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Clear Creek (Colorado)

 
Clear Creek (Colorado)

 
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Clear Creek (Colorado)
 
 
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Clear Creek is a tributary of the South Platte River
South Platte River

The South Platte River, historically known as the Rio Jesus Maria, is one of the two principal tributaries of the Platte River and itself a major river of the American West, located in the U.S....
, approximately 40 mi (64 km) long, in north central Colorado
Colorado

The State of Colorado is a U.S. state located in the Mountain States of the United States of America. Colorado may also be considered to be a part of the Western United States and Southwestern United States regions of the United States....
 in the United States
United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
. The creek drains a canyon, called Clear Creek Canyon in the Rocky Mountains
Rocky Mountains

The Rocky Mountains, often called the Rockies, are a mountain range in western North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch more than 4,800 kilometre from the northernmost part of British Columbia, in Canada, to New Mexico, in the United States....
 directly west of Denver
Denver, Colorado

Denver is the Capital and the Colorado municipalities of the state of Colorado, in the United States. Denver is a consolidated city-county located in the South Platte River on the High Plains just east of the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains....
, descending through a long gorge to emerge on the Colorado Eastern Plains
Colorado Eastern Plains

The Eastern Plains of Colorado refers to region of the U.S. state of Colorado on the east side of the Rocky Mountains, and east of the population centers of the Colorado Front Range....
 where it joins the South Platte.






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Clear Creek Co
Clear Creek is a tributary of the South Platte River
South Platte River

The South Platte River, historically known as the Rio Jesus Maria, is one of the two principal tributaries of the Platte River and itself a major river of the American West, located in the U.S....
, approximately 40 mi (64 km) long, in north central Colorado
Colorado

The State of Colorado is a U.S. state located in the Mountain States of the United States of America. Colorado may also be considered to be a part of the Western United States and Southwestern United States regions of the United States....
 in the United States
United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
. The creek drains a canyon, called Clear Creek Canyon in the Rocky Mountains
Rocky Mountains

The Rocky Mountains, often called the Rockies, are a mountain range in western North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch more than 4,800 kilometre from the northernmost part of British Columbia, in Canada, to New Mexico, in the United States....
 directly west of Denver
Denver, Colorado

Denver is the Capital and the Colorado municipalities of the state of Colorado, in the United States. Denver is a consolidated city-county located in the South Platte River on the High Plains just east of the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains....
, descending through a long gorge to emerge on the Colorado Eastern Plains
Colorado Eastern Plains

The Eastern Plains of Colorado refers to region of the U.S. state of Colorado on the east side of the Rocky Mountains, and east of the population centers of the Colorado Front Range....
 where it joins the South Platte. The creek is famous as the location of the most intense early mining
Mining

Mining is the extraction of value minerals or other geology materials from the earth, usually from an ore body, vein or seam. Materials recovered by mining include base metals, precious metals, iron, uranium, coal, diamonds, limestone, oil shale, Sodium chloride and potash....
 activity during the Colorado Gold Rush
Colorado Gold Rush

The Pike's Peak Gold Rush was the boom in gold prospecting and mining in the Pike's Peak Country of western Kansas Territory and southwestern Nebraska Territory of the United States that began in July 1858 and lasted until roughly the creation of the Colorado Territory on February 28, 1861....
 of 1859. Mountain man
Mountain man

Mountain men were trappers and Explorations who roamed the North American Rocky Mountains from about 1810 to the early 1840s. Although primarily of Canadian or American origin, mountain men were of many ethnic, social and religious backgrounds....
 Jim Baker
Jim Baker (Mountain Man)

Jim Baker , Fur trade, scout and guide was a friend of Jim Bridger and Kit Carson and one of General John C. Fremont's favorite scouts. He was one of the most colorful figures of the old west....
 had a cabin on the creek from 1873 until his death in 1898. The creek provided the route of the Colorado Central Railroad
Colorado Central Railroad

The Colorado Central Railroad was a United States railroad company that operated in Colorado and southeastern Wyoming in the late 19th century....
, and later for the United States Highway 6 and Interstate 70 as they ascend to the Continental Divide
Continental Divide

The Continental Divide of the Americas, or merely the Continental Divide or Great Divide, is the name given to the principal, and largely mountainous, hydrological divide of the Americas that separates the drainage basin that drain into the Pacific Ocean from, 1) those river systems which drain into the Atlantic Ocean , and 2)...
 west of Denver.

