South Table Mountain (Colorado)
Encyclopedia
South Table Mountain is a mesa
located just southeast of downtown Golden, Colorado
in Jefferson County, Colorado
. Its most distinctive feature is its cap of basalt
rock formed from ancient lava flows. South Table Mountain is a popular scenic and recreational destination of the Denver metro area, and most of it is preserved as Jefferson County Open Space. Its landmark prominence is Castle Rock, a small higher butte
projecting from the mesa's northwest end. The mountain has a twin formation nearby, known as North Table Mountain
.
tribes of the region, and archaeological remains are known to exist on its top. A piece of grape shot thought to be from either Spanish explorers or fur traders was found by Arthur Lakes
on the mesa top in April 1895. The earliest recorded ascents of the mesa occurred during the Colorado Gold Rush
in 1859. In 1906 father and son William H. and Clyde L. Ashworth built the original Castle Rock Resort, a cafe
atop Castle Rock, where visitors were taken by burro
up a trail up the north flank of Castle Rock. After vandalism
destroyed it in 1907 the venture was abandoned until Charles F. Quaintance revived it in 1908 with a new cafe and burro train and a road built by Harry Hartzell from the south slope. This was supplemented in 1913 with a lighthouse
, dance hall
and funicular
incline railway to the top. Business faded with the advent of the Denver Mountain Parks
, and the funicular rails were salvaged for the allied effort in World War I
in 1918. The idle resort was taken over by the Ku Klux Klan
during the 1920s as a major meeting and ceremonial place during its rise to power in Colorado. The resort burned to the ground in an arson
fire in 1927. During the 1910s-20s the city of Denver quarried gravel
from the mountain's northeast alcove. In 1935 the Works Progress Administration
built the Colorado Amphitheater
for Camp George West on its southern side. Developers in 1957 originally wanted to build the Magic Mountain
theme park at its northeastern alcove until residents of Applewood protested and convinced them to build elsewhere. Subsequent attempts to develop or quarry the mountain including condominiums and a corporate headquarters continued through the remainder of the 20th century and the mesa was gradually purchased or placed under easement by Jefferson County
for open space. Today much of South Table Mountain is open to the public, while southern portions are occupied by the Colorado State Patrol and National Renewable Energy Laboratory
.
and members of the Chicago Company, a gold seeking party, all of whom were hunting mountain sheep atop the mesa.
Fastest Ascent - a disputed title, according to the Colorado Transcript
issue of September 8, 1904, between David G. Dargin climbing to top of Castle Rock in 23:55:3-5 on November 6, 1859 and Charles Wade climbing to top of Castle Rock from starting point of Washington Avenue Bridge at Clear Creek in 23:54:1-2 around February 1861.
First Automobile Ascent - by Stanley Steamer
driven by George Hering with 4 passengers (including Charles F. Quaintance) and camera equipment in 1908.
Fastest Automobile Ascent - same as first automobile ascent, timed from starting point at 13th Street and Washington Avenue in 12 minutes 45 seconds, via South Golden Road and Quaker Street, proof of ascent published on front page of the Transcript showing automobile with passengers atop Castle Rock.
Helicopter Ascent - made Transcript front page during the 1970s when helicopter made a forced landing
atop Castle Rock.
Mesa
A mesa or table mountain is an elevated area of land with a flat top and sides that are usually steep cliffs. It takes its name from its characteristic table-top shape....
located just southeast of downtown Golden, Colorado
Golden, Colorado
The City of Golden is a home rule municipality that is the county seat of Jefferson County, Colorado, United States. Golden lies along Clear Creek at the edge of the foothills of the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains. Founded during the Pike's Peak Gold Rush on 16 June 1859, the mining camp was...
in Jefferson County, Colorado
Jefferson County, Colorado
Jefferson County , whose slogan is the "Gateway to the Rocky Mountains", is the fourth most populous of the 64 counties of the State of Colorado of the United States. Located along the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains, Jefferson County is adjacent to the west side of the state capital, Denver....
. Its most distinctive feature is its cap of basalt
Basalt
Basalt is a common extrusive volcanic rock. It is usually grey to black and fine-grained due to rapid cooling of lava at the surface of a planet. It may be porphyritic containing larger crystals in a fine matrix, or vesicular, or frothy scoria. Unweathered basalt is black or grey...
rock formed from ancient lava flows. South Table Mountain is a popular scenic and recreational destination of the Denver metro area, and most of it is preserved as Jefferson County Open Space. Its landmark prominence is Castle Rock, a small higher butte
Butte
A butte is a conspicuous isolated hill with steep, often vertical sides and a small, relatively flat top; it is smaller than mesas, plateaus, and table landform tables. In some regions, such as the north central and northwestern United States, the word is used for any hill...
projecting from the mesa's northwest end. The mountain has a twin formation nearby, known as North Table Mountain
North Table Mountain
North Table Mountain is a mesa located just northeast of downtown Golden, Colorado in Jefferson County, Colorado. Its most distinctive feature is its cap off basaltic rock formed from Tertiary lava flows from the nearby Ralston Dike...
