Guide Line Review
Lariat Loop FAM
We all met at the parking garage in Golden. John Steinle, History Education Supervisor for Jefferson County Open Space corralled us all and then we then carpooled a few blocks to the Colorado School of Mines Geology Museum. We were met by Bruce Geller – the Director of the Museum, who gave us a very comprehensive tour of the museum.
The Colorado School of Mines Geology Museum is the second most visited geology museum in the United States (Harvard’s is the most visited). It is also the second most visited destination in Golden. Over 23,000 visitors from 46 countries visited last year.
This building was opened in 2003. Twenty percent of the exhibits are changed out each August. The exhibits are arranged by location. History, science and geography are important details. For example: Colorado’s state mineral is Rhodochrosite, the state rock is Yule marble, the state gemstone is beryl aquamarine so we have red, white and blue.
The museum has many loaned items displayed in a smaller room off the main room. The room is named for Martin Zinn’s mother and contains his collection which includes over 1,500 specimens from all over the world. There are two amethyst columns from Brazil displayed and they can be bought for about $7-$8/kilo in Brazil – the problem is getting them home. There is a gold collection displayed that was seen in a pawn shop in 1937. This was still during the Depression. Charlie Parker, then the President of the School of Mines, called the Boettchers and they wrote the check for this collection. (A note of trivia – it is illegal to pan the gold from the Capitol dome when it is knocked off the dome by severe hail or thunderstorms). The Oreck family (vacuum cleaners) also donates specimens to the museum.
All of the great discoveries of gold in Colorado were in 1859. Gold travels downstream so the miners went upstream from their first discoveries. High grade ore a hundred years ago might contain one ounce of gold/ton of rock. And low grade ore was .01 ounce/ton of rock. Today high grade ore is .01 ounce per two tons of ore and sells for $20.67/ounce. There is a large collection of pyrite – if you find pyrite there is usually gold nearby.
In the 1870s in Leadville the Guggenheims smelted the gold out of pyrite and obtained gold, lead and ¼ billion ounces of silver. The Guggenheims’ influence here includes Guggenheim Hall in Golden at the School of Mines, another Guggenheim Hall in Boulder at University of Colorado and a third in Greeley at the University of Northern Colorado. The first US senator from Colorado in 1876 when Colorado became a state was Simon Guggenheim.
There is a 34 carat Rhodochrosite necklace on display, worn once for a photograph. These stones came from Alma, Colorado’s Sweet Home mine.
In 1890 molybdenum was discovered in Climax. Molybdenum makes steel resistant to heat and acid. The mill was built at a cost of $250 million. This discovery was worth billions of dollars and sold for $5-$6/pound. The Henderson molybdenum mine was reopened in 1976 and in five years repaid the initial loan of $150 million.
In Cripple Creek twenty-five million ounces of gold were mined. This is one of the world’s largest deposits of gold. Between 1901 and 1907, one million ounces of gold per year were mined in Cripple Creek – all by hand. Cripple Creek was once a volcano and had many springs. Gold was originally in solution and over time condensed. Surface mines no longer active are being cleaned up (remediation).
The last significant mineral deposit discovered in the US was tellurium – it is as rare as platinum.
There is a gem collection and the museum has Miss Colorado’s crown on display – it has real stones depicting columbines, aspens and wheat sheaves. However, these gems are not all from Colorado. Next to this collection is a scale from the Denver Mint which could weigh up to 1500 ounce bars of gold.
On the lower level of the museum are meteorites, two moon rocks, and 218 fossils. There have been 86 known meteor falls. The moon rocks are from Apollo 15. In September the Martian meteorites will be on display.
The fossils are from Arthur Lakes’ collection. Arthur started this museum in 1874. He discovered Dinosaur Ridge in 1877. Some of these fossils show palm trees that might have grown here 90 million years ago. The wooly mammoth lived here about 10,000 years ago and it was much colder here then.
There is also a display case of items on loan from students. They museum has over 10,000 items. The museum has the best ultraviolet display in the Rockies. These minerals glow in bright colors when white light hits them.
The museum offers tours on the hour every day of the week from 9-3pm. Coaches can park in Lot F after they drop off passengers at the museum. Up to thirty people can be accommodated on a tour – generally split between two guides. The museum is a non-profit so the tours are free. Colorado School of Mines also runs the Edgar Mine in Idaho Springs and tours there are free as well. A large group might make a donation to the museum instead of paying a fee.
