GOLDEN SMELTING WORKS (1872-1888)

The Golden Smelting Works began operations in 1873 and was the first of five smelting companies founded during the 1870's in Golden. Other smelting plants were the Collum Smelter (1875), the Malachite Mining Company (1877), the Trenton Dressing and Smelting Company (1877), and the Valley Smelter (1879). The Golden Smelting Works was erected in 1872 by Bagley & Sons, under the supervision of William West, for a cost of $21,000 ¹. These plants were know as "smelters row". By 1879, Golden was the leading ore treatment point of Colorado ² Smelting was the ore reduction process necessary to treat galena, a lead sulfide which holds silver compounds ³. This form of ore was resistant to stamp milling, a process which utilized heavy iron blocks attached to wooden or iron rods. These blocks crushed the ore into sand which was then reduced even further ⁴. Also resistant to stamp milling were the sulferets which contained gold in the form of a solid solution⁵

The first layer of minerals in the Colorado Region of the Rocky Mountain Cordilleran consisted of placers, deposits of gravel or sand which contained particles of gold and silver. Placers were mined with techniques such as panning and sluicing, and were much easier the reduce to the valuable minerals than ore found at deeper layers. Gossan formed the second layer of minerals. These ores were also easily mined and processed and were found between the surface and approximately 100 feet. The third layer of minerals contained galena and sulferets. Sulferets were named for the heavy sulfur odor associated with these ores.

By 1863, the first two layers of ores had largely been removed. By 1864 the mining industry required a new process to reduce ore in order to remain profitable. This was the year that the first real silver mines were opened near Georgetown, CO ⁶ . Thus began the silver era of the 1870s during which smelting activity in Golden peaked.

Many early attempts at smelting ore met with limited success. Furnaces such as Scotch hearths were inexpensive to construct and operate but inadequate for smelting silver lead minerals due to a requirement for ore comprised of 60 percent lead ⁷. Such ore was rare in Colorado The blast furnace, the appropriate method for reducing silver-lead ores, was introduced in the late 1860's by mining engineers trained in Europe⁸. Blast furnaces produced greater heat than hearths due to the use of carbon and coke for fuel instead of wood and charcoal in fireboxes⁹. The charcoal and coke also provided carbon which was essential to the chemical reactions in the reduction process. The Golden Smelting works utilized a blast furnace for its ore reduction process. After marginal success, an additional blast furnace was put into operation in September, 1974 ¹⁰.

Unfortunately, many of the smelters constructed and operated during the 1870s met with limited prosperity. Competition with Denver smelters proved to be to great for small smelting operations to surmount The greatest source of competition for the Golden smelters was a large smelting operation in Denver (the Argo Plant), constructed by Nathaniel P. Hill in 1878. This plant began operations on January 1, 1879.

The Argo smelter had several advantages over smelters row. The greatest advantage was its location which was more accessible to the broad gauge railroad lines for which Denver was the terminus. Such access provided the Argo smelter with a greater market for purchasing ore. It was not dependent on the mines of Gilpin and Clear County as were the Golden smelters. The Argo smelter also benefited from greater access to materials such a fuel and machinery.

The fate of the smelters in Golden is directly related to the triumph of Denver over Golden as the transportation center of Colorado. The Central Colorado railroad line from mining towns such as Georgetown, Blackhawk, and Central City, to Golden, was narrow gauge. Transferring freight from narrow gauge railroad stock to broad gauge was necessary to transport ore east. Such transfers were performed at the Golden Roundhouse. This arrangement allowed the Colorado Central railroad to exact high freight tariffs on ore shipped to smelters outside of Golden. By avoiding transfer fees, the Golden smelters enjoyed significant leverage for ore purchases in competition with the valley smelters of Denver. This advantage resulted in a struggled between William A. H. Loveland, President of the Colorado Central Railroad and a prominent man in Colorado business and politics, and Nathaniel Hill, an aspiring politician and successful industrialist.

When Hill threatened to construct a broad gauge line into the mountains from Denver, thus by passing Golden, Loveland eventually yielded due to pressure from the owners of the Colorado Central Railroad, who proved to have business dealings with Hill. Loveland agreed to switch freight at the cost of the railroad, a decision that proved to be costly for the Colorado Central. Ultimately, the Colorado Central Railroad constructed a narrow gauge line between Golden and Denver, eliminating Golden as a transfer point ¹¹.

The small smelting operations in Golden were doomed for other reasons. Many of these plants failed to employ skilled metallurgists familiar with the ore reduction process¹² . As a result, the yields of these smelters were often inadequate to meet operating expenses. Most of the smelters also lacked the capital of larger operations such as the Argo facility. Smelters located in places such as Denver and Pueblo had a variety of ore purchasing options due to their proximity to major railroad lines. Labor, fuel, and material costs were significantly lower in these locations as well¹³ . By 1883 harsh competition, lower grades of ore, and steady appearance of sulfides forced many of the smaller smelters out of business ¹⁴.

