154 Years Ago
On September 26, 1870 Golden celebrated the arrival of the Colorado Central Railroad. The Transcript waxed poetic:
(The day) …dawned as lovely as ever smiled upon the world. Not a cloud could be seen in the heavens, and the air was as balmy as early spring. Long before the “dapp’d grey coursers of the morn” pranced up the smiled east our beautiful valley was awakened by sounds of bursting torpedoes and rattling of musketry. As the sun cast its first bright rays upon the mountain tops, the church bells rang out their cheerful peals, and the different locomotives at the depot took up the refrain with their shrill whistles and bells, and the whole valley was filled with rejoicing and gladness.
The first train arrived from Denver at 8AM, and the second arrived at 1PM. Those who arrived on that train reported that thousands had been left at the depot in Denver because there wasn’t room to board. The train was sent back to collect more people. The Transcript estimated that about 4,000 people participated in the party.
At about 10AM, wagon loads of celebrants from Gilpin County arrived. They were excited, because the next phase of building would extend the line to Blackhawk, where it would serve their gold mines.
The ceremony started at 3PM. William Loveland, who had been working toward this day for six years, presented gold and silver spikes to dignitaries, who drove them into place, signifying the completion of the road. The gold spike had been provided by citizens of Gilpin County (gold mines) and the silver spike was furnished by a citizen of Georgetown (silver mines).
There were many flowery speeches. Telegrams of congratulation were read from President Grant, other railroads, and major cities. Local dignitaries responded to the telegrams with prose such as “Colorado, the brightest star in the Territorial galaxy.”
In the next issue of the Colorado Transcript, George West (the Owner/Publisher) could barely contain his enthusiasm and devoted many columns of tiny text to detailed descriptions of the event. At last, he reluctantly returned to other news topics. Suddenly, in the midst of the “Local Matters” section, another burst of excitement erupted, and he wrote my favorite paragraph in 158 years of Transcript articles:
We have no word of apology for the amount of space occupied this week by railroad matters. We feel good. In fact, we feel like a shooting star. Our railroad is finished and we are all hunky-dory.
Many thanks to the Golden Rotary Club for sponsoring Golden History Moments for the month of September.
