Idaho Springs: Jackson's Diggings
Near Idaho Springs, Colorado
In January of eighteen fifty-nine, a prospector named George Jackson was making his way through the Rocky Mountains when he noticed steam rising from the ground near where Chicago Creek meets Clear Creek. He dug down through frozen gravel and found gold. He kept it secret for months, but you can only pay for so many supplies with gold dust before people start asking questions.
By spring he was back with a party of men, and they struck a fortune. Within weeks the word was out. Soon a settlement had formed in the canyon.
They called it Jackson's Diggings, then Sacramento City, then Idahoe, and finally Idaho Springs. The gold pulled from Clear Creek County in the years that followed made this one of the richest drainages in the West, and Idaho Springs was where the rush began.
