Public Health References
CDC * Colorado * Jefferson County * City of Golden
Coronavirus report from Jeffco Public Health’s Case Summary Page, as of 3:45PM Wednesday:
Cases in Jeffco
Tuesday: 2567 Wednesday: 2585
Deaths in Jeffco
Tuesday: 206 Wednesday: 207
Ever Hospitalized in Jeffco
Tuesday: 418 Wednesday: 419 (currently 14)
Recovered
Tuesday: 2262 Wednesday: 2281
Known Cases in Golden
Tuesday: 110 Wednesday: 111
The Safer at Home protocol is in effect. Check the City’s site to learn more about what that entails. Everyone is still requested to wear a mask that covers the nose and mouth when leaving the house. City and County fire restrictions are in place. Clear Creek is open for Kayaks and Canoes. Learn more….
Virtual Golden
6:30-7:30AM Virtual Low Impact
10:15-11:15AM – Preschool Time with the Library
6PM Virtual Qs and Brews Trivia with the Library
6PM Online Community Meeting – Avilla North Table Mountain
Virtual Community Meeting to discuss the potential Rezoning from Planned Development (PD) and Agricultural-Two (A-2) to Planned Development (PD) to allow for the development of 4 parcels (26 acres total) as a multi-family residential development of 235 units, styled as single-family detached and attached units, and communal amenities. More information. NOTE THE TIME! Yesterday’s post said it would start at 7, but in fact, it starts at 6PM.
6-7:30PM Golden United Anti-Racism Collective Virtual Meeting (via Zoom)
Learn more and register here….
Tonight’s Live Music
5PM Bike Night at Dirty Dogs Roadhouse
5PM Bruce Cole at Wrigley’s
7PM Roots & Rhythm at Golden Moon Speakeasy
Camps and Classes
Miners Alley Playhouse is offering outdoor summer camps, starting in July. Miners Alley’s camps are always popular and in-demand. This year, they’re moving them outside and adding extra sanitation steps in response to the pandemic. Learn more.
Are you looking for more summer options for the kids? Check the Camps and Classes page to see what’s available.
Golden History Moment
Golden Clay – “Good as Gold” for the Parfet Family
by Guest Historian Paul Haseman
Golden did not have much gold but Golden clay was as good as gold. We all remember fondly the modeling clay from kindergarten. As a creative exercise, children really kneaded it. This wonderful image of molding clay normally comes to mind when one hears the “clay” word. Well, you need to put aside that image of your almost elephant to understand the real story of clay in Golden. If you think clay from Golden penny-ante, think again. For over 100 years, Golden was the major center of clay mining in Colorado and Jefferson County. According to the U.S. Geological Survey, more than half the clay mined in Colorado came from Jefferson County, amounting to many millions of tons of clay. So, our clay was a high stakes game.
Before enjoying the fun facts on Golden clay, you might as well “enjoy”some geology facts. If you are a potter like our renowned Judy Madison, who taught ceramics at Golden High School and still creates works of art at her studio on Washington Ave., these clay facts are interesting! For the rest of us, well . . . In any event, you don’t dig up modeling clay – it is manufactured, as is the “slip” or ceramic clay used by potters and sculptors. Clay derives in large part from shale (aka mudstone). The clay particles are minute (pronounced my-nute). To make clay for any purpose, the mudstone is pulverized and mixed with water and other “ingredients,” according to varied highly proprietary formulas. All clays are aluminum silicates, that is, based on aluminum (Al) combined with silicon and oxygen (Si and O). Surprised to find aluminum in clay? Well, it is, and the more the better for use in pottery and high-tech ceramics.
Claystone in Golden was located in two areas: in the Laramie Formation (Mines and Fossil Trace Golf Course north of 6th Avenue) between alternating fins of upright sandstone and in the Dakota Formation (Eagle Ridge at the Hwy 6-Heritage Road intersection and Dakota Ridge west of the Rooney Road soccer fields). Okay, enough geology although, alas, there is so much more.
The clay industry started in Golden because of bricks. Bricks came into high demand following a major April 1863 fire in Denver which led to an ordinance requiring all major structures to be built of brick or stone. Golden was best suited to meet this demand – clay deposits, coal for kiln fuel, and water. Several brickworks were formed, but that is another story. With the demand for bricks, the story of Golden clay is essentially the saga of the Parfet family.
George Parfet, Sr. came from Wales in 1835 as a coal miner to Lykens, PA. In 1874, he moved west on to Murphyville, CO, five miles north of Golden. There he and his son, George Washington (GW) Parfet (1859 – 1924) worked in the Murphy coal mine. In 1877 with his failing health, Parfet Sr. came to the “big city,” Golden with his family.
Here, son GW, at the tender age (I think not) of 19 jumped right in to help support the family and convinced H.W. Rubey and W.S. Woods to bankroll his mine endeavor. With two nearby pre-existing brick works, sited on the now Mines Soccer Field, it is likely that some mining had already begun at the end of now 12th St., near the White Ash coal mine. But if so, the clay mining became Parfet #1 clay mine. The mine was at first underground, harking back to Parfet’s skills as a coal miner and later above ground on the now western side of the Mines campus. Irrespective of its provenance, Parfet #1 is recorded as the first clay mine in Colorado. And with this first, GW Parfet began a clay dynasty in Golden that would last 124 years.
Paul Haseman and Donna Anderson are writing a book, “Golden Rocks! The Geology and Mining History of Golden,” due out by year end.