Under the initial owners, the Golden Smelting works enjoyed limited success. At the death of the senior Bagley, the Works was sold to a Colorado Springs group under a trust deed in September, 1875. The Works was shut down several times during the first year of operation for a variety of reasons consistent with the fate of many smelting plants during the late 19th century. Bagley & Sons were unable to raise sufficient working capital. Additionally, the company was unable to maintain an adequate ore stock. Despite the above difficulties, the Works was able to produce $117,000 in four months during 1874 ¹⁵. During June and July, 1876, the Works smelted and treated 500 tons of ore valued at $38,500, primarily producing fine bars of gold and silver ¹⁶ . The payroll of the Works at this time was $600 per week ¹⁷. By 1880 the Golden Smelting works was producing an average of 392.67 tons per month (See Table 1). These figures represent a 66% gain over 1879 tonnage smelted and an 89% increase in the value of refined ore produced¹⁸ .

Table 1. Annual production for the Golden Smelting Works, 1880.

Counties	Tons	Gold(ozs)	Silver(ozs)	Lead(lbs)	Value
ClearCreek	1,127	99.44	164,457	668,054	$222,939.10
Boulder	622	3004.57	42,005		$109,990.16
Gilpin	2,204	3602.46	20,242	63,093	$100,693.37
Lake	431		108,018		$123,140.52
Summit	53	33.24	1,849	38,678	$4,728.83
Custer	275		10,672	247,724	$24,552.28
Totals	4,712	6739.71	347,243	1,017,549	$586,044.26

The Golden Smelter also recorded a shipment of approximately $27,000 in bullion in one week in February, 1883. Thousands of dollars of gold and silver brick shipments were reported by the local knewspaper during the limited success of these smelters¹⁹.

The Golden Smelting Works was able to survive the other plants in Golden due to the backing of the Robert E. Lee mine in Leadville ²⁰. The Golden Smelting Company struggled until 1888. The other smelting companies failed by the early 1880s ²¹.

The story of two other Golden Smelters is typical of the limited success realized by all of the smaller smelting operations adjacent to or located in the mountains. In 1881, the Miner's Smelting and Reduction Company purchased one of the defunct smelters in Golden. This group hired many of the employees of the Argo plant and employed the secret techniques of their rival smelting company ²² Despite remaining in business for another two years, expanding operations, and achieving technical success, the Miner's Smelting and Reduction Company failed due to harsh competition and a poor location ²³ Ultimately, this plant was purchased and razed by the Argo firm.

Another failed Golden Smelter was the Carpenter plant, completed in July 1901. This plant was a pyritic smelter which had the potential for reducing large quantities of low grade ore which contained silver, copper, gold, and iron ²⁴ This smelter shut down on September 11, 1903, due to difficulties such as defective furnace water jackets, insufficient ore inventories, and a labor strike ²⁵ . The strike was caused by a wage reduction implemented by the owners in an attempt to increase capital for ore purchases. Reportedly the Carpenter pant was unable to earn a profit during its two years of operations ²⁶. Following this failure, the plant was leased to two other companies between 1903 and 1910. After these entrepreneurs experienced similar difficulties, primarily poor ore supplies, the plant ceased operation in late 1911 and was eventually demolished ²⁷.

1 Rocky Mountain News, 8 September 1875, p.4, c.3.
2 "Golden Again a Smelting City", Illustrated Weekly, 10 September 1901, Vol. Ix, no.52. p.1.
3 Fell, James E., Jr., Ores to Metals: The Rocky Mountain Smelting Industry, (Nebraska: University of Nebraska Press, 1979), p.55.
4 Ibid.
5 Ibid., p.8.
6 Ubbelohode, Carl, Benson, Maxine, and Smith, Duane A., A Colorado History 7th ed., (Boulder: Pruett Publishing Company, 1995), p. 113.
7 Fell, James E., Jr., Ores to Metals: The Rocky Mountain Smelting Industry, (Nebraska: University of Nebraska Press, 1979), p.56.
8 Ibid., p.63.
9 Ibid., p.65.
10 Rocky Mountain News, 24 September 1874, p.4 c.5.
11 Fell, James E., Jr., Ores to Metals: The Rocky Mountain Smelting Industry, Nebraska: University of Nebraska Press, 1979), p.136.
12 Thid., p.66.
13 Ibid., p.133.
14 Ibid., p.178.
15 Rocky Mountain News, 8 September 1875, p.4, c.3.
16 Ibid., 4 August 1876, p.4, c2.
17 Ibid.
18 Ibid., 4 January 1881, p.2, c. 4.
19 Wagenbach, Lorraine, and Thistlewood, J0Ann, Golden, the 19111 Century: A Colorado Chronicle,(Littleton: Harbinger House, 1987), p.60.
20 "Golden Again a Smelting City", Illustrated Weekly, 10 September 1901, Vol. Ix, no.52. p.2.
21 Fell, James E., Jr., Ores to Metals: The Rocky Mountain Smelting Industry, (Nebraska: University of Nebraska Press, 1979), p.178.
22 Ibid.,p. 141.
23 Ibid., p.142.
24 Ibid., p.263.
25 Ibid., p.265.
26 Ibid.
27 Ibid., p.266.

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