Waning Moon
Photo by Liz Erickson
Click to enlarge
What's happening in Golden today?
Events for Thursday, Mar. 27th
- All day - CURRENT EXHIBITS AT THE MUSEUMS
- All day - Live Workouts with Community Center Pros
- All day - Golden History Tours
- 9:15-9:45AM - Baby Time - Registration Required
- 10AM - Beginning Quilting Course
- 10-10:30AM - Call In: Mid-Morning Meditation
- 10:30AM-12PM - Housing Resource Fair
- 11AM-12PM - Library for All: Interactive Program for Adults with Disabilities
- 12:30-2PM - Homeschool Art Class
- 3-4:30PM - Vaccine, License & Microchip Clinic
- 4-6PM - Ribbon Cutting - Gnarlys Theater
- 4-5:30PM - After School Art Club
- 4-5:30PM - Create Your Own Roz
- 6PM - Run Club
- 6PM - School Safety
- 6-10PM - Wax N' Suds
- 6PM - Mobility & Transportation Advisory Board Meeting
- 6:30-8PM - Waterwise Yard Seminar - Introducing the DIY Landscape Transformation Guide (Virtual)
- 7-9PM - Nuclear's Promise for Colorado: Hype or Hope? (hybrid)
- 7-9PM - Denver West Quilt Artists Group Meeting
For more information, click the item above or visit the Golden Today Calendar
10:30AM-12PM Housing Resource Fair @ Golden Welcome Center
The Flats on Ford Affordable Housing at 24th and Jackson - Photo by Patrick Klein
Representative Pettersen's office is hosting a Housing Resource Fair at the Golden Community Center Community Room.
Our community is facing an affordable housing crisis. The secret is out – everyone knows Colorado is the best place to live, but the cost of housing is just too high. I want to help connect people with the resources they need to afford to live in the community they call home. If you are interested in finding an affordable place to rent or learning more about owning a home, I encourage you to come to my team’s Housing Resource Fair.
RSVP Here
Location:
Golden Welcome Center
1010 Washington Avenue (Map)
When:
10:30AM-12PM on Thursday, Mar. 27th
4-5:30PM Create Your Own Roz @ Golden Library
Create your own unique robot-like structure with inspiration taken from Peter Brown's The Wild Robot series! We'll also learn about various types of robots that have been created throughout time while playing and exploring with Bristlebots. Feel free to bring your own empty tin cans to add height to your robot structures!
Register
Location:
Golden Library
1019 10th Street (Map)
When:
4-5:30PM on Thursday, Mar. 27th
4-6PM Ribbon Cutting - Gnarlys Theater @ Gnarly's
Join us to celebrate the grand opening of Gnarlys Theatre, Golden's newest event and entertainment venue! The celebration will include magic and giveaways in the lobby, and a free magic show to follow the ribbon cutting.
Location:
Gnarly's
1224 Washington Avenue (Map)
When:
4-6PM on Thursday, Mar. 27th
6PM Mobility & Transportation Advisory Board Meeting @ City Hall Council Chambers
- Meeting Agenda
- The meeting will probably not be livestreamed, but you can check this page at 6PM. The recording should be posted on that page tomorrow.
- Attend the meeting @ Public Works Building - 1445 10th Street (map)
- Provide in-person comment during the meeting, at 6PM.
The Board will adjourn to a Study Session after Public Comment.
MTAB will discuss Personal Transportation Vehicles (PTVs), which include motorized modes of transportation such as motorized scooters, skateboards and bicycles. Councilor Reed has asked them to research this issue and make policy recommendations because "There is confusion regarding where and how PTVs can be used and parked." The meeting packet includes the policies that Boulder, Denver, and Fort Collins had adopted. Learn more.
They will continue their ongoing conversation about bike rules. Tonight they're covering sight distance standards.
Location:
City Hall Council Chambers
911 10th Street (Map)
When:
6PM on Thursday, Mar. 27th
6:30-8PM Waterwise Yard Seminar - Introducing the DIY Landscape Transformation Guide (Virtual)
Colorado Water Conservation Board (CWCB), Denver Water, & Resource Central teamed up to create a simple & comprehensive, step-by-step guide for all Coloradans looking to complete a waterwise landscape project. Join this webinar to walk through what’s covered in the guide and how best to use it to complete your own landscape transformation. Following the guide walk-through, the team will hold a Q&A session to answer any questions from attendees. Great for all levels of gardeners.
