Greenery Surrounds the Double Hairpin
Photo by Bud Rockhill
Click to enlarge
What's happening in Golden today?
Events for Friday, May. 30th
- All day - The Friday Tour
- All day - CURRENT EXHIBITS AT THE MUSEUMS
- All day - Spring Whale of a Used Book Sale
- All day - Live Workouts with Community Center Pros
- All day - Golden History Tours
- All day - Goldengrass Bluegrass Weekend 2025
- 9:30-10:30AM - Rooftop Yoga
- 10:15-10:45AM - Toddler Time - Registration Required
- 12-9PM - 6th Year Anniversary Party @ Over Yonder
- 7:30PM - Ring of Fire
For more information, click the item above or visit the Golden Today Calendar
Monthly Appeal
Golden Scenes from May 2025
Thank you to everyone who supported GoldenToday during May.
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8AM-5PM Spring Whale of a Used Book Sale @ Jefferson County Fairgrounds
Colorado's biggest used book sale is back at the Jeffco Fairgrounds. Adult hardbacks & paperbacks, children's books, DVDs, CDs, movies, fiction, nonfiction, and special antique books at super low prices.
Regular All-Day Ticket (9AM-5PM) is $5
Early Bird Admission available at 8AM for $10
For more information call 303-403-5076, email friends@jeffcolibrary.org, or visit us on the web. Proceeds benefit children and teen literacy programs.
Location:
Jefferson County Fairgrounds
15200 West Sixth Avenue (Map)
When:
All day on Friday, May. 30th
9:30-10:30AM Rooftop Yoga @ The Golden Mill
Enjoy an all-levels class on The Golden Mill’s rooftop patio, with sweeping views of North and South Table Mountains, Zion Mountain, and Clear Creek. Led by Flow Yoga Studio. $20 Class includes a beverage after class. Rain or shine. Register.
The Golden Mill
1012 Ford St. (map)
Friday Tours @ The Colorado Railroad Museum
10:30AM Highlights Tour
1:30PM Railroad Post Office Cars
Each Friday, join us for an hour of exploring a different aspect of Colorado’s railroad history. Tours are subject to change and are based on guide availability. Each week’s theme is explored using a variety of museum resources to help bring the subject to life with the understanding that guests are welcome to continue their visit on their own after the tour.
Friday Tour Tickets - $3 each plus General Admission ($10 adults, $5 kids 2-15, $8 seniors 60+).
Today's Topic
Location:
Colorado Railroad Museum
17155 W. 44th Avenue (Map)
When:
All day on Friday, May. 30th
Live Music for Friday, May. 30th
- 6:30-9:30PM The Pickpockets @ Goosetown Station
- 8PM Citizen Dan @ Buffalo Rose (main venue)
- 5:30-8:30PM Chris Child @ Buffalo Rose Sky Bar Stage
- More Live Music
5-8PM Rachel Cole and Gus Miller @ Coda Brewing
5-8PM Live Music @ Eddy Taproom
5:30-8:30PM Jay Martin @ Barrels and Bottles
6PM Dave Frisk @ Dirty Dogs Roadhouse
6-10PM 3eatles @ Wrigley’s
9PM Karaoke @ Ace Hi Tavern
For more information, visit the Golden Today Calendar
Golden History: Cement Bill Williams
Promotional Photo for the Lariat Loop Trail (Road), designed and built by Bill Williams
Click to enlarge
By Paul Haseman - Guest Historian
Most of us have motored up Lookout Mountain Road. Its history in brief is remarkable. The vision for the route derived entirely from Goldenite, William “Cement Bill” Williams. Perhaps not a vision, as two rail funiculars were constructed up Lookout Mountain and South Table Mountain in 1912 and 1913, respectively. The tramway up Lookout Mountain crystalized the idea for Cement Bill to build an automobile road up the mountain.
With little local enthusiasm for such an engineering impossibility, Willams reached in his own pocket (with a little help) and surveyed and then built a two-foot-wide concrete trail up the mountain. This strip led the State Road Commissioner to approve the route. With this approval Cement Bill raised $30K to start work. With added workers from Buffalo Bill’s bankrupt Wild West Show, the road was opened within a year on 26 August 1913. As you might expect, the popular new road put the Lookout Mount funicular out of business in a few years.
But more about Cement Bill. With his success going up the mountain, he then connected “his” road (then State Hwy 27) to the Denver Park System’s “Lariat Loop” to the west at Genesee Park. With further visions of grandeur, he noted that the existing rutted stage route to Idaho Springs was unsuitable for automobiles. It needed a better road and who better to build it than Cement Bill . . . particularly when Idaho Springs officials and residents were clamoring for improved transportation. Cement Bill’s road to Idaho Springs opened in 1914.
With this road completed, Cement Bill began renting his own Stanley Steamer for trips up Lookout Mountain. With early success, he took another step in February 1915 to exploit his road construction. He formed the Williams Transportation and Investment Co with Charles Quaintance, G.W. Parfet and other local luminaries, with Cement Bill as President. The first two tasks – build a large garage (now Woody’s Pizza) and purchase a new a fleet of Stanley Steamer touring cars. With both tasks completed, by December 1915, Cement Bill’s company was making regular runs to Idaho Springs charging $1.50 one way the $2.50 round trip.
