While Buffalo Roamed: The Wild West History of Colorado

Today we add Golden City to the West Kansas Territory (future Colorado) - July of 1859.

The Boston Company arrives in Golden on June 12, after helping Thomas Gibson with that EXTRA (from episode 13) - a printing job for the Rocky Mountain News. The group land in Golden (nameless at the time) and finds the location perfect for a supply town.

First, a Quick Look at Golden's interesting geology, then we dive into Parfet Park...

Why you ask?

Parfet Park (10th street and Washington Ave.) was the location of the first (permanent) structure in Golden, built by members of The Boston Company.

Golden City is platted in Clear Creek Valley, the new town grows rapidly, but, it becomes evident that a major oversight has been committed, there's neither law, nor a lawman - no court, no judge, no lawyers, no jail!

- This "system" is tested in September of 1859 -

A drunken local businessman gets a little "too" wild for the townspeople. A "desperado" he is later labeled...

Mr. Vanover, in his intoxicated condition, made some threats, shot his revolver at some kitchenware - he yelled a lot, and he was (supposedly) a wanted man (for what crimes nobody knew) - but he never touched anybody - BUT, he didn't hurt anyone.

Edgar's threats of violence alarmed the townsfolk, and by the afternoon, after chasing him into a nearby cabin, his fate was "calmly" discussed by the crowd. By the "town."

The two options: Banishment or execution.

A vote ensued, and banishment was NOT the winner!

Moments later, Edgar Vanover was hanging dead; his body attached to a meat gallows by the neck.

After the lynching, he was buried in the vagrant section of the town cemetery (Cemetery Hill, now Goldco Circle between first fifth streets) - he's still there.

Vanover is later honored by the town of Golden... In 2006, Vanover Park was dedicated - but you won't find a historical marker there telling THIS story...

Summary justice in the wild, wild, West.

Kansas Territory, 1859

Deadman’s Gulch, Gunnison / Almont Colorado

This episode we revisit the Ute ambush and murder of 7 men, as well as their animals - in August of 1859 - But why?

New evidence suggests the location of the fateful battle AND the resting place of the miners.  

The location was discovered immediately (in 1859), but bad communication and labeling of various water courses kept the bodies of seven men hidden, decomposing quietly in the sunny gulch - 

In 1860, a prospecting party buried the remains, but again misidentified the location, naming the headwaters of the Rio Grande (another time, the location is printed as being at the headwaters of the Colorado - wrong again).

Nobody knew the strangers, they were deep in Ute country, and for whatever reason, their journey ended in what is now known as Deadman's Gulch, in the Gunnison National Forest, just northeast of Almont - between the Cement Mountains.  

I hike the trail and explain what happened here in 1859, and what I saw last week on the trail.

Also, we look at how the legend changed, and was eventually adopted by the Leadville Miners of the 1870s and 1880s.

Full show

Love,

JB 

Redwoods in Colorado?

What if the pine trees and deep snow of the Colorado Rockies are sitting right on top of an ancient, tropical jungle?

35 million years ago, the heart of Colorado's South Park basin and the Florissant Valley looked more like Central America than the high altitude country we know today. Giant, 150 foot tall redwoods choked the humid valleys, while rhinoceros sized "thunder beasts" crashed through the underbrush.

But these massive trees carried a strange evolutionary secret from a past life in the ice free high Arctic - and their mountain paradise was about to meet a violent, volcanic end.

In this short episode, we chart the epic 65 million year-old Odyssey of the Redwood family tree. We explore their massive migration down the continent, the catastrophic volcanic mud flows that trapped them in stone, and the mind blowing 1943 plot twist that proved a branch of this prehistoric forest never actually went extinct.

In this episode, you'll discover:

The Backyard Monster - How the Guffey Volcanic Complex created a world class fossil goldmine.

The Arctic Secret: Why an ancient Colorado redwoods drop their needles in the winter time, unlike California redwoods.

The Botanical Time capsule: How the catastrophic mud flows of Lake Florissant perfectly sealed away a prehistoric world.

Hiding in Plain Sight: The jaw-dropping 1943 "rediscover" of China's living "dinosaur" tree.

