May the Fourth (Be With You)

colorful sunrise silhouettes South Table Mountain and several bare trees. Clear Creek is faintly visible in the foreground. — *Golden Eye Candy – Gunnar Tande – Sunrise Silhouettes – enlarge*

WHAT’S HAPPENING IN GOLDEN TODAY?

9-9:55AM Silver Sneakers Classic (Virtual)

9AM Public Art Commission Meeting @ City Hall
The City budgets $80,000/year for public art projects. The Public Art Commission uses some of the money for maintenance of the collection and the rest for commissioning new public art. Some is earmarked for “large art–“major installations–and some for the annual “tiny art” collection. Today, the PAC will discuss several places where they may chose to places art, both large and small. The group has received proposals from citizen groups for possible major projects. The proposals are included in the meeting packet. Because the group has carryover funds from previous years, they currently have $164,000 available.

9:15-9:45AM Baby Time @ Golden Library
10-10:30AM Call In: Mid-Morning Meditation (Virtual)
10-10:55AM Chair Yoga (Virtual)
10AM and 4PM Wild West Walking Tour
10AM, 1PM and 4PM Wild West Short Tour
3-9PM Cheese Night with Cheese Ranch @ Mountain Toad
6PM Run Club @ Runners Roost
6-7PM Ukulele Thursdays @ Golden Library

6-8PM May the 4th – Star Wars Trivia @ The Golden Mill

See the complete calendar of events.

LIVE MUSIC

5-8PM Teague Starbuck @ Mountain Toad

6-9PM Luke Amelang @ The Buffalo Rose
6PM A-Mac & The Height @ New Terrain Brewing
8PM Karaoke @ Rock Rest Lodge

GOLDEN HISTORY MOMENT

*Headline from the May 4, 1961 Colorado Transcript*

62 Years Ago
The Golden community was excited in May of 1961: we were getting ready for the grand opening of our big, new, modern municipal center on 10th Street. It was replacing the tiny brick structure–built in 1883–that had served as both fire station and city offices.

*Central Fire Station and City Hall, on 12th Street next to Miners Alley.*

The general feeling in town was that this new building, which housed the police and fire departments, City offices, Golden Library, and the Golden Pioneer Museum, represented our entry into the modern world.

*The front page of the May 4, 1961 Colorado Transcript shows a wagon train of settlers.*

The Transcript used this final edition from the “old” world to publish a retrospective of Golden’s first 102 years. The May 4, 1961 Transcript included histories of the School of Mines, Golden industries, Golden government, Golden Police, the Pioneer Museum, Golden schools,the Golden Cemetery, Golden Post Office, Golden railroads, the Golden Library, Golden’s water system, Golden electrical service, the Golden Symphony (now called the Jefferson County Symphony), and several of Golden’s churches.

I particularly liked the article about Golden’s water system, written by the City Engineer. Here are some highlights:

Until 1879, Golden citizens relied on individual wells to supply water for domestic use and fire fighting.

1882 Birdseye View Map of Golden with the water pumping plant circled — *The pumping plant appears on the 1882 Birdseye View Map of Golden – enlarge*

In 1879, the citizens approved a $40,000 bond issue, by a vote of 186 to 19. This paid for a pumping plant (slightly west of the current water treatment plant) and installation of water mains. Our water source at that time was Clear Creek.

By 1902, the population was growing and spreading over a greater area. Citizens approved a $100,000 bond issue to acquire an additional water source. They wanted not only more water, but better quality water, as Clear Creek had become quite polluted by the turn of the century.

At that time, the accepted standard for drinking water was “pure and wholesome.” The term was rather vague, but generally meant that cities bought and transported water from ever-more-distant unpopulated areas.

The City bought nearly 6,000 acres in the Beaver Brook water shed and built an 11 mile long pipeline across the mountains to a reservoir on Lookout Mountain. Beaver Brook water was “raw” (not filtered), but was considered “pure and wholesome.”

In 1939, Golden acquired a third water supply. The City of Denver had recently completed a massive water project which piped water through the mountains from the west slope. Denver agreed to sell some of that water to Golden and store it in Long Lake (about three miles north of Golden). Golden built a pipeline from Long Lake to our water treatment plant.

That same year (1939), Golden began chlorinating all of our drinking water, to kill potentially harmful microbes.

Golden’s population continued to grow and water quality standards became more stringent, so in 1950 the City built a bigger and better water treatment plant. The new plant allowed us to more thoroughly “sterilize” the water supply.

As of May 4, 1961, Golden had three water sources: Clear Creek, Beaver Brook, and Long Lake.

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!