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Gold was one of the many reasons people came to Colorado. In 1858, the three Russell brothers discovered a small deposit of gold in Little Dry Creek, which is a tributary of the South Platte River. The creek is still in existence today and can be seen in the city of Englewood as well as parts of Littleton and Cherry Hills Village. The brothers did not find a lot of gold, but rumors soon spread that the discovery was much larger. This would spark the Colorado Gold Rush the next year, bringing many people to the region. Cherry Creek was also used by gold miners, especially in the downtown Denver area where the creek meets the South Platte River.

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Four Mile’s gold pond is available to visitors from April to September, and drains into a small wetlands area. Here visitors to the park can pretend they strike it rich as they take turns panning for genuine fool’s gold (iron pyrite). Visitors can take home their two favorite pieces. 
(Please note: the Gold Pond is temporarily closed)


The Gold Pond

Denver's oldest standing structure was built by brothers Samuel and Jonas Brantner in 1859. They came to Colorado in search of gold, but ended up using the house for lodging for other travelers. They would sell the house in 1860 to a widow named Mary Cawker, who would run the house as a stagecoach stop with her two children until Cherry Creek flooded the area in 1864. Mary sold the house and the surrounding land to Levi and Millie Booth, who would live there with their children until well into the 1900s. They turned the area into a successful farm, where they raised bees, cows, and poultry.The city of Denver purchased the house in the 1970s and restored it to its original 1800s look.

Four Mile Historic Park is home to the oldest standing structure in Denver, the Four Mile House. This 12-acre site features a look back into Denver's agricultural history. Visitors are welcome to visit the grounds, peek into the historically accurate buildings, and say hello to the various farm animals. (Due to COVID-19, house tours are currently postponed.) 

Built in 2003, the Grant Family Education Center houses the Park offices, gift shop, restrooms, and meeting spaces. It is also home to a large timeline of the history of the Park. It features a display of artifacts and other items recovered during archaeological work done in the park since the 1970s. A large copy of Albert Bierdstadt’s 1859 painting “Surveyor’s Wagon in the Rockies'' can be seen on a wall by the front desk, showing visitors what the Colorado plains would have looked like at the time the Four Mile House was built. Other large pictures include a general store and drawings of Native American encampments.Visitors are also welcome to enjoy a viewing of Four Mile’s “Colorado Experience” episode, which was produced by Rocky Mountain PBS.

The offices of Four Mile Historic Park have been in many different places over the years, including inside the Bee House and even inside the Four Mile House itself. The twenty-first century has brought many changes to the Park, including a new welcome center and entrance for Park visitors. 


Grant Family Education Center

The structure would first serve as living quarters for hired hands, but would eventually become home to the centrifuge for Millie Booth’s beekeeping operation. The centrifuge separated the honey from the combs, and the honey was then collected into five gallon drums. This honey would be delivered to area grocery stores and other markets. Park stories state that one summer Millie sold at least four tons of honey, which would have made her at least $1,000. Millie would be awarded several times for her honey. She was a member of the Colorado State Beekeepers Association, which was established in Denver in 1880. Four Mile continues Millie’s beekeeping traditions with its own hives, which can be seen near the back of the property. The original Bee House structure burned down in 1941. The building that stands today was constructed in 1980 using Booth family photos as well as archaeological evidence. It previously served as Park offices as well as a gift shop. Today it serves as a one-room schoolhouse for the numerous school groups that come to the Park, and as a staging area for crafting demonstrations during Park events. Schools were very important to the early settlers in the Cherry Creek valley. In 1884, Levi Booth helped form the Maple Grove School, located on what is now the intersection between Leetsdale and Holly. This was likely on the Booth's land and so bore the name of their farm -- the Maple Grove Farm Dairy. Historical records held by History Colorado show that Levi paid teachers’ wages and reimbursed them for coal used to heat the building. One room schoolhouses were commonplace in pioneer settlements. The schoolhouses would be very small and would often only go up to about the eighth grade. The earliest school districts would be established in Denver by 1882, and the first high school in Denver would be built downtown in 1873. One teacher would teach all the grades. Teachers would often “board around” and live with the families of their students. There is evidence that some area teachers boarded in the Four Mile House the same time the Booth family resided there.

