Colorado gold; it's easy to visit historic gold country just west of Denver

Sunset, June, 1989

It's easy to visit historic gold country just west of Denver

Chugging along in a narrow-gauge steam train, inching down cool mine shafts, swishing a gold pan in a clear stream, or riding horseback past ramshackle mine camps . . . in Colorado's historic gold country, it's easy to touch the past.

A thoroughly modern transportation artery, Interstate 70, gives easy access to five mining towns. All contain buildings of such significance that their downtowns are National Register historic landmarks or historic districts. This accessible gold (and later silver) country is less than an hour west of Denver, off a 50-mile stretch of 1-70.

Make Colorado's gold country the focus of a week's vacation, or add some of the towns as side trips if you're traveling to Rocky Mountain National Park. If you start from Denver, visits to the Museum of Natural History in City Park (for its gold display) and the Denver Mint (for its display of coins and bullion) will broaden your experience.

Colorado's rush of '59 and its legacy

The state's biggest gold rush began with the first major discovery of lode gold at Idaho Springs in 1859 and later a huge strike at Central City Thousands of "fiftyniners" poured in, but the rush faded quickly; by 1861, surface gold was played out. As in the 1898 Yukon rush, much of the ore was in deep, hard rock and could be extracted only with large-scale equipment.

Though in some areas miners could use huge steam engines to dredge whole riverbeds, most of the gold was in solid quartz that had to be blasted with dynamite. To extract ore, the heaps of rubble were crushed with huge machinery, often abandoned with the mine. (By contrast, California's 1849 rush lasted roughly a decade. It had more placer gold, which could be panned, sluiced, or hydraulically washed out of hillsides.)

Some of these ugly and even dangerous remnants of mining days are still visible, and some left contamination bad enough to be targeted as national priority sites by the EPA's Superfund. Most of the Colorado towns born with the gold rush-including Central City, Idaho Springs, Georgetown, Breckenridge, and Leadville-went bust when gold faltered but found new prosperity and even permanence with later strikes of silver, lead, and molybdenum.

Today, mining is the state's sixth-biggest industry, and high prices for gold are giving it something of a comeback. New technology-cyanide leaching-extracts more metal from ore, making it profitable to mine the less-rich lodes (but this method can release cadmium, lead, cyanide, and other chemicals, which can seep into ground water).

The mining towns today

Each town has its own appeal, from Georgetown's gingerbread prettiness to Central City's dignified red brick. If you tour east to west, you start where the first strikes occurred. Central City or Georgetown makes a good base for day trips at the east end, Leadville at the west. Since lodging in all the towns is limited, it's wise to make reservations for some areas Central City during opera season, for example. Prices generally are reasonable. For more, see page 24.

Some cautions: all of these towns are high, ranging in elevation from about 7,000 to over 10,000 feet. Take it easy, and drink plenty of liquids. And while midsummer days average a mild 75', wearing a hat or sunblock will protect you from the high altitude's more intense sun. If you go exploring in the mining back country, watch for open pits and don't enter shafts or abandoned mines it's dangerous and illegal. If you've driven from sea level, have your car's carburetor adjusted so your engine will operate more efficiently.

Central City: handsome buildings, mining relics

Springing up around the huge ]ode gold strike at Gregory Gulch (it produced $9 million in gold from 1859 to '67), this town was rough when New York newsman Horace Greeley first saw it. In An Overland Journey from New York to San Francisco in the Summer of 1859, he wrote "I doubt there is as yet a table or chair in these diggings . . . the entire population sleep in tents or under pine boughs."

The handsome brick and stone buildings you still see today were erected after devastating fires. Downtown has its share of taffy and T-shirt shops, but also some gems: the 1874 ThomasBillings house at 209 Eureka Street, and the restored 1874 Golden Rose Hotel at 102 Main, once more taking guests in 26 antiques-furnished rooms ($48 to $96). Get the narrow-gauge Blackhawk & Central City Railroad at 220 Spring Street; the 30-minute trip runs 11 to 5 daily except Tuesdays June through August, weekends only through October. Fare is $4.75 for adults, $3.25 for ages 5 through 15.

The landmark opera house on Eureka Street has been home to Central City Opera since 1932. Going to a production here is a treat. The intimate 756-seat space puts you close enough to see performers' expressions. If the performances (all in English) don't keep you alert, the straight-backed chairs will.

June through August, 1-hour tours ($3) visit both the opera house and 1872 Teller House. They run between 10 and 5 daily. The Teller House also presents weekend recitals.