As a contractor, Cement Bill performed other work in and around Golden. One contract, not surprisingly, was with the State Road Commission in 1919 to install protective wire cable along the Floyd Hill section of the road to Idaho Springs. Additional work included work in Big Thompson Canyon, and his crew rescuing stranded travelers snowed in at Berthoud Pass with early and late blizzards in September 1919 and May 1920. Another job was a two-story vault for Golden’s Rubey Bank.
Cement Bill was more than a hard-working contractor. In April 1920 he scored the highest mark on the State Civil Service exam among 20 engineers and was appointed Superintendent of Construction for the State Highway Commission. An unexpected achievement for the bib overalls working man in the photo above.
In April 1919 Williams moved his family to Bergen Park, beyond Genesee and his name appeared less often in the Golden press. Cement Bill certainly left his mark on Golden.
Bill Williams died on May 17, 1945, and "his ashes were scattered on Wildcat Point at the end of the Lariat Trail as he had requested." (Colorado Transcript - May 24, 1945)
Weather
Overnight: Clear, with a low around 49. West wind around 8 mph.
Friday: A slight chance of showers and thunderstorms after noon. Mostly sunny. High near 79, with temperatures falling to around 75 in the afternoon. North northwest wind 6 to 10 mph, with gusts as high as 16 mph. Chance of precipitation is 20%.
Friday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 54. West northwest wind 3 to 8 mph, with gusts as high as 16 mph.
Friday Night: Partly Cloudy, 54°F
Saturday: Sunny then Slight Chance Showers And Thunderstorms, 78°F
Saturday Night: Mostly Clear, 57°F
Sunday: Mostly Sunny then Chance Showers And Thunderstorms, 83°F
Sunday Night: Slight Chance Showers And Thunderstorms then Mostly Cloudy, 60°F
Monday: Showers And Thunderstorms, 78°F
Monday Night: Showers And Thunderstorms Likely, 53°F
Tuesday: Showers And Thunderstorms Likely, 63°F
Tuesday Night: Showers And Thunderstorms Likely, 50°F
Wednesday: Showers And Thunderstorms Likely, 69°F
Wednesday Night: Chance Showers And Thunderstorms then Partly Cloudy, 50°F
Thursday: Mostly Sunny then Chance Showers And Thunderstorms, 73°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, Miners Saloon, Golden Hayride Outpost, Unite Fitness, Joy Brandt, Tom Reiley, Michael Mason, and the Colorado Railroad Museum, Goosetown Station
Friends:
($50-99.99/month or $550/yr)
Tall Pines Painting, Baby Doe’s Clothing, Goozell Yogurt & Coffee Paul Haseman, Donna Anderson, Carol & Doug Harwood, Beth Bidwell, Stephanie Painter, Greg Poulos, Ann Norton & Jonathan Storer, Mary & Don Parker, Saré Merrigan, The Rocky Mountain Quilt Museum, and Vic DeMaria
Supporters:
($25-49.99/month or $250/yr)
Laura King and Scott Wilson, Bobby German and Alison McNally, Forrest Jones, Barry & Liz Bettis, Cheryl & Tom Schweich, Marjorie Sloan, Chris and Joyce Davell, Rick Flint, Forrest Jones, Cynthia Merrill Tamny, Stephen Pero, Meg Van Ness & Steve Kalasz, Steve & Karla Schaefer, Bud Rockhill, Steve Enger, Kristie Brice & Mike Schwartz, The Golden Hotel, Kurt & Janet Siegfried, Ella Lyons & Jeanne Fritch, and Robert Thresher.
Members:
($10-24.99/month or $110/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, Sandy Schneider, Mark and Cathy Pattridge, Cheryl G Leidich, Jen Rutter, 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 & KC Gilliland, Lynne Haigh, Elizabeth Hilliard, Frank Young & Terre Deegan-Young, Kathy Hirons & Jack Markin, Jess & Anthony Monasterio, Heather Duncan, Lee Ann & Pete Horneck, Carol Cameron, Cheryl Williamson, San Daugherty, Jim Garner, John and Carol McEncroe, the Golden Welcome Center, the Golden Transcript, Koshare Eagle, Ken and Colleen Krantz, Traci Neuman Lacey, Jo Barber, Jamie Cookinham, Kermit Shields, Meridee Cecil, Vicki Olson, Colleen & Michael Ramey, Nancy & Pete Torpey, Jax Baker, Simon Maybury, Rose McLaughlin, Cameron Chambers, Joyce Gravina, Patrick Klein, Barb Robie, and Mary Rains, Richard Caldwell, Janice Waring, Sam & Marilyn Baron, Carmen Johnson
Followers:
($5-9.99/month)
Golden Community Garden, Lora Haimes, Mariane Erickson, J.J. Fraser, Mel Perkins, Bob Hamilton, Kim Linton, Steve Stevens
