they have given out six marriage licenses. >> i got a letter from jd mcfarland, the attorney general. , saying that even though the law did not specify that marriage had to be between a man and a woman, that had always been the intent. it could bepinion misleading to the couples for me to continue to issue licenses because he felt that they might be misled into thinking that they had more rights than they would ever have. that is what he said. he never did say, in his written words to me, that it was illegal , although he did publicly speak that word. had noorney general

greater authority over the district attorney, or over me. my district attorney then said -- he can't order you to stop without going to the courts. but in the eyes of the public, the attorney general of the state has more authority than you or i do. perhaps you should consider stopping. about theking attorney general's concerns that couples would be misled if they had a license and could get no further benefits with that license. myself, decided to stop issuing at that point.

>> i think that lgbt issue -- people were scared to death of those marriage licenses being given out in 1975. being as appropriate as we could and we were ahead of the curve of people not only in boulder, but also all over the country. i remember a piece that i read about the deposition from phyllis lyon in the prop eight case in california. she had been asked if she was giving the deposition -- she was with del martin for decades before they eventually did get married in the san francisco city hall. in the prop eight depositions someone said to her -- didn't you want to get married?

she said it didn't occur to them that they could. that was true for the people in boulder. obviously not for all of them. it was not beyond what they could think about, but it was beyond what many others thought about. it came on the heels of this vitriolic fight about lgbt writes that had gone on in the preceding months. it is so important to understanding the people advancing in the 1970's to understand the context in which lgbt people found themselves. it was a different kind of atmosphere. it was a different kind of tone. it took incredible courage for the people to gather together the symptoms. so, it is really important to keep that understanding in mind when you look at what they did

back then. >> i would like to think that my aece of history just provided bit of a door opener for considering the issue. i think that it started a discussion. the discussion had to start somewhere publicly. >> i think that for the most part people around the united states were not very aware of the fact that older had gone through this very rapid but very significant battle around same-sex marriage in 1975. only now is that coming to light for people. i think they are kind of amazed as they think about it. i don't think that it had a huge impact on that movement except in the way that it gives people this hint of a possibility that something can happen.

i think that there are people, a few people around the country here and there who had the and of a possibility. >> all weekend "american history tv" is featuring boulder, colorado. 1859 and a gold rush discovery in gold hill. mining continues in the area around boulder today. hosted by our comcast cable partners, the c-span city tour staff recently visited many sites. learn more about the city all weekend here on "american history tv." >> this was a building that was about to be demolished. it had been boarded up for over 20 years. because it was boarded up for 20 years, people knew about the building. and because it was so close to downtown. there are not buildings in boulder that are boarded up.

that is in the usual situation. when we would tell people about the project, they would say -- oh, that house. there was the sort of mystery around what the house was. barker was an amazing woman who played an important role in the history of boulder, colorado. born in 1844 in ireland, you know, there is a lot about her early years that we do not know. but we know that she was trained as a teacher in iowa, probably. you can imagine, as an irish immigrant, probably for -- , it was for -- poor nothing over her to the middle class. then she found yourself in ward,

,olorado, a small mountain town bigger than boulder in those days. she was brought here by a guy who owned the mine and realize that the workers that he had were not getting any education. goes that she was in the saloon and during the day they cleared out all the the revelry in the night and then after school was over they would move back in. after a couple of years they moved to boulder and ward was one of the first teachers in the school district. it is hard to speculate about hannah and her motivations. but you cannot help but imagine what it must've been like to

travel across the country, from , shortly after the civil war. the train was feared -- the train was about to be completed. it was some kind of stagecoach, who knows. a pretty darn big adventure. she and her future husband married in early 30 hot. they lived a fairly traditional life. she stopped teaching. he had a daughter from a previous marriage. they lived in this house. and then he died after less than 10 years of marriage. then an amazing thing happened, she became one of boulder's first philanthropists.

she was on the border of what was then [indiscernible] and became a property owner. she had a lot of financial activity. we are not quite sure where it all came from. relay with no, actually. she was active with women's groups in town. everything from the women's union to the intellectual group, who got together every other topics order to research and speak to each other about things that would broaden their understanding of the world at large.

when you -- when you tell the story of a place, it is important to realize that it is not just the story brought to you by the men in the population . i think that her story was not very well known, up until the time that her house was landmarked. she was forgotten. we certainly have early pioneers who were much more frequently mentioned. it is one of the great gifts the houses gotten, the way it has taught the school, the way it has taught the larger community about a woman's role. i think that reflects on the women -- reflects on the role of women today.

>> we are on the front page of the house that hannah barker lived in for 40 years. in the late 1800s she lives here. we will be completely rehabilitating the exterior of the house and, as i said, we have shortened it up structurally, having done some of the interior work as well. we hope to find a good long-term and turn it back into a single family, as it was used historically. the main goal is to bring it back as it was used and we can continue to tell the story of hannah barker, who lived here for over 40 years. hannah barker, to me as a woman in the community in particular, tosuch an important person

study and learn about. in a way there is this whole legacy in boulder of active and engaged female citizenry who really made a difference in our town. in a way to me it is a bit of a legacy that she has left. >> all weekend american history tv is in boulder, colorado. valley was home to the southern arapahoe indians and founded in 1859, now home to more than 100,000 people. posted by our comcast cable partners, the city tour staff showcase the city's history. learn more all weekend here on american history tv.

