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C~> <br />10 OCTOBER 20. 1985 -SUNDAY TIMES MAGAZINE <br />Gold Hill <br />Coatlnued from page 9 <br />from Boulder, the town commands <br />a spectacular panorama of the <br />Plains and Continental Divide. The <br />town looks the same as it did a cen- <br />tury ago. The few tourists who do <br />find it feel as if they've stumbled <br />into the past. <br />Until now, the town has pre- <br />~ served its status quo. Gold Hill's <br />citizens. have a reputation for <br />stirring up a hornet's nest whenev- <br />er change is in the air. Recently <br />they voted against paving any of <br />the roads which lead into Gold Hill, <br />even though Boulder County Com- <br />missionershad set aside the money <br />to do so. Potholes on Main Street, <br />.they said, are more effective than <br />any signs or police could be in slow- <br />ing traffic. <br />The Gold Hill Historical Zoning <br />Committee, which oversees the <br />only designated historical zone in <br />the county, reviews the town's <br />building permits to keep Gold Rill <br />looking and feeling the way that it <br />' is. As one resident put it, "We want <br />to gently come into the 20th cen- <br />~„ <br />Quality of life is very important <br />to those who live in Gold. Hill. <br />~' Atqut lialf of them coecuciute to <br />That same year, David Horsfa <br />opened Colorado's first sizeabl <br />hardrock gold mine there. Th <br />original town of Gold Hill wa <br />quickly constructed near th <br />Horsfal bode. In 1860, it burned t <br />the ground. The new Gold Hil <br />townsite was rebuilt in its Curren <br />location. <br />Gold Hill's mining history re <br />veals a series of mining boom: <br />The town's population dwindled i <br />the late 1860s, but made a bi <br />comeback in 1872. A previously di <br />carded mineral was found to b <br />gold-telluride. The Red Cloud, Col <br />Spring, Slide, Black Cloud, St. Joe <br />and Cash are only a few of th <br />prominent mines which date frog <br />this period of mining activity. Mir <br />ers brought their families, bui <br />permanent homes, and erected th <br />schoolhouse still in use today. Th <br />hordes of prospectors were n <br />placed by men, women, and chi <br />dren whose descendants stayed h <br />generations. <br />Mining tapered off during th <br />eazly 1900x, then was resumed dw <br />ing the Great Depression when th <br />price of gold rose from {20.67 to ;q <br />an ounce. Hundreds of mines wee <br />reopened and worked during th <br />period which ended in~1942 becau: <br />nf,thn Cmm~rl 1Vns„-~,;,~ -'_ <br />_•r <br />