GC7W70K Traditional Cache Gold Strike Bridge
Type: Traditional | Size: Micro Micro | Difficulty: 1.5 out of 5 | Terrain: 1.5 out of 5
By: _BriGuy_ @ | Hide Date: 08/15/2018 | Status: Available
Country: United States | State: Colorado
Coordinates: N39° 47.814 W105° 03.301 | Last updated: 08/30/2019 | Fav points: 2
Dogs  Takes less than an hour  Scenic view  Available at all times  Available during winter  Bicycles  Stealth required 

Bring an inkstick! And be careful not to drop the cache or let the log blow away.

 

Please replace the cache in the corner where you found it : )

 

Gold!!!

Arvada's story began with Colorado's first gold discovery.

On June 22, 1850, a wagon train bound for California crossed the Platte River just north of the confluence with Clear Creek, following Clear Creek west for six miles.

The members of the wagon train rested for a day, and Lewis Ralston dipped his gold pan in an unnamed mountain stream. He found almost $5 in gold 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 on to California, but returned to 'Ralston's Creek' with the Green Russell party eight years later. Members of this party founded Auraria (later Denver City) in 1858 and touched off the gold rush to the Rockies.

Making it Official

Over the next century and a half, the significance of the discovery was lost. Eventually the entire area became blighted. And the State recognized the first gold find as being at the confluence of Little Dry Creek and the South Platte River in 1858 by William Greenberry Russell.

Astute research by Lois Lindstrom, a local historian, proved that Arvada was the site of the first gold discovery.

Ms. Lindstrom began her research in 1971 and sought Colorado State designation for Arvada in 1992. That attempt was unsuccessful because Lindstrom could not pin down the exact location of the gold discovery. Later on, she found a 1937 aerial photograph showing a grove of cottonwood trees at the confluence of Ralston and Clear Creeks which had since been removed for construction of a mobile home park. A member of Ralston's party had written about just such a grove.

On December 1, 1995, the Colorado Historical Society officially recognized that Colorado's first discovery occurred in present-day Arvada.

Today, land has been set aside for the development of Gold Strike Park at the confluence of Ralston and Clear Creeks celebrating Colorado's first gold discovery.

A spectacular pedestrian bridge connecting the Ralston and Clear Creek trail systems was completed in October of 2001 and is a signature architectural gateway on Arvada's eastern edge. The 400-foot long curved bridge is supported by suspended cables and anchored by a three-foot diameter mast 100 feet tall.

 Custom URLs

Add cache to watch list
Log your visit
Picture Gallery

 Hints

magnetic. Be careful not to drop it, or let the log blow away : )

 Nearby Caches

GC7W70A BriGuy's Rocket Cache (1.34 kms NW)
GC9F5WH archived Hidden Lake Cache (2.54 kms N)
GCQ5KM Wally's Face Lift (8.77 kms S)
GCACX0N Rose Onyx and Yule Marble in the "House" (8.78 kms SE)
GC9YJCV Blue bench (11.08 kms W)

   


Driving Directions

 Logs

21 Logs: Found it 19  Enable Listing 1  Publish Listing 1  

Found it 02/19/2022 By VVilliam
Nice hideaway on this wobbly bridge. TFTC!

Found it 01/21/2022 By Mr.Flibble
Tftc SL

Found it 01/09/2022 By Raptorcatch
Tftc

Found it 01/04/2022 By vegantriathlete
I'm headed to the nearby Earth cache.

Found it 12/27/2021 By JoeO814
I was working on the adventure lab in the area and after logging the 1st stop, I walked a little further to find this one. No problems finding it! It's sad/ironic that this area was a hub for gold and riches, now there's tons of homeless encampments nearby. The parking lot looked rough too as there was a car on blocks with the tires stolen! Not to mention bullet holes in one of the signs. Glad I wasn't in this area at night. Anyway, thanks for this cache in this historic area.

Found it 06/29/2019 By geocyclists85
We were close by on our geocycles doing the Gold Strike Park cache so we stopped on the bridge to grab this one. This bridge is beautiful! Thanks for hiding this geocache for us to find...

Found it 05/11/2019 By Greasepot
3:10:00 PM Out at Staunton State Park today with the Culture pass from the library with my new dog Prince Hairy and my husband Garlic. Thanks! This is such a tranquil place, we love hiking here. All the caches were super fun. I think we ended up with 11 caches today to clean out the park.

Found it 05/06/2019 By 2lablovers
Caching our way to the Pre Geowoodstock Get Together. Enjoyed the walk across the bridge to this one. The bridge reminded me of a ship. Found after a brief search. Thanks for the cache.

Found it 03/28/2019 By WalkingDuo
Enjoyed the Search - Thanks

Found it 03/20/2019 By BPickens
Very nice hide in a very nice location . I like the bridge. Thanks for bringing me there. TFTC

Enable Listing 03/11/2019 By _BriGuy_
Good to go

Found it 12/14/2018 By CoBiker
I enjoyed the history of this park. TFTC

Found it 12/14/2018 By ecanderson
Found a good shoulder for parking nearby. No fumbling today, so no need for any vertical recoveries. If my guess about container material is correct, it should last a very long time.

Found it 12/04/2018 By Jinxer05
Out trying to grab some caches and fulfill the 360° challenge. This one looked fun and it did not disappoint. Thank you for the cache!

Found it 09/15/2018 By Sqweeter
Nice bridge. Hate to be a butterfingers! TFTH SL

Found it 09/03/2018 By Edwards654
Ignore that last log. It is one of those days. Made the find. Tftc

Found it 08/25/2018 By Kroozer
Interesting history and a fun find! Signed log. Thanks for the cache!

Found it 08/20/2018 By SeekDaCache
We headed back out today to finish up getting these last 8 caches that we wanted to get yesterday but it got to dark to continue. Very nice hide, SL,TFTC

Found it 08/16/2018 By rfmetz
SL. Thanks for the interesting history lesson and TFTC.

Extra care needed when replacing the cache.
Bob

Publish Listing 08/16/2018 By Heartland Cacher
Published

Found it 08/15/2018 By LostinDenver
I saw this come out while I was grabbing caches in Lakewood. After an hour or so, I started to think that no one was trying for it. Maybe I should! So I drove up and grabbed the [FTF] at 8:16 pm. Clever, but precarious placement. I didn't make sure it was properly attached and dropped it. Retrieving the dropped container took a bit, but not too long. Tftc!