.
History
In times far past South Table Mountain was ascended and used by American IndianNative Americans in the United States
Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
tribes of the region, and archaeological remains are known to exist on its top. A piece of grape shot thought to be from either Spanish explorers or fur traders was found by Arthur Lakes
Arthur Lakes
Arthur Lakes was a notable geologist, artist, writer, teacher and minister. He captured much of his geological and palaeontological field work in sketches and watercolours...
on the mesa top in April 1895. The earliest recorded ascents of the mesa occurred during the Colorado Gold Rush
Colorado Gold Rush
The Pike's Peak Gold Rush was the boom in gold prospecting and mining in the Pike's Peak Country of western Kansas Territory and southwestern Nebraska Territory of the United States that began in July 1858 and lasted until roughly the creation of the Colorado Territory on February 28, 1861...
in 1859. In 1906 father and son William H. and Clyde L. Ashworth built the original Castle Rock Resort, a cafe
Café
A café , also spelled cafe, in most countries refers to an establishment which focuses on serving coffee, like an American coffeehouse. In the United States, it may refer to an informal restaurant, offering a range of hot meals and made-to-order sandwiches...
atop Castle Rock, where visitors were taken by burro
Burro
The burro is a small donkey used primarily as a pack animal. In addition, significant numbers of feral burros live in the Southwestern United States, where they are protected by law, and in Mexico...
up a trail up the north flank of Castle Rock. After vandalism
Vandalism
Vandalism is the behaviour attributed originally to the Vandals, by the Romans, in respect of culture: ruthless destruction or spoiling of anything beautiful or venerable...
destroyed it in 1907 the venture was abandoned until Charles F. Quaintance revived it in 1908 with a new cafe and burro train and a road built by Harry Hartzell from the south slope. This was supplemented in 1913 with a lighthouse
Lighthouse
A lighthouse is a tower, building, or other type of structure designed to emit light from a system of lamps and lenses or, in older times, from a fire, and used as an aid to navigation for maritime pilots at sea or on inland waterways....
, dance hall
Dance hall
Dance hall in its general meaning is a hall for dancing. From the earliest years of the twentieth century until the early 1960s, the dance hall was the popular forerunner of the discothèque or nightclub...
and funicular
Funicular
A funicular, also known as an inclined plane or cliff railway, is a cable railway in which a cable attached to a pair of tram-like vehicles on rails moves them up and down a steep slope; the ascending and descending vehicles counterbalance each other.-Operation:The basic principle of funicular...
incline railway to the top. Business faded with the advent of the Denver Mountain Parks
Denver Mountain Parks
The Denver Mountain Parks system contains more than 14,000 acres of parklands in the mountains and foothills of Jefferson, Clear Creek, Douglas,and Grand counties in Colorado, west and south of Denver....
, and the funicular rails were salvaged for the allied effort in World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
in 1918. The idle resort was taken over by the Ku Klux Klan
Ku Klux Klan
Ku Klux Klan, often abbreviated KKK and informally known as the Klan, is the name of three distinct past and present far-right organizations in the United States, which have advocated extremist reactionary currents such as white supremacy, white nationalism, and anti-immigration, historically...
during the 1920s as a major meeting and ceremonial place during its rise to power in Colorado. The resort burned to the ground in an arson
Arson
Arson is the crime of intentionally or maliciously setting fire to structures or wildland areas. It may be distinguished from other causes such as spontaneous combustion and natural wildfires...
fire in 1927. During the 1910s-20s the city of Denver quarried gravel
Gravel
Gravel is composed of unconsolidated rock fragments that have a general particle size range and include size classes from granule- to boulder-sized fragments. Gravel can be sub-categorized into granule and cobble...
from the mountain's northeast alcove. In 1935 the Works Progress Administration
Works Progress Administration
The Works Progress Administration was the largest and most ambitious New Deal agency, employing millions of unskilled workers to carry out public works projects, including the construction of public buildings and roads, and operated large arts, drama, media, and literacy projects...
built the Colorado Amphitheater
Colorado Amphitheater
The Colorado Amphitheater, also known as Structure #41, is a natural stone amphitheater built in 1935 to serve Camp George West of the Colorado National Guard...
