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The confluence of the South Platte River and Cherry Creek, Denver, CO. View larger.

The city of Denver was founded at this confluence in 1858, on the site of Cheyenne and Arapaho seasonal encampments, when General William Larimer staked out a square-mile townsite after the first substantial discovery of gold in the Rocky Mountains was made just a few miles downriver, sparking the Colorado Gold Rush. It turned out that there wasn’t a great deal of gold to be had along the banks of the South Platte. But the little mining town grew in the meantime, and when major lodes were discovered further up in the mountains, Denver became the supply hub for the region, and then its center of vice and of banking. Nowadays, the confluence of the South Platte and Cherry Creek hosts a number of pubic parks and upscale condo developments.

In Larimer’s time, gold was typically gotten from the earth through a process called placer mining: that is, by panning or sluicing for surface deposits, in the manner familiar from countless Western films. There’s no more gold to be found in the South Platte. But some of the people in this photo look as though they’re panning for it nevertheless. . . .

The interior of Union Station, Wynkoop Street, between 16th and 18th, Denver, CO.

During the early part of the 20th century, as many as eighty trains a day stopped here. Now, there's only one that passes through. But construction is underway to turn the station into the central hub for FasTracks, a massive public transportation expansion plan for the Denver and Boulder metropolitan areas.

The 105th meridian west, by which Mountain Standard Time is reckoned, runs right through Union Station.

Best viewed large.

16th Street, between Arapahoe and Curtis, Denver, CO.

An enormous cumulus cloud formation, miles east of Denver, appears to envelop the state capitol building. A stunning site from a distance, these clouds, but I'm glad I wasn't under them.

Curtis and 16th Streets, Denver, CO.