 from the money drawer, foots up over $75. William Harvey, who met with a sad accident in Russell Gulch a week ago last Monday afternoon by which he had his skull fractured, died Friday afternoon at the St. Charles Hotel, where he was being cared for. Interment was made in the city cemetery west of Central. Some parties, who were in a hurry and set out their plants in the front yard in April made a mistake, as they found out by the hard frozen ground last Monday morning.

Patrick Henry Sweeney

Related Posts

Keep the High Country Clean: Your Complete Guide to Waste Management with Timberline Disposal

When the Lights Go Out: Why Power Outages Are Becoming Part of Daily Life

Craig Station’s Final Chapter: Can Federal Intervention Save Moffat County’s Economic Lifeline?

Central City Has Never Been Afraid of Big Moments. Until Now.

Colorado’s Quiet Watch: How Real ID, License-Plate Cameras, and Ring Doorbells Are Building a Shadow Surveillance State—and What Citizens Can Still Do to Opt Out

About Us

Quick Links

News Categories

Weekly Newsletter

Welcome Back!

Retrieve your password

Are you sure want to unlock this post?

Are you sure want to cancel subscription?