The new Golden Gate Canyon Road entering the mountains
Courtesy Denver Public Library Western History Department
Originally the Golden Gate Canyon Road went straight up and across the mountainside to the north, known as Enter Mountain, following the native trails of old. In 1860 Daniel L. McCleery took it upon himself to blaze a new Golden Gate Canyon Road, through Golden Gate Canyon itself. It was built as a toll road leading to the gold fields of today's Gilpin County and the Central City/Black Hawk area, and was one of the main roads to the gold regions of Colorado.
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ROAD RAGE The new Golden Gate Canyon Road was quite successful and Daniel McCleery was elected the second Mayor of Golden City in June of 1860. However, all was not well, as Golden Gate resident Alfred Tucker lodged a legal challenge against the Golden Gate City Town Company. He alleged that the town company had illegally entered upon his ranching claim, and he sought control of the Golden Gate City townsite and the canyon road McCleery had just built. This spurred a bitter dispute between Tucker and his allies and McCleery and his allies, which included the Golden community which backed their Mayor. Prevailing in the Arapahoe County court of Kansas Territory, Tucker ultimately gained control of the road. At the height of the dispute Alfred Tucker, under firm name of A. Tucker & Co., placed an advertisement in the Western Mountaineer for a road company of his own to possess the Golden Gate Canyon Road, building from Golden Gate to the Gregory Diggings. On October 11th it dueled with another ad in the same newspaper, on the same page, purporting to be from A. Sucker & Co., for a road company to possess the Golden Gate Canyon Road, building from Golden Gate to the Moon. This prompted Mountaineer editor George West to quip "We learn by an advertisement that A. Sucker & Co., have entered into a copartnership to build a road from Golden Gate to the Moon. We should like to take toll at the moon end." |
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