Thomas J. Noel - Boom and Bust Colorado: From the 1859 Gold Rush to the 2020 Pandemic

Thomas Jacob Noel is a Professor Emeritus of History and Director of Public History, Preservation & Colorado Studies at the University of Colorado Denver. Tom is the author or coauthor of fifty-three books. A longtime former Sunday columnist for the Rocky Mountain News and the Denver Post, he appears as Dr. Colorado on Channel 9s Colorado & Company. In 2018 he was appointed Colorados official State Historian. Tom completed his BA at the University of Denver and his MA and PhD at CU-Boulder, where his mother (a psychiatrist) and grandmother (a teacher) also did their graduate work. Please check Toms website, dr-colorado.com, for a full rsum and updated list of his books, tours, and talks where you are most welcome.

William J. Hansen is an attorney who, after obtaining a business degree from the University of Colorado in Boulder, graduated from the University of Colorado Law School in 1974. Bill has been extremely active in the Colorado Trial Lawyers Association and is a frequent writer and lecturer on the evolution of Colorado law. Since childhood, he has had a passion for history. After purchasing an old Victorian home in Denvers Montclair neighborhood, he researched and guided the restoration of the Molkery in Montclair Park and went on to coauthor with Professor Noel two local best-selling books for Historic Denver, Inc.: The Montclair Neighborhood and The Park Hill Neighborhood. Bill continues to collect, research, write, lecture, and provide periodic walking tours on Denver and Colorado history.

T HE D ENVER P UBLIC L IBRARY W ESTERN H ISTORY & G ENEALOGY D EPART ment is a researchers heaven. At DPL Jim Kroll, Brian Trembath, James Rogers, Roger Dudley, and the staff have been wonderful resources, as has DPLs incredibly fast and knowledgeable photo librarian, Coi Drummond Gehrig. A tip of the hat as well to History Colorados Hart Research Center for all they do. Thanks to Moya Hansen of the Black American West Museum, Dave Thomas of the Gilpin County Historical Society, and Lee Malloy, cofounder of Denvers International Church of Cannabis.

This project could also not have been completed without the assistance of the many people we encountered in the research libraries as well as brew-pubs, casinos, pot shops, and tourist destinations who willingly answered our often-nave inquiries. Some of their stories can now be told and are included in the text. Mike and Deb Kupecz, Jeremiah Moore, Jay Homstad, Kaleigh Nitz, Neal Levin, T. J. Trump, Kathleen Barlow, Bill Bessessen, Steve Leonard, Vi Noel, David Sikora of Twenty-Twenty Design, and Amy Zimmer have been most helpful. At Globe Pequot Press, Katherine ODell, Erin Turner, Sarah Parke, and Meredith Dias have been patient and most helpful with their crackerjack editing.

Tom Dr. Colorado Noel and William J. Hansen, Esq.

Besides those books cited in the text, the authors relied upon the following key additional sources.

Abbott, Carl, Stephen J. Leonard, and Thomas J. Noel. Colorado: A History of the Centennial State. Fifth edition. Niwot: University Press of Colorado, 2012.

Baca, Vincent C. de, ed. La Gente: Hispano History and Life in Colorado. Niwot: University Press of Colorado and Colorado Historical Society, 1999.

Beaton, Gail M. Colorado Women: A History. Foreword by Thomas J. Noel. Boulder: University Press of Colorado, 2012.

Ellis, Anne. The Life of an Ordinary Woman. Introduction by Lucy Fitch Perkins. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1929. Reprinted in 1981, with an introduction by Elliot West, by University of Nebraska Press (Lincoln).

Escalante, Silvestre Vlez de. The Dominguez-Escalante Journal: Their Expedition ThroughColorado, Utah, Arizona, and New Mexico in 1776. Translated by Fray Angelico Chavez. Provo, UT: Brigham Young University Press, 1976.

Fell, James Edward, Jr. Ores to Metals: The Rocky Mountain Smelting Industry. Lincoln:University of Nebraska Press, 1979. Reprinted in 2009, with an introduction by S. J. Leonard, by University Press of Colorado (Boulder).

Goldberg, Robert Alan. Hooded Empire: The Ku Klux Klan in Colorado. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1981.

Haywood, William Dudley. Bill Haywoods Book: The Autobiography of William D. Haywood. New York: International Publishers, 1929, 1969.

Hoig, Stanley Warlick. The Sand Creek Massacre. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1958, 1961.

Hosokawa, William. Thunder in the Rockies: The Incredible Denver Post. New York: William Morrow, 1976.

Johnson, Nick. Grass Roots: A History of Cannabis in the American West. Corvallis: Oregon State University Press, 2017.

Leonard, Stephen J. The 1918 Influenza Epidemic in Denver and Colorado. In Essays and Monographs in Colorado History, no. 9. Denver: Colorado State Historical Society, 1989.

. Trials and Triumphs: A Colorado Portrait of the Great Depression, with FSA Photographs. Niwot: University Press of Colorado, 1993.

Leonard, Stephen J., and Thomas J. Noel. Denver: From Mining Camp to Metropolis. Niwot: University Press of Colorado, 1990 / 1994 paperback edition.

Lindsey, Benjamin Barr, and Harvey J. OHiggins. The Beast. New York: Doubleday, Page, 1910. Reprinted in 2009, with an introduction by Stephen J. Leonard, by University Press of Colorado (Boulder).

McGovern, George S., and Leonard F. Guttridge. The Great Coalfield War. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1972. Reprinted in 1996 by University Press of Colorado (Boulder).

Noel, Thomas J. Buildings of Colorado. New York: Oxford University Press, 1997. Online revised 2020 edition from the Society of Architectural Historians.

Noel, Thomas J., and Debra B. Faulkner. Mile High Tourism: Denvers Convention andVisitor History. Denver: Visit Denver, 2010.

Noel, Thomas J., and Cathleen M. Norman. A Pikes Peak Partnership: The Penroses and theTutts. Niwot: University Press of Colorado, 2000.

Noel, Thomas J., and Carol and Zuber-Mallison. Colorado: A Historical Atlas. Norman:University of Oklahoma Press, 2015.

Norgren, Barbara J., and Thomas J. Noel. Denver: The City Beautiful and Its Architects.Denver: Historic Denver, 1987 / 1993 paperback reprint.

Perkin, Robert L. The First Hundred Years, 18591959: An Informal History of Denver and the Rocky Mountain News. Foreword by Gene Fowler. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1959.

Philpott, William. Vacationland: Tourist and Environment in the Colorado High Country. Foreword by William Cronon. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2013. Smith, Duane Allan. The Trail of Gold and Silver: Mining In Colorado, 18592009. Fore-word by Thomas J. Noel. Boulder: University Press of Colorado, 2009.

Sprague, Marshall. Newport in the Rockies: The Life and Good Times of Colorado Springs. Denver: Sage Books, 1961. Revised edition published in 1987 by Swallow Press (Athens, OH).

Steinel, Alvin T. History of Agriculture in Colorado, 18581926. Fort Collins, CO: State Agricultural College, 1926.

Stokowski, Patricia. Riches and Regrets: Betting on Gambling in Two Colorado MountainTowns. Niwot: University Press of Colorado, 1996.

Thomas, Dave. Of Mines and Beer: 150 Years of Brewing History in Gilpin County andBeyond. Central City, CO: Gilpin County Historical County, 2012.