Published By:THE JEFFERSON COUNTY HISTORICAL COMMISSION Volume 10,Issue .

grew very fast. At the end of 1859,Goldenites claimed to have a population of over 700. The pioneers ofGolden, the Boston Party, were veryproud of their results. The Goldenites’hard work was finally recognized in1862 when Golden became the capitalof Colorado Territory. It stayed thecapital until 1867, when Denver tookthe name of the capital.Everyone thought that Golden wasnamed after oneof the earliest pioneers of JeffersonCounty, ThomasGolden. Itappears that thismight have beenan error. It wasactually namedafter the land ofPikes Peak.RAILROADS INGOLDENto cut down the cost.It was in 1870, when the UnionPacific Railroad was opened. Mr. Loveland, with his associates, had the support of Goldenites and began toimprove the Union Pacific Railroad.When transit began to grow, Goldenites adopted a new kind of resolution.This railroad brought the new enthusiasm to Golden and it began the processof improvement. Vacant buildingsGOLDEN ON TOP FOR THESECOND TIMEGolden was at the top again. Theeconomy was better and better andGolden was growing. The fields weregrowing, mills were built and coalmines were opened. Everything wasgreat. Five large plants were built alongthe railway and people were gettingjobs. Everybody in Golden was tryingto contribute to the town. Golden wason its feet again! Just when it thoughtthat hard times where gone, it wasshaken for life. The railroad officials,jealous of the success of Golden,relocated the railroad headquartersand centered it in Denver. That wasthe end of Golden’s fame.GOLDEN IN 1996Photo courtesy of Golden DAR Pioneer MuseumThe old Courthouse in Golden in approximately 1872After Golden wasnamed the capital of Colorado Territobecame occupied and the price of landry, Golden’s first pioneer, Mr. A.H.began to increase. The town grew rapidLoveland, wanted to boost Golden’sly. The railroad made a real difference.morale by finishingits railway. ToGolden City settlement circa 1860build this railway,Lovelandemployed Denver’smen at his ownexpense. Thesemen were buildingthe route fromDenver to Golden,and then to ClearCreek County andCentral City.While building therailway, Lovelandwas pressured byrailroad officialsabout conflict inrouting the railway. Under thispressure, Lovelandsaid that he wouldshorten the roadsGolden still lies between the mountains like it used to, but now it is notrecognized the same way. Golden wasjealously robbed of its railroad but itcan never be robbed of its historybecause of people like the writer whowant it to last forever.Photo courtesy of Golden DAR Pioneer Museum

MOUNTAINS OF MEMORIES, MOUNA History of Skiing in Jefferson Countyby John McMillinBefore Vail, Aspen, and Steamboat Springs lured skiers away to deeper snow, longer ski trailsand seasons, the cradle of Colorado skiing was in Jefferson County. Few of today’s residentsare aware that some of the most ambitious, and improbable, ski resorts were proposed.In the early years, a day on theslopes didn’t begin with a 60-miledrive over the Continental Divide.For some, it barely demanded a tripinto the mountains. Residents offoothills communities like Evergreenactually drove east, into the risingsun, to enjoy a day of skiing.Boosters tried to put their best face on Genesee Mountain’sfrequent lack of snow. In an article entitled, “The Ski Riders ofGenesee,” one sports writer claimed,“Professional ski jumperslike to come to Denver for the reason that in no other sectionColorado’s first sit-down ski liftand the first artificial snowmakingsystem in the western United Statesbegan in Jefferson County. Beginningin the 1920s, lift-served ski areas andnotable ski jumps welcoming rawbeginners and national champions.National tournaments thrilled fans ofup to 8,000 with the spectacle of skijumping.of the country is it possible to ski a good course while thespectators can seat themselves on dry ground without wraps.It was necessary to haul and pack snow for the course at thetime of the Interstate Tournament.”Photo courtesy of Denver Public Library, Western History Collection

TAINS OF DREAMSDespite the historic significance ofJefferson County skiing, few recordshave been compiled of the birth, life,and death of its ski areas. It has beensaid that history is written by thewinners of its conflicts. By that standard, Jeffco’s ski areas, with theexception of the pioneering jump atGenesee, are little-remembered losers.Very little information about theghost ski areas of Jeffco are availablein the catalogued materials of theColorado Ski Museum, the ColoradoHistorical Society, and the DenverPublic Library’s Western History collection.One slim brochure, See and Ski inColorado, published sometime after1966, mentions several small ski areas“that lie like a necklace around thethroat of the city, east of thedivide.” While these minorleague ski areas were not themost elaborate,they were closeenough to Denver’s brightlights that “onecan mingle hissports and hissporting life.”Today, namesand places likeHomewoodPark, Fun Valley,and MagicMountain arenearly forgotten,and memoriesPhoto courtesy of Denver Public Library, Western History Collectionof those whoslopes using oversized roller skates.skied there are fading. DevelopmentDuring these heady years of expanhas changed some of those sitession, leisure time blossomed intobeyond recognition—one has beennew industries and pastimes.gobbled up by a rock quarry.Wherever there was a slope in JefferAfter World War II, the dreams ofson County, there was an accesslocal entrepreneurs snowballed toroad, hope for snowfall, and a skiinclude chairlift-served golf coursesarea at least in the minds ofand downhill rides on grassJohn McMillin, first prizewinner in the 1996 writingcontest, has been a Jefferson County journalist foreight years. He is currentlywith the Jefferson Sentinelcovering Lakewood. Hemoved from Tennessee toDenver in 1978. As heprepares to publish abook on early ski areas,he welcomes the inputof interested citizens.-7-

