Dedication & The 1859 Gold Rush

A Dedication...

By 1800 the Cheyenne and Arapaho Nations had come to the foothills of what is now called the Rocky Mountains.  The Arapaho Chief Ni Wot (Left-Hand) wintered along the Left Hand Creek at the foot of Haystack Mountain.  It was here at this same location where my family settled and established their roots.  I would like to dedicate my work here to those who came before us and to those who stand here today.  To those who once lived at Haystack Mountain and to those who return. To the families who love and respect their elders and who love their children, passing along their heritage.   Families who just wanted to live in peace and today, stand proud, still here.  I dedicate my blog to such families as the Left Hand-White Antelope family.  Our family's paths have crossed once again and it is a very good thing.

May the wounds of the past one day be healed and may we know peace and kindness as a humanity.  And to my Arapaho friends, never give up!

Mr. and Mrs. Left Hand-White Antelope at their ancestor's home.
Haystack Mountain, Boulder County, Colorado.
Photo credit: Donlyn Arbuthnot 

The 1859 Gold Rush - "Pikes Peak or Bust!"

My Arbuthnot family had headed west - to Iowa.  They had all been born in Pennsylvania to their Scottish-Irish immigrant parents.  In 1853, there were timber men, working a sawmill, preparing wood for buildings.  It had seemed that they had settled down, had established their roots.

In the early 1800's in Europe, hats and items were made of silk.  As time went on, the Chinese had stopped the exporting of silk and then items of beaver pelts had become popular.  But due to over trapping of the beaver in Europe, the industry turned to the United States as a source.  By the 1830's fur trappers who were registered with the U.S. Government traveled west into the mountains to trap these highly sought after pelts.  Only forts along the rivers housed those who had come this far west.  Until 1858, there were no towns, no cities, no transportation other than ox and horse here in the Rocky Mountain area.

Maj. Stephen H. Long on his expedition here in 1820 had stated that this area was nothing but a dessert.  That this area was unfit for those dependent upon agriculture.  There were no trees on the plains, only short prairie grass, not even along the creeks and streams.  It was clear to him that there was not enough water.

Henry Wood Elliot's drawing of Boulder Valley with Table Mountain and Haystack Mountain.
Mr. Elliot served with the Hayden Expedition Survey Team
This drawing is from 1860 of men digging a ditch.

Imagine what it was like, back in the fall of 1858, when the first 13 white men were camped at the opening of what is now Boulder Canyon.  There were no grocery stores here, no Whole Foods.  No great restaurants, no James Hotel or Boulderado with comfy beds and spas.  There wasn't even a fruit tree here, no apples or cherries.   Only short prairie grass with plenty of pheasants, deer and elk to consume.  Not much else.

The Natives (yes, the true Natives, the American Indian) knew there was gold in the hills.  They knew that this beautiful land would be populated if the white men knew what they knew.  In the fall of 1858, gold was discovered by these white men and the cry went out....

PIKES PEAK OR BUST!

Pikes Peak was the only identifiable, mapped location in the Rocky Mountain region.  So the cry went out that there was gold plentiful along the whole front range that they knew as Pikes Peak.  After suffering from an economic down turn in 1857, the cry of gold gave so many hope for a bright future.  Gold!  A way to take care of their family, a way to be wealthy, free of worry nor want for the future.   And you didn't have to go over the mountains to get to it like you had to do in the California gold rush of '49.  Gold was easily accessible!  Or so these gold seekers were told.

In January of 1859, gold was discovered at Gold Hill, Nebraska Territory  (12 miles up the canyon from what is now Boulder, Colorado).  A bad snowstorm in the gold camp forced the men to come down to where Boulder Canyon opens to the plains.  There the surveyor lined up his scope with Valmont Butte to the east and laid the first street, Pearl Street.  On February 10th, 1859, the town of Boulder City, Nebraska Territory, was born.  A vote was taken and it was agreed that Boulder City would be a "high town".  Lots went up for sale at $1,000 each.  (A" low town" meant that any riff raff, the poor, could settle there.)

When Boulder was being laid out in 1859, my Great-great-grandfather, Carson W. Arbuthnot, lived in Salt Creek Township, Tama County, Iowa.  He had moved his wife and eight children there in 1853.  Two of his brothers families had moved there as early as 1850.  We will never know who's idea it was first to go for the gold, Carson's or his sons.  But we do know that Carson packed up his four sons and his son-in-law, left his wife and daughters, and headed out to "Pikes Peak".

On June 20, 1859, Carson Arbuthnot, and his son's Samuel, William, James, and Charles along with son-in-law, Stephen D. Newton arrived in Boulder City, Nebraska Territory.  Samuel was 25 years old and not married.  William was 23 years old and not married.  One wonders if Samuel or William left a sweetheart behind in Iowa.  James was just 17 years old, Charles was just about to turn 12.  Stephen was married to the eldest daughter, Esther, who stayed behind with her mother and younger sisters in Iowa.

Did the Arbuthnot men find any gold?  I'll leave that up to you to decide.