Virtual Events
6-6:55AM Cardio Lift Interval
8:30-9:30AM Virtual Power Training
8:30-9:30PM Golden Women in Business Book Club
10:15-10:30AM Virtual Baby Time
11AM-12PM All Levels Yoga Virtual
3-5PM Call In: Hard Times Writing Workshop
5:30-7PM Golden Orators Toastmasters
Real World Events
9AM Golden Walks – Wednesday Morning Celebrating Life @ Golden Library
4-5PM Theater and Improv @ Golden Library
4PM Ski X Board Tune Night @ New Terrain Brewing
5:30-7PM Golden Orators Toastmasters
6PM Tunes and Brews with Powder 7 @ Over Yonder Brewing
6PM Pong Night @ Coda Brewing Company
6:30PM Planning Commission Study Session @ City Hall
Planning Commission will review 2021 accomplishments, discuss work plan goals for 2022, and then conduct a prioritization discussion in preparation for their annual report to City Council.
Live Music
6PM Live Music @ Miners Saloon
6:30PM Open Jam/Mic at Over Yonder Brewing
Golden History Moment
83 Years Ago
For most of the 20th century, Golden was on a constant hunt for water. Most summers and many winters brought pleas for citizens to conserve water, and watering lawns and gardens was frequently forbidden. Our last resort was always using Clear Creek water, but the Creek was very polluted at that time, and was of marginal use, even for irrigation.
1938 brought a hot prospect: buying water from Long Lake, about five miles north of Golden. The lake belonged to Denver Water and they were willing to sell some of the water. Golden would need to build a five-mile pipeline to transport the water. The Works Progress Administration (Roosevelt-era federal government agency) agreed to cover a significant amount of the cost.
The City presented citizens with a $100,000 bond issue to cover the new water supply. The Transcript stated that “Long Lake Water Would Take Care of Dry Years and Allow for Growth in Golden Equivalent to 320 New Families.”
The special election was held on Thursday, November 10th. The bond issue was defeated, 311 to 86. On November 17th, a highly irritated Transcript blared, “Golden Citizens Vote Themselves Back Into Clear Creek for Supplemental Water for City. They wrote several articles, shaming the citizens of Golden for their bad judgement.
That wasn’t the end of that story. In January, 1939, Coors made a gift to Golden of 200 acre feet of Long Lake water, or 65,000,000 gallons of water annually. The gift was valued at $100,000.
Golden still needed to construct the pipeline. That, along with a few other upgrades to our water distribution system, still totaled $100,000–the same amount that voters had voted down. Council voted to issue the bonds anyway, without voter approval.
The pipeline was constructed during the summer of 1939 and the new supply came online on September 1st. Citizens were asked to boil water for a while, and there were problems with sand and tar accumulating in the mains, but the water was running clear by the end of the month.
Unfortunately, there’s no such thing as “enough” water. By the end of June the next summer, the City was placing restrictions on lawn sprinkling.
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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!
