#21 Denver, CO 8-19-08

Today we went to the Denver Mint. We were not allowed to take any cameras, cell phones with cameras, purses or bags into the mint. Therefore, I do not have any pictures of the Mint. It was interesting to see the process which they mint coins. The Denver Mint does not print any paper money. The coin stock comes in big rolls that are then processed into coins. The tour guide thanked us for saving all our coins in jars, banks, etc. so they continue to have jobs making more coins!
There is a gift shop on the premises that you can spend money in--to buy money (collectors coins) and other stuff.
After touring the mint we then drove to the "Unsinkable" Molly Brown's house. We found out a number of interesting facts about her. First, was her name was Margaret--not Molly. Second her husband didn't have a mine, but was an engineer. Another thing that was interesting was how active she was in politics. She was also very eager to have all the latest innovations. Her home was lit by electricity before the county courthouse used it. She also had indoor plumbing, and a telephone. It would coust $9.00 for one minute long distance.
Her and her husband did a lot of entertaining. This is a picture of the Butler's pantry, which opened from the kitchen into the dining room. (The house was all very dark to preserve the antiques, so my pictures didn't turn out crisp and clear) All the china and silver in the cabinets could be seen from the dining room, and proclaimed for all to see that this was a very wealthy home.

This was the kitchen where the meals were prepared by the servants. The sink and stove were located here, and there was a food pantry right beside this room.

This is the old ice box. Margaret had a hole drilled in the floor with piping for the ice to drain into when it melted. The water that would have been collected in a pan and have to be emptied, instead was piped out to the flower garden. In the corner was the old hand wash machine. Clothes were hung on racks to dry. The wash tub was filled with water and hand made lye soap to first wash the clothes and then emptied and refilled with clean water to rinse the clothes. All this was done on the enclosed back porch. Very modern for this time.

We really enjoyed our visit to this old house and to see the way the wealthy lived in the 1850's.

We spent the rest of the week in Golden, at the Jefferson County Fairgrounds. Weather was nice and the facilities were good. It was a very relaxing time.