!! Exciting New Cache Series!!
“COLORADO SPIRIT QUEST”
The Colorado Spirit Quest is a series of Caches placed by many individuals, near cemeteries and historic sites in hopes of paying respect to the many pioneer ancestors that have ‘walked’ before us.
There are hundreds of cemeteries in the rural and mountain communities across Colorado. This series will introduce you to many of them.
The cache pages will provide a virtual history tour of the cemeteries and tombstones.
COLORADO SPIRIT QUEST is not affiliated with any other ‘Spirit Quest’ group. Special thanks and credit are given to SixDogTeam who started the Indiana Spirit Quest in 2004. The idea has rapidly spread into many states.
The CSQ endeavor is an enormous and relentless task. It cannot be accomplished by just one or two people. This project will only flourish if there is a multitude of volunteer cachers willing to place these caches.
After locating the cache container, take some time to reflect back on the lives of those pioneers and the effort it took to make Colorado such a great state.
If you are interested in joining the “Walking Through History Clan” contact may be made by sending an e-mail to the owner of “Colorado Spirit Quest #1 – Mountain Passage”. Use the ‘Send Message” link at the center of the page of their profile.
Each person that places a CSQ cache is responsible for its maintenance.
REMEMBER:
If you are APPREHENSIVE about cemeteries – AVOID this series.
Thanks to Clan Members: Greasepot, Taylorgeotracker, Ivy Dog Parents, Team Boogity3, Grand High Pobah, Boborr 80909, Imusttravel2000, Buzz Lightyear I, Sandhill 49er, MrVolkswagen, Isisfan, LadyCoots, Rockymtn8iv, Fork-L-Man, *Sparky*, TwoCs and Outdrlvr201.
New Clan members are always Welcome
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Central City Cemetery
Central City exploded rapidly in population in 1859 with the discovery of gold, burgeoning to 10,000 residents within two months. Many of the early settlers retreated to lower elevations for that first winter, but returned along with others, swelling the population reputedly to 60,000 (imagine that many people in this fairly confined area!). It came to be known as the “Richest Square Mile on Earth”. The population dwindled with exhaustion of the easy claims and miners going back to serve in the Civil War, settling in 1870 at about 4000,the same as Denver at the time. Central City lost its bid in 1876 to become the capital of Colorado, losing to Denver by one vote. The present population of Central City is about 500.
Unfortunately, not all the residents survived the high altitude, bitter winter weather and mining, so cemeteries rapidly became a necessity. There are four cemeteries located just outside the central part of Central City within a short distance of each other: IOOF Rocky Mountain #2, Central City Catholic Cemetery, Knights of Pythias Cemetery and Central City Cemetery. The latter two are actually contiguous. Because of the proximity of these cemeteries, this cache was hidden outside the border, which is marked by a wire fence easily passed through. Since this cache was set, access to the cemetery has changed. The road to the cemetery is accessible through at least two gates. I would recommend passing by the first gate and using one around the curve to the right. Of course, be sure you secure the gate upon leaving. You will pass by many interesting graves on your way to the cache. The photo is not necessarily where the cache is. Bring your own writing instrument.