Serene Karplus, Nederland.  Cardinal is a tale of two cities. When Sam Conger, who had learned the location of gold from the local Arapaho, found placer gold in Coon Track Creek in 1869, he and five partners staked a claim. The Caribou Mine seeded the growth of Caribou City, boasting a population of 3,000 six years later. Cardinal City filled the flat meadow more than a mile below it, reaching an 1880’s population of 1,500. In an effort to keep the big city at the top of the hill family-friendly, the red light district ladies-of-the-evening, gambling houses, and some saloons were shifted to Cardinal. Platted for a small city, Cardinal held much promise, with a railroad depot, a post office, and a hotel. The flat meadow remains, with only the railroad grade lower entrance to attest to its previous existence.

Conger decided that another mine he was drilling near Cardinal was so deep it would be easier to access from the side of the hill and he began drilling sideways into the Boulder County Mine a little further southeast. A mill built just outside the mine entrance in 1901 reached down to the creek, treating the crushed ore with a new concentration system using cyanide to extract gold and later serving to mill tungsten. With a mining office, a Supervisor’s house, and a smattering of other small houses, a small settlement grew at this site and was known as New Cardinal. By 1904, the Switzerland Trail Railroad included a stop here, no longer serving what had once been the town of Cardinal.

The Switzerland Trail route fascinates many locals and historians, as we re-trace on foot or bike the portions of it that remain accessible on public land. Remnants of railroad bed roads and trails abound, as do collapsed trestles or the raised landscape that held them. Local researcher Michael O’Neill has tracked both the route and the history of this ghost railroad system, torn out and sold for other railways or scrap when it was no longer profitable to run.

Learn stories of hazards, mishaps, and accidents along the Switzerland Trail from Michael O’Neill, founder of the nonprofit Switzerland Trail of America Foundation, while enjoying a delicious Mountain MidLife Social Dinner on Friday, May 27. The menu is BBQ Beef Brisket, Corn, Quinoa Vegetable Salad, Greens Salad, WW Roll, Berry Dessert ($9 or $5 requested contribution over age 60). Reservations are required; please call by May 22 to 303-258-0799 or register at Meetup.com/Mountain-MidLife-Social-group.

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Everyone is invited to luncheons every Monday and Wednesday, breakfast on second Saturdays, and dinners on fourth Fridays at the Nederland Community Center. Please call two days ahead for lunch reservations and a week ahead for dinners and breakfasts to 303-258-0799. (Missed the deadline? Call anyway.)  Cost shown is under age 60/over age 60 requested contribution.