COLORADO GOLD RUSH1859

Rumors1776-77 Franciscan Priests Dominguez and Escalante traveled through S.W. Colorado.

When they returned to Santé Fe, their journals were filled with information about the region including references to “precious metals” in the rivers.

In 1807, Pike met trapper James Purcell in Santé Fe.

Purcell told Pike that he had found gold in the region North of where he was captured.

The unorganized territory became known as the Pike’s Peak Territory after Stephen Long returned to the East.

1849-1853 California Gold Rush

Gold was discovered in California after the Mexican American War. 300,000 people flocked to the California territory.

1850 California Statehood.

By 1855 The California Gold Rush had largely ended.1857 Economic Recession in U.S. due to slowing demand for U.S. goods in Europe.

Ralston CreekIn 1850 Lewis Ralston, a prospector in route to California dipped his sluice pan into a Creek in modern Arvada.

There he found about $5 worth of Gold.

His company named the Creek after him, but they left the next morning for California.In 1857 Cherokee Indians returning to Oklahoma from California found some gold near modern Denver.

Russell PartyIn late 1857 early 1858, William Green Russell a former prospector from Georgia met up with some Cherokee Indians in Oklahoma.Rumors of Gold on the South Platte River led them to head for the “Pikes Peak Territory.”They gathered supplies at Bent’s Fort and went Northwest, reaching the confluence of the Platte River and Cherry Creek on May 29.

Early Prospecting

The Russell party initially found very little gold.Of the original 100 members all but 13 left by July.On July 8, the Russell party found several small pockets of gold on the “Little Dry Creek”

Pikes Peak or Bust

When word reached the Missouri Valley towns, thousands began flocking to Pikes Peak territory in search of Gold.“Pikes Peak or Bust” became the slogan that was painted on prospectors wagons in 1859.Following the prospectors, were businessmen anxious to make a living off of the gold rush.

The First “Claim Jump”

Having failed to make Larimer City the great metropolis of Nebraska, politician and hotel keeper William H. Larimer set out to try his luck in ColoradoSeeing a town site marked out but virtually undeveloped, Larimer gets the town caretaker drunk and convinces him to sign over the town to his ownership

The First “Claim Jump”

The next day Larimer forms the Denver City Town Company after James W. Denver, former governor of Kansas TerritoryTown promoters then devoted long evenings to writing tantalizing accounts of gold strikes, fame, and fortune for eastern newspapers to attract additional settlers

Who Got Rich?

Seeing opportunity, every Kansas town on the Missouri River promoted their location as the best, cheapest, most expedient point of demarcation for gold seekersUrging local merchants to sell, sell, sell, several towns employed agents to frequent the train depots and steamboats of western states in search of customers

In February and March of 1859, 1,000’s of gold seekers sat in Missouri River towns waiting for the Spring thaw and spending more and more of their hard-earned savingsIronically up to 40,000 “go-backers” were stampeding back east at the same time when rich ores were being found in the mountains just 40 miles from Denver.

Push Pull FactorsDespite the low probability of finding riches, thousands flocked to Denver in 1859. Push Factors:

Poor Crop yields in Missouri Valley.Heavy pressure from debt collectors

Pull FactorsEverybody believed they were the exception that would make it rich.Outlandish reports of the abundance of Gold.The chance to make a new life as either a miner or a town proprietor.

The Great BamboozleNobody knows exactly how many people came to Colorado.By mid-May as many as 40,000 prospectors that had arrived a month earlier were on their way back to the Missouri Valley.

Many thought that they would find gold immediately and were disappointed to find that the situation was much different than they had been led to believe.

Stories in the newspapers called the Pikes Peak Gold Rush “The Great Bamboozle.”

Gregory Gulch

In May 1859 the Colorado Gold Rush was given a major boost.John H. Gregory brought back a vile containing $80 worth of Gold.He had discovered a major vein of Gold only 40 miles from Denver up Clear Creek.The area became known as Gregory Gulch and the town that formed from it eventually became known as “Central City.”

