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"Nobody
got greedy"
Clay mining and Golden history go hand in hand
September 6, 1990
By Jacque Scott
Transcript writer
As far back as you wish to go in
Golden's history, there has been a connection with
clay mining.
And the constant thread that weaves
through Golden's clay mining history is the Parfet
family.
The popular buff-colored bricks
imprinted with the word "Golden" on the face that so
many Goldenites now collect and treasure can be
traced back to a clay empire created by George
Washington "G.W." Parfet of Parfet Park fame.
Much less an empire today, the business,
nevertheless, still is being passed on from
generation to generation through the Parfet family.
It all began when G. W. arrived in
Golden in 1874. Only three years later he was in the
clay mining business.
The senior G. W. died at age 65
following complications from a gallstone operation.
His obituary states he "owned a large number of clay
mining claims in and adjacent to Golden and was the
largest clay mining operator in Jefferson County."
But he was not a one-dimensional
character. He was involved in city politics and
civic organizations. Parfet was president of the
Golden Kiwanis, member of the Golden City Council
and served as general road overseer for Jefferson
County.
G. W. Parfet, Jr. was no different --
except his name. Rather than being George Washington
Parfet, he was George William Parfet and is forever
memorialized in the history books for leading the
Masonic ceremony at the burial of Buffalo Bill Cody.
The grandson of the original G. W.
Parfet, William George "Bill" Parfet, is still alive
and spends his summers in his hometown of Golden,
wintering in Arizona.
Parfet Estates, meanwhile, has
successfully passed on to its fourth generation and
is in the hands of W. G. "Chip" Parfet, Jr. and his
brother, Bob John Parfet.
A fifth generation is in the wings.
But what the future will hold is not
clear. Chip Parfet sees times changing. "Ours is
probably the only compatible mining operations
within a city's boundaries -- anywhere. Well, maybe
not anywhere," he said. "But it is unusual."
Can mining and city life coexist into
the 21st century? It can if the past is any
indication, said Chip. Golden's and the Parfet's
hand-in-hand relationship is well-documented.
For example, the city of Golden
"vacated" all rights to streets and alleys on Parfet
land that would have passed through the clay pits.
"They gave away the rights to the roads," Chip said.
But it was not a one-way street. Parfet
sold to the city all the land from Golden Fire
Station 1 through and including Lions Park along
10th Street for "just $50,000."
And the land on which the new Jefferson
County complex is being built was Parfet land.
Parfet Estates has retained the right to extract
clay from the County land for 10 years. "Then it
will be gone, kid. And it will be gone pretty soon,"
Chip said. "Ten years will go fast."
That, however, is not the only clay
mining land owned and operated by the Parfet family.
There is also the Jefferson Clay and Investment Co.
established in 1892. That is a Parfet company that
owns the land along U.S. Highway 6 running to the
back of Golden Ford currently being mined for clay.
That clay mine has about a hundred more years of
life.
But the town is growing up around the
clay pits, and it gets more and more difficult to
mine without causing complaints from neighbors.
The Parfets have thought long and hard
about what to do with their land once the clay mines
are depleted or the regulations become too
restrictive or the taxes get too high.
Development of the 100 or so acres owned
by the Parfets is possible, but for a family with
ties so entwined in Golden's history, they hope it
will be something "good for Golden." A golf course
has been considered. An arts center is a special
love of Chip's. Homes may ultimately replace clay
mining. But all that is in the future.
Right now it is still the clay that is
important.
Why is the clay so valuable?
It's a very light-colored clay -- "white
burning." And it has a very wide vitrification zone.
"When you fire the brick there is a vitrification
zone. If you miss it and fire too low, the brick
will crack. Too high and it will bloat," Chip
explained.
"With our clay you can be an idiot and
hit it just right because the vitrification zone is
so wide. You can say, 'Throw it in the kiln for
about a week,' and it'll be all right," Chip said.
Plus, the Colorado and Golden clay fires
at a very high temperature. Where other clay may
fire at 1700 degrees Fahrenheit, Golden clay fires
at 2100.
"It is a much higher quality," said
Kenneth Bradford of Denver Brick Company, which has
a long-standing relationship with Parfet Estates and
Jefferson Clay. The Parfet family has supplied
Denver Brick with clay for generations.
"The quality of our bricks is attested
to by the many mansions all over Denver. They will
last forever, as far as the brick is concerned,"
Bradford said.
Golden clay is in the new Jeffco Hall of
Justice and new Jeffco Human Services Building. It
is in the governor's mansion. It was used in the old
Remington Arms Plant that now is the Federal Center,
in East and South high schools in Denver and was
used in a number of WPA Depression era projects.