When:
6:30-8PM on Thursday, Mar. 27th
Live Music for Thursday, Mar. 27th
- More Live Music
6PM Good for Nothin' Thunder Mountain Boys @ New Terrain Brewing
8PM Karaoke @ Rock Rest Lodge
For more information, visit the Golden Today Calendar
Golden History: Coal-Mine Fire in Golden
Statue and plaque at the west end of 12th Street honors the ten miners drowned in the White Ash mine disaster on 9 September 1889. View south. Photo by D. Anderson
Click to enlarge
by Donna Anderson
After the 2021 Marshall Fire and its possible cause from a historic and ongoing coal-mine fire, a question arose about legacy coal-mine fires in Golden. The short story is that Golden did have a coal-mine fire 280 feet below the ground in the White Ash Mine, located below what is now the Colorado School of Mines athletic fields. That fire burned from 1879 to 1889 and only was extinguished by the White Ash Mine Disaster of 9 September 1889 in which 10 coal miners drowned. No other coal-mine fires have ever been reported in Golden. The longer story unfolds below.
First, a little bit about coal-mine fires. Coal can spontaneously combust when exposed to air (oxygen). Most methods for extinguishing coal fires rely on eliminating the air supply. But, once begun, the fires are very difficult to put out, because coal left behind in an abandoned seam provides an almost infinite fuel supply. The coal workings also tend to remain exposed to air by holes reaching the ground surface. The Marshall coal-mine fire, for example, started around 1870, according to the State Coal Mine Inspector’s report of 1884 (WEBSITE BELOW). Today, Colorado is home to 38 active coal-mine fires, including that of the Marshall Mine south of Boulder.
Coal-mine workings in central Golden were located along a vertical coal seam trending north-south below ground (see PHOTO). The seam, known as the White Ash coal seam, extended from near 19th Street, across the site of today’s Mines athletic fields, under Clear Creek, and past today’s Mitchell Elementary School. It had been mined in the Old Loveland Mine (originally called the Black Diamond Mine) on the north side of Clear Creek starting in 1869. The Old Loveland Mine was abandoned in 1879 and allowed to fill with ground water seeping from overlying Clear Creek.
The White Ash Mine opened in 1874 on the White Ash coal seam. In 1879, as the White Ash Mine was deepened, a coal fire broke out at the 280-foot level on the northern part of the crosscut (see CROSS SECTION). Miners sealed off the opening to that crosscut, aiming to cut off the air supply to the fire. No further problems were reported regarding that fire. However, on 9 September 1889, water from the flooded Old Loveland Mine to the north (see PHOTO above and CROSS SECTION below) broke through the pillar of coal and rock that separated the two mines at the 280-foot level. Water burst through the previously sealed opening and cascaded down the main shaft, drowning the 10 miners who had just gone down to the active workings at 720 feet. This was the White Ash Mine Disaster of 1889. It was the worst mining accident in Golden’s history (see chapter 9).
Several hours after water burst through the 280-foot opening into the main shaft, the mine foreman, Evan Jones, and the State Coal Mine Inspector, John McNeil, were lowered down the main shaft in a bucket, trying to reach the trapped miners. Although suffocating carbon dioxide gas and extreme heat forced them to abandon that effort, they discovered that the coal fire was still fiercely burning in the 280-ft crosscut. The fire had never been extinguished. McNeil, in his 1889/1890 report, concluded that the water pressure from the flooded and abandoned Old Loveland Mine, coupled with the coal fire at the 280-ft level in the White Ash Mine, weakened the pillar separating the two workings, leading to the White Ash Mine Disaster. The White Ash Mine workings eventually filled entirely with water to 80 feet below the ground surface, and the Mine closed forever. That flooding extinguished the coal fire, but at an awful human cost.
No other coal fires have ever been reported from now-abandoned coal mines within today’s Golden city limits.
Sources and further reading:
https://www.coloradovirtuallibrary.org/resource-sharing/state-pubs-blog/coal-mine-fires-in-colorado/ An excellent website explaining coal fires in Colorado with links to the 1884 and 1889/1890 State Coal Mine Inspector Reports by John McNeill.
https://libguides.mines.edu/coloradogeology below Lisa Dunn’s photo is a link to: Golden Rocks: The Geology and Mining History of Golden, Colorado by Donna Anderson and Paul Haseman. Among other things the book discusses the White Ash Mine Disaster and coal mining in Golden in Chapter 9. It is a free eBook.
Weather
Overnight: Mostly clear, with a low around 50. West wind around 8 mph.
Thursday: A slight chance of rain showers after 3pm. Partly sunny. High near 75, with temperatures falling to around 73 in the afternoon. West southwest wind 6 to 9 mph, with gusts as high as 20 mph. Chance of precipitation is 20%.
