Floods in Globeville

Globeville has suffered its share of floods over the years whenever heavy rain or record amounts of snow melt caused the usually sleepy Platte River to run out of its banks. There were periodic attempts to correct the situation, including a WPA project during the 1930s that redirected parts of the river and installed riprap along the banks. But the neighborhood, like much of Denver, would be forever changed by the 1965 Platte River Flood.

Streams were already running high with continuous rain and heavy spring run off when a cloudburst on Wednesday afternoon, June 16, dropped record amounts of moisture over an area south of Denver. Six inches of rain at Palmer Lake and three more at Cherry Creek Reservoir caused the Platte River to grow to a 20-foot high wall of water that carried mud, cars, trailers, dead animals, parts of houses, trees and propane tanks and headed toward Denver. Police set up barricades to bridges and viaducts that crossed the Platte, and kept traffic from using the low-lying Valley Highway. Debris slammed against bridges, propane tanks exploded, power outages darkened much of the city and  radio and television stations struggle to stay on the air. The river spread across the rail yards close to Globeville as emergency sirens wailed and the National Guard went door to door in the neighborhood ordering residents to higher ground.Dorothy and John Nevelos lived on Arkins Court, right along the Platte River. Dorothy recalls, “The emergency sirens were blowing and we had seen the story on the TV news...with the trailers and boxcars in the river. John stacked as much stuff as we could on top of the furniture and we left.” Dorothy and John were fortunate; the river spilled over on the other side and their home was untouched.Others were not so lucky. The rail yards, the Slovenian Gardens, the Polish hall, Transfiguration Cathedral, the Old Saw Mill and the meat packing plants all sustained damage. Marvin Pepper recalled, "We had just remodeled the plant [Pepper Packing] but the force of the flood caused meat hanging on high rails to fall. All of it was contaminated and condemned." The city's Northside Treatment Plant shut down when the power failed and raw sewage spilled into the river, and backed up through drains into people's homes. Lalo C. de Baca recalls, "We didn't really get flooded by the river but by the sewage plant. Everything was ruined." 
There were two fatalities in Globeville associated with the flood. On Thursday morning, the body of Adam Haffnieter was found floating in three feet of water near East 48th Avenue and Lincoln Street. He and his wife Molly had left their home at 4726 Sherman about 7 pm Wednesday night to stay with a relative. Adam had decided to return to his home about 10:30 pm after he heard reports of looting in the area. His body was discovered by police the next morning, and it appeared he had suffered a heart attack. 
Madfa (Matt) and Olga Davidovich were seriously burned when the furnace in their home at 4777 Logan exploded on Thursday morning. Like their neighbors, they had been evacuated from the area, but returned after the flood crest had passed. Olga lit the stove to prepare breakfast, igniting gas that had accumulated in the home. Olga would survive the blast but Matt would not. 
The National Guard would remain in Globeville all summer and Public Service would help residents pump water, clean and light furnaces furnaces as neighbors helped each other put things back in order. But church and lodge records as well as family photos and heirlooms would be lost forever.
Globeville still lies in a flood plain, but is less likely to suffer the same kind of catastrophe since the completion of a flood-control project in June of 2008.

Body of Man Found Afloat Near Home, Denver Post, Thursday, June 17, 1965
Furnace Explosion Burns Two, Denver Post, Thursday, June 17, 1965
http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/globeville-flood-control-project-complete

Lincoln Street at 45th Avenue in June, 1927

photo used with written permission from Lauren Summers

Rail yards June 1965

Denver Public Library

ASARCO clean up

The Globe plant began in 1886 as the Holden Smelter and was renamed the Globe in 1889 by Dennis Sheedy who took over the failing concern. Workers endured twelve-hour shifts six days a week, exposure to heat and toxic chemicals. But displaced farmers from Eastern Europe found meager wages and dangerous conditions preferable to starvation and conscription in the old country and lined up for available jobs. Houses were built nearby and the fledgling neighborhood was named Globeville. 
In 1899 the Globe joined the American Smelting and Refining Company, (ASARCO), a multi-national trust of smelters, mines and railroads. As valuable ores were depleted, smelting became more expensive and inefficient plants were closed - the company discontinued smelting at the Globe Smelter in 1919 and began recovering valuable metals in ore shipped from other ASARCO plants. 
During World War II, the Globe plant became the nation's largest supplier of cadmium, a corrosion-resistant metal used in paint, ball bearings and as a coating for aircraft, employing over 200 workers, many of whom lived in the neighborhood. It is that legacy of heavy metals and toxic processing that affects the neighborhood today. 
A series of lawsuits by neighbors led to settlements in 1993 and 1997. ASARCO replaced soil and vegetation around homes and businesses in Globeville and improved environmental conditions in the plant itself. But the transnational company that once seemed all powerful struggled financially and ASARCO filed for bankruptcy in 2005. In 2009, the ASARCO Multi State Environmental Custodial Trust was created and title to the ASARCO Globe Smelter property was transferred to the Trust. Globeville I, LLC is the contractor selected by the Custodial Trust to manage the completion of the remediation and ultimate sale of the ASARCO Globe Smelter property. On November 7th, 2012 a meeting was held at the Globeville Civic Association to present an update on the remediation efforts.
Community Outreach Coordinator Morgan Landers gave a brief history of the problems and the remediation efforts to date. Project Manager Chris Miller described the demolition of the plant, the grinding of brick and concrete, and the disposal of asbestos. Mary Hashem gave an account of the remediation of ground water and Joseph Harrington demonstrated the use of natural materials to strip heavy metals from the ground water. A question and answer period revealed neighbors' concerns about the effectiveness of the remediation and the kinds of development that might take place. The community expressed its hope that green industries, small business or hi-tech companies could be drawn to the area, and that jobs in the neighborhood might be available. Links were given to sources of information about the remediation process, submission of bids, training for jobs, health and environmental reports and community information. 

