The First Lode Gold Discovery

Brian Alers, Nederland.  “The spring is backward, and the snow is long on leaving the mountains” - J. M. Fox, May 8, 1959, Denver City, Kansas Territory.

Placer gold is the gold dust and nuggets that are found in river gravels. The source of placer gold deposits is the rusty disintegrated residue of gold-bearing quartz veins that the miners called “blossom rock” that was the surface expression of the “Mother Lode” that lies at depth.

The first placer gold discoveries in the foothills of the “Snowy Range” were made during the winter of 1858 by hearty prospectors that could not wait for the spring thaw. They braved the winter storms to prospect far up into the uncharted terrain of western Boulder and Gilpin Counties. As soon as they could, they followed the placer gold up many of the streams emerging from the Snowy Range looking for the source lode of the first placer gold discoveries in the territory made by W. Green Russell and his brother the previous summer, near Auraria (present day Denver).

Dr. Levi Russell (brother of W. Green) was left in charge of the Auraria Town Co. while his brother had returned east for supplies. At the time, Auraria and its sister city, Denver City, was made up of something like one hundred log cabins that included six stores, one hotel, twelve or fifteen saloons and many small cabins. It was a colorful place as evidenced by some of these descriptions;

“There is more drinking and gambling here in one day than in Kansas City in six - in fact one-half of the population do nothing else but drink whiskey and play cards.” - G. N. Woodward, April 3 1859.

“Inhabitants are Indians, Mexicans, and white people - about equally divided – all hard cases. Drinking and fighting all the while, someone killed nearly every week - now and then one hung.” - Unsigned letter, April 17, 1859.

Maybe not the drink of choice, but the drink of abundance was Taos Lightning. Taos Lightning was a distilled corn beverage or “corn-whiskey” from New Mexico that “struck hard, fast and often” and it was said that it tasted so bad that anyone who drank more than one tin cup of the stuff never lived long enough to become addicted.

Another beverage that dated back to the early fur trading days was “Indian Whiskey”. It was said a single bottle could be traded for a buffalo robe. It was made with a barrel of creek water, two gallons of the cheapest grain alcohol you could find, two ounces of strychnine for the kick, and three plugs of chewing tobacco for the color, which was added to make the Native Americans sick, because they believed that if the whiskey did not make you throw up, it was no good. This concoction was stirred once a day for a week.