IN THOSE DAYSSKIING MEANT JUMPINGThe Genesee ski coursewas long enough formoderate-lengthjumps. In dry winters, when snowhad to be hauled in tocover the course, it was just astraight ribbon of white, with noroom for skiers to turn right orleft. But at jumping speeds, on freeheeled equipment, a turn was thelast thing most of those earlyskiers wanted to try. In the earlydays at Genesee, the lack of effective turning techniques promptedskiers to jump and coast to a stopin a straight line.Josephine Shelton remembersher sister’s amazement at ArlbergClub instructors teaching “downmountain” techniques, includingtelemark and Christiania turns, onRilliet Hill of Lookout Mountain(a slope created by members ofthe Colorado Mountain Club). Itturned out to be the wave of thefuture for 99 percent of the worldof skiing. But that day, “She thoughtthey were poor skiers.Theyweren’t jumping.”Louis Dalpes was a jumper, nota turner. “I never got much of athrill out of that and I was nevera pleasure skier. It got so doggonecrowded.” His eyes glisten withexcitement as he recalls, “I liked tofly through the air, and hear thosecameras clicking.”However, one Denver Postwriter was more impressed atthe poise of the Arlberg Club’sski instructor, an Italian lieutenantnamed M. Albizzi. “It is a sight tobe remembered to see him coasting down a hill at breakneckspeed, suddenly to check andcome down sideways, reverse,and ski the other way.”Photo courtesy of Denver Public Library, Western History Collectionhopeful entrepreneurs. The miracleof snowmaking seemed to put skiingwithin everyone’s reach, encouraginghopeful developers in their quest to“bring the mountain to Mohammed”by bringing skiing to the fringes ofthe city.INSPIRATION POINTDr. M. R. Howard helped build aski jump with materials at hand.Some painters loaned their laddersto form a base for the platform.Tournaments were held there forseveral years, but the view of snowblanketed hills to the west, so prominent from the brink on InspirationPoint, eventually drew the skiers’ambitions westward.Historians trace the beginning oforganized Rocky Mountain skiing toa modest promontory that risesGENESEEabove the urban flatlands overlookMOUNTAINing Clear Creek and has a panoramicThe first Jefferson County ski areaview of the peaks and foothills of the was at the most accessible high siteFront Range (nearto the west in Mt. VerSheridan and I-70).non Canyon (now I-70)The site is coveredat Genesee Mountain.One of the memorablewith homes today,The Denver Rockygimmicks of the 1920but the blizzard ofMountain Ski Club, aGenesee competitionDecember 4, 1913spin-off of the Colwas a race betweencovered Inspirationorado Mountain Club,a skier and anPoint and all ofhad held ski jump com“aeroplane.”Denver with deeppetitions at InspirationUnremarkably, thesnow that stoppedPoint, down in dustyflying machine won.streetcars, wagonsDenver. The search forand most pedestribetter snow led themans in their tracks. But not Carlto build a jump next to DenverHowelson, a “professional ski rider,”Mountain Park’s first purchase Genewho wowed Denverites with hissee Mountain. They anticipated “themobility, “while a snowbound citygreatest performers on the Norwelooked on, marveled and admired.”gian show” to demonstrate theirHowelson, Bo Johnson, andaerial skills.-8-

