MP 253 – 254: The Big Chief Overlook and “the Glen”
The mile between MP 253 and 254 has lots of history in it. It includes the only recorded remains of the Victory Highway on the Clear Creek County side of the Pass, an overlook where a Castle once stood and one of the author’s favorite places on Berthoud Pass.
Route Mile Marker X Y Longitude Latitude 1U. S. Highway 40 253 436421.26 4401861.97 -105.742283 39.764310 254 438019.73 4401757.05 -105.723612 39.763483
The road between these two mileage posts has always been part of the original auto road. Sections of the original wagon road can be seen below in the valley and are used today as Morrison Road.
The top two photos show the road as it travels west out of Empire and begins to climb up Berthoud Pass. Sections of the original wagon road were used for the footprint of the auto road in Mileage Posts 252-253 and also in 254 – 255, but not this one.
The bottom photo is in the same area but is taken looking east toward Empire.
The top photo was provided by the Federal Highway Administration.
The middle photo is provided by the Historical Society of Idaho Springs.
The bottom photo is provided by and used with permission from the Denver Public Library.
1 Taken from the Colorado Department of Transportation’s website: http://apps.coloradodot.info/dataaccess/Highways/index.cfm?fuseaction=HighwaysMain
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Between these two mileage posts is a large pull-out on the left (or south) side of the road as you are going west from Empire. This is the pull-off that has wires crossing above U. S. Highway 40. Pull off here.
On the right (north) side of U. S. Highway 40 is a large cliff with three out-crops on top of it. The lower one is called the “Big Chief”.
The name came from the Indian profile on the cliffs above the gold mine. Locals today still call the profile “the Big Chief”. The “Big Chief” was a mining and milling operation located below this pull-off. By going to the east corner of the pull-off and looking down to the creek, you can see the location of what was once the “Big Chief”.
Maxwell notes on his August 10, 1891 survey the location of the Eichoff site. This would have been “the Castle”, home of Dr. William Eichoff of New York. The Castle was an impressive three-story residence with hardwood floors, expensively carpeted with a wide graceful stairway leading to the cupola. The cupola had a circular bench upholstered in crimson velvet, beneath the widow’s walk on the roof. The Castle also had a greenhouse to raise the necessary vegetables and flowers needed for the many guests that visited the home. The Castle was destroyed by fire in December 1893.1
Author’s note: Dr. William Eichoff was buried in the Empire Cemetery. See the South Empire section.
1 Harrison, Louis C. Empire and the Berthoud Pass published by Big Mountain Press, Denver 1964 Page 328
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Maxwell also included a drawing showing the location of the boarding house and mill. These were part of the Germania, New York and Colorado Mining and Milling Company, which was referred to locally as the Big Chief. The mill was built in August of 1883 and fire destroyed most of it in December of 1893.
Wagon Road – red arrow Castle – blue arrow Boarding House – yellow arrow Mill – green arrow Empire – black arrow
Photo provided by and used with permission from the Denver Public Library.
Henry DeWitt Clinton Cowles, one of Empire’s founding fathers, wrote in 1883 that there were no gold or silver lodes above the Big Chief worth mining, too low grade for any use.
Today the Henderson Mine and Mill are located up the highway and is the largest primary producer of molybdenum in the world. (See MP248 – 249: Big Bend/ Jones Pass)
A small ditch is shown in the State Engineer’s Certificate dated February 26, 1934 and called the Big Chief Ditch and Pipe Line. In the document, it states that the ditch was begun in 1886. The drawing shows cabins, a fish pond and a bridge on same site as the wagon road bridge shown in Maxwell’s survey drawing. The road continues on to the other side of Clear Creek. Harrison in her book1 states that extensive work in this area was done in 1860-61 by Joe Daily for which the Daily District was named. She also writes that in 1861, Paul Lindstrom with help from a “Dutchman”, found a little gold in the bar, close to the creek where the Big Chief crosses Clear Creek. They packed in lumber on their backs, as there was neither road nor trail. Russell’s road (or the wagon road) would not pass here for another two years.
The gold mine’s tailing pile can be seen from a U.S. Highway 40 pull-out. The site of “the Castle” is now under U.S. Highway 40. The wagon road still remains through the site and ends at a rock gorge made by Clear Creek.
The Big Chief site is private property and access by the public is denied.
