Brick-clay mining was the domain of the Parfet family for 124 years beginning with George (G.W.) Parfet (1859-1924) in 1877 and ending with his heirs in 2002. At the ripe age of 19 years old, G.W. Parfet, Sr. took his knowledge of underground coal mining and applied it to clay mining on land in the Laramie Formation at the end of today’s 12th Street. Initially called the Parfet #1 or the White Ash Clay Mine, it eventually became known as the Rubey Mine due to financing from H.M. Rubey and W.S. Woods on land leased from the Colorado Limited Company owned by W.A.H. Loveland.
After mining coal for others as a teen, Parfet now had a clay mine of his own.216 Not limiting himself to brick-clay, G.W. Parfet’s “empire” soon included fire-clay mines. He operated the Santa Fe Mine in the Dakota Formation along Eagle Ridge, and the Apex 10, South Golden, and Parfet mines on the Dakota Hogback between Lena Gulch and south of I-70 (Fig. 79). Principal customers were the Cambria Brick and Tile Company in Golden (13th and East Street) and the Denver Sewer Pipe and Brick Company. Continuing his legacy, his son (G.W. Parfet, Jr., 1889-1940), grandson (William “Bill” G. Parfet, 1918-1998), and great-grandson (William “Chip” G. Parfet, Jr. 1946-present) operated four Laramie brick-clay mines in addition to the Rubey Mine: the Rockwell, Rubey Standard, Apex and North Apex, and Green Mountain Mines (Fig. 79).
While clay from the Parfet-family mines in south Golden was mined out by 1953 217, the family continued clay mining in the Laramie Formation in central Golden until August 2002, a mining legacy of 125 years (1877-2002)!
Over time, the many Parfet-family mine-sites were developed for housing and government buildings or reclaimed for recreation and open space. The worked-out Rubey Mine was deeded to the School of Mines in 1964 in exchange for clay-bearing acreage further south. The Rockwell Mine was donated to the City of Golden in 2002 to be used for part of the Fossil Trace Golf Course (Fig. 85). Part of the Rubey Standard Mine was sold to Jefferson County as the site for the Laramie Building, completed in 2005. Another worked-out part of the Rubey Standard Mine became The Splash Water Park, owned by the City of Golden. The North Apex Mine was developed as a mobile-home park, whereas the Apex Mine became a Jefferson County landfill, operated from 1958 to 1980. In 2007 the landfill was reclaimed for the Rooney Road Athletic Complex.
216 The Golden Kiwanis Club established Parfet Park in 1929 on the southeast corner of Washington Avenue and 10th Street in honor of its first president George W. Parfet, Sr. Parfet Park is the oldest park in Golden and is also the site of the Boston Company’s 1859 first log building in Golden. Also, as a major environmental and olfactory improvement, the Park replaced the town dump.
217 Bill (William G.) Parfet recounted the post-1940 clay operations in a 1977 interview by Bill Ryder of the Colorado Railroad Museum (Parfet and Ryder, 1977).
This was an excerpt from Golden Rocks: The Geology and Mining History of Golden, Colorado by Donna Anderson and Paul Haseman.
The authors have granted me permission to reprint excerpts, but I recommend that you read the whole book. You can buy a copy from the Lulu website, borrow one from the library, or read it online for free, courtesy of the School of Mines library.
Many thanks to the Golden Rotary Club for sponsoring for sponsoring Golden History Moments for the month of September.
