John Gregory Country: Place Names and History of Ralston Buttes Quadrangle, Jefferson County, Colorado

Second Edition
Charles and Mary Ramstetter, Editors 

An amazing collection of every scrap of history known to exist surrounding the first road through the mountains to the fabulous gold strikes in Black Hawk and Central City. Richly illustrated with hundreds of photographs old and new, the book doesn’t confine itself to the origin of place names, but ranges across the countryside to show how the dreamers who followed in Gregory’s footsteps suffered and coped.

Awards

Winner: American Regional History Award, Western States Category

“…a wonderful and rare find… The stories are priceless: many are funny and entertaining, but many are so factual they reflect the wildness of those olden times. It is great to have period pictures of the places and people the book refers to and can serve to entertain the entire family for many sessions….

I recommend this book to anyone, especially to locals who could read it and then go see the places talked about in the book. Experience the difference a hundred years can make.”

– A. M. Wilks, Highlander Book Review

Life in the Early Days

James K. Ramstetter
Illustrated by Mary Lou Harvey

From the Preface:

“Having been born near the beginning of the Twentieth Century, I had the opportunity to see the many changes that took place. I was raised west of Denver in the high mountain country where automobiles did not dare venture until some time in the 1920’s. I became well acquainted with the early pioneers who settled in this part of the country as early as around 1870. Golden Gate Canyon was the main route from Denver to the mining towns of Blackhawk and Central City. I was raised in the Golden Gate Canyon. Its history was lively and its contributions to this area are forever with us. In addition to the items of history taken from newspapers and other public records that begin this book, I have included many stories about how we lived during the horse and buggy days and afterwards.

This literary effort covers about 100 years beginning with the mid-1800’s. During this period of time, the effort expended by the people was enormous and the actual accomplishments were tremendous but still turned out as a great illusion compared to what happened during the latter part of the Twentieth Century. This particular period of time was permanently branded by the occurrence of certain events such as World War I, Prohibition, and the granting of voting rights to women. It also allowed us to experience one of the greatest periods of prosperity that had ever occurred in the time of mankind.

Nevertheless, ordinary life continued, and actually, that is what this book is all about.

James K. Ramstetter
Denver, Colorado
January, 1996”

Out of print—limited copies
Available at Golden Gate Canyon craft fairs

Of Mines and Beer!

Of Mines and Beer!: 150 Years of Brewing in 19th Century Colorado, and Beyond (Central City, Black Hawk, Mountain City, Nevadaville, Russell Gulch, Rollinsville, Idaho Springs, Georgetown, Alamosa, Durango, Leadville, Pueblo, Silverton, Trinidad, Golden, Boulder, Aspen, Denver, Milwaukee, Scotland, England, Germany…)
With Numerous Additional Beery Tidbits of Note
by Dave Thomas

During Colorado’s historic gold and silver rush years (1859–1900), 122 different breweries made beer for thousands of thirsty miners in forty-four Colorado mountain towns.

Hundreds of German and British brewers followed the placer and hard rock miners from England, Wales, Cornwall, Ireland, Germany, Austria, Sweden, and China to places like Central City, Black Hawk, Boulder, Golden, Pueblo, Durango, and Leadville where they built small to surprisingly large brewing operations quite quickly. 

“Of Mines & Beer!” shares the successes, failures, tragedies, adventures and sometimes humorous misadventures of these 19th Century Colorado brewing families.

ISBN-13: 978-1-4774-9941-2
Softbound, 8½ x 11 inches, 142 pages

Available: Amazon ~ Barnes & Noble ~ Dostal Alley ~ Brewpub in Central City ~ Barrels & Bottles in Golden ~ Golden History Museum.

Proceeds from the sale of this book benefit the Gilpin County Historical Society

Read in tandem, they are blinking fun. ⤵︎

➣ Colorado Odyssey ~~ John Fletcher reaches Denver City June 10, 1859. Follows John Gregory’s original trace up the face of Enter Mountain. Makes one trip down to the prairie and back to the diggings on the same trace. Very little of the countryside has a name.  

➣ All This for a Little Gold ~ Henry Hawley reaches Denver City the next year, May 18, 1860. Follows the Gregory toll road through Golden Gate Canyon to the gold fields. By then everything has a name, most of which remain in use today.

All This for a Little Gold

The Diary of Henry Hawley, a Young Miner
Annotated and illustrated by Betsy Buck

In 1860, twenty year old Henry Hawley left his Wisconsin home in a covered wagon, with one thing on his mind: Gold! His long journey ended in the mountain boom town of Central City, where he joined thousands of men digging for those precious flakes.

But Henry was different from the ordinary miner: he kept a diary. For two years he kept it by his side—in the wagon, wherever he camped, and by his bed in a rough cabin. With candid innocence, intelligent insight, and playful humor, he described the frustrations, hardships and joys of his life in the Rocky Mountains. His cheerful outlook and determination overcame a world of drunken miners, guns, dangerous work and extreme weather. Henry was a truly unique pioneer, and we now have the chance to know him through this treasured diary.

ISBN: 978-1-329-540668-8

$16.00 includes mailing

Available from Betsy Buck:
E-mail: b.buck@mindspring.com
Write: P. O. Box 1685, Nederland, CO 80466