Colorado School of Mines is a well-respected engineering school. In 2012-2013 they had over 10,000 applicants for just 1,000 spots. The 2013-2014 school year had 13,000 applicants for the 1,000 spots.
After leaving the museum we went up 19th Street to Lookout Mountain Road. There were great views of Denver and Golden at every turn. We saw some wildlife, deer and also many bikers pedaling up the hill.
Our next stop was Buffalo Bill’s Grave and Museum. Steve Friesen, the Director welcomed us and gave us a brief history of Buffalo Bill. Buffalo Bill Museum and Grave are part of Denver’s Parks and Recreation Department. Steve William F. Cody came through the area for the first time in 1859. Buffalo Bill moved from Iowa to Leavenworth, Kansas with his family when he was eight years old. At age 11, he was venturing into the plains and at age 14 he was a rider for the Pony Express. He was a soldier in the Civil War – found that he had enlisted as he recovered from a three month bender after his mother died. He was then a scout and a buffalo hunter. At age 27, in 1872, there was a dime novel written about him. In New York City, in the Bowery, he discovered a play about him and he thought that he would do a better job in the lead role. At age 28 he went on the stage and appeared in Central City.
In 1883 he started his Wild West Show and featured Annie Oakley. Annie was from Ohio. In 1917 Buffalo Bill died and is buried here on Lookout Mountain. His estate was worth $60,000-$90,000 at the time of his death. Steve has written a book about Buffalo Bill and it is in reprint (should be available by June 1 and it sells for $24). Buffalo Bill’s will (written in 1906) said he was to be buried in Cody, Wyoming. In 1911, he and his estranged wife reconciled. In 1913 a new will was made that was not as specific as the 1906 version. His wife and many others in the family said that he wanted to be buried here on Lookout Mountain. There was an open casket at the funeral so that he could be easily identified. This refutes Cody, Wyoming’s story that he is actually buried there. The controversy brings in many visitors so Steve is delighted with the story.
There is a large parking lot, restrooms in both the gift shop and the museum and a wide walkway up to the actual grave site. There are flip books in the museum showing when Buffalo Bill toured specific European cities. Foreign visitors like to find the date when he visited their city. The restrooms in the museum have photos and comments on the walls and a complete list is available at the main desk.
Back on the Lariat Loop, we next visited the Boettcher Mansion. We were greeted by Cynthia Shaw, the Director. She studied architectural history and writing. The Mansion is now a special events center. We entered through the new entrance (1986) and walked through the house to the patio. We sat outside on the patio, originally the main entrance and then went back into the Great Room.
A short history of the Boettcher family was presented. Charles Boettcher came west in the 1860s and opened a hardware store in Wyoming. Then they opened branches – Charles was in Fort Collins in the 1870s with his family (wife and son). Then came the silver boom – Charles went to Leadville and bribed a local lumberman to build his store. Charles made about $40,000/month in profits. Charles and his family spent ten years in Leadville. Then they came down to Denver and built a house on Capitol Hill. The company then became wholesalers of hardware. In later life, Charles was asked by a young person what he should think about for a future and Charles replied “Hardware, axes and hammers never go out of style”.
In 1900, Charles was 50 years old and took his family to Germany to visit relatives. He noticed that Germany had a better road system than the US and that sugar beets grew well there. He convinced his wife Fanny to leave her clothes in Germany and packed her trunk with sugar beet seeds. He also started the Ideal Cement Company to build roads in the West. And, he planted his sugar beets and started the Great Western Sugar Company. Charles died at 96 in 1948, still working. His wife Fanny had invested in Charles’s businesses and when she died in 1952, she had more money than Charles.
In 1915 the Boettchers separated. Their daughter Ruth married into the Humphreys family. The socially acceptable thing to do then was to add a solarium to their home for the reception. Charles was a tightwad and threatened Fanny that he would leave if she added to their home. She did, and he did. He went to live at the Brown Palace Hotel in a suite of rooms.
In 1916, Charles bought more than 60 acres in the mountains. The house was built in 1917 by Fisher and Fisher as Charles’s retreat. The house is built in Arts and Crafts style (Mission or bungalow) which originated in England. The bungalow was designed as a home for workers and their families. It was designed to please women with many built-ins, large windows, and hygienic items and built in natural elements (rocks and wood). The rocks and wood in the Boettcher house were taken from the site. The Great Room can seat 150 for a wedding or 100 for a dinner. The dining room table was originally the library table. The floor in the Great Room has been replaced four times – currently in red oak which is more durable than white oak. The Great Room was a very comfortable room with overstuffed and wicker furniture.
