The Continental Divide Trail (CDT) unites us. From Gateway Community residents to thru-travelers, and everyone in between, our diverse community is connected by our mission to protect the CDT. Starting today, we’ll be showcasing stories of the people and places that make up our community with our new series, Voices of the CDT. Each month, look out for new stories that highlight these diverse experiences, histories, and faces, against the backdrop of the awe-inspiring Continental Divide.

INTERESTED IN SHARING YOUR CONNECTION TO THESE LANDSCAPES? SEND US YOUR STORY AT [email protected] FOR A CHANCE TO BE FEATURED!

Jeremiah Lee

Jeremiah Lee was a leader in Colorado’s ore-smelting and real estate industry in the mid-nineteenth century. Lee was a formerly enslaved person from Virginia who settled in Georgetown, Colorado—within miles of the present day Continental Divide Trail—in the late 1850s. He was the founder the Red, White, and Blue Mining Company.

After arriving in Colorado Territory in the late 1850s—around the time of the Pikes Peak Gold Rush—Jeremiah Lee & his business partner, Lorenzo D. Bowman, became some of the wealthiest men in the territory. Jeremiah Lee was born into slavery and enslaved by Robert E. Lee until he and his parents were freed in 1841. He developed his skills as a prospector in the Nebraska Territory until the Pikes Peak Gold Rush drew him to Colorado in 1859. Alongside Lorenzo D. Bowman, who was also a formerly enslaved person, Lee opened an ore-smelter in Black Hawk, Colorado. They were backed with financing from well-known Black leaders including Clara Brown and Frederick Douglass and continued their ventures by opening a smelter in Georgetown and founding the Red, White, and Blue Mining Company.

The two were leaders in the Georgetown mining and real estate industries and also built and operated the first road over Burrell Hill above Georgetown, allowing for access to potential veins of silver, copper, zinc, and more. It is also said that Lee and Bowman taught Clara Brown (who became known as the “Angel of the Rockies” for her community leadership) about investing in mining claims and real estate. Lorenzo D. Bowman died in Georgetown in 1870 while Jeremiah Lee lived until 1904 and died in Central City, Colorado. Now, just off the CDT near Herman Gulch, you can see the remnants of the mining boom town and industry that Lee and Bowman were a part of in Georgetown, Colorado.

You can more about Jeremiah Lee, Lorenzo D. Bowman, and other African Americans who paved the way in the West at the Black American West Museum & Heritage Center (currently closed due to Covid-19) and read more about the experiences of African Americans in the West in the mid-1800s in Shirley Ann Wilson Moore’s book, Sweet Freedom’s Plains: African Americans on the Overland Trails, 1841-1869.

Cheyenne & Núu-agha-tʉvʉ-pʉ̱ (Ute) Lands