for Camp George West on its southern side. Developers in 1957 originally wanted to build the Magic Mountain
Heritage Square
Heritage Square is a Storybook Victorian theme park shopping village at Golden, Colorado. It was originally built as Magic Mountain in 1957-59 by a group spearheaded by prominent Wheat Ridge businessman Walter Francis Cobb and Denver sculptor John Calvin Sutton. They hired Marco Engineering,...
theme park at its northeastern alcove until residents of Applewood protested and convinced them to build elsewhere. Subsequent attempts to develop or quarry the mountain including condominiums and a corporate headquarters continued through the remainder of the 20th century and the mesa was gradually purchased or placed under easement by Jefferson County
Jefferson County, Colorado
Jefferson County , whose slogan is the "Gateway to the Rocky Mountains", is the fourth most populous of the 64 counties of the State of Colorado of the United States. Located along the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains, Jefferson County is adjacent to the west side of the state capital, Denver....
for open space. Today much of South Table Mountain is open to the public, while southern portions are occupied by the Colorado State Patrol and National Renewable Energy Laboratory
National Renewable Energy Laboratory
The National Renewable Energy Laboratory , located in Golden, Colorado, is the United States' primary laboratory for renewable energy and energy efficiency research and development. The National Renewable Energy Laboratory is a government-owned, contractor-operated facility; it is funded through...
.
Feature Names
Although not necessarily recorded on USGS maps, several historically named features are part of South Table Mountain:- Castle Rock, originally known as Table Rock, butte prominence at northwest end
- Slaughterhouse Gulch, a gulch upon its northern slope, likely named for farms once in the Coors BreweryCoors Brewing CompanyThe Coors Brewing Company is a regional division of the world's fifth-largest brewing company, the Canadian Molson Coors Brewing Company and is the third-largest brewer in the United States...
valley - Long Gulch, a lengthy gulch along Quaker Street on the south slope
- Crystal Springs, natural water springsSpring (hydrosphere)A spring—also known as a rising or resurgence—is a component of the hydrosphere. Specifically, it is any natural situation where water flows to the surface of the earth from underground...
in the vicinity of the head of Long Gulch
Wildlife
Among the animals known to frequent the mesa through time include mountain sheep, mountain lions, deer, elk and more. Of these most except for the mountain sheep continue to live upon the mountain today. In August 2009 Arizona Black Rattlesnakes have been seen at the steps to Castle Rock. Back away and let them go their own way, they are highly poisonous.Ascent Trivia
First Ascent - earliest by a person of confirmed identity was on February 14, 1859 by gold discoverer George A. Jackson, partner Thomas L. GoldenThomas L. Golden
Thomas L. Golden was a miner from Georgia, United States, who was one of the earliest prospectors in today's Jefferson County, Colorado. Arriving during the Pike's Peak Gold Rush in 1858, he was partners with another prospector, George Andrew Jackson from Missouri...
and members of the Chicago Company, a gold seeking party, all of whom were hunting mountain sheep atop the mesa.
Fastest Ascent - a disputed title, according to the Colorado Transcript
Golden Transcript
The Golden Transcript is the second oldest newspaper in Colorado, behind the Central City Register-Call. The Transcript is also the oldest media outlet of the Denver metropolitan area. It is published by Mile High Newspapers in Golden, Colorado....
issue of September 8, 1904, between David G. Dargin climbing to top of Castle Rock in 23:55:3-5 on November 6, 1859 and Charles Wade climbing to top of Castle Rock from starting point of Washington Avenue Bridge at Clear Creek in 23:54:1-2 around February 1861.
First Automobile Ascent - by Stanley Steamer
Stanley Steamer
The Stanley Motor Carriage Company was a manufacturer of steam-engine vehicles; it operated from 1902 to 1924. The cars made by the company were colloquially called Stanley Steamers, although several different models were produced.-Early history:...
driven by George Hering with 4 passengers (including Charles F. Quaintance) and camera equipment in 1908.
Fastest Automobile Ascent - same as first automobile ascent, timed from starting point at 13th Street and Washington Avenue in 12 minutes 45 seconds, via South Golden Road and Quaker Street, proof of ascent published on front page of the Transcript showing automobile with passengers atop Castle Rock.
Helicopter Ascent - made Transcript front page during the 1970s when helicopter made a forced landing
Forced landing
A forced landing is a landing by an aircraft made under factors outside the pilot's control, such as the failure of engines, systems, components or weather which makes continued flight impossible. For a full description of these, see article on Emergency landing...
atop Castle Rock.