WHAT’S HAPPENING IN GOLDEN TODAY?
Day Out with Thomas @ Colorado Railroad Museum
This is the first of three weekends in which the Railroad Museum is hosting A Day Out with Thomas the Tank Engine. If you didn’t already buy tickets, you won’t be able to go–they sold out weeks ago!
This might be a good time to mention that they’ll start selling tickets to the even more popular Polar Express Train Ride later this month. Ticket sales will open to museum members on September 26th, opening to the public on October 3rd.
8AM Saturday Morning Run and Social Walk @ Golden History Park
8AM-1PM Golden Farmers Market @ Golden Library west parking lot
9AM-12PM Fire Master Class – Fire Hacks @ Golden History Museum
10AM-5PM Golden Sidewalk Sale @ Downtown Golden
Head to gorgeous Golden to shop in the September sunshine and support Golden’s fabulous retailers and restauranteurs at the annual Golden Sidewalk Sale. Golden’s merchants are going all out with deep discounts and gotta-go pricing. Giddy-up with free Western fun with a ride on the Golden Hayride, which will circulate throughout downtown. Get outside, enjoy the autumn weather, pick up some deals or maybe even knock out your holiday shopping while supporting local businesses. The sale is citywide and most Downtown Golden merchants are participating.
10AM-12PM Breakfast Burritos @ The Golden Mill
10AM-3PM Brunch at the Rose @ Buffalo Rose
10:15AM Family Time @ Golden Library
11AM GoldenFest @ Golden City Brewery
Head to the Golden City Brewery for their annual fund-raiser for the Golden Fire and Rescue department.
11AM-10PM 100% Gluten-Free Oktoberfest @ Holidaily Brewing Company
11AM and 1PM The City Dog & The Prairie Dog @ Miners Alley Playhouse – TODAY ONLY!
The City Dog and the Prairie Dog is a bilingual musical for grades K-6, exploring themes of community and belonging. Expect to dance, laugh, and sing along, with lots of audience participation! The show runs about 50 minutes, and every student who attends will receive a free children’s’ book. These books reinforce the themes of the performance while making reading exciting!
12-12:45PM The Buzz Behind Bone Broth and Collagen @ Natural Grocers
1PM Wild West Short Tour
1-3PM PAWS for Reading @ Golden Library
4PM All My Sons @ Golden High School
7:30PM Avenue Q: The Musical @ Miners Alley Playhouse
SEE THE COMPLETE CALENDAR OF EVENTS.
LIVE MUSIC
11AM-2PM Jon Eric Farmer @ Buffalo Rose (Sky Bar Stage)
11:30AM Jackson Malone @ Tributary Food Hall
4-8PM Parkside @ Wrigley’s
5-8PM Live Music @ Eddy Taproom
5-8PM Andre LaMotte @ Golden Mill
5:30-8:30PM DIGG @ Goosetown Station
6-8PM DJ w/Danac @ Morris & Mae
7-10PM Chuck Fisher @ Buffalo Rose (Sky Bar Stage)
9PM Karaoke @ Ace Hi Tavern
GOLDEN HISTORY MOMENT
WHITE ASH MINE DISASTER – 9 SEPTEMBER 1889
By Donna Anderson
Today marks the 134th anniversary of the worst mine disaster in Golden’s history: The White Ash Mine disaster.
Part 1. The White Ash and Old Loveland coal mines
The White Ash coal mine was initially opened in 1874 by John Hodges and expanded in 1877 by R.D. Hall and A.L. Jones. It exploited a vertical coal seam, called the White Ash seam, so-called for its excellent burning properties that produced a clean, white ash. The mine portal was located at the west end of today’s 12th Street, and the vertical mine shaft and connecting horizontal tunnels were about 100 yards to the west.
At its peak, the White Ash Mine produced 50 to 100 tons of coal per day and employed 40 miners working three shifts. Typical of the time, though, the mine was beset with problems. Mining paused in 1879 when a fire broke out at the 280-foot tunnel level. The tunnel was sealed up, with the hopes that a lack of oxygen would smother the fire. In 1885, the Golden Fuel Company entered into a 99-year lease with John Hodges and Charles Welch. From 1885 to 1889, the mine was deepened and had several accidents from falling rock and equipment, as well as bad air from carbon dioxide gas, and fires on the tailing piles. By 1888 the new owners had extended the mine to 720+ feet below ground, making it the deepest coal mine in the State at the time.
In 1889, State Coal Mine Inspector and engineer John McNeil visited the mine several times, finally requiring replacement of unstable timbers, as well as the drilling of a 700+ foot deep escape shaft at the north end of the mine, north of Clear Creek. He also restricted the number of miners to ten for any given shift for safety reasons. The mine owners replaced the rotten timbers and began to plan for an escape shaft in the summer of 1889. In a letter dated July 12, 1889, twelve miners petitioned the State of Colorado to keep the mine open due to hardship. Thus operations continued without the escape shaft.
Meanwhile, the “old” Loveland, aka Black Diamond, Mine was about 1960 feet north of the White Ash Mine, across Clear Creek and along the same coal seam as that of the White Ash Mine. The old Loveland Mine had been abandoned in 1879 due to suffocating inert gas, carbon dioxide or “black damp”, at its (lowest) 250-foot level. The abandoned Loveland shaft and tunnels were left to fill with water from seepage. In 1889, water from the flooded mine was being used as a water source for the steam boilers at the nearby Golden Brick Works, located downhill from the old Loveland Mine.
As it turns out, the lowest flooded tunnel in the Old Loveland Mine was near the exact same level as the 280-foot tunnel in the White Ash Mine, which had been sealed off in 1879 due to the earlier fire. A pillar of rock and coal 70-100 feet thick separated the two tunnels. This separation apparently caused some commentary in McNeil’s inspections, but he and everyone else considered the situation “safe enough.”
To Be Continued…..
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!
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SEPTEMBER SPONSORS: Buffalo Rose, Buglet Solar, Foothills Art Center, Golden City Brewery, Golden Cultural Alliance, Golden History Museum, Golden Super Cruise, Miners Alley Playhouse, The Golden Mill, Golden Chamber of Commerce, Golden History Tours, Morris & Mae Market, Miners Saloon, Joy and Jack Brandt, Tom Reiley, and Gail Strout
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