Turning Back the Pages

30 Years Ago - July 1, 1983 Tuesday, following two days of steady rain combined with a record spring run-off, North Clear Creek flowed out of its channel along Apex Road, flooding several wooded areas. County road crews have made several temporary dams by piling up dirt along the side of the road, which has, in several places, reduced the road to one lane. Gilpin County’s proposal to purchase Clark School and Gym and the lot east of the school is on hold at the present time. The county commissioners offered $200,000 for the property, contingent upon receiving a Mineral Impact Assistance Fund grant. School Board President Kay Lorenz said this week that another offer for the property has been received. She would not name a dollar figure, only saying that it is more than the commissioners’ offer. The RE-1 School Board unanimously approved creating a classroom out of a storage room in the gymnasium at a cost of $1,100 to $1,200. The exact use of the room will be determined after the fall enrollment is known. The ninth annual Gilpin County July butterfly count will be held this year on July 10. The count is sponsored by the Xerces Society, an international organization dedicated to the protection of invertebrate animals and their habitats, and the Lepidopterists’ Society, a non-profit, scientific, international organization serving professional and amateur lepidopterists since 1947. The eight preceding Gilpin County counts have each year produced the highest total species count in the United States and Canada. In 1981, a record 97 species were sighted and over the eight year period, a total of 139 species have been recorded. According to Ray Stanford, who heads the Gilpin count and is the Rocky Mountain Coordinator of the Lepidopterists’ Society, “Only a count near Tamazunchale in the jungles of Mexico, where we recorded 113 species in 1981, exceeds the Gilpin County total.” Members of the Gilpin County Search and Rescue hope to purchase a new ambulance by the end of summer. Search & Rescue currently has two ambulances. Ambulance 101, which is stationed at the courthouse and is the one they hope to replace, and Ambulance 102 which is stationed in mid-county. The Central City Elks have set up a fund in memory of the late Pete Gones and at the suggestion of his wife, Teri, the money is being applied to the construction of a baseball field. The field is next to the KOA Campground near the junction of Highway 46 and Dory Hill Road. The land belongs to the federal government. Norm Blake and Mike Murphy are working on the legalities of using the land and will probably get a long-term lease on it. Last weekend a contingent of volunteers worked to grade the site. Elks member Don Olhausen said that he figures between $7,000 and $8,000 worth of work was donated by Bobby Allen and Don Grapes, excavators, and Ron Kittrell of Moritz Mining. They furnished the heavy equipment for the project as well as manpower. At this point the project consists of a small field that can be used for Little League and softball. Olhausen said another, larger field will also be built that will be able to accommodate high schoolers. When the two fields are finished, a running track will be built around them. That should happen within a year, Olhausen said. Within three to four years, it is hoped that volleyball and tennis courts will be added. Also in the planning stages are bleachers, fences, restrooms, scoreboards, concession stands, lights and a picnic area. An ineffectual grease trap, a sewer line that flows uphill, and a leach field that overflows are three problems facing Gilpin County RE-1 School that need to be fixed before students come back in September. However, determining who is responsible for the problems has delayed solving them. Movie actor Keenan Wynn was in Central City last Friday with the SERTOMA Club, telling jokes at the Belvidere Theatre and dining with Mayor William C. Russell, Jr. SERTOMA stands for “service to man,” and is particularly concerned with hearing impaired and deaf children. Wynn has been in over 200 movies. He is also a motorcycle enthusiast and an honorary member of the Stuntman’s Association. 