City Council Agenda and Packet 2019 01 15 SP

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Denver and Golden, Colorado were founded at the end of the 1850s as a result of the nearby discovery of gold. First, Golden and then Denver, beginning in 1867, served as seats of government for the newly created Colorado Territory. Boulder became the county seat of Boulder County that same year. Coal mining was the most prevalent mining industry in Boulder County, with small-scale mining in this Northern Coalfield underway by 1860. The earliest coal mines in the county were located largely near the future settlements of Marshall and Erie, where coal seams angled up to or near the ground surface. This allowed for shallow mining that required relatively little investment of capital. Large-scale coal mining required railroads to transport coal to markets, and the railroads themselves ran on coal. As a result, the two industries became intertwined. A spur of the Union Pacific Railroad leading to Erie was completed in January 1871, making the general area more attractive for development (Lindquist 2010). Prior to the development of coal mining, most of Boulder County was used for agriculture Mining speculators and investors would often purchase land from farmers who had obtained land patents if the speculators believed the lands might be underlain by good coal deposits (Bacon 2016a). LOUISVILLE'S EARLY (1878-1918) Three men laid the groundwork for Louisville's founding by Louis Nawatny in 1878: William A.H. Loveland (1826-1894), Charles C. Welch (1830-1908), and William A. Davidson (1817- 1892). All three had participated in the California Gold Rush of 1848-1855 and subsequently settled in Golden (Lindquist 2010). Loveland was the co-founder and then president of the Colorado and Clear Creek Railroad Company in 1865. In 1866, the railroad changed its name to the Colorado Central & Pacific Railroad, then reorganized and became the Colorado Central Railroad Company (CCR) in 1868 (Baldwin 2007). In 1872, the CCR completed a line from Golden to Denver. By the time the widespread financial crisis and economic depression in Europe and the United States (known as the Panic of 1873) hit, the CCR had graded and laid rails for another line slated to run from Golden through Boulder, Longmont, and beyond the east border of Boulder County to Julesberg. That line was completed a few years later and, by 1877, it included a stop called "Coal Creek" near present-day Pine Street in downtown Louisville. In 1879, after the town of Louisville was created, Louisville was listed as a stop on the CCR schedule. The railroad line through Louisville became the Union Pacific in 1880, and then the Colorado & Southern Railway (C&S) in 1898 (Avenue L Architects 2013:4-15). Welch had gained mining experience in California and Australia before coming to Colorado in March 1860. For six years, he operated multiple mining and sawmill enterprises in Boulder, Clear Creek, and Gilpin counties. He settled in Golden in 1867 and began a 25-year-long business relationship with Loveland related to, among other industries, mining, railroads, and real estate development. He was also a partner in the CCR. The Union Pacific owned the majority of shares in the CCR, but Loveland led the minority stakeholders. After Loveland and others negotiated with the Union Pacific, the railroad agreed to fund the construction of a new line from Longmont to Cheyenne, where it connected with the transcontinental railroad. Welch was in charge of that construction, which he completed by November 1, 1877 (Lindquist 2010). Davidson was an entrepreneur who, with his partner, Samuel Breath, established Boulder's first grocery and mining supply store in a log cabin that they built on the northeast corner of l lth and 12