P.O. Box 822 Golden, Colorado, 80402
apex park golden open space
Introduction
Apex Park Golden Open Space is a natural area estimated at 4.7 acres located on both sides of the lower section of Apex Gulch waterway from Heritage Road to the Kinney Run trail. It is adjacent to the Magic Mountain Open Space Site.
In the mid 1990’s the City of Golden sponsored a dig on the south side of Apex Gulch that was located not far from Heritage Road. Recent archeological digs in 2017 and 2018 shifted to the north side of Apex Gulch on the city owned Magic Mountain Open Space land.
In the mid 2010’s and by formal agreement, some of the city owned land is managed by Jeffco Open Space as the eastern trailhead for Apex Open Space trails. The trailhead has parking, restroom facilities and drinking water for trail users and dogs.
This discussion references maps that can be downloaded at the bottom of the page.
more about apex park golden open space
There is no trail in the natural area on the south or north side of Apex Gulch. Kinney Run Trail borders the western portion of this natural open space area.
Plants that have been found in this general area include water cress, Hairy Vetch, Wild Bergamot, Great Mullein and wild Privet. For a more complete list see Tom Schweich’s list of Plants:
Click here to see Tom Schweich's complete Magic Mountain plant list.
The archeological dig sites are located in long-ago fast moving stream deposits beginning about 11,000 years ago at the end of the last ice age. Lyons Sandstone was mostly deposited by ancient rivers. The large rock outcropping that can be seen from Kinney Run trail is fractured Lyons Sandstone. (5)
Archeologists and looters have long known, since the mid-19th century, about the area around Apex Gulch as a place where Native American artifacts can be found. These included arrow points, beads, and stone tools. Much of the top couple of feet of soil around Apex Gulch has been disturbed in search of such items.
Over time, Apex Gulch has been redirected and was likely quite different to what we see today. This redirection could have been done as early as the 1860’s when the Apex toll Wagon Road (known today as Heritage Road) was built.
The wide flow of Apex Gulch water created a marsh area that would have drawn wildlife which were then hunted by Native Americans. As early as 1860 the Rocky Mountain News reported that Apex was a good site for Sunday picnics and hunting for [Native American] artifacts. “The earliest professional report on the site is in the 1877 Smithsonian Institution Annual Report, which describes it as a camp with great quantities of tools and arrowheads made from diverse local and non-local materials” and in the 1920’s the site was still described as a “treasure-trove” of artifacts. (1)
In 1959 and 1960, Cynthia Irwin-Williams and her brother Henry Irwin, both from Harvard University, received permission to excavate the site by the company building the Magic Mountain theme park. That company owned the land on both sides of Apex Gulch. In respect for the company they named the dig area “Magic Mountain”. The site they chose for their dig was near the large Lyons Sandstone rock outcrop. The focus of their research was to determine the presence and use of the site by Paleo-Indians. (2)
The City of Golden and Centennial Archaeology received two grants from the State Historical fund to conduct digs in 1994 and 1996 on city property. At this time the city owned the land on the southside of Apex Gulch. The north side of the Apex Gulch was privately owned land. The dig sites chosen by the researchers were on both sides of the Apex Gulch which required approval of the private land owners for the north side dig. On the private property they choose a site just east of the large rock outcrop. (3)
The special feature in the Centennial digs was public engagement. This included school group tours and site visits by interested residents on the Golden owned south side. The archeologists found 40,000 lithic (stone) artifacts, 20,000 bone fragments and 83 ceramic (clay) shards indicating long term occupation of the site. Such fragments can tell a lot of what people were eating and how they prepared foods. The amount of material indicates Magic Mountain was the place of long-term usage during the Early Ceramic period (150 CE to 1150 CE). The artifacts are in a collection at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science. (4)
Long before the gold seekers came in 1858, the Apex site was well known by the Utes, Arapaho, and Cheyenne tribes based on reports of finding artifacts for well over 60 years (1860 to 1920’s). Even into the 1940’s and 50’s Albert and Kate Bachman’s sons found many arrow heads on their large acreage as reported by Jim Bachman.
In the recent archeological digs at Magic Mountain site in 2017-2018, Denver Museum of Nature and Science “consulted with cultural advisors from five tribes, including, Ute Mountain Ute Tribe, Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes of Oklahoma, Cheyenne river Sioux Tribe, and the Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara Nation.” (6)
To what degree each of these tribes used the Magic Mountain land in the past is for future research.
In 1864, Joachim Binder filed on 160 acres of homestead land. In 1865, the settlement of Apex and what would become Magic Mountain archeological site was now private property. It was part of a large ranch that would stretch from the southern border of the Golden cemetery to the town of Mt Vernon. (7)
(1) Koons, Michele L and Mark D. Mitchell, Mark D “Introduction” pp. 5-6. In Mitchell, Mark D, (ed.). (2022. ) Archaeological Investigations at the Magic Mountain Site, Jefferson County, Colorado .
From the Homepage see photo and download the “Magic Mountain, 2017-2018 Report” at: https://paleocultural.org/Research/magic-mountain/
(2) Koons and Mitchell. (2022). “Introduction”, pp.6-10. This section contains photographs and a map of the dig sites. See also the Magic Mountain Open Space page on this website.
(3) Koons and Mitchell. (2022). “Introduction”, p.10. See above citation. Additional information on earlier dig findings can be found by searching “Magic Mountain Archeological Site” on the Colorado Encyclopedia site at: https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/
(4) See above Encyclopedia Staff. (ND) for findings of the Centennial Archeological’ digs
(5) Geological information provided by email correspondence with Donna Anderson, Sept 2024. For a detailed discussion of the geology, see Mitchell, Mark (ed) (2022). pp. 2-5.
(6) O’Meara, Sean. (2022). “Indigenous Connections: Native American Ethnographic Study of Golden, Colorado and Clear Creek Valley.” Anthropological Research, LLC. Tucson. AZ. Prepared by City of Golden, Golden History Museum and Park, p. 7.
(7) Information provided by Preston Driggers
Downloads
See Stewards’ "Golden Open Space Map" and Map Index downloads below.
The above discussion includes the following locations on the map:
Apex Park Golden Open Space - number 127 on map and index
1 parcel and approximately 4.7 acres
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