A Day at the Beach
Photo by Chris Davell
Click to enlarge
What's happening in Golden today?
Events for Friday, Aug. 23rd
- All day - The Friday Tour
- All day - CURRENT EXHIBITS AT THE MUSEUMS
- All day - Live Workouts with Community Center Pros
- All day - Community Center CLOSED for Maintenance
- 9:30-10:30AM - Rooftop Yoga
- 9:30AM-3:30PM - Improv Landscape with Diana Fox
- 10:15-10:45AM - Toddler Time
- 5-7PM - Healthy Skin Club - Summer Hawaiian Luau
- 6-9PM - Show Gear Pop-Up Clothing Swap
- 6-8PM - Teen After Hours: Draw Like Disney
- 7:30PM - School of Rock - The Musical
For more information, click the item above or visit the Golden Today Calendar
6-8PM Teen After Hours: Draw Like Disney
There’s always something fun when the library shuts down! This month, teens will learn to draw their own versions of popular Disney characters. Bring your friends and make new ones as you follow step-by-step instructions from Disney animators and enjoy tasty treats.
These after hours events are for the 12-18 crowd. All skill levels are welcome.
ONLY teens in 6th through 12th grade will be allowed into this program. Please be respectful of this age limit for safety and to encourage peer learning with other teens. Register here.
9:30AM Improv Landscape with Diana Fox @ The Quilt Museum
CIRCLES, LINES and CURVES are the basics of Piecing in Art Quilts. Piecing lines is easy, but curves and inset circles are a bit of a challenge! Create your own Improv landscape as you learn these piecing skills. Create a Fat quarter size landscape wall hanging using these new skills and learning to create as your imagination moves you. Pick your own daytime or moonscape pallet - or ....create a piece of your own style while learning these techniques. $75 More information
Rocky Mountain Quilt Museum
200 Violet Street, Suite 240 (map)
9:30-10:30AM Rooftop Yoga @ The Golden Mill
Join us every Friday for Yoga on the Rooftop of the Golden Mill. Class is for all levels, intended to get you ready for an amazing weekend in Golden. Class includes 1 FREE beverage after class (Kombucha, Beer, Wine, Margarita). $20 More information
Golden Mill
1012 Ford Street (map)
4-10PM Golden Hayride 2 Step Friday
Friday nights just got a whole lot more exciting in South Golden! Golden Hayride Outpost 2 Step Friday is comin' at ya tonight with some live All Through The Night band boot-scootin' country music at 6:30 p.m. Grab your partner and get ready for a hootin' good time!
Mac Nation will be our yum Friday Night food truck. More information
Golden Hayride Outpost
17695 South Golden Road (map)
3-5PM 20th Anniversary Celebration @ Golden Pond
Golden Pond Retirement Community is celebrating their 20th Anniversary this afternoon! If you have friends who live there, friends who work there, might want to move there, or just want to help a Golden business celebrate a major milestone, stop by this afternoon between 3 and 5PM!
Golden Pond
1270 N. Ford Street (map)
Live Music for Friday, Aug. 23rd
- 7-10PM Chris Child @ Buffalo Rose (Sky Bar Stage)
8PM Paradise Theatre @ Buffalo Rose (main venue)
- More Live Music
5-8PM Live Music @ Eddy Taproom
6PM Rescue Dogs @ Dirty Dogs Roadhouse
6-9PM Big Hooray Bluegrass @ Goosetown Station
6-10PM Kristin Kay Band @ Wrigley’s
9PM Karaoke @ Ace Hi Tavern
For more information, visit the Golden Today Calendar
Golden History: A Pugnacious Engineer and a Persistent Lumberman
Duvall-Davison Lumber Company at 14th and Ford (now the Coors visitor parking lot)
Click to enlarge
George Duvall ran a lumber business at 14th and Ford for more than 40 years. I occasionally search the Colorado Transcript for his name, both because he had an interesting life and because I live in his house!
Duvall was a Charter Member of the Golden Chamber of Commerce (in 1920), and immediately signed up to serve as the chairman of their Highways Committee. One of the Chamber’s very first projects was paving Golden’s dirt streets–a goal they pursued energetically for decades. Duvall had a bigger vision though–he wanted good roadways to connect Golden to other towns.
