Wartime, 1917

107 Years Ago
The United States entered World War I in April of 1917, when Congress declared war on Germany. Men between the ages of 21 and 31 were required to register for the draft by June 5th of that year. This would have included many Colorado School of Mines students, who were all required to take military training.

*Golden’s City Park – excerpt from photo X-9810, Denver Public Library Western History Collection –* *click to enlarge*

The July 12, 1917 Colorado Transcript was full of wartime news. The lead article announced that DRAFTING MAY START LAST OF THIS WEEK. The article stated that draft numbers would be drawn by a blindfolded officer, to ensure fairness. The Engineering unit that included Mines students wasn’t waiting for the draft. They had already begun to mobilize, and planned to set up a camp for 650 soldiers in Golden’s City Park. An infantry company was already billeted in the Armory.

A cavalry company had been stationed in Golden for several weeks, but was about to be transferred to Overland park. The Transcript commented:

Golden people greatly regret to see the boys leave this city, as it has been a genuine pleasure to have them here. They are a fine bunch of fellows, and leave many friends here. The boys also regret to leave Golden, and they have asked this paper to express their appreciation of the treatment accorded them by Golden people during their stay here.

The cavalry recruits were evidently self-policing, as shown by still another article in that edition:

Fresh Rookie Gets Ducking
One of the new recruits to the cavalry company that has been stationed in Golden got fresh the other day, and when a Golden girl walked up the street he accosted her with “Hello, Kiddo.” Some of the other soldiers heard the remark, and didn’t do a thing to the fresh one but take him down to the creek and throw him into the deepest part. They told him the soldiers didn’t stand for that kind of talk, and he probably absorbed the lesson, as well as considerable Clear creek water.

Thanks to the Golden History Museum for funding the online collection of historic newspapers, and thanks to the Golden Transcript for documenting our history since 1866!