This is a swear jar.

- No, thats a fairy light.

- They put gold coins in when you cussed or something.

We're at the History Colorado Center, where I'm going deep into our archival vault, selecting ten artifacts from History Colorados collection of more than 15 million items.

So this is a ticket.

The Willy Wonka Train.

I doubt it.

Today, were challenging two contestants to see if they can draw the connections between these pieces of Colorado history.

Welcome to The Vault.

Today, we are playing with SugaBear and La Molly, co-host of SugaBear and La Molly in the morning on 104.7 The Drop.

Thank you so much for being here.

Thank you for having us.

I understand you two have been a team for a while now.

Youre probably just totally dialed in on the same wavelength, and this is going to be a walk in the park for you, right?

- Yeah.

- Yeah.

- No, no.

- We rarely agree.

Okay.

Okay.

Which one of you do you think is the stronger Colorado historian here?

Oh, definitely her.

Definitely La Molly.

Okay.

Okay.

He just moved here five minutes ago.

Four years ago.

So I'm kind of used to, you know, the state, but there's still a lot that I want to learn.

All right, well, let's check out what is in the vault today.

In front of you are ten artifacts, and I want you to find the connections between them.

The artifacts on the table can be arranged into three sets, with the three items in each set all connected by a common theme.

One of the items in front of you is a decoy that doesn't belong with any set, so choose carefully.

You can start by inspecting each item.

And because we are really nice here at The Vault, I will give you a hint on one of the items if you feel like you would like it.

So once you've had a chance to look them over, We're going to give you 90 seconds on the game board here to group them into your sets and to tell us what the theme is.

- Sound good?

- Let's do it.

Okay, let's take Okay, let's take a look.

Okay.

This one first.

Thats a railroad nail.

That's what I think.

But do you see all the writing right there?

It's really pretty.

Somebody took a lot of time.

Yeah, somebody really did that.

I've seen this before.

My grandma had one of these.

I think so.

No.

How old are you?

That's true.

But because of the rust and everything, I think this is for gold.

Oh, that's smart.

I thought that was a fruit bowl.

But I think you're right.

Theres always been fruit.

I mean ... Okay.

- This.

- This.

1904.

State convention, Colorado, Equal Rights League.

- Refreshments, Im hungry.

- Of an event ... Refreshments.

So it's like a declaration of independence.

Thats not, thats not ... But its that kind of thing.

Somewhere, okay.

Thats a belt buckle.

I don't think so.

- Yeah it is.

- I think that's a pin or a — No, it says — Oh.

No Grande?

- Oh, no Rio Grande.

- No, not Nachos BellGrande.

- Rio Grande Southern Railroad.

- Railroad.

So this is a ticket.

Oh, I wish I could touch it.

- Okay.

- The Willy Wonka Train.

I doubt it.

And then the yellow or the orange?

That's not yellow.

Orange.

It's a pin.

Like a ... - Ribbon.

- A ribbon So somebody won something.

- Participation ribbon.

- Participant.

Okay.

- Thats a gold nugget.

- Oh a lighter.

- Its a lighter.

- No its not.

Where does it open?

- They did different back then.

- Thats a gold rock.

I don't know, it's different back in 1844 ... 1865.

It's different.

Okay, sure.

The lighters were just magic.

This though ... That's a man shaving kit.

No, it's not.

No, this was for doctors.

- No - Yes.

- No.

- Yeah.

Whats the hammer for?

Your knee?

No, I don't think they were rough — Its for the reflexes, Molly.

Okay.

As we go.

What's this?

Kansas Pacific Railroad Immigrant Guide.

Lawrence, Kansas.

That's where my family's from.

- Oh, nice.

- Yeah.

Maybe they were in here.

Maybe they were in this pamphlet.

Thats a vase.

This is a swear jar.

- No, thats a fairy light.

- They put gold coins in when you cussed or something.

That's Tinker Bells home.

No, it actually says, national ballot box.

Amos Pettibone.

Chicago.

- Whats that got to Colorado?

