Hidden History: Drilling rock on Chautauqua grounds
by Silvia pettem
In the late nineteenth century, hard-rock miners uncovered vast quantities of silver and gold by hand. Then, drills that ran on steam-powered compressed air revolutionized the industry. The old-time miners, however, were proud of their skills and competed in hand-drilling contests long after their outdated tools were no longer used underground.
For the contests, miners took turns either "single jacking" (one man) or double jacking (2 men) on large granite boulders. Several of these events took place at Chautauqua, and one of the drilling rocks (with a brass plaque and visible drill holes) is to the left of the park's entrance road near its intersection with the road that exits the Chautauqua Green.
One highly publicized drilling contest held at Chautauqua was on Labor Day, 1919. Along with parades and other events throughout Boulder, the contest commemorated the 50th anniversary of the 1869 discovery of silver in the former mining camp of Caribou in western Boulder County.
Contestants came from all over Colorado, but two Boulder County miners took home the prize. Each miner (or two miners –– one to wield the sledgehammer and one to hold the drill) took turns hand-drilling into the large piece of granite. The men were allowed 10 minutes, then were judged by the depth of their drill holes.
The plaque on the existing rock was placed by the Boulder Chamber of Commerce in 1959 as part of Boulder's 100th anniversary celebration. It reads, in part, "This rock was used in one of the world's championship hand drilling contests held in Boulder during the thirties."
Guest of honor at the plaque's unveiling and dedication was Fred Dopp. Whether or not he drilled on that specific rock is not known, but he was acknowledged for participating in a rock-drilling contest on the Chautauqua grounds on July 4, 1905. At the time, he and another miner had entered the double-jacking competition. Even though it was Dopp's first competition, the two men won and took home a substantial monetary prize.
The plaque also states that the rock honors "all of the hard rock miners who contributed so much to the development of this area."
Hand-drilling competitions are still held in Colorado mining towns including Leadville and Ouray. Closer to home and in Boulder County, similar contests were held in Nederland in the 1980s and 1990s where the late and legendary miner Tom Hendricks often took home the prize.
Silvia Pettem can be reached at silviapettem@gmail.com or through her website, silviapettem.com.