The original Bee House was built in 1866, two years after the Booth family purchased the Four Mile House from Mary Cawker. Millie kept bees on the property, and in the 1890s expanded her beehives into a highly productive business. At least 120 hives were installed north of the Bee House.

Bee House

The original building is a house, not a cabin, because it contains two floors instead of just one. The upstairs was only accessible by an outside staircase, which would remain until around 1883. Although the stairs are now gone, the upstairs door still remains and can be seen from inside the building. A lean-to (similar to a shed) was attached to the original building, and would be used for a kitchen and a dining area. In 1860 the Brantners sold the building to a widow named Mary Cawker and moved north to what is now Henderson, Colorado. Mary and her two teenage children, Samuel and Elizabeth, would run the house as a stage stop for travelers on the Cherokee Trail until 1864. The house became known as the Four Mile House because its location was four miles from what would eventually be downtown Denver. The Seventeen Mile House, located in Parker, is the only other house still in its original location. The exact location of the Seven Mile House is unknown. Nine Mile Station, a light rail station in Aurora, stands where the Nine Mile House once stood. A historical marker in the Cherry Creek State Park commemorates the location of the Twelve Mile House. A portion of the Twenty Mile House was moved into the town of Parker in the 1990s.Mary would increase her land claims surrounding the house, and would eventually claim from what is now Colorado Boulevard to Holly Street, and most of the Cherry Creek Valley. She would have many outbuildings built on the property, and it was during her residency that most believe the clapboard siding was added to the building.Cherry Creek was prone to floods, and a massive flood in 1864 would leave the property a muddy mess and Mary stranded and isolated for several days. She would sell the house, the outbuildings, and her land claims soon after to Levi and Millie Booth for $800. The Booths would continue running the house until the 1870s, when the railroads began to arrive in Denver. The house would remain in its original state for about twenty years before the Booths decided to renovate and expand the house into what is seen today. According to Park stories, the original log house nearly burned down one day. Laundry was boiling on the stove when sparks flew up the chimney and landed on the roof, igniting it. Millie reportedly climbed on the roof and organized a bucket brigade with hired girls and her children. She ended up having to chop the smoldering parts of the roof away with an ax, but she saved the house.The middle brick addition was built in 1883, and it cost the Booths around $3,000 to $4,000 to build. The bricks were thought to have come from a nearby brickyard called the Robinson Brickyard. Elements of Victorian architecture can be seen in the decorative trim on the two porches. The frame portion next to it used to be a separate building, and housed the hired hands that worked on the farm or the nearby dairy. This building would be moved and attached to the brick addition during the 1883 renovation. Levi and Millie would live in the house until they passed away. Levi died in 1912 and Millie died in 1926. They are both buried in Denver’s historic Fairmount Cemetery, which is located about two miles from Four Mile. Their daughter, Ellen, also known as Ella, would live on the property with her family until 1945. The house would later be purchased by the city of Denver in the 1970s.Restoration work would begin in the late 1970s, with a plan to bring the house back to what it looked like in the 1800s. Interior and exterior work was necessary to restore the house. Some of the clapboard siding needed to be replaced, along with foundation work. The bricks on the addition had been painted white in 1946, so the paint was carefully and painstakingly cleaned. The Four Mile House was placed on the National Register for Historic Places in 1969 Additional restoration work would occur throughout the rest of the 20th century. The most recent restoration took place in 2019, when the back porch was restored thanks to a grant from the State Historical Fund.

The original portion of the Four Mile House was built by brothers Samuel and Jonas Brantner in 1859. The Brantner brothers, along with Samuel's wife Elizabeth and his father-in-law Lewis Smith had come to Colorado in search of gold, but soon used their log house to provide lodging for other travelers. Samuel and Elizabeth's daughter Izamba would be born in the house in October of that same year. 


