• Embed Doc
  • Copy Link
  • Readcast
  • Collections
  • CommentGo Back
Download
 
Ghost Town
In NorthernColorado
LongsPeak 
PioneerClimbers
Outlaws
In EarlyColorado
Skiing
SteamboatSprings
 
NorthColorado
PioneerRancherJohn Klug
FrontierMadam
 A Lively Storyfrom EarlyWyoming
Ghost Towns
NearCentral City
CoverPicture:coyote nearEstes Park,see page 3
 V 
O
I
C
E
The Senior
March 2008
Local Attractions • Scenic Places • History • Money • Health • News
 
2• March 2008 • The Senior Voice
 About Medicare
A
s I talk to my constituents inColorado, there is no doubt thatoverall health care reform is neededin addition to Medicare programchanges.In places like Larimer andWeld counties where many peopleare uninsured—13 percent unin-sured in Larimer county and astaggering 49.6 percent in Weldcounty—the current health carechallenges are overwhelming andsimply cannot be tolerated.Given the rising costs of healthcare and the impending retirementof the baby boom generation,Medicare has been under scrutiny bymany Americans because people areconcerned about the long-termstability of the program.In 2008, Medicare will cover anestimated 44.6 million people.Thefederal government will spend justunder $390 billion to fund theprogram, and the CongressionalBudget Office estimates programspending will double over the next10 years.We will have to take big steps tomake sure we control Medicarespending.However, we must alsoensure that we keep premiums andco-payments affordable, and wemust pay providers fairly so thatMedicare patients have their choiceof high-quality physicians.Every citizen, especially retirees,must be given the assistance neededto make informed health care deci-sions.All of us need to becomeresponsible for our own health andthe health of those we love.This means an increased under-standing of and access to preventiveservices so that we can avoid costlytreatments, such as dialysis, andwork together to fight preventableillness, such as diabetes.When our family members doface chronic illness, we must coordi-nate their treatment properly toensure that they are getting themedical and support services theyneed in the most efficient waypossible.This means having all the healthcare providers working with apatient’s doctors, nurses, pharma-cists, etc.—talking to one another sothat we can avoid duplicate treat-ments and medical errors.The bestway of doing this is through the useof electronic medical records, withprecautions taken to protect thepatient’s privacy.We must invest in our providersand facilities to make sure we havethe infrastructure to provide patientswith the quality of care they deservein their own communities. Thismeans having enough doctors andhospitals to serve Medicare patientsno matter what part of Coloradothey live in so that people do nothave travel hours to get help whenthey are sick.These are just a few of the ideaswe are considering in the Senate,and I am happy to see such an activeand thoughtful debate on how tobest serve our nation’s Medicareparticipants.________________
You can call Senator Salazar’s Fort Collins office at 224-2200.
■
Fish Restaurant
 A Colorado Casual Fish Market and Restaurant Offering JET FRESH FISHFrom Across the Globe!
150 West Oak Street (Downtown)Fort Collins
Hours:Mon.-Sat. 11am-9pm • Sun. 5pm-8pm
Call For Reservations
970-224-1188
www.fishmkt.com
Fish So Fresh,Someone Might Get Slapped.
Free shumai appetizerwith the purchaseof two entrees
Not valid with other offers.Expires 4-31-08




