Nostalgia & History > Colorado Gold Rush and More

To put the Colorado Gold Rush in perspective with other happenings I have a short timeline below.

Mexican War: April 25, 1846 to February 2, 1848 [Peace Treaty Signed].

California Gold Rush: 1848-1855.

Panama Railroad: First Train January 28, 1855.

Colorado Gold Rush: July, 1858 to February 28, 1861 [Creation of Colorado Territory].

Civil War: April 12, 1861 to April 9, 1865 [Lee surrendered].

Klondike Gold Rush: August 16, 1896.

Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_Gold_Rush , has a web page on the California Gold Rush. The following excerpts are from this web page.

“The effects of the Gold Rush were substantial. San Francisco grew from a tiny hamlet of tents to a boomtown, and roads, churches, schools and other towns were built. A system of laws and a government were created, leading to the admission of California as a state in 1850. New methods of transportation developed as steamships came into regular service and railroads were built.”

“On August 19 1848, the New York Herald was the first major newspaper on the East Coast to report that there was a gold rush in California; on December 5, President James Polk confirmed the discovery of gold in an address to Congress. Soon, waves of immigrants from around the world, later called the ‘forty-niners,’ invaded the Gold Country of California or ‘Mother Lode."

“In what has been referred to as the ‘first world-class gold rush,’ there was no easy way to get to California; forty-niners faced hardship and often death on the way to the gold fields. At first, most Argonauts, as they were also known, traveled by sea. From the East Coast, a sailing voyage around the tip of South America would take five to eight months, and cover some 18,000 nautical miles. An alternative route was to sail to the Atlantic side of the Isthmus of Panama, to take canoes and mules for a week through the jungle, and then on the Pacific side, to wait for a ship sailing for San Francisco. There was also a route across Mexico starting at Veracruz. Eventually, most gold-seekers took the overland route across the continental United States, particularly along the California Trail. Each of these routes had its own deadly hazards, from shipwreck to typhoid fever and cholera.”

Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panama_Railroad , has a web page on the Panama Railroad. The following excerpts are from this page.

“The Panama Railway or Panama Railroad was the world's first transcontinental railroad. It stretches 48 miles across the Isthmus of Panama from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean. The Panama Railway was built during the period of 1850 to 1855.”

“The need for the railway was inspired by the California Gold Rush. The project was begun in 1850 and the railroad was completed in 1855, with the first train running from ocean to ocean on 28 January of that year.”

“Upon completion, the 48 mile long railway was proclaimed an engineering marvel of the era. The line was built as double track. The Atlantic terminal is in Colón; the Pacific in Panama City. Until the opening of the Panama Canal, it carried the heaviest volume of freight per unit length of any railroad in the world.”

Picture 1 below, is from the Wikipedia Panama Railroad web page and is captioned, “Railway at Culebra Summit Station, 1854”

Picture 2 below, http://www.sfmuseum.net/hist1/rail.html , “This is Central Pacific locomotive No. 1, the first engine to be placed in construction service on the western end of the transcontinental railroad. The maiden trip was made at Sacramento, November 11, 1863, after having arrived from the East on a clipper ship via Cape Horn. This locomotive was named in honor of Leland Stanford, then California’s governor, and one of the ‘Big Four’ builders of the Central Pacific.” From, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cape_Horn#Discovery , “It [Cape Horn] is widely considered to be the southern tip of South America. Cape Horn is the most southerly of the great capes, and marks the northern boundary of the Drake Passage; for many years it was a major milestone on the clipper route, by which sailing ships carried trade around the world. However, the waters around the cape are particularly hazardous, owing to strong winds, large waves, strong currents and icebergs; these dangers have made it notorious as a sailors' graveyard.”

Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pike's_Peak_Gold_Rush , has a web page on the Colorado Gold Rush. The following excerpts are from this web page.

“The Pike's Peak Gold Rush (later known as the Colorado Gold Rush) was the boom in gold prospecting and mining in the Pike's Peak Country of western Kansas Territory and southwestern Nebraska Territory of the United States that began in July 1858 and lasted until roughly the creation of the Colorado Territory on February 28, 1861. An estimated 100,000 gold seekers took part in one of the greatest gold rushes in North American history. The participants in the gold rush were known as Fifty-Niners after 1859, the peak year of the rush.”

“In the first week of July 1858, Green Russell and Sam Bates found a small placer deposit near the mouth of Little Dry Creek that yielded about 20 troy ounces (622 grams) of gold, the first significant gold discovery in the Rocky Mountain region. The site of the discovery is in the present-day Denver suburb of Englewood, just north of the junction of U.S. Highway 285 and U.S. Highway 85.”

