THE DENVER MINT

by Cindy Mahon

In 1858, gold was discovered on the Platte River, near the city of Denver. This was about two years before Congress created the Territory of Colorado by an act proved February 28, 1861. As news of the gold strike was spread, fortune hunters began to travel to the new gold fields. Traveling to the Platte area was accomplished by wagon, stagecoach or horseback, as there was no other form of transportation available. Indian warfare also endangered the gold seekers. Despite the difficulties the miners encountered, placer mining was well started not only on the Platte River but in other sections of the area.

At first mining was confined exclusively to placer claims. Placer deposits of gold are created when gold has migrated either due to water erosion or other earth move­ments by nature and has gathered by its weight into a some­what "protected" area. The simplest method of recovery for a placer deposit is the use of a gold pan which utilizes the specific gravity differences in water to capture the heavier gold. A larger operation uses a launder with the bottom covered by riffles or matting to slow down the flow of water and gravel, allowing the gold to settle in the crevices for collection. Dredging was another method used to recover gold from surface soils and involved much more equipment and processing.

As the precious metal was mined, the miners had to convert their gold dust into some form of financial instrument. Transportation continued to be difficult and there was a dearth of circulating money. Often the miners had to sell or trade their gold dust at a sacrifice. From 1860 to 1862 there were three firms--Clark, Gruber & Co., John Parsons & Co., and John Conway & Co.--who manufactured $5 and $10 pieces. The largest of these companies was Clark, Gruber & Co.

Congress established a mint in Denver by an act of Congress which was approved April 21, 1862. It was to mint gold coins exclusively. $75,000 was appropriated to "carry into effect the provisions of the act to meet the expenses for the fiscal year 1863."

A committee was appointed on June 11, 1862 by the U.S. Secretary of the Treasury to research the feasibility of purchasing the lot, building and equipment of Clark, Gruber and Co. for use as the branch mint of the United States at Denver. This committee was composed of George W. Brown, Samuel E. Browne, and Samuel H. Elbert. Dr. Oscar D. Munson was also appointed as a consultant for the committee. The committee was in favor of the purchase of the plant. On November 25, 1862 a formal offer was made by the Secretary of the Treasury to Clark, Gruber and Co. for the sum of $25,000 for their private mint. Unfortunately it was discovered the private mint did not have a clear title to the ground upon which the buildings were located for the reason that no land office had been established for that district.

To resolve this problem, the Congress of the United States passed a resolution on March 3, 1863, enabling the Secretary of the Treasury to obtain a title to certain property in the city of Denver-­

By this extraordinary real estate transaction, the United States obtained the lots, building and equipment of the Clarke, Gruber & Company private mint which was located in the city of Denver in the Territory of Colorado. Despite having taken title in April 1863, the difficulties in preparing the building, transportation of machinery and equipment which was constructed in the East, pushed the opening of the mint into the latter part of September 1863. Unlike Clarke, Gruber and Company, which purchased gold to mint gold coins, the Denver facility did not mint coins. The operations of the U.S. Mint in Denver were restricted to melting, refining, assaying and stamping bullion. The bars were then returned to the depositors in unparted bars, stamped with the weight and fineness. Even though a superintendent, assayer and coiner were appointed in November 1862 and a melter and refiner in December 1862, the function of the mint continued without minting coinage. Most of the rich surface sources of gold were exhausted by 1867 and miners then turned to lode mining, uncovering veins of ores having a high percentage of gold and silver.

"During its early years as a private mint and then as a U.S. Assay Office, the Denver plant was the City's most substantial structure. It was a refuge for women and children when Indian raids threatened. However, by 1877, the structure was reported to be so dilapidated as to be considered unsafe. "(Denver Mint handout) In 1869 Congress provided that the Denver establishment should be conducted as an assay office with an assayer in charge as the amount of bullion deposited did not justify its continuance as a branch mint with a full corps of officers. Operations continued to be limited to the melting and assaying of bullion and its return to the depositors. The Congress revived the hope for a genuine branch mint status when it passed an act February 20, 1895, providing again for the establishment of a mint at Denver, Colorado, for the coinage of gold and silver.

The original appropriations for the purchase of land and construction of the building proved to be insufficient and they were increased from $500,000 to $800,228.01. The cost of the building site alone was $60,261.71. The building site was located at West Colfax and Delaware Street. The amount of $345,055 was appropriated for the equipment of the building. The new building was occupied in 1904, but the coinage operations did not begin until February, 1906.

The Congress authorized the sale of the old mint building by an act of June 30, 1906 which provided that the funds derived from that sale should be applied to the finishing of the new building. The Denver mint is done in Gothic Renaissance style. The stone facing of the building is Colorado granite. The Arkins granite above that (which required large slabs) was produced in Maine. Tennessee marble forms the window trimmings. When viewed from the street, the structure appears to be a two-story building. Actually, there are five floors. Above-the- ground the structure is about 175 feet long and 100 feet deep. The basement is extended on both sides of the building, in amount about 7,000 square feet more than the regular floor space of the building. This extension was made ... to provide room for the storage of coal, fuel oil tanks, artesian well apparatus, and sweeps grinding room. The building is strictly fireproof, the interior walls, floors, and partitions being of steel and brick or terra cotta construction.

