The City will be widening the trail and expanding the History Museum’s patio, so the rose garden will be moved and two large cottonwoods will be cut down. The roses are scheduled to be removed this week and the trees will be cut down on October 20th. The expanded patio will have a wheelchair ramp and shade structures. This will allow the museum to offer more outdoor (socially-distanced) programs. Learn more….
CORONAVIRUS REPORT
Public Health References
CDC * Colorado * Jefferson County * City of Golden
JCPHD updates these numbers Monday through Friday at about 3 PM. Here’s the most recent Coronavirus report from Jeffco Public Health’s Case Summary Page:
Cases in Jeffco – Fri: 6470 | Mon: 6736 (266 new cases)
Deaths in Jeffco – Fri: 263 | Mon: 294 (31 new deaths)
Ever Hospitalized in Jeffco – Fri: 589 | Mon: 609 (currently 29) (20 more hospitalized)
Recovered – Fri: 5606 | Mon: 5712 (106 newly recovered)
Known Cases in Golden – Fri: 232 | Mon: 241 (9 new cases in Golden)
School of Mines COVID-19 case page. | Masks are required. | City and County fire restrictions are in place. | Clear Creek is now open.
Virtual Golden
10:15AM Baby & Toddler Time with the Library
5:30PM Golden High School PTA Meeting (Zoom)
6:30PM Webinar: Yoga for Hikers – Fundraiser for New CMC Website
6:30PM Economic Development Commission Meeting
6:30PM Mines Museum Lecture Series
Our speaker will be Matthew Mossbrucker, Director and Chief Curator at Morrison Natural History Museum. “While it is well-known that Jurassic dinosaurs like Stegosaurus and Apatosaurus were first discovered around Morrison, Colorado in the late 19th Century, these collections were quickly eclipsed by other finds in the American West. From new specimens hidden in plain sight to lost dig sites, the depth and breadth of Morrison’s Jurassic heritage have been overlooked. After years of research, both in the field and in the bowels of the Yale Peabody Museum, Matthew T. Mossbrucker aims to shed new light on what Arthur Lakes found and how that impacts our view of Jurassic Morrison.” Meeting Code: LostQuarries
7PM Cement Bill Williams and the Lookout Mountain Road
This program illuminates the creation of the automobile road up Lookout Mountain by one of Jeffco’s most colorful characters, William “Cement Bill” Williams. Andrea Keppers, Curator and Education Specialist for the Hiwan Homestead Museum, will lead us through this fascinating insight into the determination, skill, and often herculean effort it took to complete this scenic highway in 1913. Cement Bill’s dedication to the success of Golden laid the foundation for what is still one of the county’s most popular attractions. You can access the program via You Tube. More information.
Real World Golden
12-12:45PM Front Porch Get-Together at Lions Park
The Front Porch for Active Adults remains closed at this time in keeping with Jefferson County Public Health requirements. That doesn’t mean that we can’t find other ways to stay active and connected!
Since we cannot be together inside, let’s get together outside! Come by for a visit in Lions Park next Tuesday, October 13th from 12pm-12:45pm to see some friendly faces from the Golden Community Center. We will meet in the East Pavilion of the park and enjoy some fresh air and conversation.
We will be social distancing responsibly, so please bring your mask and a chair as seating will not be provided. Hope to see you there!
5PM VIBE@5 at Cheese Ranch Deli with the Golden Chamber
Another Innovative Fund-Raiser
Golden’s non-profit organizations have come up with some really interesting ways to do their annual fund-raisers during this pandemic.
The biggest, fanciest fund-raiser every year is the Golden Civic Foundation’s auction. The auction is generally a sit-down dinner featuring both a silent auction and a live auction. The Civic Foundation is celebrating their 50th anniversary this year, so they had hoped to make the gala something extra-special.
As it turns out, it will be both special and memorable, and utterly unlike anything they’ve done before. This year’s event (on November 7th) will allow participants to spread out over several Golden restaurants or even participate from home.
Seven restaurants are offering in-person events ($100/person), and three restaurants are offering take-out dinners ($50/person). All tickets provide access to the auctions and a livestream broadcast. Each restaurant is offering a limited number of tickets. The Foundation expects the in-person tickets to sell out.
As of yesterday, there were only 45 of 300 tickets left for in-person dining. Learn more and order tickets….
Golden History Moment
Golden Ditches – by Paul Haseman
Irrigation canals or “ditches” were essential to early Golden, nearby miners and most importantly to the then booming farming industry that the 1880’s encompassed more than 5000 acres on both sides of Clear Creek. Essential? Well, yes, early Golden was semi-arid most suitable for cactus and rattlesnakes. So, ditches in Colorado started with David Wall’s vegetable garden in 1859. Wall was the first resident of Golden moving west two miles from Arapahoe City (commemorated by a plaque near McIntyre Rd). He originally, like most others, had gold on his mind but reconsidered that endeavor and dug a ditch from nearby Tucker Gulch to his farm on what is now the site of the Coors railroad yard. He made more money selling vegetables than most miners did seeking gold. Several other ditches were close behind Wall but not to plant rutabagas. Two 1859 ditches, Wannemaker and Arapahoe (now Farmers Highline), took water from Clear Creek to assist sluice box mining in Arapahoe City. When the gold mining in Arapahoe City played out in 1863, these two ditches continued to irrigate the growing number of farms on the north side of Clear Creek.
Other ditches followed on both sides of the Creek. Rocky Mountain Ditch (1862), Church Ditch (1864), Welch Ditch (1871) and Agriculture (Ag) Ditch (1874) – all of which–except the Welch Ditch–remain productive today. A couple of these ditches had storied histories.
The Church Ditch, begun as the Golden City & Ralston Creek Ditch, has its Clear Creek headgate, still in use today, one-half mile above Hwy 6 and crosses 8th St at the new Base Camp Apartments near the footbridge over Hwy 58. Leased to George Church in 1877, its skirts along the east side of North Table Mountain for 15 miles to Arvada and Westminster. However, its primary agricultural purpose was modified in 1885. At that time serious hydraulic mining by a 50 inch pipe from the Church Ditch near the “residence of Mr. E. Easley” provided a water head of 225 feet strong enough to “power wash” 35 feet to bedrock on Jonas Wannemaker’s farm along Clear Creek.
The Welch Ditch also had an unusual provenance. Charles Welch owned property south of Golden, which needed water to be “fruitful.” Welch heard of a plan by Episcopal Bishop George Randall to establish a school in Colorado and Welch offered Randall 12 acres of land to place the school in Golden. When Randall accepted, Welch approached the Golden council to get a right of way for a ditch through the city. The City, pleased with the prospect of a “college,” granted a no cost right of way to the school located at the end of Ford Street just beyond now Golden High School. Water first flowed in July 1871, as the first of three building was completed. The third building, the Industrial School of Mining, opened in 1873, and became the Territorial School of Mines in 1874 and, upon Statehood, was enter into the Colorado Constitution as the “State School of Mines at Golden.” It all started with a Ditch.
