Ducks on Clear Creek in Gold Strike Park, Arvada, just above the confluence with Ralston Creek.  The mouth of Ralston Creek is about 500 yards to the east (right), on the west of side of Sheridan Boulevard (and south of 56th Avenue and Ralston Road).

The Ralston Creek gold strike - June 22, 1850

Leaving Auraria, Georgia in early 1850, Lewis Ralston and his party would reach Fort Pueblo by June 14th. Following first, Fountain Creek, and then Cherry Creek, north to the confluence with the Platte River, near present-day Denver, they made a crossing where Clear Creek enters the Platte (near present-day Commerce City). They then followed Clear Creek west for six miles, making camp near a small creek.  On June 22nd, 1850, Lewis Ralston panned the creek and found gold. The creek would be named for him. The exact location of the find on Ralston Creek is unknown, although Gold Strike Park is where the party is believed to have stopped.