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Pramod Tiwari

Denver Cats

By Lauralyn Duff
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Forget nuggets. The hottest commodity during Colorado’s gold rush? Cats. Picture Denver in the 1860s: wooden storefronts, miners flush with cash and whiskey — and rats. Plenty of rats. So many rats. But not a cat in sight. One miner jokingly told Moses Friedman if he wanted to make money in Colorado, bring cats. Friedman took the idea seriously. On a trip home to Kansas, he bought his neighborhood strays for ten cents apiece, loaded them into a wagon, and rattled back west to Colorado. By the time he hit Denver, those “alley cats” sold for ten dollars each. Almost $300 in today’s money! Other entrepreneurs followed suit, and soon rolled in with wagons stacked three stories high — full of valuable whiskered cargo. By statehood in 1876, Colorado was filled with felines. And many who’d come here chasing a fortune in gold struck it rich, instead, with cats.

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Colorado Postcards are snapshots of our colorful state in sound. They give brief insights into our people and places, our flora and fauna, and our past and present, from every corner of Colorado. See more postcards.

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