Russell Gulch History

By S.H. Bud Scott

1/20/2005 - My name is, S.H. Bud Scott, I am the son of, R.Glenn Scott and Eunice McCampbell Scott. My mother, Eunice, was the daughter of, William E. McCampbell and Josphine McCampbell. William McCampbell was a gold miner at Victor, CO.  That is where my mother was born. William was a contract miner working within the Ajax Mine. The main Mine was owned by a group of stockholders, but the miners working within the Mine, owned their own vane of Ore. There were many miners that would follow a vane of Ore in the mine and they had the rights to the Gold mined from that vane. They would dig and have the Ore processed by the Mine, for which they would pay a processing fee. The value of the Gold mined from everyones own vane, belonged to the miners mining that vane. 

  As I have said, my mother was born and raised in Victor, CO.  She lived in Victor for about 12 years where she went to school with, Lowell Thomas. In 1912, William McCampbell, struck a rich pocket of Gold in his vane. He then sold his rights to mine that vane. He bought a new Cadillac Automobile. Built a small camper trailer and took his family to California. This was a time when there were no roads, no filling stations, no campgrounds nor toilets, no restaurants, nothing but sagebrush and desert from Colorado to California. They camped out every night under the stars. They had to carry all of their food, clothing, gasoline, etc., because there were very few towns enroute. In the morning, they would drive opposite from the direction where the sun came up and would follow it until it set. This way they knew they were going west, because there were no signs, no roads in the desert telling them which way to go.

  The McCampbell family lived in California for about a year and then they came back to Denver, CO., where my mother went to East Denver High School. While she was at East Denver High School she met my Father, R. Glenn Scott. William McCampbell’s heart and sole was always in mining and at that time in his life, he moved his family up to Russell Gulch, CO., and started to mine Gold again. My Father was in love with my mother and continued to court Eunice up at Russell Gulch.

  The only way to get from Denver to Russell Gulch was by train or horse. Cars at that time were very primitive. In fact the only way a Model T Ford could go up a hill, was to back up.  he gas tank was under the seat and there was no fuel pump. When the car was sitting level, the fuel would run to the engine by gravity. When the car started up a hill going forward, the fuel would quit flowing to the engine, so you had to turn around and back up the hill.  t was a long way from Denver to Russell Gulch going backwards. There was no road up Clear Creek Canyon other than the railroad track.  This was very rough. There were a few spots to get off of the railroad to let the train go by. The Train had the right of way. It would whistle at ever corner to warn anyone on the track that a train was coming. This was difficult for the horses, because you had to put a blanket over the horses eyes so they would not be frightened by the train.

  I can remember my Father telling the story about one trip to Russell Gulch to visit with my Mother. My Mother had an old organ that you had to pump with your feet to make it work. My Dad would sit beside her and he would pump the organ while my mother played the organ. On one of these trips, my father missed the train as it left Russell Gulch.  In desperation he asked the Depot Agent, how was he going to get back to Denver? The Depot Agent said, “Well you can walk to the next station and you will beat the train there.” For the Train to get from Black Hawk to Russell Gulch, it had to zig-zag back and forth to gain altitude. Half of the time, it would be backing up to gain altitude, then at a switch it would go forward again to the next switch. At that switch it would  back up again to gain more altitude. If a person would walk straight down the hill, he could beat the train to the next station. There is an excellent picture of this scenario at the bus stop in Black Hawk, corner of Gregory and Main streets.