While Buffalo Roamed: The Wild West History of Colorado

Today we cover three (1859) ghost towns all within 5 miles of Golden, Colorado and all invisible! Baden, Golden Gate City and Mt. Vernon All three towns existed at the foot of their respective mountain "gate" or "road" - nothing you might be interested in walking or driving today. An introduction to the towns (we will hear from them later), and where they are, and how you can see them today! Thank...

Just a short episode entered as a supplement to episode 32 (Disturbed: Golden City 1859.) Three newspaper articles reporting on the summary hanging of Edgar Vanover (by the townspeople of Golden City - September, 5 1859).   First from the September 10, 1859 issue of the Rocky Mountain News Second, from the September 17, 1859 issue of the Rocky Mountain News Lastly, from the October 5, 1922 issue o...

Today we add Golden City to the West Kansas Territory (future Colorado) - July of 1859. The Boston Company arrives in Golden on June 12, after helping Thomas Gibson with that EXTRA (from episode 13) - a printing job for the Rocky Mountain News. The group land in Golden (nameless at the time) and finds the location perfect for a supply town. First, a Quick Look at Golden's interesting geology, then...

Deadman’s Gulch, Gunnison / Almont Colorado Ute Massacre, Gunnison, Taylor Reservoir, Cement Creek, Spring Creek, East River, Continental Divide, Lost Dead are Found This episode we revisit the Ute ambush and murder of 7 men, as well as their animals - in August of 1859 - But why? New evidence suggests the location of the fateful battle AND the resting place of the miners.   The location was disco...

Redwoods in Colorado? What if the pine trees and deep snow of the Colorado Rockies are sitting right on top of an ancient, tropical jungle? 35 million years ago, the heart of Colorado's South Park basin and the Florissant Valley looked more like Central America than the high altitude country we know today. Giant, 150 foot tall redwoods choked the humid valleys, while rhinoceros sized "thunder beas...

Buckskin Joe, Fair Play, Tarry All, Breckenridge, Mosquito Pass, South Park and Florissant (one time home to a redwood forest) - Kansas and Utah Territories 1859; Fair Play begins, Joe Higgenbotham or Higgenboittom leads a group of prospectors up into high mountains above Fair Play - Thomas Breckenridge gets a town named for him (...and a pass). Fort Mary B. Mosquito Pass (unnamed is seen), Califo...

Boulder City and Boulder Diggings are revealed and cover a large area (you'd be surprised).  From Gold Hill to Gregory's diggings encompass the norther portion of the mountain gold bonanza in 1859.   Deadwood, Greenhorn, Gamble Gulch / the Jefferson diggings, Lump Gulch, South Boulder Creek, the "Mountain House" (pie and coffee), first silver mine in Nebraska Territory?, and a toll road! John Quin...

1859 Kansas Territory -  Descriptions from three journalists of the same scenes - rare and interesting ! The Gregory Diggings were visited by three journalists (June '59) - one of which is known to all - the other two will be... All had a hand in shaping our young country, albeit in different ways. When reading over these sections (while doing research) I thought it was so cool to read three versi...

Hi friends!  Today, continuing through the gold regions in late summer of 1859, we first discover Georgetown (Griffith Brothers).  Then, over the range to the South Park - bad news from the Arkansas, the Utes have murdered over a dozen in retaliation of the miners intrusion.   Description of the South Park and dawn of Georgetown, Colorado. Bayou Salado, Georgetown, Guanella Pass, THE South Park, H...

William Green Russell (image in cover art) has a HUGE plan to bring water from the snowy peaks, the continental divide, to Russell Gulch and beyond. The first "utilities" planned in the mountains. The Fall River Ditch Company, The Rocky Mountain Ditch Company, the first newspaper in MOUNTAIN CITY (edited by Thomas Gibson and "FRED"). Idaho Springs, Spanish Bar, Mountain City, Nevada, Fall River, C...

James Beckwourth (cover art) , a freed slave (freed from his loving father) from Virginia, while part of a trapping expedition in the early 1820s, is captured by a band of Crow Tribal People while trapping in the wilds of modern Wyoming (within the boundaries the future Jefferson Territory). James is mistaken for a long lost son of the tribe, he joins the Crow Nation as a result - going along with...

First Pistol Duel in Denver, 1859 (Park McClure and Richard Whitsett (cover art) fight for honor on the banks of Cherry Creek.   Achilles and Hector - David and Goliath - Park McClure and Dick Whitsett? Today, two 58ers have a private dispute and duel it out on the banks of Cherry Creek with 8" Navy Revolvers, at ten paces. How did we get here, where did the idea of an honorable and gentlemanly de...