 ByU.S. SenatorKen Salazar
 
The Senior Voice • March 2008 • 3
 V 
O
I
C
E
The Senior
 Published Locally Since 1980
 VOL.28,NO.4
email thevoice@frii.com www.theseniorvoice.net
PUBLICATION INFORMATION
The Senior Voice 
newspaper has beenpublished locally the first of each monthsince 1980 for residents age 50-plus.
 ADVERTISING
For rates, call 970-229-9204;or see www.theseniorvoice.net. Ad deadline is 20th of month.
 Wolfgang Lambdin Advertising Director  Associate Publisher Fort Collins(970) 229-9204
SALES OFFICES:
Ft. Collins and Greeley (970) 229-9204Loveland and Estes Park (970) 482-8344
EDITORIAL DEADLINE
 Announcements and stories must bereceived by the 10th of the month.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
The Senior Voice 
 welcomes readers' lettersand contributions. Enclose a self-addressedenvelope and return postage to:
The Senior Voice 
, 1471 Front Nine Drive, Fort Collins,CO 80525, or email thevoice@frii.com.
The Senior Voice 
assumes no responsibility fordamaged or lost material submitted by readers.
© Copyright 2008
The Senior Voice 
EDITORIAL OFFICE:
1471 Front Nine DriveFort Collins,CO 80525(970) 223-9271email thevoice@frii.com www.theseniorvoice.net
No material may be reproduced by any means without permission of the publisher.
Dr.William Lambdin,Publisher 
By Bill Lambdin
C
olorado and Wyoming havemany ghost towns that are funto discover when you’re hiking ordriving in the mountains, and theycan put you in touch with the area’scolorful past.These wild and woolly placeswere established over 100 years agoand represented the hopes anddreams of the first settlers. Fortuneswere made in some of them. Liveswere shattered in others.Two of them were Nevadavilleand American City, both nearCentral City, Colorado.You can reach the location of Nevadaville just one mile southwestof Central City on the road that goesto Kings Flat.Nevadaville was settled mainlyby Irish and Cornish miners soonafter Colorado’s first big gold strikenear Central City in 1859. It grewrapidly. By 1861 it had a post office,several stores and homes, nearly 20gold mills and hundreds of residents.At one time Nevadaville’s popu-lation reached 1,200 as get-rich-quickdreamers swarmed over whatprospectors called this “Gulch of Gold.” One resident who arrived in1860 described the scene this way:“Everywhere people could beseen picking at the ground. Men andwomen spent hours digging up bitsof earth and washing it in a basin orwashtub. At night, they would gohome disheartened and weary. Butin the morning, they were just ashopeful (that) they were all going tostrike it rich.”Very few found gold that way.But the large mines paid goodwages, so people flocked toNevadaville.Aminer could make $3 or $4 aday, “almost as much here for oneday’s work as he could (make) inMassachusetts for a week of toil,”said The Rocky Mountain News.Nearby American City waslocated nine miles northwest of Blackhawk on the road to Apex andtoward the James Peak jeep road.Sitting on the ContinentalDivide, American City was a high,cold and windblown place. Pine treebranches in this area grow only onone side because the wind is sofierce.These conditions and fewproductive mines meant a short lifefor American City. Settled in the1890s, it was a ghost town by1920—except for one hardy resi-dent, Mrs. John Anthony Cook, awealthy woman who kept a summercabin there until the 1930s.Today you will find othersummer cabins. But it is nothing likethe rollicking days of AmericanCity’s boom time when the oldHotel Del Monte could accommo-date 100 guests and was the scene of glamorous social events to whichladies wore evening gowns.As you stand in this windy, deso-late place, you have a hard timeimagining ladies in fine gowns andostrich-feathered hats. But pioneerswent to great lengths to have a goodtime and bring some semblance of civilization to the West.Early historian Caroline Bancroftsaid the ghost towns are remindersof a way of life that is now lost butwas the mainstay of the region forhalf a century.When you visit them, she said,“You come away awe-struck by theprodigious energy and enterprise of the pioneers. Their feats of trans-portation over villainous terrain, andof building dwellings and eventowns on the face of cliffs or at thetop of mountains, were so herculeanas to seem incredible.”Most of the old towns and theirlog cabins have crumbled, worndown by time and reclaimed by themountains, which stand silently as if nothing had happened.But you can still find the locationof the towns. And if you listen care-fully—with imagination in thepeaceful stillness of the moun-tains—you can hear the cries of 
 joyand sorrow that echoed throughthese places long ago.________________
COVER PICTURE: Acoyote in themountains above Estes Park.Taken by Fort Collins professional photographer Gregory Mayse. Seehis photos at Trimble Court  Artisans in Fort Collins, at the Art Center of Estes Park, and at www.gregorymayse.com.
■
Ghost Towns from the 1800s
Nevadaville in the 1800s. Colorado Historical Society.
of 00

Leave a Comment

You must be to leave a comment.
Submit
Characters: ...
You must be to leave a comment.
Submit
Characters: ...