Mountain Discoveries and More Rushes

The Gregory discovery convinced Denverites to make another run for the hills. But skeptics back east required more evidenceAlbert Richardson of the Boston Journal and Horace Greeley of the New York Tribune set out on the 40 mile trip to Central City to see for themselves

Their report in the Rocky Mt. News confirmed a sluice might yield between $21 and $500 a day and was widely copied in eastern newspapers

Greeley’s name gave the article legitimacy. One paper stated, “We never cared for him as a politician, but as a businessman, his opinions are as good as the gold”

Methods of Mining

Placer Mining: Mining from streams

• Tiny bits of gold settled in the dirt along the banks of creeks.

• Miners recovered this gold by shoveling the dirt into pans and washing it with water from the creek.

• This kind of placer mining worked best with two men. • One man shoveled while the

other used the pan, like the men in the photo.

Sluice Box • The pioneer prospectors found that a rough wooden sluice with raised wooden slats worked best and was easy to build.

• The principal behind the sluice box is the same no matter what design is used. • Water carries gold laden

gravels down the box and gravity ultimately separates the gold from the lighter rock and sand.

• In theory, it sounds simple, in practice, there is a little more to it.

Changes to the Landscape

• The amount of dirt that could be washed in a sluice box depended on the number of men operating it.

• The photo shows at least seven men working at this sluice box.

• Longer sluice boxes had even larger work crews.

Cradle or Rocker

•  Like a sluice box, the rocker box has riffles and a  carpet in it to trap the gold.

• It was designed to be used in areas with less water than a sluice box.

• The process involves pouring water out of a small cup and then rocking the small sluice box like a cradle, thus the name rocker box or cradle.

The Long Tom

• A long tom usually has a greater capacity than a rocker and does not require the labour of rocking.

• It consists essentially of a short receiving launder, an open washing box 6 to 12 feet long with the lower end a perforated plate or a screen set at an angle, and a short sluice with riffles

Quartz Mining: Mining Becomes Big Business

Quartz Mining

Adits

Birth of a Local GovernmentA boom in civic activity accompanied the commercial success.

Elections became an almost weekly event

As on earlier frontiers, miners, farmers, and land boomers agreed to respect and defend each other’s claims until legal land purchases became possible.People’s courts and vigilantes tried to protect people from murderers and horse thieves.Likewise miners used voluntary compliance and community pressure to organize elections of officials, hold courts, and set up a process for record keeping.

The State of Jefferson?

While these organizations safeguarded local affairs, wider government was needed to ensure law and order, secure property rights, and deal with non-local issuesIn September 1859, residents of the Pikes Peak region were offered the choice between a state constitution and a memorial to Congress for territorial status

• Wanting to avoid the taxes that come with statehood, the residents opt instead to become a territory

Denver City and Auraria Combine

Larimer’s Denver City had always been an underdog to the Western bank Auraria.

In an effort to combine the town’s under his “Denver” name, Larimer offered lots to the Russell party in hopes of becoming the dominant townIn the Spring, stage coaches began arriving at a Depot in Denver City and Auraria agreed to merge with Denver.

At a midnight ceremony in the spring of 1860, Denver City and Auraria united to form Denver.

COLORADO AND THE CIVIL WAR1861-1865

Here at Home

Nathan Coriel, the first man who attempted to volunteer for the Union Army in the Civil War, was from Denver

During the spring of 1861, almost the whole army was in the West to protect it from Indians

Most of the garrisons out here quickly depleted and headed to their home states to serve in the Confederacy and Union

Terrified that the South would take over Washington D.C., the Union orders back every soldier it can and leaves the West defenseless

Military Forts in Colorado

At the onset of the Civil War, Coloradoans and the Native Americans were at peace.

There were only two forts in the territory at that time.

In the San Luis Valley there was the old Spanish Fort Garland.

Fort Wise/ Lyon

Along the Arkansas River east of Pueblo, was Fort Wise.

Fort Wise was originally a trading post.

It was named after the Governor of Virginia (Henry Wise)

in hopes that he would stay with the Union.

When Virginia joined the South, they renamed it Fort Lyon, after the first Union General killed in the war.

Territorial StatusColorado officially becomes a

territory in 1861 and William Gilpin is appointed its first governor

He was from Kansas but had the backing of President Lincoln.

There were some Confederate sentiments.