- Oh, thats my cousin Amos.

- I knew him.

That's my grandma - You are petty.

- You are petty.

- I know.

Hey guys, don't forget weve got one more object out front here.

Okay.

Oh, my pretty?

No.

Well, that's Kansas.

Oh, was this in the movie?

I don't think so.

Wasn't it red?

And it didn't have a fishnet.

Its Colorado history.

So this has something to do with the the state, obviously.

But you see the intricate design here?

It's really pretty.

And clearly they have tiny feet in the 1800s.

Yeah.

And I don't know what the net is for.

Fishing.

For protection.

No, Have you seen a fishing bike?

There's no such thing.

But the intricate details are really cool.

Its very pretty, yeah.

Alright, so now that you've had a chance to look at everything, Tinker Bell's bike and the Wicked Witchs That's right.

Tinker Bell's house and the Wicked Witchs bike.

Yes.

Yeah.

Is there anything that you would like a hint about?

The lighter.

What do you think the ribbons for?

The bike.

You're wrong.

It's the lighter.

Let's do the lighter.

The lighter.

You would be really happy if you dug a lighter like that out of the ground.

Is that gold?

Okay.

That's very helpful.

You've had a chance to take a close look at everything.

Yup.

You think you got it?

- No.

- We think so?

Okay.

We hope so.

All right, well, we got 90s till we know so.

- Yeah.

- All right.

Are you ready?

- Lets go.

- Yeah.

Go.

Okay.

Okay.

This one goes with.

- Maybe.

- That's a ticket, right?

I think so.

And the top one.

- The very — - What top one?

- This.

- Thats for gold.

What does that have to do with the railroad?

Railroad — The railroad?

This is the railroad.

So you think — Okay, we only have a lot — a little time.

Well then, hurry up.

Railroad.

- Okay.

- Okay.

Uh, bikes.

What goes there?

Here's the other thing.

- 90 seconds.

- I'm trying.

Okay.

What goes with bike?

Put the other ones here.

This is all about gold.

Okay.

Okay.

Okay.

Now.

Here's what Im confused — Tinker Bells house is — not do with the bike.

No, but it has to do with ballots.

And this also looks like it has to do with the law.

A good call.

Alright, 30 seconds guys.

- So, move the ribbon.

- So, but, what — But what is the bike?

What does the bike have to do with ballots?

It doesn't.

- So that's what's confusing.

- But — Voting.

- Yeah, but — - 10 seconds.

Why is there a bike?

It don't matter because you had to ride to go to vote.

Or carriage and a horse.

Or do you get a ribbon?

- No, I think — - Time's up.

Pencils down, pencils down.

Well, I can truly say that was fun to watch you guys work that out.

Sug, why don't you tell us about that first set?

I don't feel really comfortable about it.

I don't know, but this stake here ... Its for a railroad.

This is for a railroad, right?

And you seem to think that this is a ticket.

Its says “R-R” on it.

Railroad.

- Or rest and relaxation.

- Okay.

And then this pamphlet here.

Jason, I'm not sure about this, but we wrote this as a railroad category.

Okay, okay.

So first category railroad.

La Molly, tell me about your second set.

Okay.

We thought this one had to do with voting, And you need transportation to get to the polling place.

This had something to do with .. - Rights.

Equal rights.

- Equal rights.

Voting.

And then that is a ballot box.

It said so on there.

Okay, okay.

- So voting for the second set.

- Yup.

SugaBear third set.

What do you got?

Okay.

With your helpful hint, You said we would be very lucky in this piece right here.

So we presumed that could be gold.

This is definitely a gold mining pan.

This one is throwing me off because I think that it has to do with the being a doctor.

Apothecary or something.

So that's why we said gold.

I'm unsure about it, But this one — Okay, okay.

Third set gold.

And then why didn't you like the Denver Wheel Club, La Molly?

No, we didnt know.

It's an honest answer.

We dont know.

Okay, well, do you want to see how you did?

We'd love to.

All right.

Let's see.

You guys got it.

- What?

