30 years ago – February 22, 1991
Following a short, closed meeting to discuss Superintendent Paul Coleman’s personnel evaluation, the Gilpin Re-1 School Board approved a new three-year contract for Coleman. Board President John Rittenhouse said that Coleman’s evaluation was “just short of superb.” Coleman’s salary next year will be $48,850. The evaluation, said Rittenhouse, is a matter of public record and is available to anyone. A raise was approved for Principal John Weishaar, also. He will be paid $44,450.
Have you ever wondered what those ruins in the ditch on the left-hand side of Lawrence Street, as you drive from Black Hawk to Central City are? Gregory Gulch looked quite different in 1910, and it will probably look quite a bit different again in a few years. The Gregory-Buell Consolidated Gold Mining & Milling Company shaft house was built over the 750-foot deep Buell Mine, one of Gilpin’s biggest gold and silver producers between 1872 and 1875. A whopping 35,000 ounces of gold and 100,000 ounces of silver is estimated to come from the Buell. All that is left standing today of this once massive operation are the remnants of the stone building that housed the boiler, machine shop and hoist. The company shut down in the mid-1920s, says Norman Blake, lifelong Black Hawk resident. His uncle, Otto Blake, tore down the shaft house around 1930 and the lumber and machinery were taken to the Chain-O-Mines near Russell Gulch. Bela S. Buell came to Gilpin County in 1860 as an agent for the Hinckley Overland Express. In 1861 he was elected the first Recorder of Mining Claims for the Central City District. That fall the county was organized and he was elected as the first Gilpin County Clerk & Recorder. Buell acquired his wealth by selling gold mines and organizing mining companies. He was one of the original incorporators of the First National Bank of Denver. In 1874 he was elected to the Territorial Legislature. He moved to Leadville around 1886, where he continued his mining ventures with men like H.A.W. Tabor and John Brown.
Support authors and subscribe to content
Subscribe to read the entire article.