The Four Mile House

Building the summer kitchens away from homes also decreased the risk of stove cinders burning the homes down. These kitchens also kept the odors and the heat of the stove away from the house. The structures were often temporary. Inside the kitchen would be a chimney with an open hearth or a woodstove. The woodstove had to be continually fed with wood in order to keep it hot. In the winter this structure would be used for butchering or laundering. The present structure in the Park was built in 2007. It has no plumbing or electricity in order to preserve the historic feel of the park. Inside the summer kitchen is a working woodstove. Park volunteers often cook historically accurate recipes on the stove, and the park’s education staff leads school groups through cooking activities.

Pioneer kitchens came in many different forms. When pioneers were traveling on the prairie, food would be cooked over an open fire. When wood was scarce, pioneer travelers would often use bison chips, or dried bison dung, for fuel. 
Early log buildings were small and not well-ventilated, so kitchens were often built outdoors and away from homes. 


Summer Kitchen

Different breeds could be found in pioneer family flocks. Leghorns were often white or a combination of Black and brown. This breed produces at least 200 eggs a year. The Barred Plymouth Rock would also be seen on many farms. This Black and white feathered chicken was first bred in Massachusetts in the nineteenth century. Another popular breed that can be seen today at the Park is the Rhode Island Red, which first appeared on the east coast in the late nineteenth century. The chickens at the Park today are a mix of Leghorns and Rhode Island Reds. Due to Four Mile’s proximity to Cherry Creek, the chickens are kept in a fenced coop to keep them safe from furry park visitors like foxes and skunks. Human visitors are encouraged to feed the chickens through the coop fence by using food from the quarter-fed dispenser.

Chickens served many purposes for pioneer families such as the Booths. Eggs could be sold at markets, and chickens who were productive layers would be highly valued. Chickens on the Booth farm would have been free to roam the property. In addition to selling honey, the Booth family also had tremendous success in selling poultry and eggs. 



The Chicken Coop

Four MIle Historic Park is also home to two different gardens. In between the house and the beehouse is the garden known as the kitchen garden. Planted and maintained by Four Mile’s volunteers, this garden is home to many vegetables and herbs that would be found in pioneer farms, like corn and tomatoes. Next to the house is a small garden known as the shade garden. Many herbs are planted there, which would be dried and used in cooking during cooler weather. Other plants were used for dying fabric and yarn, as well as medicinal purposes. These two gardens were constructed on the property in the 1980s.

Gardens

Privies would often be a pit lined with stone, with a small building on top for doing one’s business. This building often had a seat or bench with a hole in it. Nicer privies would have more than one seat; Four Mile’s privy has three, and a window. When it was too cold or dark to use the privy, those in the house would use a receptacle called a chamber pot.These privy pits were often used for more than just bodily waste. Garbage was often thrown into them. During the archaeological digs of the 1970s, researchers discovered many artifacts in the area where the Booth’s privy once stood. These artifacts included everything from old newspapers to broken ceramics to several bottles.Another interesting find in the Booth privy pit were seeds. These seeds gave researchers clues as to the different foods that were eaten during the time period, like tomatoes, cherries, squash, and watermelon.The privy in the Park today was built in 1982. It was constructed where a privy stood from at least 1910-1920. It is for educational purposes only. Flush toilets are available in the Bee House, the Gate House, and in Grant Hall.

The Four Mile House did not have indoor plumbing until about the 1930s, so like many families, residents would use a small building away from the house known as a privy or an outhouse. These would be built far enough away from wells in order to not contaminate any drinking water. 

The Privy

Although there is a cellar in the original building, Mary Cawker and the Booth family would have built root cellars on the property to store items they had canned, as well as other fruits and vegetables. It is unknown where the original root cellars were located. Records indicate that the Booths grew wheat, corn, oats, and potatoes. Archaeological work on the property also revealed that the Booths had an orchard that contained peaches, crabapples, hackberries, and chokecherries. Four Mile's root cellar is maintained by Park staff and volunteers. Although visitors are not allowed to enter the root cellar, they are welcome to peek in the door and see examples of what pioneers would have stored there.

Pioneers used root cellars for storing produce and other items they needed to keep cool. The root cellars were dug underground, and were accessed using stairs or a ladder. They could also be used for protection from tornadoes. These rooms varied in size and materials as well. Permanent root cellars were often made of stone, which would keep the structure cool all year long. Others were made of logs and sod. 



