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Maybe you were invited to a housewarming gathering and need a festive gift, or possibly your kid’s best friend’s birthday is soon. Regardless of the occasion or receiver, Mountain Poppy Boutique & Gift has plenty of autumn gift ideas! The best part is: there’s something in it for you too. To the right of all […]

Golden Gate Canyon State Park features 12,000 acres of preserved wildlife with miles of hiking, biking and horseback riding adventures! Fifteen minutes from the bottom of the trail, the Black Hawk’s HARD DISTRICT is a must-visit destination after your hike. It has shopping, dining and arts to enjoy while you recharge. Golden Gate Canyon State […]

We are looking for vendors and bands to join Black Hawk’s first festival event on the newly constructed Gregory Plaza in the Black Hawk, History Appreciation Recreation Destination District (H.A.R.D. District). If you are interested, please fill out the form: EVENT: Black Hawk’s H.A.R.D. District, 1st Annual Founder’s Day Festival (the “Event”) produced by the HARD District Business […]

Favorite pastimes included: music, dances, ice-skating, bobsledding, church socials, lodge meetings and dinners as well as hunting and fishing. Baseball became the community passion—all the mines, mills, businesses, and boarding houses had their own baseball teams. “Casting one’s eye around these cloud-consumingsettlements, especially on the day of rest, it seemsastonishing to see what corps of […]

To reach Black Hawk, the railroad constructed the open framework of diagonal braces or trestles to span the the region’s gulches. The steep slopes required the train to reverse direction on switched, zig-zag tracks. Edward Berthoud, who had surveyed the original line up Clear Creek Canyon, planned the new Colorado Central Railroad Spur Extension from […]

Early miners reached Black Hawk by any means possible—on horseback or on footn tugging pack mules, later via supply-laden wagons and eventually by time-saving train. “…the road presents one continued stream of travel: wagons, carts, footmen, going, returning; horses, mules, oxen, cows, men, packed to the utmost stretch of capacity; breeching to the body of […]

Prominently situated on the hillside overlooking the commercial downtown, the classically-detailed wood frame & clapboarded schoolhouse proclaimed education to be highly valued in the gold rush town of Black Hawk. Black Hawk’s school system predated the formal incorporation of the town, having made use of a leased site from 1862-1870. The cost of the school […]

“A sudden turn in the road discloses a view of Black Hawk, with its charming church perched above the town, on the extremity of the headland which separates Gregory Gulch from that of Clear Creek. We at once entered a busy, noisy, thickly populated region. The puff of steam, the dull thump of the stamp […]

John H. Gregory first discovered gold in Colorado in 1859. The narrow ravine in which he panned the free or surface gold, was hailed as “the richest square mile on earth.” Within months, as the word GOLD! spread, Gregory Gulch filled with thousands of miners. Placer mining was slow, hard work, Miners dug the gulch […]

First by ore wagon, and later by train, tons of precious rock were sent to Black Hawk for various processes designed to extract the maximum amount of gold from the quartz ores. A standard gold bullion bar weighs nearly 70 pounds. Pure gold is 24 carat; 18 carat gold is three-quarters pure. MINING RECORDS “By […]

Miracuously, the town of Black Hawk was spared the devastating fires that destroyed many early mining camps. “As we go to press (2 a.m.) a terrible fire is raging on the mountains north and east of Black Hawk. At one time it was thought the lower portion of the city of Black Hawk was in […]

Vast milling complexes together with the two-foot tracks of the Gilpin Tram and the three-foot gauge track of the Colorado & Southern railroad converged at the mouth of Chase Gulch to form the northern spur of Black Hawk’s commercial center. Polar Star Mill, ca. 1860s, was one of the last mills in this area to […]

Mining activities, the construction of mills, homes and access roads, together with the tremendous use of wood for fuel deforested the surrounding hillsides and caused frequent flooding in Black Hawk. MAIN STREET RAIL “Mayor Grutzmacher and County Commissioner Joseph Borzago went down to Denver, Monday last to see the railroad officials, and to get their […]

Businesses flourish in the late 1800s as the population of BlackHawk peaks with a population of 2,000. Latest by Telegraph! Black Hawk Taken. John Armor Evacuates! Martin & Robb in Possession!“Men, women and children are deserting their homes, and rushing to the store of Martin & Robb, to buy Dry Goods, Clothing, Hats and Caps, […]