Ralston Dam

Plastic is an unincorporated community in Jefferson County, Colorado, United States. It is 8 miles north of Golden and 11 miles south of Boulder. No known post office has operated in Plastic itself. It is served by the Moffat Tunnel Division of the Union Pacific Railroad. An unused Union Pacific branch extends across Plastic, and into what was formerly the Rocky Flats Plant. During this period, the area was alternatively known as Plastic Siding.

Leyden, Colorado, elevation 5,656 feet (1,724 m) is a small unincorporated community in Jefferson County, Colorado west of Arvada at the junction of West 82nd Avenue and Quaker Street. It is a historic company town established by the Leyden Coal Company in 1902 to house the miners of the Leyden Coal Mine nearby to the west.

North Table Mountain is a mesa on the eastern flank of the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains of North America. The 6,555-foot (1,998 m) mesa summit is located in North Table Mountain Park, 3.4 miles (5.5 km) north by east (bearing 9°) of downtown Golden, Colorado, United States, in Jefferson County.

The Rocky Flats National Wildlife Refuge is 5,237-acre (21.19 km2) National Wildlife Refuge in the United States, located approximately 16 miles (26 km) northwest of Denver, Colorado. The refuge is situated west of the cities of Broomfield and Westminster and situated north of the city of Arvada.

The Rocky Flats Plant, a former U.S. nuclear weapons production facility located about 15 miles (24 km) northwest of Denver, caused radioactive (primarily plutonium, americium, and uranium) contamination within and outside its boundaries. The contamination primarily resulted from two major plutonium fires in 1957 and 1969 (plutonium is pyrophoric, and shavings can spontaneously combust) and from wind-blown plutonium that leaked from barrels of radioactive waste. Much lower concentrations of radioactive isotopes were released throughout the operational life of the plant from 1952 to 1992, from smaller accidents and from normal operational releases of plutonium particles too small to be filtered. Prevailing winds from the plant carried airborne contamination south and east, into populated areas northwest of Denver. The contamination of the Denver area by plutonium from the fires and other sources was not publicly reported until the 1970s. According to a 1972 study coauthored by Edward Martell, "In the more densely populated areas of Denver, the Pu contamination level in surface soils is several times fallout", and the plutonium contamination "just east of the Rocky Flats plant ranges up to hundreds of times that from nuclear tests." As noted by Carl Johnson in Ambio, "Exposures of a large population in the Denver area to plutonium and other radionuclides in the exhaust plumes from the plant date back to 1953."Weapons production at the plant was halted after a combined FBI and EPA raid in 1989 and years of protests. The plant has since been shut down, with its buildings demolished and completely removed from the site. The Rocky Flats Plant was declared a Superfund site in 1989 and began its transformation to a cleanup site in February 1992. Removal of the plant and surface contamination was largely completed in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Nearly all underground contamination was left in place, and measurable radioactive environmental contamination in and around Rocky Flats will probably persist for thousands of years. The land formerly occupied by the plant is now the Rocky Flats National Wildlife Refuge. Plans to make this refuge accessible for recreation have been repeatedly delayed due to lack of funding and protested by citizen organizations.The Department of Energy continues to fund monitoring of the site, but private groups and researchers remain concerned about the extent and long-term public health consequences of the contamination. Estimates of the public health risk caused by the contamination vary significantly, with accusations that the United States government is being too secretive and that citizen activists are being alarmist.

The Rocky Flats Plant was a U.S. manufacturing complex that produced nuclear weapons parts in the western United States, near Denver, Colorado. The facility's primary mission was the fabrication of plutonium pits, which were shipped to other facilities to be assembled into nuclear weapons. Operated from 1952 to 1992, the complex was under the control of the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission (AEC), succeeded by the Department of Energy (DOE) in 1977. Plutonium pit production was halted in 1989 after EPA and FBI agents raided the facility and the plant was formally shut down in 1992. Operators of the plant (Rockwell) later pled guilty to criminal violations of environmental law. At the time, the fine was one of the largest penalties ever in an environmental law case.Cleanup began in the early 1990s, and the site achieved regulatory closure in 2006. The cleanup effort decommissioned and demolished over 800 structures; removed over 21 tons of weapons-grade material; removed over 1.3 million cubic meters of waste; and treated more than 16 million US gallons (61,000 m3) of water. Four groundwater treatment systems were also constructed. Today, the Rocky Flats Plant is gone. The site of the former facility consists of two distinct areas: (1) the "Central Operable Unit" (including the former industrial area), which remains off-limits to the public as a CERCLA "Superfund" site, owned and managed by the U.S. Department of Energy, and (2) the Rocky Flats National Wildlife Refuge, owned and managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The Refuge (also known as the "Peripheral Operable Unit") was determined to be suitable for unrestricted use. Every five years, the U.S. Department of Energy, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment review environmental data and other information to assess whether the remedy is functioning as intended. The latest Five-Year Review for the site, released in August 2022, concluded the site remedy is protective of human health and the environment. However, a protectiveness deferred determination was made for PFAS.