The Root Cellar

These Plains tribes lived in conical dwellings called tipis. Tipi poles were usually made of pine or other sturdy trees. Ten to sixteen poles were used to construct the frame. Tipi covers were made of eight to twenty bison hides. (The Utes, who lived in the mountain areas, would sometimes use elk hides for their tipis.) The fur had been removed from the hides, and then smoked to make them waterproof. The hides were sewn together using sinew, which is a tendon. The sinew would be dried, turning it into a tough, stringlike strip. These were just two parts of the bison that the Native Americans would use.Tipis were owned by women; the outside could be painted by a man, but only with the woman’s permission. The inside of the tipi was lined, making it very warm when a fire was lit in the middle of the tipi. Smoke flaps at the top of the tipi allowed for smoke from cooking fires to escape. Four Mile’s tipi is relatively simple. It is made of canvas and is often used for educational purposes.

The Cherry Creek Valley was once home to many Native American tribes such as the Ute, the Arapaho, and the Cheyenne. 

The Tipi

The simple cabin is filled with sparse furnishings, much like a cabin would have looked in the 1800s. There’s a small working wood stove that is used for educational purposes and provides ample heat on cold days. A small display box shows different skulls of animals that miners and trappers would have encountered in the Colorado wilderness. Various furs are displayed as well. Lining the walls are tools both miners and mountain men would have used, such as lanterns and pickaxes. Small windows (Four Mile's are made of plexi-glass) provide the only natural light. These windows would have been added after the cabins were built, and were often considered a luxury. Glass windows would have been costly for a fur trapper or a miner.

Built in 2008, the Miner and Trapper cabin gives a glimpse into the lives of a miner and a mountain man, or fur trapper. The mountain men came before the pioneers and miners, creating trails the pioneers would eventually use to travel westward. The mountain men followed the rivers, hunting animals like beavers. Beaver fur was commonly used for items like top hats. The mountain men nearly hunted beavers to extinction. Once these hats were no longer fashionable, mountain men used their knowledge of the land to guide settlers and other travelers westward.
The miners first came to Colorado in 1858, after hearing rumors of gold strikes. Miners also came looking for other materials, like copper and silver. 


The Miner and Trapper Cabin

Formerly the entrance and park offices until the building of Grant Hall in 2003, the Gate House was moved to the back of the park in 2001 and would continue to serve as a temporary park entrance until the opening of Grant Hall. Now, it serves a space for educational activities, as well as additional restrooms. 

The Gate House

Beekeepers wear special gear when harvesting the honey from the hives. This special gear, from hats to gloves, protects beekeepers from getting stung by the bees. Inside these hives are special frames that the bees build their honeycombs onto. Honey is still harvested from the frames much like in Millie Booth’s day.The frames are placed inside the centrifuge and spun, which separates the honey from the comb. While Four Mile doesn’t sell their honey, other locally-made honey is available for sale in the Four Mile gift shop. It is available in jars as well as in different flavors of honey sticks.

In the tradition of Millie Booth, the Four Mile Historic Park is still home to several beehives. The park’s five beehives are maintained through a partnership with the Butterfly Pavilion. They are behind the fence for their own safety as well as the safety of visitors. Visitors are asked to please stay off the fence and away from the hives. 

The Beehives

Blacksmiths were an integral part of towns and ranches. They were responsible for creating everything from horseshoes to the iron wheels on wagon wheels. They also made hinges and even coffins. They also created pieces for farm equipment like plows, and would sharpen the plows as well. They were especially important to the pioneer travelers, as a Blacksmith could make any necessary wagon repairs along the way. Steel is heated in the hot coals and hammered on an anvil into different shapes by strong mallets. Once it is the correct shape, the steel is dipped in water, which cools it down.

Four Mile’s Blacksmith shop is fully functional, and is used at least once a month for 4th Sundays at Four Mile, a monthly Park event. The forge blower is from the 1800s. Four Mile’s trained volunteer Blacksmiths create ironworks that can be purchased at the Four Mile gift shop. 