60 Years Ago - June 26, 1953 The Central City Opera Association presents two beautiful operas for 1953: “Carmen” and “The Merry Wives of Windsor.” The Central City Festival features the world’s greatest operatic stars, including Virginia MacWatters, Dezzo Ernster, Mildred Miller, Edith Evans, Lucine Amera, Hugh Thomspson, Gloria Lane, Theodor Uppman, Heidi Kroll, David Lloyd, Lloyd Thomas Leach, Kenneth Smith, Davis Cunningham and Shirley Russell. Dr. Elemer Nagy, the celebrated Hungarian and world famous pioneer in modern theatre designing, will be “Merry Wives of Windsor” producer and Donald Oenslager, internationally-recognized stage designer, returns to Central City as designer of “Carmen.” Dr. Herbert Grat will be flown in from Italy to direct “Carmen.” Kurt Adler, respected Metropolitan Opera conductor, is musical director of both “Carmen and “The Merry Wives of Windsor.” Forest Goodwin and his friend John Kitsmiller of Evergreen, were really thrilled last Wednesday, when they saw a large bear cross the road in front of them at Missouri Lakes. The death of Mr. Fred Hoary came as a shock to his many friends last Saturday. On the previous day he was taken in Tomford’s ambulance to a Denver hospital, where he died that evening. He came to Black Hawk from Georgetown about thirty years ago to work at the Evergreen Mine in Apex. Joe Kimball, one of the most colorful residents of Gilpin County, died Sunday morning after having been in a coma for several days. He was 83 years of age, and had been a resident of Central the greater portion of his life. Press reports from Denver recently reveal that the Denver office of the Atomic Energy Commission drew a web of secrecy around reports of a rich uranium strike in a group of played-out mines on Quartz Hill. A U.S. Geological survey report is understood to have revealed that pitchblende ore, some containing as high as 70% to 80% uranium, was found in an upper level of the old Kirk Mine in the Quartz Hill area. Mr. D. J. Crichton, director and president of Kirk Uranium Corp., will arrive in Denver about July 1 st to assume complete charge of operations on the mine property. Activity is anticipated about July 15 th . The Natives of East Portal are enjoying the East Portal picture show each Wednesday night. Some Rollinsville friends are also coming up for the show. It’s quiet here in “Gregory Valley” while the Nation, and the world, is torn by diplomatic chaos, by treachery, and greed and misunderstanding. Two convicted spies - the Rosenbergs, are made martyrs by Communist sympathizers hiding behind the comparative safety of U.S. citizenship. At times, it seemed that a too sympathetic press gave column after column of undeserved space to the spies, who were granted two extra years of life in America, which they had renounced, and sought to destroy, by divulging vital atomic secrets to Russia. Two years of life, which prominent lawyers sought to prove their innocence, while all free-thinking peoples were convinced of their guilt. Justice finally saw fit to balance her scales, however and the spies were executed by the government which they had betrayed. An African religious group has sent $22 to the Episcopal diocese in Chicago with the request that it be used to “combat civilization and its attendant evils.” 90 Years Ago - June 29, 1923 Great preparations are being made by the good people of Rollinsville for a proper celebration of the 4 th and 5 th of July by a basket picnic, and an invitation is extended the people of the whole county to come over and have a good time. Oscar Williams will run an auto line between this city and Rollinsville for all who desire to attend the picnic and celebration. Round trip fare, $2.00. Died: In Denver, June 25, O. Francis Scott, youngest son of Mr. and Mrs. Walter Scott, of this city, aged about 18 years. The alarms of fire on Tuesday night resulted from the burning out of a transformer box on an electric light pole on County Road Street. Colorado Day will see the commencement of actual work on the construction of the Moffat Tunnel. While sowing their wild oats young men should think of the cost of harvesting the crop. Claude McKay and Miss Lyda McLeod, while motoring on the Apex Highway, Tuesday evening, broke the axle of their car, but fortunately escaped injury. Joseph Katta has opened an automobile shop in the Converse old log store building in Apex, with working hours from 6 A.M. to 7 A.M. and 6 P. M. to 8 P. M. Darrow Mabee had a break-down with his car, coming to Apex on Sunday, and had it towed to Kattas repair shop, where it is now being overhauled. Bobbed hair looks good to the young people, but bobbed dresses look better to the old birds. The piano recital given by the pupils of Miss Helen Fairchild at McKay’s Hall on Tuesday evening last, was well attended and greatly enjoyed by all, the young students acquitting themselves in a masterly manner. A carload of smelting ore from the Jupiter-Belmont Mine in Russell District, was shipped out on Wednesday’s train to the smelter at Leadville. Good progress is being made by contractor John Stroehle and his force of assistants in building the flume in Black Hawk, and by the middle of next week, he expects to have at least 200 feet of the side walls completed. The John M. Stahl production, “One Clear Call,” in seven reels will be the picture at the opera house next Saturday evening. The scorching rays of summer have so far failed to scorch. 