But not just Colorado saw the value of
the Golden clay. It has been valued throughout the
nation and the world, especially because of its
light color, which then can be used as a base for
any other color.
A letter dated 1880 from Pittsburgh, PA,
states that a firm tested three lots of bricks, one
of which was made of Golden clay. "The lot from
Golden, Colorado, are decidedly of the best and
would be classed as A1 in this market." The other
lots were rated "second class," the letter states.
Another letter, dated 1884 from St.
Louis, states that Golden clay was given "a severe
test of three weeks on the bridge wall of a
furnace."
"We had with them bricks from two other
manufactories, said to be the best in the United
States, and yours only stood the test, coming out
quite perfect, while the others were reduced to
slag. Of course, we will now use your brick," the
letter concludes.
There is quite a convoluted history of
land ownership and clay mining in Golden. "It's a
pretty tight circle," Chip explained. Remember that
G. W. Parfet, Sr. started in the clay business in
1877. In 1910 he formed a partnership with Jesse
Rubey of Rubey National Bank of Golden and two
Denver brick families, Geddes and Serries.
The partnership was called the Rubey
Clay Company.
Geddes and Serries had a brick plant
named Golden Fire Brick Co. located two miles north
of Golden off Colorado Highway 93.
That site had been used as a brick
making plant because of the excellent clays in the
Golden area.
A picture of the plant and the staff
still is in existence showing the 12 kilns that gave
the plant a production capability of 18 million
bricks per year.
A Denver Brick Company pamphlet states,
"In the early days, though, it was the fire brick
from Golden that kept the Denver smelters going and
many of the railroad locomotives as well. Back when
Golden fire brick was…'The Best in the West.'"
Even one of Golden's great tragedies was
geologically close to the clay mines. The White Ash
Mine disaster of 1889 left the bodies of trapped
miners in the ground because recovery would have
been too difficult. A memorial still marks the spot
of the mine on 12th Street.
It's a geologic fact that often coal
deposits are located next to clay deposits. And the
White Ash coal and the Parfet clay were right next
to each other, both crossing under Clear Creek.
"It was because the White Ash Mine shaft
went under Clear Creek, along with the clay deposit,
that the disaster happened," Chip said. "The creek
broke through to the mine shaft and flooded it--all
the men drowned."
Just like the coal, the clay is
deposited on both sides of Clear Creek. On the south
side the clay runs through Colorado School of Mines
land near Brook Field. On the north side it runs
through Adolph Coors Co. land (sold to it by the
Rubey Clay Company) where a new Colorado Highway 93
bypass will be built.
Bradford recalls that when he attended
CSM in 1947, CSM fans celebrated football touchdowns
with dynamite. "The clay pit runs along Brooks Field
and during every game some students would light a
stick of dynamite and toss it into the pits. Every
touchdown was always celebrated with a full stick of
dynamite tossed over a shoulder into the pit," he
recalled.
Chip remembers that some student set off
"an entire case of dynamite" at one game "and blew
out all the windows on the south side."
"And that was the end of that. They put
a stop to the dynamite real quick," Chip said.
Eventually the land on the south side of
the creek was mined, resulting in a sale and trade
of land. Parfets sold the land to CSM for its
expansion in 1964 and also got a trade of land,
giving Parfets the land along Highway 6. "Dad always
said he sold the hole in the doughnut," Chip said of
the mined land used by CSM. "And you can still see
some of the original mines."
But clay would never have been such a
profitable business in Golden if it weren't for the
fact that the gold miners transported their ore to
Denver via trains that passed through Golden.
Chip said the trains ran down Jackson
Street, permitting Parfet loads of clay to be picked
up for "something like 50 cents a car. I don't know
if it was really 50 cents, but it was cheap."
"Golden couldn't have been a central
clay resource unless the gold came through here, and
we were fortunate that it did," Chip said.
Another reason Parfet Clay has been able
to support four generations is because "nobody got
greedy."
The clay was premium quality. It was
used very carefully, like a rare and valuable
resource. "Denver Brick ordered enough to keep us
going but never ordered too much so we would run
out. It was a delicate balance. They didn't order
too much or too little. They always ordered enough
to keep the generations going, and I'm the fourth
generation," Chip said.
Clay and Golden go way back. Which is
one of the reasons why so many residents and history
buffs like to keep old "Golden" bricks that turn up
from time to time, discovered in the rubble of old
buildings that are being demolished or stored away
in old timers' garages.
They are a little bit of the history of
this town from the days when the brick plants were
as important to Golden as the gold mines or the beer
brewery.
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