Public Health References
CDC * Colorado * Jefferson County * City of Golden
JCPHD updates these numbers Monday through Friday at about 3 PM. Here’s the most recent Coronavirus report from Jeffco Public Health’s Case Summary Page:
Cases in Jeffco – Thurs: 3880| Fri: 3922
Deaths in Jeffco – Thurs: 227| Fri: 227
Ever Hospitalized in Jeffco – Thurs: 489 | Fri: 493 (currently 32)
Recovered – Thurs: 3288| Fri: 3325
Known Cases in Golden – Thurs: 147| Fri: 146
The next update will appear in Tuesday morning’s email.
Jefferson County mask rule: masks must be worn both indoors and outdoors in public spaces where 6 feet distance cannot be maintained. This matches Golden’s requirement. The rest of the state requires masks only indoors. The Safer at Home and in the Vast, Great Outdoors protocol is in effect statewide. City and County fire restrictions are in place.
Virtual Golden
It’s Sunday! The following Golden churches have information about virtual services and/or sermons on their websites:
Calvary Episcopal Church – Golden Presbyterian – Faith Lutheran Church – First United Methodist Church – First Presbyterian Church – Flatirons Community Church – Hillside Community Church – Jefferson Unitarian Church – Rockland Community Church – St. Joseph Catholic Church
Real Life Golden
9AM-5PM Colorado Railroad Museum Celebrates the Rebirth of Rio Grande Steam Locomotive No. 20
The celebration continues today, with train rides every half hour from 10AM-2PM. Museum members will be offered special behind-the-scenes tours. Learn more (and don’t miss it!)….
9AM-4PM Slash Collection at the Golden Gate Grange (map)
11AM Wild West Pub Crawl Tour
5PM Wild West Walking Tour
7PM Golden Walks: Tucker Gulch / Hogback Ridge
Live Music:
12PM Open Mic at Cafe 13
3PM Jewel & the Rough at Wrigley’s
Golden History Moment
Originally published in July, 2019
Golden exists because of Clear Creek. During the gold rush of 1859, the Creek provided the pathway into the mountains for those prospecting for gold. Golden’s founders decided to stay here in the flatlands and sell supplies to the flood of prospectors. The presence of water–for drinking, irrigation, and waterpower–made this an obvious location for a town.
Water Quality
During the 19th and early 20th century, mining and smelting polluted Clear Creek to the point where it was undrinkable and killed crops when it was used for irrigation. The Argo Tunnel, built in 1893, allowed water to drain out of the mines of Central City and Blackhawk into Clear Creek at Idaho Springs. Golden itself had several smelters, conveniently built along Clear Creek for ease of waste disposal.
The common practice of dumping raw sewage into the Creek didn’t help water quality. Rather than pumping water from Clear Creek, Golden used groundwater and piped water from increasing remote mountain streams.
In the 1950s, the Federal government began to take steps to prohibit dumping sewage into public waterways. Golden began treating its sewage in 1956.
In 1983, Central City, Clear Creek, and Idaho Springs were declared a Superfund site. Clean up began in 1987 and a water treatment plant for the Argo Tunnel went online in 1998.
Recreation (and Water Rights)
That same year (1998), Golden opened the Clear Creek Whitewater Park. Golden had purchased new water rights to ensure that we could keep enough water rushing through Golden to support a kayak park. Other Colorado communities challenged that use of water. For the first 140 years of Colorado’s water law, the only “valid” uses of water were agriculture, industry, and domestic. The case went to the State Supreme Court, which eventually decided that recreation was a valid use for water rights in Colorado.
2020 Addendum
This year has come with a special set of complications because of the Coronavirus pandemic. Golden’s citizens and City Council have expressed their uneasiness about crowds. They have voted to require masks in public places and have denied access to the Creek from city-owned property. These rules are widely ignored, as the tubers enter the Creek near the 6th Avenue bridge (well within the City limits), leave it at Vanover Park on Ford Street, and walk back to the entry point using the sidewalk along Clear Creek.
Those of us who generally have a live-and-let-live philosophy, but also believe that if you’re going to have a rule it should be enforced, are left in a perpetual state of cognitive dissonance.