120 Years Ago - June 30, 1893 According to the amount of business done by the Central City post office, during the past year, the salary of the postmaster, commencing with July 1 st , 1892, has been increased from $1,600 to $1,700 per annum. There were only eleven offices in the state that the salary was increased over the past year. The 4 th of July in Central promises to be a very quiet day. The business men will close about 9 o’clock in the morning. Everybody seems bent on going to Black Hawk in the afternoon. A number of the families of this city will hold a basket picnic on the Fourth at Missouri Lakes. Mr. Gottlieb has received a fine canary bird from Germany, which he prizes very highly. Its plumage differs somewhat from the ordinary canary, but it sings nicely - equal to the regular Swiss warbler. The flume leading up from East Lawrence Street to and along Packard Gulch has been completed by the contractors, Trebilcock & Co. The June roses are in the height of their bloom. The mountain sides, especially in the rocky places, are full of them, their fragrance excelling the cultivated roses by far. The owners of the Poorman Mine at Caribou have leased R.G. Dun & Co.’s mill at Nederland, Boulder county, and the old camp is soon to be revived. Mr. Henry Dennis who left Central three weeks ago last Tuesday for his stock range near Steamboat Springs, returned last Sunday. He drove over 44 head of extra fine beef cattle. He represents that in crossing the snowy range, there were four to eight feet of snow. On his return he found the streams terribly swollen with the water from the snow on the mountains, but found no snow at all on the main range. The track of the running teams on Clear Creek Street in Black Hawk has been cleared, and the grand and music stands will be erected at the foot of Clear Creek Street near Stroehle’s boiler works. In this connection, the Register-Call suggests that some enterprising individual could make money by erecting seats for the use of spectators, who would willingly pay a dollar for the use of one of them during the races on the Fourth. Mining dividends for May from Colorado mines, foot up $500,000. The season was rather backward. Last month returns were received from the Randolph stamp mill in Black Hawk for a quantity of ore crushed from the Golden Treasure Mine, Nevada District, which yielded an average of 4 ounces and 6 pennyweights gold per cord. The average enrollment of the Bald Mountain Schools for the month ending June 23, was 148 pupils. The flower thief is on hand as usual. If you have a nice plant near the front fence, look out for it. It might be well to place a watch at night, providing you want to retain your flowers. The flower thief is a despicable creature, and someone ought to make an example of people who indulge in such thievery. Mr. Grimm of the Buell Mine informs the Register-Call that he has the 500 foot level of that property cleared of the accumulated sediments of the past 16 years, as well as the shaft below that point. He is now ready to commence sinking. There are few men who would have had the temerity to tackle the Buell Mine. A visit made to the stamp mills in Black Hawk this week developed the fact that there is a very good supply of custom dirt now being taken out from the various mines working. The following number of stamps were dropping the day of the mining reporter’s visit: Randolph, 50; New York, 75; Bobtail, 100; Empire, 25; Polar Star, 40; Meade, 40; Rowena, double issue, 20; Hidden Treasure, 75; Golden Fleece, 15; and the Hubert Mining Company in Nevadaville are running 25 stamps, which gives a grand total of 465. Superintendent Frederick Kruse of the Gilpin Tramway Company has a force of laborers putting in new ties along the main line running across the northerly slope of Quartz Hill, and putting in new rails where they are required. The great depression in the price of silver will work serious injury to the silver producing sections of Colorado. Many mines have been compelled to close down and others are preparing to do so. The only mine that has closed down in this county is the Running Lode. “The patriotic boy you’ll know, ‘Round fireworks he lingers. He’ll celebrate the glorious Fourth Blowing off his fingers.”

Patrick Henry Sweeney

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