Arvada

Arvada

Arvada (/ɑːrˈvædə/) is a home rule municipality on the border between Jefferson and Adams counties, Colorado, United States.[1] The city population was 124,402 at the 2020 United States Census, with 121,510 residing in Jefferson County and 2,892 in Adams County.[7] Arvada is the seventh most populous city in Colorado. The city is a part of the Denver–Aurora–Lakewood, CO Metropolitan Statistical Area and the Front Range Urban Corridor. The Olde Town Arvada historic district is 7 miles (11 km) northwest of the Colorado State Capitol in Denver. The first documented discovery of gold in the Rocky Mountain region occurred on June 22, 1850, when Lewis Ralston, a Georgia prospector traveling with a party headed for the California gold fields, dipped his sluice pan into a small stream near its confluence with Clear Creek.[3] He found about ¼ troy ounce (8 g) of gold, then worth about five dollars (about $550 USD today.)[10][11] While Ralston was elated, the rest of the party was unimpressed and continued on to California the next morning. Ralston continued panning for gold, but after a few days gave up and caught up with his party. The site of Lewis Ralston's gold discovery now lies along Ralston Creek in the City of Arvada's Gold Strike Park.