And Now for Something Completely Different
Photo by Chris Davell
Click to enlarge
What's happening in Golden today?
Events for Monday, Jul. 15th
- All day - CURRENT EXHIBITS AT THE MUSEUMS
- All day - Live Workouts with Community Center Pros
- 7-9AM - Clear Creek Corridor Cleanup
- 10:15-10:45AM - Let's Dance
- 12-12:30PM - Mondays with the Mayor
- 5:30PM - Downtown Development Authority Meeting
- 6-9PM - Teach Me to Play! Mondays
For more information, click the item above or visit the Golden Today Calendar
5:30PM Downtown Development Authority (DDA) @ City Hall
Proposed Changes to 14th & Ford
City Council recently approved a new IGA, which extended the DDA's initial 10-year agreement with the City. Tonight, the DDA will discuss and approve the new terms.
City Planners will present their plans for changing the intersection of 14th and Ford. This part of a larger project to make many changes along Ford & Jackson from 14th to 24th. The changes are designed to improve conditions for bicyclists and pedestrians.
They will review the current boundaries of the DDA district as a likely precursor to expanding their territory to include the former Coors property in Goosetown.
They will review the Transportation Demand Management strategy that City Council reviewed last week. The goal of this plan is to reduce the number of single occupancy vehicles that visit downtown (and possibly the South Golden Road corridor). Proposed solutions include improved public transportation (the Ore Cart buses), more bike racks, wider sidewalks, 4-day work weeks including 2 days of working at home for City employees, and rebates for ebike purchases, eliminating free parking for employees, car shares, and fewer parking spaces. Learn more. Council heard from many downtown employers and employees last week, protesting the idea of eliminating free parking for employees, so that idea is unlikely to be employed. Since the DDA will be affected by this plan, they will eventually receive a formal presentation on the plan.
What’s Blooming Along Golden’s Trails? Buffalo Grass!
Figure 1. Buffalo grass – Bouteloua dactyloides (Nutt.) Columbus – with staminate (male) flowers. Inset: pistillate (female) flowers.
By Tom Schweich
Now that it is getting a little warm (Ha!), we can talk about how we have two very distinct groups of grasses in Golden: cool season and warm season. Cool and warm season grasses have different metabolisms. Cool season grasses form chains of three carbon atoms and are called C3 grasses. Warm season grasses on the other hand form chains of four carbon atoms and are called C4 grasses.
Cool season grasses like June grass, indian rice grass, and needle and thread, have all turned brown. Now we are coming into the warm season grasses.
Buffalo grass is usually the first of the warm season grasses to bloom. Other warm season grasses that will be blooming soon are blue grama and side-oats grama, and little bluestem and big bluestem.
Buffalo Grass is a widespread common short-grass prairie grass. Around Golden it has been found on North and South Table Mountains, and on Schweich Hill. It is probably also in Kinney Run and on Tin Cup Ridge, I just have not seen it there.
One character of buffalo grass is that it has separate staminate (male) and pistillate (female) plants that look very different. When Thomas Nuttall first collected the grass on his 1811 trip to the upper Missouri River, he named the staminate (male) plant, not recognizing that there should have also been a pistillate (female) plant. Meanwhile, the pistillate (female) plant of buffalo grass was described with a completely different name from specimens found in Texas.
George Engelmann, MD (1859) recognized that Buffalo Grass has male and female flowers on separate plants (termed “dioecious”), and that a new genus name was needed for it. He used the Greek words for buffalo (bubalo) and grass (chloë) and contracted them together to form the name Buchloë. Since the root words forming a scientific name should be pronounced separately, Buchloë should be pronounced “Boo-chloe.”
Recent genetic studies have shown that separating buffalo grass (Buchloë sp.) from the grama grasses (Bouteloua sp.) is not supported by scientific data, and therefore we should be calling buffalo grass Bouteloua dactyloides (Nutt.) Columbus.
6:30-8:30PM Music Bingo @ The Golden Mill
Grab your friends or family and come test your music knowledge! Every participant will be entered to win the chance to go to the Underground Music Showcase courtesy of Oskar Blues!