“Menefee Howard and B.O. Johnson decided they needed a ski club,and within a year they put on anational tournament,” recallsJosephine Shelton, who saw it all takeplace. The newly named Denver Winter Sports Club commenced the construction of a jumping course in 1919.Denver Municipal Facts announced“The Romantic Riders of the Mountains to hold their National Tournament in Genesee Park next Winter.”They planned to offer a longerjump by building a ramp east of thesummit. A warming house offered“dainty Norwegian pastry gems” like“fatiman” and “sanbagels.” JosephineShelton remembers her first ski dayswith still-evident pride. When shetook up the sport at Genesee in1920, she had to become one of thefew women who skied as “one of theboys.” Today, at age 87, her walkremains quick and confident, and hermemories clear. Her father introduced her to the fledgling sport. “Hewas that kind of person,” she said.“He had a car very early on, and wewould all go out camping and fishing. At the Kiwanis Club, we wereinvited to go up to Genesee to ski,and he took the whole family up.What we got for Christmas was skis.”Fear wasn’t a factor, she says. “Theway women were skiing those days, itwould have been sissy to be afraid.We didn’t do much, we just walkedaround in the snow.” At the 1921meet, the women’s competition consisted of simply skiing down thecourse while standing up. Neither of the two competitorssucceeded.But Shelton later gave in tothe perilous temptations of theski jump. At the Fourth of Julytournament at St. Mary’s Glacier, she and her female friendssaid, “By gum, why don’t wego for it.” She did just that,making a 31-foot jump.She believes the ski jump atGenesee “really put Coloradoon the map.” Certainly theevents drew avid fans. At anAll-Western Tournament in1926, skiers and spectators hadto trudge a quarter-milethrough two-foot-deep snow.According to the Denver Post,about 2,000 showed up in Mt.Vernon Canyon which was estimated to hold 30,000 spectators. Shelton said some ski fanstook the streetcar to Golden,rode the funicular railway upLookout Mountain, and thenwalked several miles to theGenesee course for an event.Some records indicate asPhoto courtesy of Denver Public Library, Western History Collectionmany as four jumps existed atGenesee Mountain ski area, with spectatorsGenesee. The longest was saidseated where I-70 is currently located.to be 2,000 feet, with a vertiGenesee, that “the snow quit.”cal drop of 700 feet. A new courserecord was set with a 117-foot longAlthough 8,000 attended the 1933jump in 1922. One of 125 competitorsDenver Post Tournament, an undatedstretched up to 152-feet in 1931, butstory reported that the club disbandonly 1,000 spectators were on hand.ed and the jump at Genesee fell intoJosephine Shelton recalls that it wasdisuse—until 1950, when Denver Uninear the end of the big meets atversity ski coach Willy SchaefflerLOUIE DALPES VERSUS A MODEL T ?Louie Dalpes can’t recall the year, but other details ofa hair-raising incident remain distinct. Spectatorsreached the parking lot at Homewood Park by asnowy driveway that crossed the ski run below thejump. Dalpes was the first competitor of the day, andthe ramp had just been modified for a more powerful launch. After Dalpes soared for a record jump, he“lit clear at the break of the hill.” Rocketing down theslope’s runout, Dalpes suddenly saw a motorist aboutto cross the run on a collision course. He flung himself down flat to the snow like a ball player slidingtoward home plate and slid underneath the passingModel T. He emerged untouched except for awrenched ankle sustained from his ski snagging a tire.No one else ever sailed from that jump. It was shortened before the second competitor took his turn.-9-

