![]() To revive their sagging businesses, merchants in the Missouri River towns like Leavenworth, Kansas or St. Frontier areas of the Mississippi Valley were especially hard-hit by an economic crisis. A financial panic in 1857 developed into a full-scale depression by 1858. By that time, conditions were right for this event. This time lag, especially between Purcell’s reports and the 1859 stampede, was due to many reasons. It was not until 1859 that a full-scale gold rush finally took place. By the end of 1858, population estimates ranged as high as 2,000 in the new mining camps. Denver City was named in honor of Kansas Territory’s governor, James Denver.Īside from town promoters, others joined the 1858 movement to Cherry Creek. Larimer and his associates arrived in Colorado in November 1858 and founded Denver City on the site of St. Larimer and his small band of town promoters from Leavenworth, Kansas. As news spread, more people came to the new diggings. At the same time, Russell and his men established Auraria on the opposite bank of Cherry Creek. Some group members returned to Kansas to encourage others to join them and file claims. The site was not well located, and the party soon moved their “city” to Cherry Creek, renaming it St. However, convinced of the area’s potential, group members stayed on and founded Montana City. The Lawrence Party arrived only to find deposits along Dry Creek exhausted. These initial finds were small, but, over the summer, Russell’s party was joined by other gold seekers, mainly from eastern Kansas. Placer gold was discovered after weeks of discouragement at Dry Creek, near present-day Englewood, Colorado.Įmigrants arrive in what will soon be Denver, Colorado. The enlarged party moved along the front range, then up the South Platte River to its confluence with Cherry Creek, where prospecting began. The group was joined by some Cherokee who had mined gold in Georgia before their removal. The following spring, they headed west, passing through Indian Territory (Oklahoma). ![]() During the winter of 1857-1858, Russell formed a party in Georgia to prospect the South Platte River. Russell passed through Colorado on his way west, and after his experiences on the Pacific Coast, he remembered the promising-looking streams of the central Rocky Mountains. Russell was involved in mining since the 1830s, participating in Georgia’s gold rush and traveling to California during the excitement of 1849. Most famous was William Greene Russell, who led a party of Georgians to the South Platte River that year. There were other prospectors in northeastern Colorado during the summer of 1858. Yet, not until the late summer of 1858 did a “rush” start. Five years later, members of Captain Randolph Marcy’s detachment panned the mineral from Cherry Creek. Forty-niners on their way to and from California prospected the region with some success. Fremont’s expedition, discovered the yellow metal in northeastern Colorado’s creeks. Almost 40 years later, William Gilpin, while accompanying John C. During his 1806 trip, party members found small amounts of placer gold in various river beds. Some mountain men like James Purcell reported finding gold in streams they trapped. While fur trappers used the area’s animal wealth, they did not know about or were not interested in the resources beneath the ground. The mountains of northeastern Colorado held vast treasures of silver and gold, and it was here that initial discoveries of those metals were made. Pike Peak from near Colorado City by Detroit Photographic, 1900
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