- You're kidding me.

We did that?

We're so smart.

Did we do this?

You did that.

That's a — you threw it off because I really thought that went with the bike.

I have to give it up to Molly.

She moved a couple of notes that I wasn't sure about, but good job.

That's — That's awesome.

Total bragging rights.

Yeah.

Let's go.

This first set, railroads.

Railroads were really important to Colorado in those early days.

And so in 1870, the Denver Pacific Railway completed a spur line up to that transcontinental railroad at Cheyenne.

And that silver spike was sent by the town of Georgetown to the opening celebration.

That is indeed a railroad pass.

Fancy people got those — politicians, - captains of industry ... - Oh, dang.

Is it pure metal?

- It's silver.

- Silver?

Okay.

Then we have, of course, the Kansas Pacific Railroad brochure there.

Railroads were granted land.

That was how governments incentivized them to come.

And then they would sell that land to homesteaders.

They would sell it.

They would advertise it at good prices, right there.

They're saying, we have 6 million acres will sell you, and that's all going to be along our rail line.

So that's going to be real convenient for you.

All right.

So the second set, you said, vote.

It is actually the women's vote, Colorado is the first state in the country where women won the right to vote - by a popular vote.

- No way.

I did not know that.

Yeah, so the bike was one of the primary modes of transportation that women who were — - You were right.

- I was, I gotta get that.

That women who were campaigning for the vote used because they didn't need a man to take them anywhere.

They could just hop on the bike, and that was a bike built here in Denver by a company named Morrow, specifically for women.

I mean, you could see that low bar like we still have, but that net in the back, that was so their skirts didn't get tangled in the wheels.

So smart.

The Equal Rights League started in Colorado in 1878.

In that first year that we were a state, there was another vote about women getting the right to vote, and that failed.

Women started organizing.

They started organizations like the Equal Rights League to make sure that when it came time for another vote, they weren't going to fail.

And of course, it's not Tinker Bell's house.

It is a ballot box.

That is how people used to vote.

You would drop your vote right in there.

That was used in the 1893 election when women won the right to vote.

That one?

That one right there.

In El Paso County.

Wow.

That lighter is indeed solid gold.

It was mined up in South Park in 1865 and turned into that gold ingot there at Clark and Gruber.

Clark and Gruber is the mint that ultimately becomes the US mint that we have - here in Denver today.

- Got it.

Okay.

That is indeed a classic gold miners pan.

The kind that you see them down in the streams with trying to find the gold down in the mud and the bottom of the stream.

And then that third one, the — you were not far off when you said apothecary.

This is an Assayers toolkit.

So he used all those fancy tools.

This one came from a man who worked in Clear Creek area, and used those tools to test it and see how pure that gold was that you had found.

So it's like a gold doctor.

- A gold doctor.

Yeah.

- A gold doctor.

I like that.

The decoy there, the Denver Wheel Club.

So Denverites have always loved bicycles.

They formed the Denver Wheel Club in the 1880s.

It was like the cool thing to do.

Think of the cruiser rides today, but bigger and better dressed.

Women were welcome in the club, but they were more focused on just getting out and riding and campaigning for equal rights.

So now you know the connections here.

Was there anything that surprised you or made you want to learn more about it?

The whole women's vote And how deeply tied Colorado is to that, that we were the first state — I didn't know that.

That's really cool.

It makes me want to learn how to ride a bike.

- You dont know how to ride — - I do not know how to ride.

Im just the same.

The women's vote.

The history of that is just amazing.

And just to see an actual ballot box from that period is just ... its pretty fascinating.

Colorado's history is full of surprising connections, and as we turn 150 this year, it's more important than ever that museums like ours are preserving and protecting artifacts like these.

That way, we can continue making connections for the next 150 years.

Thank you guys so much for being here in The Vault.

Thanks for having us.

This was fun.

This was fun.

- Thank you and congratulations.

- Oh, we got it.

Yeah.

To learn more about these objects and some other cool artifacts, visit RMPBS.org/thevault or go visit your local history museum.