The Barnes–Peery House, known commonly as the Barnes Mansion, is one of the oldest private homes of Jefferson County, Colorado, USA. It was built in 1865 by David Barnes, the first flour miller in Jefferson County, who had just moved his flouring mill (a business still operating today as the Golden Mill) to Golden after establishing it on Bear Creek to the south the year before. The Barnes home was the first major brick house in Jefferson County, and is designed in Italianate style, featuring rows of stone arched windows. A rear carriage house was built in 1871. While living here Barnes founded Loveland, Colorado, in 1873. After surviving a fire that destroyed its roof in 1875, the home went on to house other owners of the flour mill, including the Peery family who operated the business for much of the 20th century. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2001.

The Colorado Railroad Museum is a non-profit railroad museum. The museum is located on 15 acres (6.1 ha) at a point where Clear Creek flows between North and South Table Mountains in Golden, Colorado. The museum was established in 1959 to preserve a record of Colorado's flamboyant railroad era, particularly the state's pioneering narrow-gauge mountain railroads.

Rio Grande Southern Railroad (RGS), Motor Number 6 (affectionately nicknamed Galloping Goose Number 6) is a gasoline engine powered narrow gauge railroad motor car. The Galloping Goose body and chassis were built from a Buick automobile. The new Buick body was cut off behind the front seat and a new rear wall installed. The steering wheel was removed as it was not needed, but the other controls remained. The front axle was removed and replaced with a swiveling two axle lightweight railroad truck with sixteen inch diameter wheels that carried and guided the front of the Goose. Ahead of the front truck is the pilot (cow catcher) attached to the frame. Two small pivoted scrapers attached to the rear of the pilot slide on the rails to keep small objects on the track from derailing the lightweight front truck. During the winter season a small snow plow (now stored on the car's flatbed) was attached to the front of the pilot. The rear of the car frame was lengthened using steel channel riveted together but welded to the frame to carry the truck type flat-bed platform. The bed has short stake racks around the sides to keep materials from falling off. The Goose was originally powered by the 6-cylinder engine, clutch and transmission that came with the Buick. The drive chain powers the rear swiveling two axle truck assembly mounted under the rear frame and platform bed. The drive shaft turns only the forward axle. The rearmost axle is driven by roller chains and sprockets mounted outside of the wheels on each side. The rear truck has twenty four-inch diameter cast wheels. The braking is accomplished by brake shoes between the axles on each truck being pushed against the wheel treads. These are actuated by linkage connecting them to the normal foot pedal and parking brake lever. The foot brake is connected to the front truck and the parking brake lever is connected to the rear truck. Goose No. 6 received air brakes about 1939. The paint colors of Goose No. 6 early on is still an item of much discussion. Examination of the paint layers on the rear bed revealed only black and then aluminum that was used after 1935.The Buick body on Goose No. 6 was replaced around 1942 with the body of a Pierce-Arrow automobile, probably a Pierce-Arrow Model 36. The Buick engine was also replaced with the Pierce-Arrow engine. Soon after a small box was attached behind and above the rear seat, probably to carry lunches and small tools. Around 1949 a second gas tank was placed on the cab roof. This was in addition to the other tank under the right front of the bed. Both tanks were hooked up to the engine. The automotive style marker lights were removed from the side of the cab and railroad style markers were placed on top of the cab at the outer edges. This is its current configuration as displayed at the Museum.