However, most early Coloradoans came from Northern and Midwestern states and sided with the North.

The main threat to Colorado came from the Confederate state of Texas.

Gilpin Responds to the Confederate Threat

Gilpin was convinced that the Confederate threat to his territory was imminent.

Gilpin issued $375,000 in I.O.U.’s from the Federal government to supply and pay the 1st Colorado Regiment.

Gilpin never received permission from President Lincoln to do so….

The New Mexico Campaign

New Mexico was largely split between Northern and Southern Sympathizers.

In February 1862, Texas Confederate General Henry Hopkins Sibley took command of the Army of New Mexico.

His initial orders were to take the territory then seize the Gold Fields of Colorado and the Ports of California.

1st Colorado Regiment

Seeking access to Colorado’s rich goldfields, Texas troops were already advancing through New Mexico by March 1862.

To prevent rebel Texans from invading Colorado, Gov. Gilpin raises the 1st Regiment of Colorado Volunteers

Nicknamed “Gilpin’s Pet Lambs,” the 1st Regiment was anything but.

They had a well-earned reputation for hard drinking and excessive celebrating

Glorietta Pass

Fought March 26-28 1864

The Army of New Mexico marched North towards the Colorado Border in an effort to seize the valuable Gold Fields for the Confederacy.

John P Slough and the 1st Colorado Infantry met the Confederates at Glorietta in Northern New Mexico and stopped them cold.

John M. ChivingtonWhen war broke out the

Methodist minister was offered a commission as a military chaplain.

Chivington declined the “praying duty” for a “Shootin duty.”

Gained fame when he cut off the Confederate supply line and turned the tide of the battle for the Union.

Returned to Colorado as a hero and with political aspirations.

Glorietta Pass: “Gettysburg of the West?”

Glorietta Pass

High water mark for Confederates in the West

Intended to serve as a knockout blow for Union in West.

Union turned the Confederates back South and they never came close to that point again.

Gettysburg

High water mark for Confederates in the East

Intended to serve as a knockout blow for the Union in the East.

Union turned the Confederates back South and they never came close to that point again.

Gilpin’s “Hot Water”

When Lincoln found out about Gilpin’s unauthorized I.O.U.’s he was livid.

He responded by removing Gilpin from office.

He then placed Illinois politician John Evans as Colorado Territory’s new Governor.

Evans was popular because of his toughness on Indians.

He was the father in law of Samuel Elbert.

SAND CREEK MASSACREAnd the Colorado Indian Wars

Background 1851 Treaty of Fort Laramie:

Gave vast territories to Arapaho and Cheyenne tribes between North Platte River and Arkansas River.

Pikes Peak gold rush sent thousands of settlers across Arapahoe and Cheyenne lands.

1861 Treaty of Fort Wise (Lamar, CO)

Redefined 1851 lines taking cutting Cheyenne and Arapahoe lands by 1/3.

Civil WarThe Civil War left Colorado

defenseless to supply raids in Cheyenne and Arapaho territories.

Certain factions, including the militant Dog Soldiers, began to intensify their supply raids.

The Colorado regiment was raised to prevent Confederate aggression, but after Glorietta was charged with maintaining order between the settlers and the Indians.

In 1864, the 3rd Colorado was formed placed under the control of John Chivington.

Trial of John Chivington

The MassacreOn November 29, 1864 Black Kettle and his tribe of around 800

Indians (mostly women and children) were attacked by the 3rd Colorado.

163 Native Americans were killed.110 were women or children.

24 Americans were killedMost were killed by friendly fire.

The AftermathThe massacre killed most of the

peaceful Indians and led to a conflict between the Dog Soldiers and the pioneers.

Various raids were conducted throughout the plains region of Colorado, Wyoming and Nebraska.

This would eventually bring more federal troops west following the Civil War.

Investigation

Initially the attack was reported as a victory over a brave opponent.

After a few weeks, though, eye witnesses began to come forward, telling the truth about what really happened.

This led to a federal investigation.The investigation did not lead to any

charges, but Chivington was forced to leave Colorado and Evans resigned from the cover up.

Chivington

Black Kettle

Ned Wynkoop

Silas Soule

Evans

Sand Creek Today: