Synopsis
This 2nd edition of John Gregory Country is a modest attempt to locate both geological and historical reference points in and adjacent to the Ralston Buttes Quadrangle of Jefferson County, Colorado. And to hear what they have to say in order to better understand the history of the country traversed by the Gregory toll road. Errors found in the first edition and herein corrected are not acknowledged, as the delineation of dichotomies would be deadly. The RBQ is 57.36 square miles 6.65 miles wide and 8.62 miles deep. Rocky Flats, Blue Mountain, Centennial Cone, and Indian Gulch (U.S. Geol. Survey designation) anchor the quad. To position the RBQ with regard to its neighbors, the adjoining edges of adjacent quads are included. Identification of the quad used limits the elevation figure to that quad. Renaming of places can occur with updated quads. For example, the Mt. Tom that appears on the RBQ is Golden Pk on the 1906 Blackhawk Quad. Many place names do not appear on maps, ergo the S/b in front of the quad designation. A pernicious error in contemporary RBQs is the labeling of Magpie Gulch as Indian Gulch. Magpie Gulch, a steep, willow-choked waterway, is the first drainage from the N to open on Clear Creek above Golden. Indian Gulch is the first drainage from the W to open on Golden N of Clear Creek. Indian Gulch accommodates an old Indian trail. Magpie Gulch got its name from the large flocks of magpies that wintered there. The error robs the original Indian Gulch (W½, S29, T3S, R70W) correctly identified on the 1906 BQ and now left nameless of its identity and places historical references to Magpie Gulch in limbo.
About the Author
Charles Ramstetter was born in the old Eight-mile House in Golden Gate Canyon. His grandmother, Matilda, is the daughter of homesteaders Ernest, Sr., and Elizabeth Koch. His grandfather, Henry Ramstetter, Sr., was also a homesteader, as was Charles father, Otto. Charles mother, Bertha, taught in the Cheese Box, Mountain House, and Guy Hill schools. When Charles was 17, he joined the U.S. Army to see the world, and in 1965 transferred to the Air Force. He retired in 1979 as a Master Sergeant and returned to Golden Gate Canyon to raise cattle. Mary Ramstetter grew up in Golden. Her father, Owen Acers, was an electrical contractor and one of the founders of the Golden Thespians. Her mother, Geneva Acers, worked on Court House Hill as Jefferson County s payroll clerk. Mary was the secretary in the Humanities and Social Sciences Department of the Colorado School of Mines from 1958 until her retirement in 1981. She is the author of the El Dorado Trilogy Over the Mountains of the Moon; Down the Valley of the Shadow; Ride, Boldly Ride historical narratives of the American West, 1846-1869. Together Charles and Mary run a commercial cow-calf operation in Golden Gate Canyon. They have four children and four grandchildren. Their registered Colorado cattle brand, read by brand inspectors as c lazy three, names their press. C Lazy Three Press publications have won a total of nine awards, including the 2010 Eric Hoffer Award for Legacy Fiction.
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