Guffey is a

census-designated place A census-designated place (CDP) is a concentration of population defined by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes only. CDPs have been used in each decennial census since 1980 as the counterparts of incorporated places, su ...

(CDP) and

post office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letters and parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post offices may offer additional serv ...

in and governed by Park County,

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the wes ...

, United States. The Guffey post office has the ZIP Code 80820. At the United States Census 2020, the population of the Guffey CDP was 111. The CDP is a part of the Denver–Aurora–Lakewood, CO Metropolitan Statistical Area.

History

The town was once called Freshwater, and was the center of activity for the Freshwater Mining District, a minor producer of

copper Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu (from la, cuprum) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkish ...

lead Lead is a chemical element with the Symbol (chemistry), symbol Pb (from the Latin ) and atomic number 82. It is a heavy metals, heavy metal that is density, denser than most common materials. Lead is Mohs scale of mineral hardness#Intermediate ...

, zinc, mica,

feldspar Feldspars are a group of rock-forming aluminium tectosilicate minerals, also containing other cations such as sodium, calcium, potassium, or barium. The most common members of the feldspar group are the ''plagioclase'' (sodium-calcium) feld ...

, and other minerals, including traces of

gold Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile ...

and

silver Silver is a chemical element with the Symbol (chemistry), symbol Ag (from the Latin ', derived from the Proto-Indo-European wikt:Reconstruction:Proto-Indo-European/h₂erǵ-, ''h₂erǵ'': "shiny" or "white") and atomic number 47. A soft, whi ...

. Activity and population peaked between the years 1895 and 1902, with over 500 residents and 40 businesses in the town. Cattle ranching and lumber operations supplemented the mining activity. The town was also known for its dances and fiddlers. In January 2001, the bodies of three members of the Dutcher family were found near Guffey; all had been murdered. Three teenagers were convicted of the crime. The boys had formed a group that took on aspects of a paramilitary organization, and one of them claimed that the murders were part of a plan to fight insurrection in the country of Guyana. The brutal nature of the crime and its bizarre motive attracted national attention. The town has a cat named "Monster" as its unofficial Mayor. The town is perhaps less famous for its annual Fourth of July Chicken Fly, a tradition which lasted for twenty-six years, but ending in 2016. At the chicken-fly, small chickens were released from a velvet-lined mailbox atop a ten-foot-high (3.04 m) platform; prizes were awarded for those chickens that flew the greatest distance.

Geography

Guffey is located about one mile north of State Highway 9 on County Road 102, southeast of South Park.

Freshwater Creek Fresh water or freshwater is any naturally occurring liquid or frozen water containing low concentrations of dissolved salts and other total dissolved solids. Although the term specifically excludes seawater and brackish water, it does include ...

flows past the east side of the community. The Guffey CDP has an area of , including of water.

Geology

Rocks from two distinct times in Earth's history, the Precambrian and the Paleogene, are exposed in the area. The Precambrian rocks, comprising both

igneous Igneous rock (derived from the Latin word ''ignis'' meaning fire), or magmatic rock, is one of the three main rock types, the others being sedimentary and metamorphic. Igneous rock is formed through the cooling and solidification of magma o ...

intrusive and metamorphic rocks over one billion years old, host mineral deposits of minor economic significance. The relatively much younger Paleogene rocks were erupted by the Guffey volcanic center of the

Thirtynine Mile volcanic area The Thirtynine Mile volcanic area, part of the larger Central Colorado volcanic field, is an extinct volcanic area located in Park and Teller counties, Colorado, northwest of Cripple Creek and southeast of South Park. The area was the site of ...

about 34 million years ago and are associated with the

fossil A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserved ...

deposits at Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument.

Meteorite

In 1907, a 309 kilogram (681.2-lb.) meteorite was found near Guffey by two cowboys, although the exact location was not recorded. To date, this is the largest meteorite ever recovered in the state of Colorado. It is classified as an ungrouped

iron meteorite Iron meteorites, also known as siderites, or ferrous meteorites, are a type of meteorite that consist overwhelmingly of an iron–nickel alloy known as meteoric iron that usually consists of two mineral phases: kamacite and taenite. Most i ...

, sometimes considered an

ataxite Ataxites (from Greek meaning "without structure") are a structural class of iron meteorites with a high nickel content and show no Widmanstätten patterns upon etching. Characteristics Ataxites are composed mainly of meteoric iron, a native metal ...

due to its high nickel content and lack of Widmanstätten patterns. Most of the meteorite resides in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...

at the American Museum of Natural History, although the Denver Museum of Nature and Science has acquired a slice. No samples are available for public viewing in Guffey itself.

Demographics

The

United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau (USCB), officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the U.S. Federal Statistical System, responsible for producing data about the American people and economy An economy is an area of th ...

initially defined the for the

References

External links

Guffey, Colorado

Guffey Community Association

Guffey @ Colorado.com

Guffey @ UncoverColorado.com

Guffey @ WesternMiningHistory.com

Guffey, Colorado Mining Claims And Mines

Southern Park County Fire Protection District

Park County website
{{authority control Census-designated places in Park County, Colorado Census-designated places in Colorado