WHAT’S HAPPENING IN GOLDEN TODAY?
6-6:55AM Cardio Lift Interval (Virtual)
8-8:55AM Tai Chi (Virtual)
8:30-9:30AM Power Training (Virtual)
9AM Golden Walks – Wednesday Morning Celebrating Life @ Golden Library
10-10:55AM All Levels Yoga (Virtual)
10AM and 1PM Wild West Short Tour
10AM and 1PM Wild West Walking Tour
10:15-10:45AM Toddler Time @ Golden Library
11AM-9PM Pale Boy Ale Release @ Barrels & Bottles – Camp George West
Barrels & Bottles and the Golden Civic Foundation invite you to the annual release of Decadence Pale Boy Ale. A portion of the proceeds will be donated to the Golden Civic Foundation.
3-5PM Hard Times Writing Workshop (Virtual)
5-6PM Bell Middle School PTA Meeting @ Bell Middle School
5-8PM Apres Wednesday @ Golden Mill
6-8PM Backcountry Ski and Split 101 @ Bentgate Mountaineering
6-7:30PM Bingo Night @ American Legion Post 21
6:30PM Trivia Night @ Over Yonder
6:30PM CMC New and Prospective Member Night @ Mountaineering Center
7-8:30PM Playwriting: Comedy @ Miners Alley Performing Arts Center
Want to know what’s funny? Then sign up for this hilarious course on stage comedy! We’ll read full-length and short plays as genre examples, and share our own comic plays in progress. Plays and readings for discussion will be distributed at the first in-person class meeting, where we’ll also sign up for slots to share our own writing. In the middle weeks of the class, we’ll meet online for conversation and script critique. For the final week of class, we’ll meet again at MAPAC and take the stage to read pages from the plays we’re writing, with some special guests in selected roles.
SEE THE COMPLETE CALENDAR OF EVENTS.
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CITY MEETINGS
6-8:30PM Community Sustainability Advisory Board @ City Hall
The Sustainability Board will finalize the projects and programs to be included in their work plan for 2024. This includes several rebates, which are subject to Council approval. They will discuss proposals for all-electric options in the city’s building codes and review the final draft for a Community EV Roadmap. They will hold a public meeting to discuss Net Zero building codes on February 29th at 6PM. Learn more….
LIVE MUSIC
5-8PM Blue River Grass@ Golden Mill
6-9PM Derek Hall @ Miners Saloon
GOLDEN HISTORY MOMENT
117 Years Ago
The January 24, 1907 Colorado Transcript reported on a spirited debate as to whether Golden should build a sewer system. At that time, almost all homes and businesses got along with outhouses. Golden had a population of about 2300, almost all of it living within a quarter mile of the Creek. The issue had been under public discussion for years, and this article offered quotes from several leading citizens as to the advisability of the plan.
All of the people quoted (merchants, doctors, professors, and the town banker) were in favor of building sewers. They saw it as a necessary step to ensure public health. One person remarked that “Plagues and pestilences were once thoughts to be acts of God; we now know that they are the acts of communities which do not attend to water supply and sewage disposal.” One of the town doctors added, “Better pay for a dozen sewers than for one funeral.”
The Transcript admitted that many people were staunchly opposed but were unwilling to be quoted. The proposal was that property owners should pay for the portion of the sewer that fronted on their property. Some people in town had already installed “private sewers” and did not want to be assessed for a public sewer system.
These private sewers were questionable affairs. One fine home on 14th Street piped the household waste into the gutter that ran along the street. That may work (questionably) in a very rainy climate, but in Colorado the waste would run out to the street and stay there, for all the neighbors to enjoy.
The State Industrial School routed its waste into Kinney Run, which was objectionable for people living in the Ford Street neighborhood. The School of Mines used a similar natural “run,” which led to the Creek in wet weather and otherwise remained in the dry streambed, waiting for rain.
The two major private sewers ran down Miners Alley and Prospector Alley–the two alleys on either side of Washington Avenue. Both ran straight into Clear Creek. G.E. Dollison, one of the downtown merchants in the block nearest the Creek said, “I am heartily in favor of anything that will eradicate the stench in the vicinity of the Washington Avenue bridge. It fairly ‘smells to Heaven,’ and it is a wonder that serious sickness has not resulted.”
Golden did go on to build sewers–first on the south side of the creek (where the more affluent population lived), then on the north side. They continued to dump the untreated sewage into Clear Creek (this lasted until the 1950s) but they moved the outlet pipe downstream, farther from town.
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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JANUARY 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, Simon Maybury, ML Richardson, and Steve Hoppin
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Ongoing Monthly Supporters:
Tall Pines Painting, Baby Doe’s Clothing, Golden Community Garden, Carol & Doug Harwood, Jennings & Litz, Bill Fisher, Brian Quarnstrom, Casey & Gina Brown, Cheryl & Tom Schweich, Robert Storrs, Karen Smith, Sandy Curran, Paul Haseman, Michele Sannes, Kathy Smith, Crystal Culbert, Pat Madison, Donna Anderson, Ann Pattison, Carol & Don Cameron, Tom Hughes, Emeline Paulson, Susan Gray, David Smith, Karen Oxman, Laura King & Scott Wilson, Bill Sedgeley, Mariane Erickson, Carol Abel, Dot & Eric Brownson, Ann Norton & Jonathan Storer, Deb Goeldner, Rosemary Coffman, Jim & LouAnne Dale, Francine Butler, Elaine Marolla, Dixie Termin & Ron Miller, John & Andi Pearson, Chris Ball, Tom Hoffman, Patrick & Lisa Vitry, Alice Madison & Jim Kalivas, Lora Haimes, Nancy & Carlos Bernal, and Stephanie Painter, Holly Thomas, and Julie Bartos & Brad Miller
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