Morgan Landers listens as Chris Miller describes the work that has been done so far.

Joe Harrington demonstrates how natural materials strip heavy metals from groundwater

Project managers Globeville I, LLC
Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment
Remediation Contractors, Alexco Resource U.S. Corp

Globe ASARCO

According to historian Jerome C. Smiley in 1901,“...their [smelters] economic value to the city of Denver far exceeds that of any other industry; indeed, it may be said that it overshadows that of all other industries.”1. The remnants of one of the state’s most significant smelters, the Globe, rests on a hill just west of the neighborhood that shares it’s name. 
The plant began life as the Holden Smelter and was organized in 1886 by entrepreneur Edward R. Holden as a silver/lead smelter, using the latest technology. Holden was known as a promoter and speculator and had borrowed great sums from the Colorado National Bank to build the operation. When the smelter veered toward bankruptcy under Holden, the bank appointed Dennis Sheedy manager and he reorganized the firm as the Globe Smelting and Refining Company on January 16, 1889. A company store, hotel and houses surrounding the plant, once called “Holdenville” were then referred to as “Globeville.”2. 
The Globe Smelter was “integrated” with its own sampling works, crushing mills, roasting units, blast furnaces, refinery and was considered a major force in the industry. In 1899, the Globe joined a number of other smelting concerns to form a powerful trust, the American Smelting and Refining Company (ASARCO), with the clout to negotiate rates for labor, freight, ore, smelting and political influence. 
The price of metals increased during World War I and mines and smelters prospered, but by 1919, market conditions had changed and many of the nation's rich ores had been depleted. The Globe discontinued smelting operations and turned to producing cadmium, becoming a leading supplier of the element used as a protective coating for aircraft during World War II. In 1993 the firm again changed direction and focused on the development of specialty metals, such as bismuth.
1993 is also the year a group of residents won a lawsuit against the corporate giant, alleging air, soil and groundwater pollution. A second group of citizens were awarded funds in 1997 to remediate the soil in the southern section of Globeville. ASARCO declared bankruptcy in 2006 and the plant sat empty and abandoned.
2011 marks the beginning of a new life for the area as EFB Brownfield Partners plans remediation and development for the property. It is hoped that an industry once so vital to the economy of the region could bring life and rebirth to the Globeville neighborhood.
1. Smiley, Jerome C. History of Denver, Denver, Colorado: The Times-Sun Publishing Company, 1901, page 556
2. Fell Jr., James E., Ores to Metals, The Rocky Mountain Smelting Industry, 1979,
University of Nebraska Press pg 149.

3. Contaminated Globeville May Get a Second Chance, March 24, 2011, 
http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/27303143/detail.html

top photo. Globe Smelter 1890, Denver Public Library

middle photo, Globe Smelter about 1926, photo used with written permission from Steve Stevens

bottom photo, Globe plant today

Heritage of Smelting

"Joint project expected to provide hundreds of jobs upon completion," the headline in the Metro Denver Economic Development newsletter gushes. The story describes plans to redevelop the former ASARCO site at 51st and Logan, all that remains of the important and powerful industry that once defined Globeville.
The story begins with the discovery of gold and silver in Colorado in 1858 and the "Rush to the Rockies" that followed, bringing hordes of fortune seekers to the territory. A crisis developed as business leaders realized that the mineral wealth was untouchable unless the metals could be separated from the complex ores that held them - settlers were leaving and eastern investors were withdrawing funds. What followed was a quest to find an economical, efficient and reliable method for recovering minerals - the region's survival was at stake. Entrepreneurs, businessmen, scientists and charlatans proposed remedies, but it was a professor of chemistry from Brown University, Nathaniel P. Hill, who found the solution and opened the Boston and Colorado Smelter near Black Hawk in 1867.
The smelter was wildly successful and soon outgrew its canyon location, moving in 1878 to a hill north of Denver and close to the Colorado Central and Denver Pacific Railroads. The new plant covered six acres between what is now West 44th and 47th Avenues, and Fox to Pecos Street. 350 men, mostly English, Welsh, Irish, Scotts and Swedes worked at the Smelter. The Boston and Colorado organized a classic company town, with three hotels for single men, houses for families and several company stores. The village was named Argo, after the mythical ship sailed by Jason in search of the golden fleece, and people soon referred to the smelter by the same name. 
The firm's success lead to the construction of more smelting operations in the area, the Omaha and Grant in 1882 and the Globe in 1886. Changes in technology, and the depletion of the state's mineral-rich ores made the Boston and Colorado Smelter obsolete by 1902. A fire in the smelter's refinery in 1906 spelled the end of the smelter and the town of Argo, but the legacy of mining and refining lives on in the neighborhood in the remains of ASARCO's Globe plant. Again, there is a promise of jobs in processing and reprocessing the earth's minerals.


The "mousetrap" occupies the smelter's location today
Photo of the Boston and Colorado Smelter, Colorado Historical Association