The Blacksmith's Shop

Traveling in a stagecoach was often a cramped and slow experience. There were at least nine people sitting inside. Some would have to ride on top, but that area was often used for luggage. The average speed of a stagecoach was around eight miles an hour, depending on the condition of the roads. There were often different ticket classes. Those with first class tickets got to sit and ride all the way, second class passengers had to walk at bad places, and third class passengers had to walk at bad places as well as occasionally having to help push the stagecoach as well. Stage stops like the Four Mile House were a welcome break from the bumpy roads. Here passengers could have a meal and catch up on the latest news. Even the horses would have been taken care of, in one of the several outbuildings Mary Cawker had around the Four Mile property. Four Mile’s stagecoach is for display purposes only, and the Park asks that visitors please refrain from climbing on it. Next to the stagecoach is a large prairie schooner. Before people shipped goods on trains, people depended on these large wagons to deliver their freight. Wagons of this size were also used to transport supplies and wounded soldiers during the American Civil War. Despite popular depictions, pioneers would have traveled in wagons much smaller than these. A more accurate depiction can be seen across the path.Wagons like these would have been pulled by horses, mules or oxen. The name prairie schooner came from the white canvas covers, which made it look like there were large boats crossing the prairies. Again, Four Mile also asks that visitors refrain from climbing into it due to its historic nature.

Stagecoaches were a common way to travel during the 1800s. They would carry passengers as well as mail and money. Carrying money often made them a target for thieves, so there would often be an armed guard sitting in front with the driver. This is where the term “riding shotgun” came from. 


The Stagecoach and Schooner Barn

The journey was not always safe, and many would die along the way. The Booth family lost their three-year-old daughter Emma on their journey from Wisconsin to Colorado when she fell out of the wagon and was killed. Covered wagons would be so full of items that there would be no room for riding. Adults or older teens would drive the wagons while the rest walked. They would walk at least seven to ten miles a day during their journey. When they stopped to make camp, everyone had a job to do. Younger children would often look for fuel sources such as wood and bison chips. Bison chips were dried bison poop and made an excellent fuel source if no wood was to be found- which was often the case on the plains. Water had to be hauled in buckets from nearby creeks or rivers, and laundry could be washed if the travelers planned on being in the area for more than a day.The wagons would be parked in a large circle, which provided protection from wild animals and unsavory characters.

Four Mile’s covered wagon is a restored wagon from the 1800s. It doesn't move, but you can gently explore its interior. This covered wagon is the average size of a wagon pioneers would have traveled in. They packed mostly necessities, and had to choose what would be left behind. Heavy items would often be abandoned along the trails. Travelers had to bring enough food to last at least six months. Travelers would usually leave on the journey in late winter, when rivers and lakes were still frozen over. Pioneers would travel from the east along different trails. The Oregon Trail never came through Colorado, but it was home to many other trails. The Cherokee Trail runs right through the park.


The Covered Wagon

Windmills like those seen in the Park were invented in 1854. Six million windmills were sold between 1880 and 1935. Four Mile's windmill is currently for display purposes only, but windmills like this- and the pump below- would have been used to pump water from a well. The spinning of the windmill would move a pump up and down, drawing water from the well. On windy days a windmill would pump up to three gallons of water a minute. Some windmills used a weathervane to direct it into the wind, but Four Mile’s windmill relies on a round weight to move it around.

Four Mile’s windmill is from around 1900, but is not original to the park. It was installed in the park in 2008. 
Windmills served many different purposes. Some were for pumping water. Others, like those seen in Europe, were used for grinding grain. Modern windmills are often called wind turbines, and convert wind into energy. 

The Windmill

Eventually three different ditches would run from Cherry Creek onto the Booth property. Many other farmers in the area would divert water from the creek to water their crops. Levi would end up going to court a number of times to defend his rights to use the irrigation ditches.Other water sources came from hand-dug wells on the property. Rather than hauling water from the creek, water could be drawn up from these wells. A pump system was installed in the Booth kitchen, which pumped water into the kitchen sink. The well near the Four Mile House is a decorative well and holds no water. It’s likely that there was a working well near the house, however. The well by the horse corral is used in educational programming.

