Arapahoe (also Arapahoe City or Arrapahoe City) was one of the first settlements in what is now the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its so ...

Colorado Colorado is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States. It is one of the Mountain states, sharing the Four Corners region with Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. It is also bordered by Wyoming to the north, Nebraska to the northeast, Kansas ...

. Nothing remains of the now deserted

ghost town A ghost town, deserted city, extinct town, or abandoned city is an abandoned settlement, usually one that contains substantial visible remaining buildings and infrastructure such as roads. A town often becomes a ghost town because the economi ...

in Jefferson County, except a historical marker on the south side of 44th Avenue, between the cities of Golden and

Wheat Ridge The City of Wheat Ridge is a List of cities and towns in Colorado#Home rule municipality, home rule municipality located in Jefferson County, Colorado, Jefferson County, Colorado, United States. Wheat Ridge is located immediately west of Denver ...

History

Gold prospectors founded Arapahoe City in the

Territory of Kansas The Territory of Kansas was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from May 30, 1854, until January 29, 1861, when the eastern portion of the territory was admitted to the Union as the free state of Kansas. ...

on November 29, 1858 during the advent of the Pikes Peak gold rush. The town was laid out by George B. Allen, and according to founding treasurer

Thomas L. Golden Thomas L. "Tom" Golden was a miner from Georgia, United States, who was one of the earliest prospectors in present-day Jeff County, Colorado. Golden arrived in the then-Kansas Territory in 1858 around the beginning of the Pike's Peak Gold Rush. H ...

in a letter to the ''Missouri Republican'' it was named after the

Arapaho The Arapaho ( ; , ) are a Native American people historically living on the plains of Colorado and Wyoming. They were close allies of the Cheyenne tribe and loosely aligned with the Lakota and Dakota. By the 1850s, Arapaho bands formed t ...

tribe after chiefs warned residents to "quit their country". Arapahoe City was a base camp town laid out on a grid to serve miners washing placer gold from nearby Clear Creek. The placer, Arapahoe Bar, had been discovered by the Estes Party as far back as 1834 and mined in earnest since 1858. The town was the fourth founded in the Pike's Peak gold region. On October 24, 1859, voters of the gold region approved the establishment of the Provisional Government of the Territory of Jefferson. On November 28, 1859, the extralegal Jefferson Territory established 12

counties A county () is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesL. Brookes (ed.) '' Chambers Dictionary''. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2005. in some nations. The term is derived from the Old French denoti ...

with Arapahoe City as the seat of the new Jefferson County. The Arapahoe, Kansas Territory (or Jefferson Territory), post office opened on January 17, 1860. The 1860 census found 80 people living at "Arrapahoe City," including 17 females. Arapahoe had fifty houses, ranging from tents to log cabins and buildings. On November 6, 1860, the seat of Jefferson County was moved to the new Golden City. The easily accessible parts of the Arapahoe placers were quickly exhausted, and the rapid growth of Golden City a few miles west caused many in Arapahoe to physically move their log buildings to Golden City, so that by the end of 1860, Arapahoe City had shrunk to just a few cabins. The

free Free may refer to: Concept * Freedom, the ability to act or change without constraint or restriction * Emancipate, attaining civil and political rights or equality * Free (''gratis''), free of charge * Gratis versus libre, the difference betw ...

Territory of Colorado The Territory of Colorado was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from February 28, 1861, until August 1, 1876, when it was admitted to the Union as the 38th State of Colorado. The territory was organized i ...

was organized on February 28, 1861, and the Arapahoe post office closed on October 12, 1861. By 1867, the town was entirely gone.Ben H. Parker Jr., ''Gold Placers of Colorado'', v.1, Quarterly of the Colorado School of Mines, v.69, n.3, p.65. Arapahoe Bar was later mined by

hydraulic mining Hydraulic mining is a form of mining that uses high-pressure jets of water to dislodge rock material or move sediment.Paul W. Thrush, ''A Dictionary of Mining, Mineral, and Related Terms'', US Bureau of Mines, 1968, p.560. In the placer mining of ...

(1880s) and dredge mining (1904–07), featuring two of the pioneer electric mining dredges in the west, operated by Herman J. Reiling and the National Dredging Company. The company used the last remaining buildings of Arapahoe City for quarters, but before long all evidence of the town had vanished. The site of Arapahoe City is virtually destroyed today. No Arapahoe City buildings are known to have survived, though it is possible some may have been moved to nearby Golden or Fairmount, the farming community descended from Arapahoe City. The two dredges, not advanced enough to save large amounts of the fine gold at Arapahoe Bar, were disassembled, one taken to French Gulch near

Breckenridge, Colorado Breckenridge is the List of municipalities in Colorado#Home rule municipality, home rule town that is the county seat and List of municipalities in Colorado, most populous municipality of Summit County, Colorado, Summit County, Colorado, United ...

and its twin taken to the American River around

Sacramento, California Sacramento ( or ; ; ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of California and the county seat, seat of Sacramento County, California, Sacramento County. Located at the confluence of the Sacramento Rive ...

. The fate of the California dredge remains unknown, while the remains of the dredge at Breckenridge, now known as the Reiling Dredge, are being preserved.

Prominent Citizens

, after whom

Golden, Colorado Golden is a home rule city that is the county seat of Jefferson County, Colorado, United States. The city population was 20,399 at the 2020 United States census. Golden lies along Clear Creek at the base of the Front Range of the Rocky Moun ...

is named. * John Hamilton Gregory, Colorado gold discoverer around present-day

Central City, Colorado Central City is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Home rule municipality, home rule municipality located in Gilpin County, Colorado, Gilpin and Clear Creek County, Colorado, Clear Creek counties, Colorado, United States. Central City is the c ...

* George Andrew Jackson, Colorado gold discoverer around present-day

Idaho Springs, Colorado The City of Idaho Springs is the List of municipalities in Colorado#Statutory city, statutory city that is the List of municipalities in Colorado, most populous municipality in Clear Creek County, Colorado, United States. Idaho Springs is a par ...

Geography

The historical marker locating Arapahoe is on the south side of 44th Avenue, west of the intersection with McIntyre Boulevard, at coordinates and an elevation of .

References

External links

State of Colorado

History Colorado
{{authority control 1858 establishments in Kansas Territory Former county seats in Colorado Former populated places in Jefferson County, Colorado Geography of Jefferson County, Colorado Ghost towns in Colorado History of Colorado Populated places established in 1858 Pre-statehood history of Colorado

History

Prominent Citizens

Geography

See also

References

External links