Ralston's Gold Discovery

Ralston's Gold Discovery. . , Lewis Ralston made the first documented gold find in Colorado here on June 22, 1850. Although he stayed only a day and recovered little in the way of gold dust, his discovery paved the way for one of the largest migrations in the history of the American West., No photographs of Lewis Ralston or his party of explorers is known to exist. But they might have looked similar to these goldseekers as they panned local creekbeds and built “long toms”, or sluiceboxes, to separate gold particles from the sand and gravel., Lewis Ralston , Lewis Ralston was no stranger to gold mining when he arrived here in 1850. He had moved from South Carolina to Georgia and married Elizabeth Kell, the granddaughter of Cherokee Chief Benge. Gold was discovered near his land in 1828, and a boom town was born there. It was named Auraria , a Cherokee word meaning “gold mine.” , Ralston, a Scotsman, had rights not given the Cherokees. He successfully defended a government challenge to his land ownership, and his family was not part of the 1838 exodus known as the “Trail of Tears.” Hearing of the 1848 gold strike at Sutter's Mill in California, he joined an expedition captained by Clement Vann McNair. They traveled from their home in Auraria, Georgia west to the Cherokee Nation in present-day Oklahoma, where other family and friends joined the group. , On April 20, 1850, leaving from Salina, in the new Cherokee Nation, the wagon train started west. It included 20 wagons, 105 men, 15 slaves and 12 women. The party followed the north bank of the Arkansas River into Kansas Territory, which extended into what would become Colorado. They turned north at tiny Ft. Pueblo, followed Fountain Creek north to Cherry Creek near its confluence with the South Platte River, which was flooding at the time. Crossing here was impossible so they detoured east and, with difficulty, forded the Platte at the mouth of Clear Creek. After this arduous crossing, they rolled west along Clear Creek, finally resting where it was joined by an unnamed mountain stream. Here, on June 22, 1850, Lewis Ralston found gold. John Lowery Brown, a member of the party, kept a daily journal of the expedition, and recorded the events: “We called this Ralstons Creek because a man of that name found Gold here.” , After panning for gold for one day, the prospectors voted to continue north and follow the Oregon Trail to California. , Green Russell , The men and women of the 1850 expedition did not attain fame or fortune. Most, including Lewis Ralston, returned home within the year. The route of their wagon train was used by other gold seekers and became known as the Cherokee Trail. , Early in 1858, a group of 19 Georgians decided to try again. They were led by William Greeneberry “Green” Russell, and Lewis Ralston was their guide. Again they stopped in the Cherokee Nation to recruit members, bringing the total number to 104 men. On June 25 of that year, they reached Ralston's Creek. They explored a wide area, but by July 4 most of the discouraged men turned toward home. Only 13 men, including Russell, continued their quest for gold. A few days later, they found a large pocket of gold in a tributary of the South Platte River called Little Dry Creek (in present-day Englewood). , While Green Russell headed home to recruit new members, the remaining men moved to the confluence of Cherry Creek and the South Platte River, where they built a big double cabin. There, the party assembled and on November 1, 1858 they wrote a charter for the Auraria Town Company, named for their home in Auraria, Lumpkin County, Georgia. Denver City was established later that same month. In 1860, the two villages united under the name Denver City. , Throngs of eager gold prospectors rushed to the banks of Ralston and Clear Creeks, but the large strikes were in the mountains, at Idaho Springs, Central City and Black Hawk. Some of the prospectors on Ralston Creek stayed to develop farms and ranches. On December 1, 1870, twenty years after Ralston scooped his first pan of gold-bearing gravel from this site, Benjamin Franklin Wadsworth founded the town of Arvada. , This project was made possible by the City of Arvada Parks, Golf and Hospitality Services Department. Credits: FIRST GOLD, Lois C. Lindstrom, Arvada Heritage Printers; The Brawn Diary, John Lowery Brown, Gilcrease Museum, Tulsa, Oklahoma.