Melissa Moss, Idaho Springs. In 1859, George A. Jackson had been hunting with Tom Golden and a man named Blackhawk. When his companions wanted to return to Golden, Jackson stayed behind, intrigued by Clear Creek, the snow, and the steep hills. Jackson was a veteran gold miner from Missouri, who had been all over the west looking for gold.

Shortly after deciding to stay at Clear Creek, Jackson first discovered the hot springs, having mistaken it for smoke from a Native encampment. Second, at the confluence of Chicago Creek and Clear Creek, he discovered gold.

It didn’t take long for word to spread once Jackson paid for supplies with gold. Hundreds of miners flooded the area of “Jackson’s Diggings” and a town followed quickly behind. As the town became more permanent, the name changed to Sacramento City, Idahoe, Idaho City and finally Idaho Springs.

By 1863, Idaho Springs was in the midst of a gold rush of its own. Dr. E.M. Cummings bought a claim from two miners who had dug up nothing but hot water.  The enterprising doctor built a log and frame house and charged people for “health baths” in the Indian Hot Springs in town. The hot water must have felt great to people who had little of it, had been in cold mines all day, and panned for gold in the cold creeks in the area. In 1866, Dr. Cummings sold the property to Harrison Montague who developed it further, attracting notable visitors such as Frank and Jesse James, Billy the Kid, the Vanderbilts and Roosevelts and Walt Whitman. The hot springs had long been used by both the Ute and Arapaho tribes, as it was a neutral ground for both.

It wasn’t long before the gravel was no longer producing gold and the miners turned to hard rock mining. This created the large mines, some of which are still in place, and employment for many. It also created a hard work environment, leading to the miners striking in May of 1903. This strike, part of a statewide series of strikes, quickly turned violent. The Western Federation of Miners squared off against an organization of mine owners and businessmen. A building was blown up, and a man was killed, and the town escorted the unionized men to the edge of town and told them to keep walking and not to return. After much back and forth, the court in Georgetown acquitted the union men and allowed them to return to Idaho Springs. The WFM was crushed after violent strikes in Cripple Creek resulted in martial law and the involvement of the Colorado National Guard.

In 1910, the four mile long Argo Tunnel was constructed to drain water from mines between Idaho Springs and Central City. The tunnel also allowed ore cars to run downhill to the ore mill.  In January 1943, miners in Nevadaville blasted into a water-bearing mine, causing a rush of water down the tunnel, killing four miners who were inside the tunnel. According to one witness, the water shot from the Argo Tunnel, across the valley, and hit the hill on the south side of I-70. Shortly after, the federal government banned gold mining in favor of men and materials being used to mine resources for World War II.  The Argo Tunnel never reopened.

With I-70 being constructed in the late 1950s and early 1960s, the town changed drastically. This allowed drivers to skirt the town instead of driving through. But what you can’t experience on I-70 is the local lore and legends, the preserved mining history and the very spot where George A. Jackson started it all.

Drive through, stop at the Visitor’s Center, and like Jackson, discover something both new and old in Clear Creek County.

(Originally published in the June 6, 2019, print edition of The Mountain-Ear.)