The house is built on the rocks, the land was not leveled, so in the basement
there is a mini-Rocky Mountains. The patio is original and had a curved drive
and a porte cochère. The house has 10,000 square feet. The roof was replaced
in 2005-2007 with slate which fits the design and also will last 50 years.
In 1960 Charlene Breeden moved in with her three children. In 1968, she
bequeathed the property to Jefferson County for all to enjoy. She died in 1972.
In 1975 the house opened as the Jefferson County Conference and Nature
Center. The house was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1984.
Much of the furniture in the house is Stickley (Gustaf Stickley was a proponent of the Arts and Crafts Movement). A few pieces of the original furniture are on display though most of the original was given away or stolen while the house sat empty. The center receives grant money from the Conservation Fund (payback from Lottery funds). They also receive $83,000/year from Historic Preservation. In 2005 they received a $3.1 million grant from the Conservation Fund and replaced the radiators, added air conditioning, new roof, new floors, Stickley furniture, new light fixtures and a new commercial kitchen.
Charles’s bedroom suite has a sleeping porch to prevent TB. There is also a small gift shop.
We then walked across the parking lot to the Lookout Mountain Nature Center and Preserve. We were met by Tim Sandsmark who gave us an overview of the center. It is part of the Open Space system. Fifty to sixty percent of the visitors are tourists from out of state (however, only 20% of visitors actually sign the visitor’s book). Ten percent of those who sign in are from other countries. There are many brochures available – one for each of the 29 parks in the Jefferson County.
The Nature Center was built in 1997 and is “green”. Floors are made from railroad boxcars, however it does not have renewable energy. Hanging from the ceiling in the main entry is a swirl of birds – this is a great migratory area because there of the turbulence and uplift of air. There are lots of raptors, ravens, vultures that come through here. There is a display of life in the ponderosa pine forest and shows several animals and birds that are in this area. This display has sound effects and foot/hoof prints.
Visitors can come in unannounced. There is ample parking and there are restrooms in the nature center.
Then back on the Lariat Loop to I-70 and Bergen Parkway to lunch at the Tuscany Tavern. Lunch was Italian, served buffet style. The cost was $10/person w/alcoholic beverages extra. This restaurant is on the lower level of a strip mall with health care outlet and other shops.
On to the Humphrey Mansion off Soda Creek Road which is a museum, this was the bequest of Hazel Lucretia (Hazel Lou) Humphrey. It was closed in 2009, not making any money and there was talk of selling off the collection. Over the past three years a new board has been named and Angela Rayne was named to operate the museum. Her husband Roger assists her and also gives tours. The museum focuses on how the family toured and collected. Hazel and Lee Humphrey were Hazel Lou’s parents. Hazel was a well-known socialite who traveled everywhere with her mother. Hazel preferred spending time at her grandparents’ farm and embraced a simpler life. The Chicago house had 67 rooms. Hazel did not inherit a lot of money from her family – the Crash of 1929 took the family’s money. This Humphrey family is no relation to the Humphrey family in town.
The original center section of the house was built in 1883 by J J Clark. Several additions were added by the Humphreys until the 1930s. The Humphreys were vegetarians and environmentalists. Lee Humphrey homesteaded in 1887. Lee was copy editor for the Rocky Mountain News and commuted two hours each direction – the first commuter. Hazel died in 1972 at age 90 and Hazel Lou died in 1995 at age 98. Hazel Lou started the Jefferson County Historical Society. Everything was willed to Jefferson County when Hazel Lou died. Funding for the facility is provided by grants, class fees and entrance fees. The museum is a private non-profit and they offer four fundraisers each year – a summer murder mystery, a farm to fork dinner, wine and croquet dinner and a fall wine tasting of Kinnikinnick Ranch wines. (Kinnikinnick Ranch was the original name of the ranch). Expenses (for example) include heating up to 13 buildings, bringing the monthly propane bill in the winter to $2000.
Hazel Lou was home schooled in the teacherage. In Hazel Lou’s later years Doctor Peter Pruitt and his wife lived in the teacherage for 20 years and took care of Hazel Lou’s health. There are also cooking and baking classes offered in the teacherage for from six to eight participants and the cost is $12-$15/person. Teas are offered for $15/person and can be served to as few as six or as many as 26 people. They also have cheese making classes and have classes in life ways of the 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s.
