Category Archives: 1859
1859 – The Lynching of Edgar Vanover for a Crime he Threatened to Commit
1859 – Edgar Vanover lynched for a crime he threatened to commit. Continue reading
1859 – Denver City’s Elephant Corral
Gold-seekers flocked to Denver City by the hundreds—hoosiers, suckers, corn crackers, buckeyes, red-horses, Arabs, and Egyptians—most hoping to get rich and get out. Many greenhorns arrived, ready to exchange their team and wagon for the mining supplies they needed. Freighting, commercial hauling of supplies, prospered during this era by providing those supplies. Charles Blake and Andrew Williams built Denver City’s Elephant Corral as a trading post aimed at serving both the teamsters and gold-seekers. Continue reading
1859 – Whiskey Hole for Destitute Prospectors
IN JULY 1859, WILLIAM HOLMAN, EARL HAMILTON, DANIEL POUND AND A PARTY OF PROSPECTORS CROSSED KENOSHA PASS INTO SOUTH PARK INTENDING TO PUNISH UTE INDIANS FOR KILLING 5 PROSPECTORS FROM GREGORY GULCH. ON THE BANKS OF TARRYALL CREEK IN DEADWOOD GULCH, THE GROUP RAISED COLOR, WITH DANIEL POUND RUMORED TO HAVE FOUND GOLD AS BIG AS WATERMELON SEEDS. THE TARRYALL DIGGINGS WERE FOUND, ALTHOUGH PERHAPS NOT FOR THE FIRST TIME. Continue reading
1859 – Big Phil the Cannibal
ALTHOUGH ALFERD PACKER IS COLORADO’S MOST NOTORIOUS CANNIBAL, HE IS NOT ITS ONLY HUMAN FLESH-EATER. A MOUNTAIN MAN KNOWN AS BIG PHIL OR CANNIBAL PHIL IS SAID TO HAVE FREQUENTED DENVER CITY’S SALOONS ACCOMPANIED BY HIS HUGE DOG. HE IS DESCRIBED AS “GIGANTIC IN STATURE AND REPULSIVE IN ASPECT”, BUT IT IS SAID FOR A FREE DRINK, HE WOULD TELL STORIES ABOUT DEVOURING HIS TWO INDIAN WIVES, AN INDIAN GUIDE, AND A FRENCHMAN. Continue reading
April 29, 1859 – Pikes Peak Gold Fever
PIKES PEAK GOLD FEVER, SPARKED BY THE REPORTS OF THE GOLD FOUND BY W.G. AND J.O. RUSSELL NEAR CHERRY CREEK, HAS SWEPT THROUGH THE NATION. FOR ALL WOULD-BE-MINER EMIGRANTS, A HANDBOOK, WRITTEN BY WM. N. BYERS, THE LATE GOVERNMENT SURVEYOR, AND JNO. H. KELLOM, SUP’T OF PUB. INSTRUCTION OF NEBRASKA, HAS BEEN PUBLISHED BY D. B. COOKE & CO. THE HANDBOOK CLAIMS TO BE A RELIABLE RESOURCE, DESCRIBING THE COUNTRY, CLIMATE, STREAMS, SCENERY, ETC. AND PROVIDES MANY USEFUL FACTS ABOUT THE JOURNEY WEST. Continue reading
