The day we took the outhouses down

One of the first groups to visit the Goldminer was a church group from Evergreen. It had gotton pretty cold. We thought we had a woodpile which seemed to have disappeared when we arrived. We told our guests we would have wood for the next evening fire. We were going to take the outhouses down and burn them in the fireplace.

We had wanted to do this when we found that people were still using them. Hikers, particularly, felt they should be able to avail themselves of the opportunity even though we had posted signs asking them not to do so. People using our back yard as a toilet was disgusting. Since the hotel had indoor plumbing, we did not know this had been happening.

The guests were curious as to how we would do this. We said we would go out early in the morning (6:00 A.M.) and pull them down with the winch on our truck. We would then cut them up for the fireplace. Little did we know they found this an exciting event. The next morning they were all up and camera ready. We made coffe and went out  to tackle the task. It did not take long and we had our evening firewood.

We all came back inside and had a hearty breakfast. That evening we sat in front of a cozy fire and told stories. They said they found thir stay memorable and would come back again. If any of the people who were here for that event would like to contact us and share their pictures, wo would like to here from them.

-- Carol Rinderknecht

The Bean Pot Incident

At the east end of Bryan Avenue lies a miniature wetland: a tranquil beaver pond surrounded by sedges and reeds where ducks swim with their tiny broods and herons wade in search of small fish and frogs.  Once the train tracks went right through this area and on up Bryan Avenue.

In the spring of 1986 Gail Shickley of Marysville noticed heavy machinery crossing her neighbors’ property headed towards the east end of the beaver pond.  She was shocked to see the machinery roll over the top of Mount’s leach field, knocking over small trees that the Mounts had nurtured, hoping they would grow to be tall firs and pines.  She decided to call and check what was going on, and sure enough, the Mounts were unaware of the activity.

Come to find out, the activity was the beginning of an attempt to mine the pond of its peat.  It seems that Harvey McCollum and a man named Jerry Carnes had embarked on a joint venture to reap some profit from the peat.  One property owner, the Tonish family, had given their permission to rip up the pond, but other adjacent property owners had not been consulted.  Ruby and Jerry Brasel, long time Eldora residents, were grief stricken as they looked out their window to see the machinery tear out the east end of the beaver pond, releasing all the water downstream.

The Brasels called other neighbors, including the ECA Board, and a community meeting was called at the Goldminer Hotel to clarify what was happening and how to deal with the problem.  Eventually the County Land Use Department was called in, and it was discovered that no permit had been issued, nor did the County have any intention of doing so.  Naturally this caused the peat miners to become very disgruntled.

Meanwhile it was time for the monthly Eldora Potluck Dinner at the Goldminer Hotel.  Residents arrived with delicious dishes of homemade food and the Goldminer kitchen was filled with wonderful aromas.  Diane Brown and Dave Hallock walked in with a large round pot of baked beans topped with German bratwursts.  Harvey McCollum and Jerry Carnes, who some remember as having liquor on his breath,  arrived each with a bottle of beer in hand.  They were gunning for Dave because he worked for Boulder County.

One thing led to another and Jerry Carnes moved up to Dave, ready for heated conversation; suddenly he swung a punch with a direct hit to Dave’s nose.  Harvey leapt forward, but lost his balance and fell down, his glasses flying across the floor.  Diane had seen trouble brewing and had gone to the oven to get her beans and go home.  She arrived at Dave’s side just as Carnes was connecting with Dave’s nose.  There was nothing for her to do but to set the bean dish sailing at Carnes’ head, spilling beans all down over him, a sobering experience.  They say to this day the stains can still be detected on the floor and wall of the Goldminer. 

Diane ran out the door with Cindy McCollum in hot pursuit.  Becky Webb, who owned the Goldminer at the time, asked Dave to please to home; he was dripping blood all over the floor.  Dave says he doesn’t even remember being hit, however the blow broke his nose.  The police came and declared it a brawl; no charges were filed.  In June of 1986 Dave and Diane moved from the Rocky Ledge behind the Goldminer Hotel to Cloudy Ridge where they presently live. 