>> well, actually, the highway that you drove up through the was built in the early 1870's. it was built specifically to go to carolyn. that put boulder into the mining game early. although it was still a supply town. met -- wagons were the rule of thumb for a lot of mining. wagonok it to town and a and you bought your dynamite, your supplies, and everything else. you put it back in the same wagon and went back. boulder figured -- figures into this early. >> we are in western boulder county near the site of the old town of caribou. it is completely a ghost town.

right down there in the meadow is a town that was built to exploit the mineral resources, innly silver, discovered 1879. made,he discoveries were boulder was a small community still looking for its identity in the world, still supporting agriculture. there needed to be a place where commodities could be brought in and brought to the minds. caribou was easily the most important silver mining center in colorado through the mid-1870's. beginning in 1869 with the discovery that you had 5, 6, 7 years of silver production outstripping everyplace else in the state. course, the original

discoveries were gold. silver was a novelty for a while. this was a serious, big time deposit. so, there were several large minds, the largest of all being the caribou mine that operated quite successfully up into the early 1880's. ofthe 1880's the price silver had dropped significantly. by the 1890's it was down even further. it is a steady curve that goes right down. in 1893 you have the silver panic that pretty much finished it off. aboutou have to remember silver mining, which was primarily going on here, the buyer of silver was the united

states government and they had a , thatct, so to speak congress passed in the form of legislation. silver was a commodity that was fluctuating on the market. the price of silver for something that you would've paid on the market might the completely different from something the government was paying. the weight that they were paying was 10 to 20 to 25 are sent. the government was losing money. they were coining silver figures and0 nichols of the time. there is only so much that can

go into coinage. the rest of the silver had to be sold on the market. that was being sold for a significantly less amount. the other thing that you need to realize when you start throwing these silver mines together, by 1879 they had started to produce. within two years they were producing mormon numeral -- more mineral wealth in colorado put together. production shrink into insignificance. the grade for this immediate area pretty much fell out. however, there were deep deposits that were successfully being mind even today. but it is not right here on top of the hill.

the tom hendricks cross mine has been operating since the 1970's. ups and downs, just like the price of silver has had. at the present time he is optimistic about mining in the future. he is actually mining deeper underground than most were operating a peer. portion thatneable has gold and it. it is not just silver, it is also gold. >> we have both carried to the gold. do you see the white cords? calcite is actually written leaching out. in millions of years those will

become stalactites and stalagmites. today isf the mining on a much larger scale. tom hendricks is one of the last of the small mining operations in the state. large mining operations carried on by big multinational corporations are the rule. the history and legacy can be reduced to nothing but production numbers. at the same time it is an interesting and colorful story. you can have a good time reading that material and still go through some of the dryer statistics, seeing that there really is something important to us today. weekend,hout the american history tv is featuring boulder, colorado.

staff recently traveled there to learn more of its rich history. learn more about the other stops on the city tour at c-span.org/local content. you are watching american history tv, all weekend, every weekend. >> the c-span 2015 student can competition is underway. it will award 150 prizes totaling $100,000. create a five minute to seven minute documentary on the topic. it needs to show varying points byview and be submitted january, 2017. grab a camera and get started today. >> would there be a memorial to

john paul jones in the west potomac park? had his revolutionary war exploits been limited to daring hit and run attacks? the answer is, probably not. for the scottish born jones, a books camee history on a single day, demanding this slow and under armed tribute to his parisian patron. he triumphed over the technologically superior frigate in the established north sea. at the height of the battle he delivered his celebrated rallying cry -- i have not yet begun to fight. wordssame electrifying appear on the back of his washington memorial, along with a depiction of him raising the new american flag for the first time on a vessel in service to

the united states. dedicated in 1912, a 10 foot tall statue of the admiral was flanked by dolphins in the pool. the 15 foot marble column served as a backdrop. his heroism and skill are beyond a doubt, but the fact is that he -- it certainly never said have not yet begun to fight. the first appearance of the sentence appeared in 1825, almost 50 years after the battle and 30 years since john paul jones died in paris, impoverished, forgotten. >> monday night, jeremy grant, whose agency talks about ways to

increase data protection. >> they are not looking to endorse a particular solution, but rather describe the attributes of what it should look like. they have to be secure, privacy enhancing, and let that be a bit of a guidepost for the solutions around it. looking at the pilots that we , it will basically be used in lieu of a password. others are testing the different types of biometrics, fingerprints, and voice recognition. not to say that these will all ,e the solution for everybody but these are the kinds of things we are testing out. >> monday night on c-span two. >> coming up next, former intelligence analyst