Hit play and travel back 35 million years into Colorado's hidden tropical past!

Buckskin Joe, Fair Play, Tarry All, Breckenridge, Mosquito Pass, South Park and Florissant (one time home to a redwood forest) -

Kansas and Utah Territories 1859; Fair Play begins, Joe Higgenbotham or Higgenboittom leads a group of prospectors up into high mountains above Fair Play - Thomas Breckenridge gets a town named for him (...and a pass). Fort Mary B. Mosquito Pass (unnamed is seen), California Gulch (future Leadville) is prospected. Buckskin Joe, an ancient dumpster, petrified wood, redwood forest of Colorado, a trick to get a post office established on the western slope of future Colorado!

South Park's ancient gold location?

Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument and why you should visit.

Hope you enjoy-

JB

Boulder City and Boulder Diggings are revealed and cover a large area (you'd be surprised).  From Gold Hill to Gregory's diggings encompass the norther portion of the mountain gold bonanza in 1859.  

Deadwood, Greenhorn, Gamble Gulch / the Jefferson diggings, Lump Gulch, South Boulder Creek, the "Mountain House" (pie and coffee), first silver mine in Nebraska Territory?, and a toll road!

John Quincy Adams Rollins and Rollinsville? - NOT YET

Have fun, there's a lot of great bedrock in this show!

I love you, 

JB

1859 Kansas Territory -  Descriptions from three journalists of the same scenes - rare and interesting !

The Gregory Diggings were visited by three journalists (June '59) - one of which is known to all - the other two will be...

All had a hand in shaping our young country, albeit in different ways. When reading over these sections (while doing research) I thought it was so cool to read three versions of the same thing by great artists - which they indeed were!  Each with a light on what they thought pertinent.  

Henry Villard (image on cover art) - Albert Deane Richardson - Horace Greeley

Enjoy their genius, describing the cradle of future Colorado!

Thank you,

JB

Hi friends!  Today, continuing through the gold regions in late summer of 1859, we first discover Georgetown (Griffith Brothers).  Then, over the range to the South Park - bad news from the Arkansas, the Utes have murdered over a dozen in retaliation of the miners intrusion.  

Description of the South Park and dawn of Georgetown, Colorado.

Bayou Salado, Georgetown, Guanella Pass, THE South Park, Hamilton, Jefferson, Tarryall, Idaho Springs, Chicago Creek, and more! 1859

Packed show,

Thank you for listening!

William Green Russell (image in cover art) has a HUGE plan to bring water from the snowy peaks, the continental divide, to Russell Gulch and beyond. The first "utilities" planned in the mountains.

The Fall River Ditch Company, The Rocky Mountain Ditch Company, the first newspaper in MOUNTAIN CITY (edited by Thomas Gibson and "FRED").

Idaho Springs, Spanish Bar, Mountain City, Nevada, Fall River, Clear Creek, Denver, Golden, Russell Gulch and Central City 1859.

Description of the area...and I finally find some GOLD.

James Beckwourth (cover art) , a freed slave (freed from his loving father) from Virginia, while part of a trapping expedition in the early 1820s, is captured by a band of Crow Tribal People while trapping in the wilds of modern Wyoming (within the boundaries the future Jefferson Territory).

James is mistaken for a long lost son of the tribe, he joins the Crow Nation as a result - going along with this mistaken identity.

As usual, a Beckwourth story always entertains, and his experiences add wonderful color to tribal life on the plains.

Enjoy!

And thank you for listening!

JB

First Pistol Duel in Denver, 1859 (Park McClure and Richard Whitsett (cover art) fight for honor on the banks of Cherry Creek.  

Achilles and Hector - David and Goliath - Park McClure and Dick Whitsett?

Today, two 58ers have a private dispute and duel it out on the banks of Cherry Creek with 8" Navy Revolvers, at ten paces.

How did we get here, where did the idea of an honorable and gentlemanly deadly duel come from?

Today the duel, a few famous duels, the rules of the Duel (Code Duello 1777), then, Denver's first gentlemanly gunfight.

Best wishes and thank you for tuning in!

Further Reading:

History of Colorado, Hall, 1889