-- Diane J. Brown

Update on Wednesday, May 12, 2010 at 9:39AM by Goldminer Hotel

Several years later Diane submitted the following recipe to the Happy Valley Cookbook. It appears on page 33 under the title "Baked Bean Revenge." 

Dolly Madden’s Baked Beans

Fry 5 or 6 slices of bacon till crisp.  Remove from skillet to paper towel.  Pour off bacon grease.  In the same pan fry ¼ cup Bermuda onion, 1 chopped red pepper and 1 chopped jalapeno in bacon grease coating, which was left on skillet, till soft.  Add one large can of Bush’s original baked beans, 1 tsp. Dijon mustard, some ketchup, 3 Tbsp. brown sugar and a few drops of Tabasco sauce.   Bake at 350° for one hour.

Diane reports that she begged for this recipe from Dolly Madden, who once brought it to a potluck at the Goldminer Hotel.  Dolly recited it as Diane took notes.

Our (Other) Residents

We usually do not not mention ghosts until breakfast and maybe not then. We would like the guests to get a good nights sleep. Breakfast is usually when people talk of their experiences of the night before. Breakfast became a lively discussion when one guest mentioned that while getting ready for bed she felt a presence in the room watching her. She felt the wall and could tell it was female entity. She needed her sleep so she took the candles from her suitcase and led the presence out of the room. She was then able to get a good nights rest.

One night we were sitting on the porch tallking to the guests, neighbors and local police, someone mentioned it was going to be a full moon. We groaned because strange things happen to people during these times. The police agreed.   We had a gentleman stay with us on the night of a full moon. He had a room with a full view of the moon. I found him standing on the bed putting covers over the window. He said the moon was too bright and he had to block out its rays to protect himself from the moon. He said when he had the rays blocked he could close the room door and rest. In the morning, I usually ask if people were able to sleep, but I was not sure I should do this. He did say he was able to sleep once he had the ligjt under control.

Old buildings are always in need of plumbers. The day the plumber could come up was a day we needed to be in Boulder. We asked if he would be comfortable being there by himself. We asked him to keep the doors shut and locked because people felt comfortable walking in and showing the hotel to friends. The other concern was the ghosts that sometimes appeared. He said he did not believe in them and they did not scare him. When we got back, he said he was glad to see us and now he believed in ghosts. It seems that  he went down stairs to turn off the water and by the time he got upstairs the water was running. This happened three times. He yelled to the walls, OK, I believe, now let me finish and get out of here.

-- Carol Rinderknecht

Arrival (with stuff)

We bought the Gold Miner in the fall of 1986. Knowing that hiring a moving van from Pittsburgh to Eldora would be very very expensive, we bought an old flatbed truck which had been used to haul produce. We needed something large enough to move two tons of books and a rebuilt military truck wth winch. We employed a towing service to load the truck onto the flatbed. With the neighborhood watching and making the usual comments on how it could or could not be done, the wrecker crew very carefully placed the truck on the back of the flatbed.

The next task was to load 765 books weighing about five pounds each. Why we have 765 five pound books is another story.  We put the books in garbage bags to keep them dry and used them to stabalize the load. We then placed household belongings in any available space left. We headed west.

Just past a rest area west of Omaha we discovered that there were only three bolts, out of seven, holding on the left front wheel. The others must have broken off.  Fortunately, it was Columbus Day weekend and truck inspection stations along the interstate were closed.  The way to fix this issue was to drive a little slower.

After three days of traveling, we finally arrived in Eldora  just in time to go to the property closing. We now owned an 1897 Hotel, a flatbed truck with a defect but still fully loaded with about six tons of stuff and, of course it was snowing.

Getting the books off was irritating but did not take a lot of planning.  But then, how to unload the truck from the back of the flatbed.  The realator suggested, to save time, we back the flatbed up to a tree on a hillside, chain the load to the tree and drive forward. That worked. We realized then and there we no longer lived in the city. 

--Carol Rinderknecht