Rio Grande Southern Railroad (RGS), Motor No. 2 (nicknamed Galloping Goose Number 2) is a gasoline engine-powered narrow gauge railroad motorcar. It was converted on August 12, 1931 from a 1927 Buick Master Six 4-door sedan in a conversion known as a Galloping Goose. The Buick was cut behind the rear doorpost and extended with sheet metal 18 inches (46 cm) to form an enlarged passenger compartment. With no functional use, the steering column was removed. The couch from the RGS office become the back seat as it is shown being requisitioned for Goose No. 2 on the statement covering construction. The front axle was removed and replaced with a swiveling, two-axle lightweight railroad truck with 16 in (41 cm)-diameter wheels that carried and guided the front of the Goose. Ahead of the front truck the pilot (cow catcher) is attached to the frame. There were two small pivoted scrapers attached to the rear of the pilot to keep small objects on the track from derailing the lightweight front truck. During the winter season a small snowplow was attached to the front of the pilot.The rear of the frame was lengthened using junked truck frame parts to carry the enclosed mail, express, and freight compartment. The compartment box is sixteen feet long, seven feet wide, and six foot ten inches high at the sides. It has a four-foot wide double door, approximately centered, on each side for access to the mail, express, and freight compartment. The roof is bowed upward in the center to shed moisture. The compartment was fabricated from 2 by 2 inches (5.1 by 5.1 cm) wood framing, with 1 by 2 inches (2.5 by 5.1 cm) wood strips running crossways. This is covered with 22 gauge galvanized sheet steel nailed to the 1 in × 2 in (25 mm × 51 mm) strips. The heating of the freight compartment of Goose No. 2 was noted as being considered in September 1931, soon after completion. Goose No. 2's stove is located in a four foot wide by two foot seven inch area added onto the rear of the compartment in the center. Examination shows that it was added on after the compartment box was built, but probably not too long thereafter, as the earliest photographs found show the addition.The Goose was originally powered by the engine, clutch and transmission that came with the Buick sedan. These powered the rear swiveling two-axle truck assembly mounted under the rear frame and compartment. The drive shaft powers only the forward axle, which was made from a modified Ford truck rear axle. The rearmost axle is driven by roller chains and sprockets mounted outside of the wheels. The rear truck has twenty-four inch diameter cast wheels. The braking is accomplished by brake shoes between the axles on each truck being pushed against the wheel treads. These are actuated by linkage connecting them to the normal foot pedal and parking brake lever. The foot brake is connected to the front truck and the parking brake lever is connected to the rear truck. Goose No. 2 never received air brakes. The original paint scheme of Goose No. 2 is still an item of much discussion. Examination of the paint layers on the rear compartment exterior shows a shade of green on the bottom layer. It is now a light green, probably a faded Pullman dark green paint. Over that is black paint, and then the aluminum paint that was used after 1935. The body on Goose No. 2 was replaced around 1939 with the body from the San Christobal Railroad Goose No. 1 which was built by the RGS for the San Christobal in 1934. This is a Pierce-Arrow Model 80 body and is longer with larger side windows than that of the Buick body. The rear freight compartment was shortened eight inches to allow for the longer body and avoid altering the frame and drive shafts. This is its current configuration as displayed.

The AC Golden Brewing Company, founded July 11, 2007 by Pete Coors and Glenn Knippenberg, was a subsidiary of MillerCoors, a Division of Molson Coors Brewing Company. Its purpose was to serve as a specialty brewing arm of MillerCoors; in the words of president Glenn Knippenberg, "Our mission for AC Golden is to be a brand incubator for what is now MillerCoors". The AC Golden Brewery operates in the former pilot brewery of the Coors Brewery. It debuted its first beer, Herman Joseph's Private Reserve, in 2008. In April 2010, AC Golden Brewing Company introduced Colorado Native Amber lager in Colorado, a lager made with 100% Colorado ingredients. The Colorado Native family of beers is sold only in Colorado. After Miller was purchased by Molson Coors, MillerCoors was dissolved, and AC Golden Brewing Company became an entity of Tenth and Blake Beer Company, the craft and import division of Molson Coors.

The Loveland Block and the Coors Building are adjacent historic storefront buildings in downtown Golden, Colorado. The Loveland Block, named for pioneer William A.H. Loveland, once served as the territorial capitol building of Colorado. Both buildings are listed on the National Register of Historic Places as a single entity.The Loveland Building is a two-story brick commercial block. Its front, flat-roofed section was built in 1863, and its rear, gabled roof portion was built in 1865-66.