Coronavirus Update
Public Health References
CDC * Colorado * Jefferson County * City of Golden
Jefferson County’s case count page says that as of 3PM yesterday, there were 1,675 cases in Jefferson County (up from 1,633). There have been 91 deaths (up from 87) and 303 are hospitalized (up from 299). There are 129 known cases in Golden (up from 127).
Jefferson County’s Stay-at-Home order is in place through TODAY. Safer at Home begins TOMORROW, May 9th. Everyone is asked to wear a mask that covers the nose and mouth when leaving the house. City and County fire restrictions are in place. Clear Creek is closed to all recreational activities.
Virtual Golden
6:30-7:25AM Virtual HIIT
9-10AM Virtual Power Training
10AM Colorado School of Mines 2020 Spring Commencement
4:20PM #LiveFromTheRose – Jonathan Browning
5-7PM Golden Elks Lodge Community Take Out Dinner (map)
Hamburger or Cheeseburger – $6 | Hot dog – $5 (all come with chips)
Golden History Moment
Golden’s Age of the Dinosaurs
by Guest Columnist Donna Anderson
Living in Golden, we are familiar with the amazing dinosaur tracks and bones at Dinosaur Ridge near Morrison. But did you know that Golden has its own dinosaur trail, with different dinosaurs than those near Morrison? Golden is also home to the first Tyrannosaurus rex (T. rex) tooth and likely the first T. rex footprint found in North America!
A T. rex tooth was discovered on the southwest flank of South Table Mountain, near the intersection of Rimrock Street and Golden Road, in 1874 by Peter Dotson, a student, and Arthur Lakes, part-time drawing and geology instructor at the newly-established Colorado School of Mines. The tooth was sent to O. C. Marsh at the Yale Peabody Museum where it lay forgotten until it was identified around 2000 by Kenneth Carpenter, a paleontologist at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science. Lesson: Be careful what you put in the basement and forget!
Triceratops Trail, west of Fossil Trace Gold Course, is home to a host of dinosaur tracks. A rare T. rex footprint is present next to tracks of a duck-bill dinosaur, Edmontosaurus. On the easternmost side of the trail are tracks of the three-horned dinosaur, Triceratops, hence the name of the Trail. From about 69 to 66 million years ago T. rex hunted Edmontosaurus and Triceratops, among other dinosaurs, in an ancient tropical rainforest and swamp in Golden.
Other fossil tracks in Golden include those of Iguanodon-like dinosaurs, as well as crocodile swim marks and ultra-rare bird-tracks. Much older than T. rex, the track sites are all within rocks of the Dakota Hogback at the north and south edges of the City, but the sites are not open to the public due to hazards from old clay mines.
Who knew that Golden was such a hotbed of dinosaur activity?
Guest Columnist Donna Anderson is retired from the oil and gas industry and is an Affiliate Faculty in Geology at Mines. She and Paul Haseman are writing a book called Golden Rocks! about the geology and mining history of Golden, to be completed by year end.
