As news of the Colorado gold strikes spread throughout the nation, many people traveled west in search of riches. Beginning in 1859 numerous mining claims were made and small camps sprung up in the mountains above the supply town of Boulder. Town populations ebbed and flowed with the success of the mines, and due to multiple economic hardships, many communities did not survive very far into the twentieth century. Despite the challenges, some of these mining towns are still inhabited today. Boulder As with most larger towns and cities, Boulder had humble beginnings. By looking back at how people adapted their community to what they needed and wanted, a different perspective is uncovered as to how and why Boulder evolved the way it did. Crisman and Springdale One of the challenges of researching small towns is that there is often little information to work with. Publications done by older local historians or local journalists who did not include endnotes or a bibliography might be the only sources available. While these secondary sources are not useless, they can pose problems if you are searching for specific answers. You might also find yourself questioning the reliability of the work due to the lack of citations. Another challenge is that town histories are often very general and similar information continues resurfacing from book to book. When this happens, look at the bibliographies, the most likely culprit is that the book is based entirely on secondary sources. This type of research usually takes extra patience and more creative problem solving to get past the roadblocks. Investigate what types of Primary Sources are available to you and think about what questions you could ask of the source to discover your own new clues.