In 1931, sportswriters promoted “thesenior housing development inproposed to renovate and reopen theoutstanding ski artists” at a HomeWheat Ridge, just down the streetjump “after a 20-year absence.”wood meet. A South Dakota manfrom the Volant ski factory. WhenCollege tournaments were held atasked, Dalpes is happy to demonthe revived slope in 1954, 1955, 1956. won with a 174-foot jump, but thestar attraction was “the world’s leadstrate the jumping form he used toDalpes served as a judge. Althoughing woman skier,” Johanna Kolstad, awin nearly a dozen championships,the Denver Rocky Mountain SkiNorwegian known for jumps of 180with jumps of up to 245-feet. HeClub originally had taken a 99-yearfeet or more.puts his heels together and bends forlease on the site, Peder Pytte, a veterward at the waist. When he’s donean ski racer now with Volant Ski inKolstad’s jump at HomewoodWheat Ridge, remembers 1956 as thePark gained drama in mid-air. Caught and he stands up, his head rises onlyan inch or two. Ninety-five years oflast year of skiing there.by a gust of wind, she seemed to betime seem to have frozen theShelton’s mother preservedchampion into his competitionmany newspaper accounts of thestance.growth of the ski-jump circuit,including tournaments and eventsDalpes was a local favorite forat Genesee, Homewood Park, Jarrethe 1932 Winter Olympics, but anCanyon, Estes Park, Hot Sulphurinjury kept him off the team. HeSprings, and Steamboat Springs. Asjumped at sites all over Colorado,the sport grew and transportationbut liked Homewood Park best.improved, skiers began to favor“That was a beautiful hill,” hethose faraway mountains on theremembers.Western Slope where ample snowToday, the Erickson’s cobblecover was rarely a concern. Butstone ski lodge is a residence withPhoto courtesy of Norm MeyerShelton always liked Genesee best.JCHC member Norm Meyer tobogganing witha stone archway marking the site.Why? “It was the people,” she said.his family at Meyer Ranch ski area in the 1950’s.A public ice-skating pond waspopular there until 1969, when aabout to “pancake” down to theHOMEWOOD PARKflood from the failure of “illegal”ground. “While the crowd held itsHomewood Park flourished longdams upstream “wiped out everybreath,” wrote a sports writer, “theago, when the primary industry inthing,” one local resident recalls.Norwegian Sensation called on everyAspen was hard-rock mining. Profestrick in her repertoire and executed asional jumping competitions andMEYER RANCHmiraculous recovery to sail out in araces were held at Homewood ParkMany Jeffco ski areas vanishedbeautiful jump of 106 feet. It was thebeginning in 1928.without a trace, but not the one atthrill of the day.”Meyer Ranch, which peaked in popuTwo Scandinavians, Leif andlarity in the 1940s. On current mapsAndrew Erickson, were happy to hostWhen the Homewood Denver Skiof the Jeffco Meyer Open Spacethe new sporting fad at their ranch,Club held their 14th annual tournaPark, the “Old Ski Run Trail” isabout five miles above the mouth ofment in February, 1942. Dalpes andmarked near the southern boundary.South Deer Creek Canyon. Historiclocal ski maker Thor Groswald wereThe course ran along the mountainphotos of the Shelton album show ajudges. Groswald’s son, Thor Jr.,side and had a scant vertical drop offormidably steep jumping hill, withrecorded the shortest jump, just 44no lifts. “A full day at a Homewoodfeet, in his under age 15 category, but about 150-feet.What drew skiers to this modestPark meet included a practice run and only half of his 16 competitors finhill? It may have been the horsethree jumps for a score,” said Dalpesished. Evidently, the jump had beendrawn sleigh, a low-tech answer towho was a perennial favorite at thetamed since the days of Kolstad’sthe skier’s eternal struggle to escapemeets there. Skiers might climb theexploits. The longest jump in thegravity’s pull.hill a half-dozen times, with eachadult A Class was 88 feet. More omiAfter Covert Hopkins started theascent taking about 30 minutes. Theynously, only five competitors (includ“Watson’s” slope nearby, he promothad to have strong legs as well asing Jerry Groswald, recently retireded a ski hill as “Mount Lugo.” Itbold hearts. In its heyday, a friendly30-year director of Winter Park), wereoperated seasonally in 1940 and 1941,rivalry developed between the Denverentered in the marquee event, accordbut closed when wartime gasRocky Mountain and Homewooding to an event program displayed atrationing prevented most skiers fromDenver Ski Clubs, fanned by publicity the Colorado Ski Museum.taking weekend pleasure trips.and sponsorship by the Denver Post.Today, Louie Dalpes lives in a-10-

PENCE PARKSkiing was an informal activityback when lifts were a rare luxury.Jessie Kirk of Kittredge recalls days ofwinter fun at Pence Park, a clearingnear the top of Meyers Gulch Road,some time around 1954. He recalls,“There was no real ski run, but offthe road they had pretty good skiing.” Inner tubes and toboggansoffered further thrills.But success spoiled Pence Park. “Itwent on until the 1970s, but theyhad to stop. Parking became a problem,” Kirk said.FUN VALLEYIn the foothills above Deer Creek,Fun Valley was first developed byHorace Watson, a former boxer.Though well off the beaten path, itwas a nursery for fledgling skiers forthree decades. Initially, it offered thethen innovative Poma lift as uphilltransportation.Located six miles up Deer CreekCanyon on Watson Gulch Road, adjacent to today’s Jeffco Deer CreekOpen Space Park, Fun Valley was ashort distance from Homewood Parkand “Watson’s Ski Hill” which openedin the winter of 1938-39, according toLou Hopkins. Tobogganing and “walkup” skiing had taken place there forseveral years before.But when Lou’s father, CovertHopkins, built a sled-style tow there,it was a big step ahead. The onlyother mechanized lift in the state wasa humble rope tow at Berthoud Pass.The custom-designed sled at Watson’scarried 12 to 15 people, sitting orstanding on their skis. A mine hoistat the hilltop provided motor powerfor a cable. Despite the innovation,Watson cut Hopkins out of theaction after the first year andchanged the name to Fun Valley.Louie Dalpes recalls how he oncetried to drive over the ridge to FunValley from Homewood Park. Theman who once jumped nearly thelength of a football field on skisfound the narrow, unpaved, mountain road full of unplowed snow toointimidating. He and a companionturned around, never to return.In 1969, Fun Valley offered a J-barPoma lift a

Jeffco,the annual magazine of JCHC.They also publish and distribute brochures on historical sites. The Hall of Fame Committee has established a gallery of people at the Jefferson County Government Center.Citizen nominations of significant individuals,living or deceased,are selected by a panel of three judges (outside the county).The