Before gold was found in the Pikes Peak Region. Before tourists flocked to hike the mountain trails the Ute, Arapahoe, Cheyenne and Jicarilla lived in what is today the state of Colorado. Then, came the Spanish and the fur trappers. When gold was discovered in California in 1848 it was only a matter of time before people started coming to what would soon be Colorado Territory to seek gold and silver. There had been rumors for years of flakes and nuggets in the Rocky Mountains. Large amounts just had not been found yet.

In 1858 and 1859, with an economic downturn in the east and gold found in Arvada, Idaho Springs, Central City, Black Hawk, Gold Hill and Breckenridge, fortune seekers converged on the Foothills and deep into the Rockies like flies to cowpies.

Mining towns started to pop up all around the Peak to Peak area. Some still exist today. You, my readers, might be living in a former mining town right now. Do you see evidence of those mining days as you carry on your regular daily routines? Does your community see value and support the history of the area from the mining days and even before that time?

In the 1890s Hessie was one of those mining camps that became a small town. It is located a few miles west of the town of Eldora in Boulder County. It is now considered a mining ghost town. According to Robert L. Brown’s Colorado Ghost Towns, Hessie once had 12 cabins, a Justice of the Peace, a boarding house, two stores, a saw mill and a school.

Hessie is an interesting place. First of all, Hessie was named after a woman. Mining camps were dominated by men. Mining was mostly a man’s world. Anyone living in a mining camp in the Rocky Mountains in the 1800s had to have tenacity and perseverance to survive. Being a woman and living this life brought an additional level of determination and endurance.

Caption J.H. Davis brought his wife, Hessie, to his new settlement. Hessie set up a postal facility in their cabin and in appreciation the miners named the town after her.

If there was a school it meant families came to the mining town. That meant there was more stability and the town likely would not disappear overnight.

As mining profits dwindled, many in the area depended on the lumber industry to earn a living. Then, a fire swept through the mountains in 1899 not harming the town but taking too many of the trees. The town of Hessie did keep going for a couple decades into the 1900s. It was always a small town with dirt roads, simple cabins, a beautiful location and hearty mountain folk.

Today very little remains of the town of Hessie. Of all the hikers and snowshoers who pass through Hessie each year I am not sure if they know or care who the women were who took water from the ice cold creek to do laundry. I do not know if they are aware of the miners who spent month after month looking for little flakes of gold and silver. I do not know if they think about the lumberjacks or the children who grew up in Hessie.

I do know that there are some people who do care deeply about preserving history and they have come to Hessie to save the Hessie Cabin. The Hessie Cabin, also known as the Kennewick Cabin, is one of HistoriCorps 2021 preservation projects.

HistoriCorps is a non-profit organization whose “mission is to foster a preservation ethic by engaging volunteers in saving historic places.” They have been saving historical structures across the United States for 10 years.

It is more than just saving pieces of history. HistoriCorps Funds and Relationships Manager Tegan Gudmundson says, “It is teaching preservation skills and passing on the knowledge and skills.”

The Hessie Cabin is being saved because the US Forest Service and HistoriCorps are working together to make this happen. Both organizations see the value of saving this part of Colorado history for generations to come.

Volunteers with HistoriCorps are spending time in Hessie disassembling the cabin piece by piece, marking the logs, taking photographs, replacing some logs, establishing a foundation and reassembling the cabin. There are, of course, many steps and historical details to cover while restoring a cabin from the late 1800s.

I have hiked the 4th of July Trail before. I have even hiked through Hessie with the book Colorado Ghost Towns in my hand. However, this time when I approached the Hessie Cabin I was warmly greeted by US Forest Service archaeologist Daniel Snyder. He was at the cabin with the HistoriCorps volunteers clearing trees, gently dismantling the cabin and learning about this classic mining structure, how it was built and who once called this home.

I then had the honor of meeting HistoriCorps Project Supervisor Patrick Kennedy. Kennedy came from Kentucky to work on the Hessie Cabin. He has worked with HistoriCorps since 2013. Kennedy has worked on renovation and restoration of historic log buildings for decades, first in Kentucky and now with HistoriCorps. He says that he loves traveling the country and doing this work. He said, “It is a challenge, but it is great getting out and working on all these projects. I meet such nice people and such a variety of people.”

Kennedy then proceeded to tell me about the cabin with the round notches, the double board roof they found under the metal roof and how they will preserve the history of this cabin. They believe they can save the majority of the logs. They will build it as close to its original state as they can. Kennedy is a craftsman and a master of his art. Along with HistoriCorps philosophy Kennedy believes in teaching others in the historical trades.

As we spoke, HistoriCorps volunteers from Arizona, Utah and Colorado were taking items out of the Hessie Cabin. Two bed frames were carried out. A wood stove came out. This is something they plan on putting back in the cabin when it is completed. There was a cabinet with dishes inside ready for someone to use for a meal. I was told as recently as about 20 years ago family members of the original owners would spend some time there in the summer.

The people working did not heave things out of the cabin like they are useless pieces of junk. They did not tear the roof off and throw it in a trash pile without understanding its value. They were curious about the items they found. The way the logs are cut, what do they tell us? The items found in the cabin, what story do they tell us about who lived in the cabin?

There was joy in the work these HistoriCorps volunteers were doing. They were enthusiastic about saving a little cabin in a Boulder County mining ghost town. History is valued. Preserving pieces of history is valued. Teaching historical skills and trades is valued.

I do not believe this is only about valuing physical pieces of history but also appreciating the people who came before us. When I talked with Tegan Gudmundson she talked about how she appreciates learning the untold stories, especially about women and so many others whose stories are not usually seen as important.

HistoriCorps, the volunteers with HistoriCorps and the US Forest Service, are preserving history and helping us to learn about the women, children and men who had the tenacity to make Hessie their home. I think Hessie Davis would be proud of the work being done in the town named after her.

For more information about HistoriCorps go to historicorps.org/.