1 Harrison, Louis C. Empire and the Berthoud Pass published by Big Mountain Press, Denver 1964 Page 327
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Nearby, on the north side of U. S. Highway 40, is a length of two walls placed one on top of the other. The upper wall is loose dry wall. This wall at its southern end is interrupted by a small dirt slide. This wall continues into the area called “the Glen” described below.
The upper wall probably was built during the first stages of construction of the auto road or the Midland Trail Auto Road.
The Midland Trail Auto Road was started in 1918 on Berthoud Pass, when the US Forest Service (USFS) provided $6,000.00 to finance a location survey. The USFS and State Highway Commission each contributed $110,000 to construct a 16-ft. road way from Berthoud Falls (Clear Creek County) to Spruce Lodge (Grand County). In 1920, road construction began on the automobile road. In 1921, “by the end of August, the work on the eastern slope (of Berthoud Pass) was substantially completed”. In 1923, “the new grade on the west (of Berthoud Pass) was open to traffic”. In 1925, cars from every state in the union traveled Berthoud Pass. (For additional information see U. S. Highway 40)
The construction of the walls is similar to other construction found along the auto road for this time period. Early photos show the same construction methods used at the first stages of the Hoop Creek Bridge. (See MP 246 – 247: Hoop Creek Bridge)
The lower wall was probably built as part of the improvements to the Victory Highway. The route on Berthoud Pass did not change, only the name of Midland Trail Auto Road to the Victory Highway. The Victory Highway (or the Nation’s Memorial Road) is difficult to date. The road is called “the National Memorial Road” to honor the soldiers who fought and died during World War I, or the Great War, which ended on November 11, 1918.
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The Highway started in New York City and went to Baltimore, MD. From Baltimore it continued to Cumberland then through Wheeling, Columbus, Indianapolis, St. Louis, Kansas City, Hays, Denver, (over Berthoud Pass) to Salt Lake City. From Salt Lake City, it went through Reno and ended in San Francisco.
As stated above, the upper or older wall here continues on past a small dirt slide into “the Glen”. Sometimes the author is asked to name her favorite place on Berthoud Pass. This is certainly high on the list.
The photo above on the left shows the remains of the wall as it comes into “the Glen”. The photo above on right shows a section of the original auto road (red arrow). Again, the wagon road is below in the valley. The site is easy to locate because of the old Forest Service sign (green arrow). “The Glen” is simply a quiet place filled with green beauty and birds often singing in the summer and golden leaves in the fall. In the spring, a small creek falls over small boulders.
The remains of the auto road are wide here but more and more trees are growing in the roadway. An old cement culvert can still be seen.
The visitor to “the glen” feels miles away from the busy highway just a hundred feet away.
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This map of the Pike National Forest Colorado is for transfer of lands between different Forests. It is dated June 12, 1917. It was provided by the Arapaho Roosevelt National Forest for this project.
The red arrow on the maps show the location of the Empire Guard Station.
The document at the lower left is titled “Map of the Empire Ranger Station Pipe Line”. It is dated October 6, 1945. Nothing remains of the Empire Guard Station today except a few pieces of rusty 1” pipe and the headgate. The use of the pipe is described in this document. It describes a headgate on Cone Creek. It also states that pipe goes from the headgate to the Ranger Station or a distance of 323.5 feet.
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All that remains of the old guard station is the headgate and a few pieces of rusty pipe.
The area which was once the guard station is now a user-developed campsite during the hunting season.
The Arapaho Roosevelt National Forest provided the two black and white photos of the Empire Guard Station.
Notice the woman and the two children sitting on the front porch.
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Across U. S. Highway 40 from the Guard Station is a hidden treasurer. It is Forest Service Road 182. It is the original cutoff that connected the Empire Guard Station with the original wagon road. This section of wagon road has changed very little and is now a county road called Morrison Road. Forest Service Road 182 is short, but a wonderful walk among the forest. In the spring, it can be quite an intimating experience when crossing over the large, powerful, rushing Clear Creek.
The map to the left is made off the Clear Creek County website.
It is printed in black and white because it is easier to see the old road.
FS Road 182 – red arrow Morrison Rd – green Clear Creek – blue Empire G. S. – purple US Highway 40 – orange
The motorized vehicle map above is from the Clear Creek Ranger District and found on the Forest website.
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