As the representative of the Golden Chamber, he worked with members of the State Highway Commission, and soon the Governor tapped him to join that group. His fellow commissioners named him to chair that committee. He represented our part of the state, and did a good job of it: he arranged to pave Morrison Road from Denver to Morrison, widened “the road by the Rock Rest” (now South Golden Road), and campaigned to build a highway from Golden to Boulder. He was constantly negotiating for improvements.
As I read those articles, I learned a thing or two about early roads. When Duvall started his work, roads were built without standards–they could be twisty, rutted, any width–whatever someone had built. Because earth-moving was so much more difficult and expensive in those days, roads generally went around natural barriers (like hills and mountains). As the state began to work with the Federal government, they had to learn to comply with an emerging set of standards.
By the 1930s, Mr. Duvall was serving as a Jefferson County Commissioner. There, too, he focused a lot of his attention on roads. He persuaded the state to designate 44th Avenue as a state highway, which came with some state funding. He continued to work on the Golden-Boulder highway.
As early as 1928, he began working on his favorite, hardest, and longest lasting project: he wanted to build a highway through Clear Creek Canyon. Furthermore, he wanted it to be part of a coast-to-coast highway.
One complication was the Colorado & Southern Railway, which went through the canyon and used a lot of the right of way. The Railroad had no objection–the route lost money, and they wanted to abandon it. They required permission from federal regulators to do so, and the feds didn’t want to grant permission as long as the mountain towns still wanted rail service.
The State Highway Engineer (Charles Vail) was a bigger stumbling block. Vail didn’t want to build that road. He used various evasions over the years. First he said the project would cost $1.5 million, then when the State and the Feds came up with the money, he said it would cost $4 million–maybe $5 million.
When Roosevelt’s New Deal began, there were Federal grants available. To qualify, communities needed to build something worthwhile (like a highway) and they needed to employ local unemployed men. They agreed to fund a highway through Clear Creek Canyon.
Meanwhile, State Engineer Vail was funding any project but that one. He was particularly in favor of the Mount Vernon Highway (now I-70). That was a much more difficult path, since it went up and down mountains instead of running parallel to the Creek at the bottom of the canyon.
Finally Colorado started receiving threats from the Federal government, because we had accepted a grant to build in Clear Creek Canyon, but had not built the road. The Feds and Colorado’s Governor told Vail to start building the highway immediately. Vail said the grant money was gone–he had spent it on other projects.
One night, the Central City Opera House had a gala, and every influential person from this part of the state was there. Vail used the opportunity to announce that he was thinking of using the Clear Creek Canyon highway money to pave Highway 119. That road services Central City, so no doubt many of the opera-goers thought that was a great idea. Duvall responded that it was too late–the money was already tied up, budgeted and committed. The Transcript commented that they were surprised Vail hadn’t paved 119 while they were all inside, watching the opera.
Finally, the fiances were worked out, and they were ready to start construction. The Transcript announced that the project was starting, and the Governor was all ready to wield a shovel for a groundbreaking ceremony. Then Word War II started! All money, men, and materials were diverted to the war effort for the next several years.
Charles Vail died in January, 1945 and the highway through Clear Creek Canyon was finally completed in about 1950.
Some newspapers wrote effusive obituaries in Vail’s honor. The Colorado Transcript did not:
HE KEPT HIS WORD
ENGINEER CHARLES D. VAIL died Monday at the age of 76. He said he would never in his life complete the Clear Creek Canyon road. He kept his word.
Colorado Transcript – January 11, 1945
George Duvall lived until March of 1964, so he was able to enjoy many years of driving on the roads he had helped build. He was 87 when he died, and had served his community for 55 years. He’s buried in the Golden Cemetery.
Many thanks to Esther Kettering for sponsoring Golden History Moments for the month of August.
Weather
Overnight: Partly cloudy. Low around 61, with temperatures rising to around 63 overnight. West southwest wind around 5 mph.
Friday: A chance of showers and thunderstorms after noon. Mostly sunny, with a high near 84. North wind 3 to 9 mph. Chance of precipitation is 50%. New rainfall amounts less than a tenth of an inch possible.
Friday Night: A chance of showers and thunderstorms before 9pm, then a slight chance of showers and thunderstorms between 9pm and midnight. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 65. West wind around 9 mph. Chance of precipitation is 30%.
