Ralston Creek (Colorado)

Ralston Creek[1]
Origin Gilpin County, Colorado
39°51′38″N 105°29′54″W / 39.86056°N 105.49833°W
Mouth Confluence with Clear Creek
39°47′53″N 105°03′15″W / 39.79806°N 105.05417°WCoordinates: 39°47′53″N 105°03′15″W / 39.79806°N 105.05417°W
Progression Clear Creek—South Platte—
Platte—Missouri—Mississippi
Length 32 mi (51 km)
Mouth elevation 5,249 ft (1,600 m)

Ralston Creek is a tributary of Clear Creek, approximately 32 miles (51 km) long,[2] in central Colorado in the United States. It drains a suburban and urban area of the northwestern Denver Metropolitan Area. It rises in the foothills in northeastern Gilpin County, in southern Golden Gate Canyon State Park. It descends through a valley eastward into Jefferson, following Drew Hill Road (County Road 57), emerging from the mountains approximately 3 miles (5 km) north of Golden, where it is impounded to form Ralston Reservoir and Arvada/Blunn Reservoir on both sides of State Highway 93. It flows eastward through Arvada and joins Clear Creek from the north in southeast Arvada, near the intersection of Sheridan Avenue and Interstate 76.

History

The first documented discovery of gold in the Rocky Mountain region occurred in June 1850, when Lewis Ralston, a Georgia prospector headed for the California gold fields, dipped his sluice pan into this stream near its mouth at Clear Creek.[3] Ralston found about 1/4 ounce (6 g) of gold worth about five dollars. Ralston's companions named the stream Ralston's Creek in his honor, but they all left the next morning, drawn by the lure of the California gold fields.

In the spring of 1858, William Green Russell and his brothers searched the creek for gold. Later in the year, Lewis Ralston brought another group of prospectors back to the site of his first discovery.

In 2010 officials discovered that the defunct Schwartzwalder uranium mine was contaminating groundwater near the reservoir, threatening the Denver water supply with concentrations of uranium some 1000 times the human health standard.[4] The proposed cleanup involves rerouting Ralston Creek.[5]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Ralston Creek". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey. Retrieved 2011-01-26.
  2. ↑ U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline data. The National Map, accessed March 25, 2011
  3. ↑ "Arvada History" (HTTP). City of Arvada, Colorado. Archived from the original on 2007-06-28. Retrieved 2007-08-20.
  4. ↑ Finley, Bruce. "Defunct uranium mine contaminating groundwater near reservoir". Denver Post.
  5. ↑ Grenoble, Ryan (2012-03-06). "Radioactive Mine Cleanup? Nah, Just Move The Creek". Huffington Post.