The bunkhouse is now used by day-care groups and for weekend workshops. The weekend workshops cost $200. The original barn is gone and the replacement was built in 1972. In the meadow behind the bunkhouse is an archeological dig that is used when day-care kids come. These children are from the Adams 12 district and this is an after school program.
The tree house does not actually touch the tree (remember the environment). The cattery is really a house for cats and is next to Hazel Lou’s playhouse. Cats were working farm animals until about 1950 when they became pets. Below the house is a regulation English croquet field.
The ranch originally had 350 acres and extended up to the corner of Soda Creek Road. Other buildings have been moved back here and the barns that are across the road are expected to be moved to this side of the road in the near future. There will be a horsemanship exhibit opening later this spring. This was a working “ranch”, however, there were no animals branded or eaten. There are now Togesberg goats and Nubian goats to provide milk, butter and cheese. The Humphreys grew commingled flowers and vegetables outside.
We toured the house and almost everything is exactly where it was when Hazel Lou died. The clothes are still in the dressers. There are so many artifacts that things are rotated monthly. In the library are their books and though they were well educated and Lee knew many famous authors, there are no first editions, no signed copies. Most rooms have many books in them. There is an Indian teapot on the steps up to the Native American room that was used to sell tea on the streets of India.
There is an “Indian” room with many gifts and collectibles from Native Americans. There is a photo of Chief Hosa (Little Raven) an Arapaho and also of Colorow, a Ute tribe chief. One of the future projects is to redo the lighting in this room to bring it back to lighting more like the original. There is a photo of Geronimo of Santa Clara – the Indians camped here and they threw pots that were gifts to the Humphreys.
There is a Mexican room which was originally a sunporch. In the dining room and kitchen are 23 sets of china. The museum changes out the selection monthly. There are marble floors on the main level. This house is very fun to visit – Hazel Lou collected cat ceramics and her room is full of them. Hazel Lou slept in the same room all her life and the room is quite girlish. Angela told us that it takes three people 8 hours/week to dust the house. So you can see that there are lots of things to see.
There is some parking and restrooms are available in the teacherage. A coach could park along the drive. For a larger group (40-50) they could arrange for additional docents. Please make reservations in advance.
Then on to Hiwan Homestead Museum where John Steinle (our FAM leader) gave us an overview of the facility. We split into two groups and Susan was one of the docents – she has been at Hiwan for 30 years or more. Hiwan means Member of Family Household. The original house was built in 1893. Forty acres were bought by Mary Neosho Williams for $235. Mrs. Williams’ family was reputed to have a lot of money – her husband was a politician in Chicago and she toured around the world several times. She had a chauffeur drive her around. In 1915 – they used the waterfall to create electricity.
Her daughter Dr. Josepha (1860-1938) Douglas lived with her and ran a sanatorium at 16th and Pearl streets for lung patients (TB). Her doctor’s certificate hangs in her bedroom. There are also Hopi souvenir tiles – also some in the DAM and some in the Peabody Museum in Boston.
Josepha was married in 1896 to Father Douglas, the canon of St. John’s Episcopal Cathedral who was also the music director at the cathedral. Two of his pianos are in the house. Their son, Eric, born in 1897, was the curator of the Denver Art Museum beginning in 1923 and focused on the Native American Arts. He moved these Native American items from the Archeology section into the Art section of the Denver Art Museum.
After Dr. Josepha died, the Buchanan family from Lima, Ohio bought the property. He was president of an oil company in Tulsa and came to Central City and Black Hawk. The property was subdivided in the 1970s. The museum opened in 1975.
The porch on the house was added before 1900. The property is part of Jefferson County Open Space’s 55,000 acres throughout the county. The bequest to Jefferson County stated that the trees were not to be cut down; those close to the house (literally within a few inches) have necessitated adjusting the house so as not to disturb the trees. Three trees have been lost over the past 40 years.
There are several paintings done by Eric Douglas hanging in the house. Also, there are Navajo and Hopi Native American items. The dining room chair seats are covered in animal skins. The ceiling is Arts & Crafts, done by Eric and features levels of wood done in threes. Possibly the wood was sawn at the sawmill nearby.
The pink granite fireplace in the study was remortared three years ago – the house has a total of seven fireplaces. The kitchen got electricity in 1915-16. There is a six-burner stove with four ovens and a huge icebox and on the wall is a calendar from January 1937.