“When word got back east, the Pike's Peak Gold Rush was on. By 1859, large numbers of prospective miners and settlers had come up the South Platte River to the Cherry Creek Diggings (Denver). At first, there was only the slight showing in Cherry Creek and the South Platte River, but soon hard rock deposits of gold were discovered at Idaho Springs and Central City. By 1860, Central City had a population of 60,000 people, and Denver City, Golden City, and Boulder City were substantial towns serving the mines.”
Picture 3 below, is DPL MCC-97A. “Title: Rounding Inspiration Point, Clear Creek Cañon photo. Summary: A Colorado and Southern Railway passenger train rounds Inspiration Point alongside Clear Creek in Clear Creek Canyon, Colorado; the narrow gauge line ran from Denver to Central City via the Georgetown Loop; a mileage post reads ‘23 miles to Denver.’ Date: (1905?). Creator: Louis Charles McClure 1867-1957.

Picture 4 below, is DPL C-211. “Title: Forks Creek crossing. Summary: Stereographic view of a passenger train of the Colorado Central Railroad about to cross the original wood bridge at Forks Creek coming from Idaho Springs in Clear Creek County, Colorado. The track at the right follows North Clear Creek to Blackhawk in Gilpin County. A large water tank stands near the track in the right background. A rocky hillside is in the distance. Date: (between 1875 and 1900?). Creator: Joseph Collier.

Picture 5 below, http://theclaimpost.homestead.com/coloradogold.html . “If one image best symbolizes the state of Colorado, it is the familiar photograph of the gilded dome of the State Capitol Building in Denver. Behind the dome, along the western horizon, rises the Rockies, a snow covered line of high ridges and peaks that the early explorers knew as the ‘shining mountains.’ The capitol dome reflects brilliantly with the rich luster of gold for a good reason, it is gold.” “In 1907 the entire outer surface of the 42 foot diameter dome was covered with gold, 200 troy ounces of the yellow metal donated by Colorado mining companies and fashioned into gleaming, film-like gold leaf. Architecturally, gold provided the crowning touch to the dome; historically, the state could not have chosen a more appropriate medium.”

http://library.ci.fort-collins.co.us/local_history/Topics/contexts/colorado.htm , has more information on the Colorado Gold Rush.

Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Klondike_Gold_Rush , has a web page on the Klondike Gold Rush. The web page has a nice map that shows three routes to Dawson City.

Picture 6 below, is from http://vilda.alaska.edu/index.php , the web page, Alaska Digital Archives. The caption to the picture says, “Packers ascending summit of Chilkoot Pass '97 [1897].”

http://www.yesnet.yk.ca/schools/carcross/white_pass_rail_pages/railway_main.htm , is a web page on The White Pass and Yukon Railroad.

Picture 7 below, is from the above web site. “Working on a bridge just outside of Skagway, 1898.”

Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Pass_and_Yukon_Route , has a web page on the White Pass and Yukon Route. The following excerpts are from this web page.

“In 1897, three separate companies were organized to build a rail link from Skagway to Fort Selkirk, Yukon, 325 miles (523 km) away. Largely financed by British investors, a railroad was soon under construction. A 3 foot (914 mm) gauge was chosen; the narrower roadbed required by a narrow gauge railroad made for big cost savings when that roadbed had to be carved and blasted out of the mountain rock. Even so, 450 tons of explosives were used to reach White Pass summit.”

“Alaska became strategically important for the United States; there was concern that the Japanese might invade it, as Alaska was the closest part of the United States to Japan. The US Army took control, bringing some newly built and many used steam locomotives (such as the USATC S118 Class) brought from closed US narrow gauge lines to the railroad.”

Picture 8 below, is from the Wikipedia web site. “USATC S118.”

http://www.galenfrysinger.com/white_pass_and_yukon_railroad_2.htm , has some nice pictures. On the home page scroll down to the pictures.

Picture 9 is from the above web site, “near white pass.”

The web site address below is a video of a scene from the Charlie Chaplin movie, “The Gold Rush,” 1925. In this scene the little tramp [Charlie Chaplin] and the prospector he is with are starving. The little tramp cooks his boot and the two eat the boot. The video has sound.



If the above link does not work do a Google search for Charlie Chaplin The Gold Rush Thanksgiving Meal. When I did the search the video, YouTube – Charlie Chaplin’s Thanksgiving Meal was the first item on the first page of the search results.

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Pictures 4, 5, and 6.

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Pictures 7, 8, and 9.

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Two of the web site addresses in the posting above do not work. Below is the web addresses for a second trial.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colorado_Gold_Rush

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sgWiFTCZYBo

If the first web address still does not work go to Wikipedia Main Page, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page and scroll down a few inches and in the search space on the left of the web page type in Colorado Gold Rush and click on search.

If the second web address does not work highlight the youtube web address above and with the cursor on the highlighed web address click on the right mouse button and on the menu click on Copy. In the space at the top of your computer page highlight whatever web address is at the top of you computer screen. Click on the Delete button on your Keypad. Put the cursor in the space on the top of your computer and click on the right mouse button. Click on Paste. Click on the green arrow just to the right of the space where you entered the web address and you should go to the youtube web page.