Friday Night: Chance Showers And Thunderstorms then Mostly Cloudy, 65°F
Saturday: Partly Sunny then Chance Showers And Thunderstorms, 88°F
Saturday Night: Slight Chance Showers And Thunderstorms then Mostly Cloudy, 64°F
Sunday: Partly Sunny then Chance Showers And Thunderstorms, 83°F
Sunday Night: Chance Showers And Thunderstorms, 60°F
Monday: Partly Sunny then Chance Showers And Thunderstorms, 79°F
Monday Night: Slight Chance Showers And Thunderstorms then Partly Cloudy, 59°F
Tuesday: Sunny then Slight Chance Showers And Thunderstorms, 83°F
Tuesday Night: Slight Chance Showers And Thunderstorms then Partly Cloudy, 61°F
Wednesday: Mostly Sunny then Slight Chance Showers And Thunderstorms, 86°F
Wednesday Night: Slight Chance Showers And Thunderstorms then Partly Cloudy, 60°F
Thursday: Mostly Sunny then Slight Chance Showers And Thunderstorms, 78°F
Supporters
Many thanks to the people and organizations who support What’s Happening in Golden? If you would like to support local news, please CLICK HERE!
Sponsors:
($100/month and up)
Buffalo Rose, Buglet Solar, Foothills Art Center, Golden City Brewery, Golden Cultural Alliance, Miners Alley Performing Arts Center, The Golden Mill, Golden Chamber of Commerce, Golden History Tours, Morris & Mae Market, Miners Saloon, Colorado Railroad Museum, Golden Hayride Outpost, Kona Bowls, Unite Fitness, Tom Reiley, Michael Mason, and Esther Kettering
Friends:
($50-99.99/month or $500/yr)
Tall Pines Painting, Baby Doe’s Clothing, Goozell Yogurt & Coffee Paul Haseman, Donna Anderson, Carol & Doug Harwood, Beth Bidwell, Stephanie Painter, Greg Poulos, and Joy Brandt
Supporters:
($25-49.99/month or $250/yr)
Laura King and Scott Wilson, Bobby German and Alison McNally, Ann Norton & Jonathan Storer, Forrest Jones, Barry & Liz Bettis, Cheryl & Tom Schweich, Marjorie Sloan, Chris and Joyce Davell, Rick Flint, Forrest Jones, AC Development, Cynthia Merrill Tamny, Stephen Pero, Meg Van Ness & Steve Kalasz, Steve & Karla Schaefer
Members:
($10-24.99/month or $100/yr)
Brad Miller & Julie Bartos, Holly Thomas, Jim and LouAnne Dale, Ann Pattison, Thomas Hoffman, Carol Abel, Brian Quarnstrom, Sandra Curran, Bobby German and Alison McNally, Kathy Smith, Karen Smith, Carlos & Nancy Bernal, Robert Storrs, Michele Sannes, Elaine Marolla, Dixie Termin & Ron Miller, E Tom Hughes, Crystal M Culbert, Patrick A. Madison, Alice Madison & Jim Kalivas, Deb Goeldner, Christopher Ball, 6th Chair Home Services, Dot & Eric Brownson, Rosemary Coffman, Emeline Paulson, Casey & Gina Brown, Sandy Schneider, Mark and Cathy Pattridge, Cheryl G Leidich, Jen Rutter, Carol Abel, Frani R Bickart, Jennings and Litz, Bill Sedgeley, Nancy Hughes, Justin L Wade, Kathi Eggers, Traci Case, Donna Owen, Leslie D Lutz, Karen Oxman, Catherine Skokan, Ross Fraser, Lynne Haigh, Elizabeth Hilliard, Frank Young & Terre Deegan-Young, Kathy Hirons & Jack Markin, Jess & Anthony Monasterio, Ella Lyons & Jeanne Fritch, Heather Duncan, Lee Ann & Pete Horneck, Carol Cameron, Cheryl Williamson, San Daugherty, Jim Garner, John and Carol McEncroe, the Golden Welcome Center, and the Golden Transcript
Followers:
($5-9.99/month)
Golden Community Garden, Lora Haimes, Mariane Erickson, J.J. Fraser
