77 Years Ago
The August 12, 1948 Colorado Transcript reported on a 12 year old Denver boy who hurt himself while playing in the clay pits at the end of 12th Street.
Gilbert McDonald and two friends rode the street car out to Golden with plans to spend the day hiking. They discovered the clay pits on the west side of town. While exploring the area, young Gilbert lost his footing and fell into one of the pits–a fall of approximately 40 feet.
…he has three breaks in his right arm, a break in his right leg between the hip an knee, a dislocated left hip and severe back injuries.
Climbing in the clay pits is particularly dangerous because of the sheer precipices which may crumble with the slightest pressure. All youngsters who take delight in crawling around through the pits should take warning from Gilbert’s plight.
60 Years Ago
During the summer of 1965, heavy rainfall had resulted in flooding all over the Denver metro area. The floods left wreckage in their wake–downed trees, ruined buildings, silt, etc.
The August 12, 1965 Colorado Transcript reported that both Golden and Denver took advantage of the played-out clay mines on Golden’s west side, and got permission to use them as a sanitary landfill. Truck after truck, day after day, the debris arrived and was dumped into the clay pits. The clean-up effort took about two months.
This wasn’t the only time the clay pits were used as a landfill. In 1977, Coors made arrangements to dump fly ash, concrete, and “porcelain rubble” into the clay pits.
Over time, the clay pits were filled, the land was leveled, and new ground was available for development. The Mines athletic fields and Fossil Trace Golf Club were all built on former clay mines.