We went upstairs to the 1918 chapel. There are eyebrow windows (curved at the top) and eight beams meeting in the center. The organ was donated by the Daughters of the American Revolution. The banners are from 1923 and belonged to Canon Douglas. The altar is of limestone, the cross and the candlesticks are all hand-carved in pine and are original to this chapel. Most of the windows are also original. At one time Wendy Buchanan’s bedroom was in the chapel but Wendy’s bedroom furniture has been moved to the East bedroom.
We saw portions of a video about the Buchanan family. The Buchanans bought 10,000 acres for $60,000 in 1938. They ranched, an interesting note is that they paid $61,000 for a bull in 1948 – how values change. They also had 360 acres at Hampden and Wadsworth. There is a barbed wire display also but no explanations.
The stairs are hand hewn from ¼ logs – from the side view they are really special. We visited the schoolroom – 1876 version. The rules included: if you were late to school, you could not go outside at recess, whispering was not permitted, you could not leave your seat without permission – if you did you stayed 20 minutes after school, no papers on the floor – if you dropped paper on the floor you stayed after school to sweep it, and the worst was: there was no fighting or swearing – if you did you might be locked in a closet for an hour. This schoolroom was once a bedroom and has been converted to show school children how things were done a hundred years ago.
There are many summer programs offered – some are at a cost of $1/person for 12 or more students in a group. They have daycare students visit and have Discovery Days in June for students. There is ample parking, picnic tables and open space to explore. Restrooms are available.
We then headed back to Golden and our day was complete.
For all the venues that we visited, please check the website or call to make arrangements for your group to visit.
Contacts: (in order of appearance)
John Steinle
Jefferson County Open Space
History Education Supervisor
4208 S. Timbervale Drive
Evergreen, CO 80439
jsteinle@jeffo.us
Main: 720.497.7650
Direct: 720.497.7653
Jeffco.us/parks
Also:
Bear Creek Region Parks Supervisor
Hiwan Homestead Museum and Grove
Lair o’the Bear Park
Mount Falcon Park
Mount Linda Park
Bruce Geller
Colorado School of Mines Geology Museum
Museum Director
1310 Maple Street
Golden, CO 80401
Pho: 303.273.3823
bgeller@mines.edu
mines.edu
Steve Friesen
City and County of Denver
Department of Parks and Recreation
Buffalo Bill Museum and Grave
Director
987 ½ Lookout Mountain Road
Golden, CO 80401
Pho: 303.526.0744
Fax: 303.526.0197
steve.friesen@denvergov.org
www.buffalobill.org
Cynthia Shaw
Boettcher Mansion
Director
900 Colorow Road
Golden, CO 80401
Main: 720.497.7630
Direct: 720.497.7632
Main Fax: 303.526.5519
cshaw@jeffco.us
www.jeffco.us/boettcher
Tim Sandsmark
Jefferson County Open Space
Nature Education Supervisor
910 Colorow Road
Golden, CO 80401
Main: 720.497.7600
Direct: 720.497.7602
tsandsma@jeffco.us
Jeffco.us/parks
Angela Rayne
Director
Humphrey History Park and Museum
620 Soda Creek Road
Evergreen, CO 80439
303.674.55429
www.hmpm.org
--- Nancy Brueggeman
Content copyright 2016. Rocky Mountain Guides Association. All rights reserved.
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LARIAT LOOP
LARIAT LOOP ITINERARY
APRIL 23, 2014
7:30 am – Arrive for carpooling at the public parking garage in downtown Golden located at 1250 Jackson Street. The entrance is on Jackson Street between 12th & 13th.
8:00 am – Arrive at Boettcher Mansion on Lookout Mountain.
8:30 am – Free Tour of Boettcher Mansion and Lookout Mountain Nature Center
9:30 am – Leave Lookout Mountain Nature Center, drive to Buffalo Bill Museum
10:00 am – Free Tour of Buffalo Bill Museum and Grave
11:00 am – Leave Buffalo Bill Museum & Grave, drive to Humphrey Memorial Museum& Park, Evergreen
11:30 am – Free tour of Humphrey Memorial Museum and Park
12:30 pm – Leave Humphrey Museum, drive to Tuscany Tavern Restaurant
12:45 pm – Lunch at Tuscany Tavern ($8 per person, not including tax and tip)
1:45 pm – Leave Tuscany Tavern, drive to Hiwan Homestead Museum
2:00 pm – Free tour of Hiwan Homestead Museum
3:00 pm – Leave Hiwan Homestead Museum, drive to School of Mines Geology Museum, Golden
4:00 pm – Free Tour of School of Mines Geology Museum
5:00 pm – Tour ends. Back to cars