11/9/18 Historical Commission

Historic Mining and Quarrying in Jefferson County

Early prospectors scoured Jefferson County for precious metals, but found little other than some placer gold in Clear Creek. Jefferson County’s other mineral resources, such as coal, claystone, quarry rock, sand, and gravel, proved to be more important and supported a variety of industries. Coal mining and stone quarrying were major industries in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Base metals in small quantities and uranium to a larger extent were also mined in the county. Gravel extraction continues as an important industry today. Placer mining in Clear Creek, circa 1910 -Denver Public Library Gold mining White Ash, Loveland, Boss, Pittsburgh, Stone quarries Prospectors discovered a small amount Black Diamond, and other mines operated Stone quarrying was an important county of gold in 1850 at the confluence of at Golden in the 1800s and early 1900s. industry until the mid 1900s. The Dakota Ralston Creek and Clear Creek in present- Coal was mined at the Bluebird /Satanic Hogback that runs north-south along day Arvada, the first documented gold Mine, located northeast of Morrison near the Front Range contains substantial discovery in the region. During the West Alameda Parkway at C-470, from deposits of sandstone, limestone, and 1859-1860 Gold Rush, some placer mining 1872 into the 1930s. several adjacent clay beds. Sandstone occurred in Clear Creek east of present-day The county’s longest operating coal mine from Dakota Hogback quarries was used Golden. Placer mining continued on Clear was at Leyden, along Leyden Road (West in several Morrison buildings. Limestone Creek west of Golden into the 1900s. 82nd Avenue) east of Highway 93, where was used for building and for industrial coal was produced for nearly a century. processes. It went into several buildings, Coal mining Michael, Martin, and Patrick Leyden including the Central City Opera House Coal mining was an important county discovered coal in this area in the late and the trim on the Brown Palace Hotel in economic industry. Coal was first 1860s. The Leyden brothers developed Denver. Smelters and mills at Golden also discovered in 1859 near Coal Creek, 14 their coal mine and delivered coal by consumed limestone to process ore. miles north of Golden. Murphy Mine on ox-drawn wagon to Golden and Denver, Ralston Creek was an early operation. The Granite quarries operated in Clear Creek where they sold it for $3.00 a ton. Canyon, Bear Creek Canyon, Mount Vernon In 1902, the Leyden Coal Canyon, and along the North Fork and Mining Company was South Fork of the Platte River. For example, formed. The company built red granite dimensional stone quarried the Denver & Northwest near Buffalo Creek was used in many Railroad that ran between buildings in Colorado, Wyoming, and Leyden and Denver and Nebraska. A quarry below Foxton yielded shipped coal to the power stone blocks for the State Capitol Building. generating plant for the The pegmatite quarries near Swede Gulch Denver Tramway Company and Kerr Gulch produced white quartz, at the west edge of Denver. used in various buildings in the Evergreen The mining company area. In west Jefferson County, native erected workers’ housing granite was used in a number of dwellings. at Leyden, which today The abundance of stone encouraged consists of a collection distinctive stone features such as of small houses and the prominent foundations, fireplace chimneys Miners’ housing at Leyden is all that remains of the coal operation Community Hall. and porches, and was used in landscaping. -Cathleen Norman Clay, sand, and gravel Jefferson County has been an important producer of clay, sand, and gravel. Clay pits along the Dakota Hogbacks at Golden and Morrison have supported brick and ceramics production from the late 1800s through the present day. Golden industries have used this material for manufacture of brick, fire-clay bricks, tile, ceramic porcelains, and architectural elements such as window lintels and sills. For many decades, gravel and sand deposits have been exploited, including those from the valley floors of Bear Creek, Clear Creek and the South Platte River and its North Fork. Other deposits are located on Rocky Flats, a very large alluvial plain. Different gravel quarries have been developed in the mountains of Jefferson Leyden coal mine, circa 1910 -Denver Public Library County. Sand and gravel served as road surfacing, concrete aggregates and other Ranch in the late 1800s and the Shield Fossil quarries industrial uses. The Dakota Hogback north of Morrison M. Ranch in the early 1900s, both in Deer yielded dinosaur fossils, excavated after Creek Canyon. Uranium mining initial discoveries in 1877 by Arthur Lakes, About six miles west of Pine, the Saxonia Uranium became an economical geology professor at Colorado School of Milling, Smelting, and Refining Works mineral commodity in the mid-1900s. Mines. The fossil deposits excited national opened in 1880 and served a brief flurry For a short period, the Schwartzwalder interest and triggered the “dinosaur wars” of iron, copper, and lead mining activity. Mine, northwest of Golden at the edge between two noted paleontologists - The mill site consisted of a crusher, stamp of present-day White Ranch Park, was Othniel Charles Marsh from Yale University mills, roasting furnace, and blast furnace. one of the most productive uranium and Edward Drinker Cope with the Adjacent to Saxonia, Crossons consists of a deposits in the U.S. It was developed in Philadelphia Academy of Science. the 1950s by Fred Most of the fossils were taken east Schwartzwalder and exhibited at Peabody Museum in and was sold in Connecticut and other institutions. Today the 1960s to the called Dinosaur Ridge, this part of the Denver-Golden hogback has been designated a National Corporation. Natural Landmark. Most of the area is Uranium was also owned and maintained by Jefferson mined near Kassler County Open Space. Creek west of Chatfield Reservoir Base metals and other and at a site minerals midway up Golden Other mineral products in Jefferson Gate Canyon. County include minor quantities of copper, feldspar, mica, beryl, and gypsum. Copper was produced around the turn of the Brook Forest Inn south of Evergreen used white quartz quarried in the vicinity century at the Malachite Mine, three miles -Cathleen Norman west of Morrison along Bear Creek in the main dwelling that served as the residence Mount Vernon Mining District. The mine for the manager of the Saxonia operation had two tunnels 305 feet in length and a and several one-room cabins. After the 150-foot shaft. It produced about $35,000 brief spurt of mining and processing in ore. Another copper operation was activity ended, the buildings were used as the FM&D Copper Mine west of Idledale, a fishing camp for sportsmen arriving on where a vein was discovered in 1866 and Jefferson County Historical Commission, the Denver South Park & Pacific Railroad. c/o Jefferson County Planning & Zoning periodically worked until 1917. 100 Jefferson County Pkwy., #3550, Golden, CO 80419 A deposit of gypsum near Morrison was This brochure and others are available on our web site: used to make plaster of Paris. Some tin http://www.jeffco.us/historical-commission mining took place on the Lilly Karsch For additional information please email us at [email protected] or call 303-271-8734