Geography

The creek rises at the continental divide near Loveland Pass
Loveland Pass

Loveland Pass, elevation . AMSL, is a high mountain pass in the Rocky Mountains of central Colorado, United States of America.It is located on the Continental Divide in the Front Range west of Denver, Colorado....
 in the Front Range
Front Range

The Front Range is a mountain range of the Rocky Mountains of North America that is located in the north-central portion of the U.S. State of Colorado....
, northwest of Grays Peak
Grays Peak

Grays Peak is the highest mountain in the Front Range of the Southern Rocky Mountains in the United States Colorado. It is one of 54 fourteeners in Colorado....
 in western Clear Creek County
Clear Creek County, Colorado

Clear Creek County is one of the Colorado counties of the State of Colorado of the United States. The county population was 9,322 at U.S. Census 2000....
. It descends eastward through Clear Creek Canyon past the towns of Silver Plume
Silver Plume, Colorado

The historic Town of Silver Plume is a Colorado municipalities#Statutory_Town located in Clear Creek County, Colorado, Colorado, United States....
, Georgetown
Georgetown, Colorado

The historic Town of Georgetown is a Colorado municipalities#Territorial Charter Municipality that is the county seat of Clear Creek County, Colorado, Colorado, United States....
, and Idaho Springs
Idaho Springs, Colorado

The historic City of Idaho Springs is a municipality in the U.S. state of Colorado that, despite its less-than-metropolitan 1,889 population , is the most populous settlement in Clear Creek County, Colorado, Colorado, United States, and an authentic "city" because, under Colorado law, its method of self-government classifies it as a "Colora...
, all of which were founded as mining camps in the 1859 gold rush. Within the canyon it receives numerous smaller tributary creeks that descend from the rugged mountains on either side.
Clearcrus6
At the mouth of the canyon, the creek passes through the town of Golden
Golden, Colorado

The historic City of Golden is a Colorado municipalities#Home_Rule_Municipality that is the county seat of Jefferson County, Colorado, Colorado, United States....
, and in particular past the Coors
Coors Brewing Company

The Coors Brewing Company is a regional division of the world's fifth-largest brewery, the Molson Coors Brewing Company. According to the Molson-Coors website, the division is the third-largest brewer in the U.S....
 brewery facility. East of the foothills, it flows through the northwest part of the Denver Metropolitan Area, passing through north Lakewood
Lakewood, Colorado

Lakewood is a Colorado municipalities#Home Rule Municipality that is the most populous city in Jefferson County, Colorado, Colorado, United States....
, Wheat Ridge
Wheat Ridge, Colorado

The City of Wheat Ridge is a Colorado municipalities#Home_Rule_Municipality located in Jefferson County, Colorado, Colorado, United States. Wheat Ridge is a western suburb of Denver, Colorado....
, then roughly along the route of Interstate 76. Along this section it is largely a somewhat ignored urban stream, with an undeveloped floodplain. It passes under Interstate 25 between its junction with Interstate 70 and U.S. Highway 36 (the Boulder Turnpike). It joins the South Platte from the west in southeast Thornton
Thornton, Colorado

The City of Thornton is a Colorado municipalities#Home Rule Municipality in Adams County, Colorado and Weld County, Colorado counties in the U.S....
, near the junction of Interstate 76 and State Highway 224.

History

Clear Creek was originally named Cannonball Creek as early as 1820, called so by the French hunters of the expedition of Stephen H. Long, after the river rocks in its bed. In the 1830s it became known as Vasquez Fork, also Vasquez River, after the fur trader Louis Vasquez who had his fort at the mouth of the river and trapped along it. It gained its present name from the gold rushers in 1859.