Desperate, lost and starving, Daniel Blue of Illinois prolongs his life by eating the flesh of his decaying friend and two brothers while traveling the Smokey Hill route to the Pikes Peak gold region in February of 1859. This story of disaster and privation is THE first hand account, written by the survivor - Daniel Blue. Alfred Packer is credited as the original "Colorado Cannibal", but this stor...

A horror story on the Smokey Hill Trail - Deadly fire blows through mountains - The Boulder County Marshal Fire 2021/2022 - How to make Apple Cider Vinegar according to 1859 - Obituaries - Mountain Tour Listener Discretion Advised     While the miners mine in future Gilpin and Clear Creek Counties, a fire sweeps through the mountains killing 3 and their two animals.  Two men freeze to death on the...

The South Park Miner Ambush of 1859 LISTENER Discretion ADVISED Topics of this show include: suicide, homicide, human decay, dismemberment and terrible suffering.   Bent's Fort - La Junta Colorado - J.B. Kennedy S.D. (L.J.) Shank (Schank) William Slaughter (cover art) Christopher "Kit" Carson - Ute Tribal People - THE South Park of Colorado - Miners Ambushed - Mysterious Location - Murder/Suicide ...

Gilligan's Island - Thank You - Spotify  - Mail vs. Express - Henry Allen wins "Mr. Auraria" - Denver City "Post Office" - Real Mail Arrives - Backwards Almost 700 miles and a month away from friends, family and business (the network connection) the frontiersmen men and women in western Kansas Territory just want a little "network" service (at a fair price...with regularity...like other Americans)...

Big-time newsmen arrive to see the Pike's Peak gold fields for themselves.  They are asked to publish their findings "as they were seen", which the editors do. Horace Greeley (New York Tribune) Albert D. Richardson (Boston Journal) (cover art) Henry Villard (Cincinatti Commercial Gazette) I present...THE REPORT  

Mark Twain, Horace Greeley (cover art) and the Stage (intro) Horace Greeley and the stage line come to town.  Denver City gets a boost when the Leavenworth and Pike's Peak Express Company land in the new West Kansas town. Just after the first stage arrives, three important and trusted newspaper editors ride into town - to set the record straight.  Horace Greeley (the most famous visitor yet - and...

Back to the Rocky Mountains and gold.  The bonanza is on, riches for the quick, the latecomers want a fair chance.   Return of William Green Russell (cover art), the Russell diggings, first strikes, first laws of the Rocky Mountains, John Gregory, Dr. Casto, Defrees, routes to the mines, Horace Greeley Thank you for listening! JB  

A James P. Beckwourth (cover art) story for your entertainment, chosen at complete random to better your day.  It is a rather tame Beckwourth tale! This episode is a slice of life from the trappers who proceeded the gold hunters in western Kansas Thank you

Walt Whitman - Henry David Thoreau (cover art) - Horace Greeley - Arapahoe and Cheyenne - Man's Condition It's never enough is it?  Or, isn't it?  For the tribal people "it was enough", life, the pursuit of happiness.  For the white man, a different path perhaps. Do we know what we want, or have we proven so already, by our actions?     Happy Thanksgiving - JB

Alexander Hamilton (cover art) and Aaron Burr Duel - Thomas Jefferson - Constitutional Convention - First Politics and Government in Arapahoe County, Kansas Territory - The Jefferson Territory In this episode government and politics arrive at the center of the Pikes Peak Region - Denver and Auraria. County elections (March 28, 1859) and town elections (precincts) were held - all void and illegal,...

Firearm (gun) Accidents 1859 - Frontier Weaponry - Mark Twain - Nevada Territory - Early Crime Scene Investigation by a 17 year old girl on the plains CSI - Sarah Herndon - Samuel Colt - Ethan Allan - The Pepper Box -  Why was it 3X more likely to die of accidental gun discharge in 1859 Kansas Territory (future Colorado) in the summer of 1859 than today?  On this episode, we hear about some deaths...

Gold Rush 1959 Colorado (Kansas Territory) - Georgia - GOLD - John Gregory (cover art) - Black Hawk, Colorado - Central City, Colorado - Gregory Road - Golden Gate Canyon Road  The Colorado Gold Rush begins (officially) with a huge gold discovery between modern Black Hawk and Central City, Colorado on May 10, 1859 when John Gregory returns to his hidden strike.  John is accompanied by Wilkes DeFre...

Introducing SEs (Special Episodes) - On off-Sundays I will release SEs when possible.  These "Specials" will be shows that do not fit in the timeline, or shows dedicated to further detail on a subject.  In other words, an episode labeled "SE" will not coincide (chronologically) with "Es" (regular episodes). I won't throw in a story from Arizona or France, but I have a few interesting stories that...