Virtual Events
6-6:55AM Virtual Dynamic Circuit
8:30-9:30AM Virtual Power Training
10:15AM Spanish Story Time with the Library
4-4:30PM Virtual: Kids Martial Arts Class
Real World Events
The sun will rise at 6:36 this morning and set at 4:50 this afternoon.
12-4PM Stitch’n B*tch @ Golden Quilt Company
4-5PM Monthly Maker: Light-Up Cards @ Golden Library
5-9PM Golden Game Guild Meet-Up Mondays @ Golden Game Guild
6:30PM GURA Board Meeting @ City Hall
GURA board members will discuss how their personal values, goals, and perspectives will form the basis for their decisions regarding projects in the GURA districts. During the October meeting, they discussed what their charter should be: once they’ve eliminated the blight in an area, is their job done? City staff included a memo in tonight’s meeting packet saying that no, they have no obligation to stop. Once the blight is eliminated, they can continue to develop the area. In fact, the memo contains a disconcerting list of the things the Authority is authorized to do, including acquiring property, demolishing existing structures, and relocating affected individuals, families, or businesses.
They will finalize their 2022 budget. They have budgeted $250,000 for capital projects in the Central Neighborhoods, $375,000 for “projects” in the Parfet-Briarwood area, $800,000 for projects in the West Colfax area, and $625,000 for Colfax Complete Street work.
City Staff will convey MTAB’s remarks regarding various projects in the GURA districts. They plan to build safety improvements for bikes on Jackson Street by the high school. They want to build a sidewalk along a partial block of Ford Street, between 23rd and 24th. This might require removal of several mature trees. They will delay “complete street” work on 8th Street, until they understand how the CoorsTek project will affect traffic.
GURA still shares joint responsibility for the Legacy Fund with the Downtown Development Authority. A sizeable chunk of that fund was committed to helping Foothills Art Center revitalize the Astor House. Now they plan to provide a $1 million loan to Miners Alley Playhouse so they can convert Meyer Hardware into a theater. See the meeting packet for more information about all of these subjects.
Golden History Moment
161 Years Ago
The November 8, 1860 Western Mountaineer explained why Golden was destined to become the economic and industrial powerhouse of the territory. It cited our vast raw materials (some theoretical) such as coal, limestone, and iron ore. We also had the quickest, easiest way to access the mining areas (via Clear Creek Canyon). Eventually, inevitably, a railroad would be built through the canyon (it was!).
The water in Clear Creek was of incomparable value. It would irrigate crops for a vast area of the valley. The creek could be used to convey logs from timber operations in the mountains.
Most important, Clear Creek could be harnessed to provide water power, which would support sawmills, flour mills, cloth mills, quartz crushers, and machine shops. If that seems like a bit more power than Clear Creek could supply, that’s because you don’t have the full picture. The Mountaineer suggested damming the Creek and creating a reservoir in Clear Creek Canyon.
By damming up the waters of Clear Creek in its narrow, rock-walled canon, we can command for the distance of two miles, a water-power of from 30 to 125 feet in vertical height. We then have a mountain lake formed by the dam that will for a mile form a good, capacious basin to receive the timber floated down from the mountain sides by shutes, and the water that is not needed for manufacturing purposes, can be used from that elevation to spread over our valleys, and irrigate countless acres of rich soil that needs nothing but water to produce astonishing crops.
Western Mountaineer – November 8, 1860
Thanks to the Golden History Museum for providing the online cache of historic Transcripts, and to the Golden Transcript for documenting our history since 1866!