The trim, floors and desk equipment of the office rooms are of wood, but all wardrobes, lockers, filing cases, etc., are of steel. The lighting fixtures ... are electric with the offices being ... incandescent lamps and workrooms ...arc lights or a combination of both arc and incandescent. In minting work it is found that a much larger number of lights are required due to the minute inspection that is required..."

Consultation services from experts at the Philadelphia, New Orleans, Washington, and San Francisco assisted with the design of the new mint equipment and layout. There were 3 stories, two below ground and three above. In the sub-basement, the boilers, pumps, fuel economizer, induced draft apparatus, air compressors for the artesian well air lift, house water pumps and tanks for water and air under compression, motor-driven telescopic ash hoist, and supply tanks for the storage of 20,000 gallons of crude oil for furnace use. The engine room was finished in white enameled brick and is equipped with three Rice & Sargent engines, directly connected to General Electric generators.

The basement housed the deposit melting room, which contained three small and one large melting furnace fired by fuel oil. Bullion bars are taken from the melting room to the weigh clerk's room where they are clipped and bored. The samples derived are sent to the assay department for report before payment is made. Also in the basement are the receiving, shipping, carpenter shops, locker and toilet rooms, pipe and steam fitters' room, storage rooms and the main storage vault. This vault is about 75 feet long by 20 feet wide and is fitted with an extra heavy door and vestibule, said to be the heaviest west of the Mississippi River. One of the most important functions of the mint is also located in the basement--the sweeps room. In this room all discarded crucibles, furnace brick, and other materials are treated and crushed. Innovations at the Denver Mint created a wet method rather than dry crushing. This is a cleaner process and has greatly increased the percentage of metal recovered from the sweeps.

The ground floor has the offices of the operative officers. Their offices open from the front corridor which is cased in Vermont marble and richly decorated. Inside, there are three mural paintings of Commerce. Mining and Manufacturing above the cornice of the main vestibule. The artist was Vincent Adriente, who worked under the super­vision of the famous mural artist, Edwin Howland Blashfield of New York City. The main corridors on the first floor, the mezzanine, and the second floor are also richly decorated and were done under the direction of John Gibson from Philadelphia. A large metal casting of the Great Seal of the United States was originally placed in the floor of the vestibule. By the summer of 1961, it was removed from the floor and replaced by a mosaic. This action was taken to preserve the Seal which had worn thin. It was trans­ferred to hang in the Gold Hall.

From the rear corridor of the first floor the ingot melting, rolling and cutting, strip annealing, makeup, transfer, coining rooms, assay rooms and large storage vaults are located. On the third floor are the workshops of the electricians, painters led burner, plumber, blacksmith, storage rooms for the refinery and machine shop supplies and patterns, and the whitening room for the cleaning and annealing of the blanks. Before the blanks are delivered to the coining presses they are run through the planchet annealing furnaces and then cleaned in acid solutions and dried. All tanks containing solutions that carry values, are connected to settling wells in the basement

The new building and equipment at the Denver Mint were proudly reported as state of the art. "All refining of metals was done by the electrolytic process, which was originally adopted and developed at the Philadelphia mint. Some changes were made in minor details in the installation at Denver and others have been made since the installation. A new anode mold has been devised which reduces about one-half the amount of scrap produced in the gold cells. The gold chloride to replenish the electrolyte cells is not made without nitric acid. The amount of hydrochloric acid used for each thousand ounces of gold refined was 26.8 pounds." (Page 47, Annual Report of the Director of the Mint 1906)

During the first year of operation, the Denver Mint turned out gold coin valued at #23.8 million and silver coin valued at $3.2 million. Coinage of one-cent pieces began in 1911 and in that year 12y6 million coins were minted.

In 1906 the Denver Mint manufactured a total of 67,371,035 coins. Ninety-percent silver dollars were last minted in 1935y The Coinage Act of 1965 eliminated ninety percent silver in dimes and quarters and reduced the silver content of half-dollars to 40%y Coinage legislation approved December 31. 1970, removed all silver from circulating dollars and half-dollars, but permitted the coining of up to 150 million, 40% silver Eisenhower dollars. The minting of cupro-nickel dollars was resumed in 1971.

            Currently, operations at the Denver Mint are concentrated on the blanking function and the stamping of coins. Private contractors supply the prefabricated rolls of metal from which coin blanks are punched.

It takes approximately 40 tons of force to stamp a penny or dime. 80 tons of force for a quarter: 60 tons for a nickel. 1 10 tons for a 50-cent piece ad between 75-80 tons for a dollar coin.

The Denver Mint's entire production of coins is dis­tributed through Federal Reserve Banks in accordance with shipping orders from the United States Mint in Washington, D.C. The Federal Reserve Banks, in turn, distribute the coins to their member banks.

At the Denver Mint, visitors may see a display of six gold bars. The average gold bar on display weighs approximately 27.5 pounds.

One of the more interesting sights at the Denver Mint was added many years after the opening of the building. A machine gun guard post is built high into the vestibule and was constructed upon the rumor that a gang planned to rob the mint. Fortunately this machine gun nest was never needed to fend off the mint robbers!

Tours of the Denver Mint are available but the scheduled hours are subject to change. Call for current times before you schedule this fascinating tour.

References:

Mint Director Report 1906 &1907

The Mint Story Publisher: Bureau of The Mint The Department of The Treasury. Washington. D.C.

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