WHAT TO DO
Some Facts About
Breckenridge’s 150 Years
1.
The first recorded discovery of gold
4.
At least nine
along the Blue River occurred on dredge boats
August 10, 1859. Prospector Ruben Spauld- operated on the Swan
ing recovered $.13 worth of gold in his first River, French Creek
pan from the Blue River. The second pan and Blue River between
yielded $.27. 1898 and 1942. Huge
buckets on dredges
2.
Stories relay that Breckenridge took gravel from the
was named after President James riverbeds and extracted
Buchanan’s vice-president, John Cabell gold in on-board sluice
Breckinridge (1857-1861). Other accounts boxes. The rock piles
claim the town was named for Thomas E. that are still visible
Breckenridge, a renowned prospector and along Highway 9 north
member of the historic Fremont Expedition of downtown Brecken-
of 1848 and 1849. ridge, Tiger Road and
French Creek are a by-
3.
Hydraulic placer mining began in product from the gold
1860. Using water under high-pres- dredging process.
sure, miners scoured mountain hillsides, col-
lecting the released dirt and sediments from
5.
On January 20,
above and recovering gold deposits in long 1900, the Denver Times stated out more gold with less work than any camp
sluice boxes. “Breckenridge (is) a camp that has turned in Colorado.”
6.
The last major mining operation in
Breckenridge was the Wellington
Mine. It operated sporadically until 1973.
Breckenridge was home to two dance-
7.halls, ten hotels and eighteen saloons
in 1880. There are currently more than 75 res-
taurants and bars located in Breckenridge.
8.
To keep tracks clear of snow, railroad
workers used rotary snowplows that
were able to blow snow as much as 30 feet
away from the tracks. The winter of 1898-
1899 was so harsh that trains were unable
to get to Breckenridge for 78 days straight.
That same winter, the snow was so deep that
residents dug snow tunnels to get from one
side of the street to the other.
In 1887, Tom’s Baby, a 13 pound
piece of crystallized, wire gold, was
9.
found and believed to be the larg-
est piece of gold ever found in Colorado
at the time.
10.
Pug Ryan and his gang held
up Breckenridge’s prominent
Main Street Denver Hotel in 1898. In June
1908, a group of children in Kokomo
(about 20 miles from Breckenridge) found
some of Pug Ryan’s loot from the Breck-
enridge robbery.
18 BRECKENRIDGE |
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