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Golden is Abuzz: Art Class, Cowboys, History Tour, Dinosaur Tour, Train Ride, Lots of Music, and Freezing to Death

Golden Eye Candy – Amanda Frank – Creek Walk in Winter – click to enlarge

Virtual Events

9-11:30AM Virtual: Accelerate Your Career for Mature Job Seekers (through January 22)


Real World Events

9:30AM-3PM Creating Fearlessly With Pastels @ Foothills Art Center
10AM-3PM Brunch at the Rose @ Buffalo Rose
10:15AM Family Time @ Golden Library

10AM-12PM Wild West Walking History Tour
1-4PM Wild West Pub Crawl

12-2:30PM Walk With a Geologist @ Dinosaur Ridge
12-3PM Suspension Service Workshop @ Avalanche Harley Davidson
10AM-4PM Colorado Cowboy Gathering Daytime Shows @ American Mountaineering Center
7:30PM Colorado Cowboy Gathering Evening Show @ American Mountaineering Center


Live Music

10AM-4PM Colorado Cowboy Poetry Gathering Daytime Shows
7:30PM Colorado Cowboy Poetry Gathering Evening Show
Host: Andy Nelson, Performers: Terry Nash, Eli Barsi & John Cunningham, Carol Heuchan, and Dave Stamey

11AM-2PM Eric Lane @ Buffalo Rose (Sky Bar Stage)
7-10PM Carl DiFederico @ Buffalo Rose (Sky Bar Stage)

5-8PM Shawn Eckels @ Golden Mill
5PM Tony Fire @ Over Yonder
9PM Karaoke @ Ace Hi Tavern


Golden History Moment

Washington Avenue after the 1913 snowstorm – click to enlarge

The snowstorm of December 4th & 5th, 1913 remains the biggest in Golden history. There was also record cold that month, so the snow didn’t melt as rapidly as usual. A month later there were still significant drifts.

The December 11, 1913 Colorado Transcript reported that Golden dairyman John Klaassens had disappeared in the storm. He was last seen near his home, when a neighbor helped him unhitch his team from his wagon, which had overturned with a load full of malt. Klaassan headed home from the accident, riding one horse and leading the other. The horses were found the next morning, but searchers found no trace of the man.

108 Years Ago
The January 15, 1914 Transcript reported that Klaassens’ body had been found at last. He was lying face down about 200 yards from his house. There was blood beneath his body and a mark the size of a horse’s hoof on his chest. The coroner concluded that Klaassens had “pitched over the horse’s head and that the horse stepped on him.” It was believed that the cold and his injury left him unable to stand, so he died where he fell.

Search parties had been looking for him every Sunday since he disappeared, and on January 10th, two men spotted his coat peeking through the drifts near the spot where his horses were found.

Klaassens had come to Golden from Holland six years earlier. He left a wife and three young children. He is buried in the Golden cemetery.


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!

Highlights