lewis ralston found the first gold of any amount in colorado.
lewis ralston found the first gold of any amount in colorado.
who found the first gold of any amount in colorado?
lewis ralston
on june 22, 1850, a wagon train bound for california crossed the south platte river just north of the confluence with clear creek and followed clear creek west for . lewis ralston dipped his gold pan into a stream flowing into clear creek and found about a quarter of a troy ounce (worth almost $5, equivalent to $ today) in his first pan. john lowery brown, who kept a diary of the party's journey from georgia to california, wrote on that day: "lay bye. gold found." in a notation above the entry, he wrote, "we called this ralston's creek because a man of that name found gold here." ralston continued to california, but returned to 'ralston's creek' with the green russell party eight years later. members of this party founded auraria (later absorbed into denver city) in 1858 and touched off the gold rush to the rockies. the confluence of clear creek and ralston creek, the site of colorado's first gold discovery, is now in arvada, colorado.
gold mining in colorado
arguably his most memorable victory was in the bicentennial 1976 apba gold cup unlimited hydroplane race, held on the detroit river. d'eath piloted the miss us to a narrow upset victory over bill muncey in the atlas van lines, a hull that won the two previous gold cups and the three previous apba national championships. in addition to being d'eath's first gold cup win, it was the first gold cup win for a turbocharged v-12 allison aircraft engine, the first for a cabover unlimited hull, and the first gold cup win for miss us owner george simon, who had competed in unlimited hydroplane racing since 1953.
tom d'eath