Thursday Night: A slight chance of rain showers before 8pm. Partly cloudy. Low around 50, with temperatures rising to around 52 overnight. West southwest wind around 9 mph, with gusts as high as 18 mph.
Thursday Night: Slight Chance Rain Showers then Partly Cloudy, 50°F
Friday: Partly Sunny, 73°F
Friday Night: Chance Rain Showers, 44°F
Saturday: Rain Showers Likely, 60°F
Saturday Night: Rain Showers, 39°F
Sunday: Chance Rain Showers, 52°F
Sunday Night: Chance Rain Showers then Mostly Cloudy, 36°F
Monday: Mostly Sunny then Slight Chance Rain Showers, 63°F
Monday Night: Chance Rain Showers, 43°F
Tuesday: Chance Rain Showers, 62°F
Tuesday Night: Chance Rain And Snow Showers, 38°F
Wednesday: Mostly Sunny then Chance Rain And Snow Showers, 60°F
News About Golden - March 27, 2025
Mitchell Elementary Hosts 6th Annual Western on Washington Pup Crawl, Concert Event, and Silent Auction to Benefit Local School
Michell Elementary PTA
Golden, Colorado – The Western on Washington Event Committee, in collaboration with Mitchell Elementary School, is thrilled to announce its highly anticipated 6th annual Western on Washington, taking place on Friday, April 18, 2025, from 5:00 to 11:00 p.m. at The Buffalo Rose Venue. This cherished community tradition has grown over the years from a small neighborhood gathering into one of Golden’s most talked-about events, bringing together friends, families, teachers, staff, local businesses, and supporters for an unforgettable evening of fun, fundraising, and celebration... Read more... Download PDF below.
Golden museum’s newest exhibit challenges people’s expectations of Native American art
By Corinne Westeman
Golden Transcript
Like the hills and valleys that surround the city that have been home to people for thousands of years, Golden History Museum’s latest exhibit is a rich tapestry of beauty, history and perspectives that everyone can appreciate... Read more...
Denver Kickers Sports Club Announces Partnership with National Premier Leagues/Junior Premier League Mountain West (NPL/JPL)
Denver Kickers Club
Denver Kickers Sports Club is delighted to announce a new partnership with the National Premier Leagues, a leader in youth soccer development. This partnership, effective June 1, 2025, marks the beginning of a promising relationship aimed at enhancing the ongoing development of our competitive youth athletes... Read more... Download PDF below.
Investigation reveals professor's data in crash that killed Golden police officer
By Kevin Vaughan
9News
GOLDEN, Colo. — A college professor was speeding seconds before a crash that took the life of a Golden police officer and injured three others, according to court documents obtained by 9NEWS Investigates... Read more...
BLUE ENVELOPE PROGRAM
City of Golden Police Department
Crimewatch
The Golden Police Department is partnering with the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office for the implementation of the Blue Envelope Program. The program provides individuals with easily identifiable blue envelopes and/or identifying items with the program logo, which allows the individual to identify themselves to law enforcement as having a condition or disability that may impact communication or require additional accommodations or awareness during an interaction... Read more...
City of Golden Weekly Digest
In this issue... Download PDF below.
Geer to enter plea April 28 in crash that killed Golden police officer
By Corinne Westeman
Golden Transcript
The Colorado School of Mines professor charged in the death of Golden Police Officer Evan Dunn is scheduled to enter a plea on April 28... Read more...
Mines baseball team welcomes young IMPACT player
By Corinne Westeman
Golden Transcript
Even though he’s only 8 years old, Micah has already signed with a college baseball team... Read more...
Anthony Petrella named department head for Mechanical Engineering
By Jasmine Leonas
Colorado School of Mines Newsroom
Anthony Petrella has been named department head for mechanical engineering at Colorado School of Mines.
A member of the Mines faculty since 2006, Petrella is an associate professor and director of the FEA (Finite Element Analysis) Professional Certificate program at Mines. He also served as director of online programs for the Mechanical Engineering Department from 2020 to 2023, helping to launch the online master’s degree in mechanical engineering. His appointment as department head began March 1... Read more...
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, and Michael Mason
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, AC Development, Cynthia Merrill Tamny, Stephen Pero, Meg Van Ness & Steve Kalasz, Steve & Karla Schaefer, Bud Rockhill, Steve Enger, Kristie Brice & Mike Schwartz, The Golden Hotel, and Kurt & Janet Siegfried
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, 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, 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, and Barb Robie
Followers:
($5-9.99/month)
Golden Community Garden, Lora Haimes, Mariane Erickson, J.J. Fraser, Mel Perkins, Bob Hamilton
