John Scarffe, Nederland. The 150th Anniversary Celebration of Caribou and Nederland’s mountain mining heritage enjoyed packed houses for presentations and lots of activities for families on Friday and Saturday, August 9 and 10, 2019. The celebration included historic presentations, live music, a chance to meet pack burros, World Champion rock driller Emmit Hoyl demonstrating single jack and the historic steam shovel.

The celebration began with a presentation by Sylvia Pettem called “Cornwall to Caribou” before a standing-room-only crowd in the Nederland Mining Museum at 7 p.m. Friday. Pettem said this is the Sesquicentennial Celebration of the Caribou mine.

Pettem, who is an author, historian and columnist for the Boulder Daily Camera, has an interest in cemeteries and the people who settled in the community. She has been a Boulder County resident since 1965 and has researched the original inhabitants of the Town of Caribou, which is at a 10,000 foot altitude, slightly above Nederland.

Many of the early miners and builders of Caribou originated in Cornwall, England, Pettem said. Although Cornwall is on the ocean and Caribou is in the mountains, they both offer spectacular views. Cornwall, located in the southwest corner of England, includes lots of mining.

They built engine houses over mine shafts there. The men worked underground, and the young boys would go underground and became miners. The women wore protective clothing and white aprons.

The Cornish mined tin and copper until the mines fell apart in the 1880s, Pettem said. The Cornish then moved all over the world. Many went to Michigan and to the Franklin Mines in New Jersey. They took their families and traveled by sea, train and wagon to cross the plains.

Many of those Cornish miners settled in Caribou, and it was a cultural shock to go from Cornwall to Caribou at 10,000 feet, where the wind is always blowing, it’s snowing and they are facing extreme weather. Underground, where the men worked in the mines, the temperature was 55 degrees, but for the wives and children, it was a shock. 

The Caribou town site is located by taking a left on the Caribou Road on the curve going north on Highway 72 just past the Fire Department. Go west through the Town of Cardinal to the town site, the Caribou Mine and the cemetery. It is a rough road, and Pettem recommended walking to the cemetery.

Silver was discovered at Caribou in 1869. Although the find was predominately silver, several minerals can be found together. Most of the miners at that time came from Cornwall, Pettem said. In the 1870s, Caribou was built in a big meadow below the mine.

In 1872, the Potosi mine was built in the town of Caribou. The mine was named for a silver mining town in Bolivia because it was a highly producing mine and led to the creation of a great city.

In the 1870s, Caribou had a school, built in 1872, as well as the Sherman House Hotel, with frame buildings and a sawmill. Inhabitants had to brace the walls with wood beams to keep them from blowing down in the fierce winds, Pettem said.

 The town contained frame buildings, a studio, a newspaper office, wooden boardwalks and the Colorado House Hotel. Men frequented saloons and billiard parlors. The Cornish brought their love of music and had a band. Many were Methodists in religion.  

In 1879, the town experienced a huge fire, when 40 buildings burned down and a diphtheria epidemic spread through town. The town had two more fires afterwards, Pettem said. Then, the population died out.

The cemetery contains many beautiful gravestones, Pettem said, but not many remain. One marker commemorates Margaret Perkins, who died in 1879, the wife of Ed Perkins, who was born in England. Pettem said many of the graves are gone, but the memories they have left are still there. 

The celebration continued on Saturday with the opportunity for attendees to meet live burros and learn about their importance to mining history. Avenhart, the band, performed at 11 a.m., and current local Caribou miner Tom Hendricks presented a colorful look at the history of Caribou to a packed crowd in a tent in front of the library, while rain poured down.

A tent in the back of the main tent featured a poster and map that said, “Celebrating 150 years of mining the Caribou Way. Cross mining today with a planned Comstock inclusion.”

At the library, Brittany Zocolle and her associate painted rainbows and other creations on children’s faces. The book sale, which ran from Saturday through Sunday, offered hard cover books for three dollars, soft cover for two dollars, coffee table books for five dollars and children’s hard cover for one dollar as well as paper back books for 50 cents.

The historic Gillaspie House was also available for tours. Volunteer Alan Blixt, a naturalist by occupation, said he loves this house and enjoys giving tours. The lot for the three-room house cost $65 back then. The house was a standard three-bedroom house during its time.

Dr. Carbon Gillaspie wanted to marry Grace Fairchild, and she said you have to build me a house. The house was constructed in 1906 and in 1907 their son, John, was born.

Gillaspie was a local doctor, pharmacist and mayor. In 1975, John and Caroline Gillaspie donated the house to Nederland, and in 1998, Boulder County declared it an historic landmark.

At the mining museum on Saturday, celebration events included gold panning and candle making. Amy Scanes-Wolf with Boulder County Open Space showed visitors how to pan for gold.

Anne McClellan and her associate showed visitors how to dip candles. They previously worked at the Heritage Farm near Longmont and were recruited for this event.

Sponsoring the event were Boulder County Open Space, the Nederland Area Historical Society, Long Horns Donkey Shelter, Grand Island Resources, Earth Treasures Tours, the Nederland Library, the Town of Nederland and Nederland Mining Associates.

(Originally published in the August 15, 2019, print edition of The Mountain-Ear.)