Golden Mill
1012 Ford Street (map)
Golden History: Early History of the Colorado School of Mines
Bishop Randall, founder of the School of Mines, as seen on the Foss Building mural, 13th and Washington
Click to enlarge
Part 1
by Guest Historian Paul Haseman
The History of Mines goes back a ways. It started with an idea of George Randall, a missionary Episcopal Bishop who came to Denver 11 June 1866. He was no itinerant preacher as he held a Doctor of Sacred Theology from Brown University. He came to Colorado with goals for education. He first started an Episcopal High School for Girls, Wolfe Hall, in Denver and then sought to establish an industrial school of mining.
Preaching in both Colorado and New Mexico, one of his stops was in Golden, where he helped establish Calvary Episcopal Church and where he no doubt met Charles Welch. Welch was a Golden businessman and in 1868 offered Bishop Randal 12 acres in Golden for Randall’s proposed school located one mile south of downtown at the end of Ford Road. Randall accepted the offer and on 8 August 1870, the cornerstone was laid for the School to be built with a $3872 appropriation from the Territorial Legislature.
Welch’s motives were not entirely eleemosynary. Welch had purchased land south of Golden and later platted his “Welch Addition” to Golden in 1871. If he could get water to his land, its value would increase. By offering some of his land to Bishop Randall for a state school, he was able to convince city officials to grant a right-of-way across the City for an irrigation ditch to provide water for the school (and for his Welch Addition).
Bishop Randall also was not without his hidden agendas. Before the actual School of Mines was built, Randall first built a boys’ boarding school (Jarvis Hall 1871), then a seminary (Matthews Hall 1872) and finally the School of Mines in 1873. Randall lived to see it open but died 25 days later on 28 September 1873 in Denver. In any event, all three educational endeavors were under the auspices of the Episcopal Church.
Meanwhile, Jefferson County voters had elected Welch to the Territorial Legislature representing Jefferson County in 1872. In 1873 Welch co-authored the bill to establish the Territorial School of Mines, the first state institution of higher education in Colorado. When enacted, the bill included an additional appropriation of $5000. Territorial Governor Routt signed the Bill on 9 February 1874, which date marks the official date of founding of the now Colorado School of Mines, but then titled the Territorial School of Mines in Golden.
Upon enactment, the five acres of land on which the Mines building stood was deeded by the Episcopal Church to the Territory to include a “quit claim” deed from Welch. Following statehood in 1876, Welch introduced similar legislation for the “State School of Mines at Golden.” Upon Statehood, the “School of Mines at Golden” also became part of the State Constitution (Art. VIII, Section 5). Becoming part of the Colorado Constitution was helpful to Mines in its early years to fend off attempts by the “University at Boulder” to merge the School of Mines with the University at Boulder. (Transcript 12 Feb 1879).
To be continued….
Weather
Overnight: Partly cloudy. Low around 71, with temperatures rising to around 73 overnight. West wind around 9 mph.
Monday: A chance of showers and thunderstorms between noon and 3pm, then a chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly sunny. High near 94, with temperatures falling to around 86 in the afternoon. Northwest wind 6 to 12 mph. Chance of precipitation is 50%. New rainfall amounts less than a tenth of an inch possible.
Monday Night: A chance of showers and thunderstorms before 9pm, then a chance of showers and thunderstorms between 9pm and midnight. Partly cloudy, with a low around 65. West wind 3 to 8 mph. Chance of precipitation is 30%.
Monday Night: Chance Showers And Thunderstorms then Partly Cloudy, 65°F
Tuesday: Showers And Thunderstorms Likely, 87°F
Tuesday Night: Chance Showers And Thunderstorms, 62°F
Wednesday: Chance Showers And Thunderstorms then Showers And Thunderstorms, 82°F
Wednesday Night: Chance Showers And Thunderstorms then Partly Cloudy, 61°F
Thursday: Mostly Sunny then Chance Showers And Thunderstorms, 86°F
Thursday Night: Slight Chance Showers And Thunderstorms then Partly Cloudy, 64°F
Friday: Partly Sunny then Showers And Thunderstorms Likely, 86°F
Friday Night: Chance Showers And Thunderstorms then Mostly Cloudy, 63°F
Saturday: Partly Sunny then Showers And Thunderstorms Likely, 86°F
Saturday Night: Slight Chance Showers And Thunderstorms then Partly Cloudy, 61°F
Sunday: Mostly Sunny then Chance Showers And Thunderstorms, 83°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, Golden History Museum, 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, Peggy Brochtrup
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, Barbara Banks & Ed Imatani, 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, and the Golden Transcript
Followers:
($5-9.99/month)
Golden Community Garden, Lora Haimes, Mariane Erickson