Water was an important resource in the history of Four Mile and the surrounding areas. When the Booth family converted the property into a working farm, Levi Booth diverted water from Cherry Creek in order to irrigate his crops. He was the first landowner to divert water from Cherry Creek. 

The Wells

Many pioneer families would raise pigs for food. Salt pork was a popular food item on pioneer trails, as the salted meat would last a very long time on the journey. Much like poultry products, pigs could be sold at markets for a profit. Pigs were also seen in Native American tribes as well as many Hispanic communities. Many pig breeds were first introduced in America with the arrival of the Spanish conquistadors in the 1500s. Pigs would often be raised by the Catholic missions that established themselves in the southern United States as well as in areas of California. A common breed found among many Native American tribes was the Choctaw. They were easy to take care of as they would eat what they found in forested areas. These pigs would later be sold or used for food.

The newest additions to Four Mile Historic Park are two female kunekune pigs named Clover and Antigone, or Tig. Their pig pen was built in 2020. This breed was once only found in New Zealand, and was first imported to the United States in 1996. 	Obviously, this breed is not historically accurate, but they actually allow the Park to preserve its historic nature while providing another representation of farm life. Kunekune pigs were chosen due to their small size, gentle temperament and grass-based diet being the most suitable for the delicate environment of the Park.

The Pig Pen

Four Mile’s current goats- Pearl, Cocoa, and Edward- are frequently shorn. Angora goats were first imported into the United States in 1849. It is unknown whether the Booths kept goats, but Four Mile has raised Angora goats for many years. Angoras grow very tick wool. Park volunteers often spin this wool into yarn. Pioneers would use the yarn they spun in items such as woven blankets and crocheted or knitted items. The yarn would often be dyed using natural dyes that were often made from plants like berries and beets.Goat’s milk could be used for other purposes such as making cheese.Pearl can often be seen on walks around the land with park volunteers. She even has her own instagram page- @Pearltheangoragoat. Visitors are discouraged from feeding the goats as well, as the goats tend to nibble fingers and clothing.

The Four Mile goat pen was expanded in 2019 to accommodate the arrival of Pearl the white Angora goat. Goats and sheep were useful additions to any pioneer farm, as they provided wool, meat, and milk. They also help control weeds, as they eat many different types of grass and plants. 

The Goat Pen

The log barn currently houses Four Mile’s two resident horses, Jake and Moose. They are on special diets, so visitors are discouraged from feeding them other foods. Jake is a Paint Quarter Horse, which was a common breed in the Old West. He weighs 1,000 pounds and measures 15.1 hands high. Horses are measured in hands, and one hand equals 4 inches. Paints descended from the horses that were brought over with the Spanish conquistadors in the 1500s. Paints were used by both cowboys and Native Americans alike. A sturdy, fast horse, Paints were used on ranches and farms. Moose is a Percheron. He weighs 1,850 pounds and measures 18 hands high. Percherons came from France, and were used as draft horses. These sturdy horses would often pull smaller wagons and other gear, but not covered wagons. That job was done by oxen.

The log barn was built in 1982 using historically accurate methods, including tools from the 1800s. The logs were chinked with a mixture of clay lime and sand. Pioneers would have used such a mixture, as well as what was available. Chinking and daubing would have been done by hand, and this was used to seal the cracks between the logs. Barns would house animals as well as food, which provided shelter and warmth. 
The fence around the corral (and other parts of the park) was also created with historically accurate methods. Park visitors are asked to please stay off the fences for their own safety. 


The Log Barn

Near the Bee House stands the Park’s restored chuck wagon. Chuck wagons were common among cowboys, who would use them to store silverware and other cooking tools, as well as bedrolls and other cowboy belongings. The fold-out table became a work station for the cook. Chuck was another word for food, and the small wagons became known as chuck wagons. Cowboys would often work for a cattle rancher just because they had a good cook!


Four Mile Historic Park

The Gold Pond

Introduction

Images

Backstory and Context

Sources

Additional Information