Thursday, September 8, 2011

Monument Storm, Jan. 4, 1916


 Workers dressed in winter clothes pose on a Mountain States Telephone and Telegraph Company truck in Monument (El Paso County), Colorado. Wires, equipment, and a lamp hang from the truck with a sign reading: "American Telephone and Telegraph Co. and Associated Companies, Long Distance Telephone, Bell System." A worker hangs from a telephone pole in the distance. Colorado Historical Society, Mountain States Telephone collection
View of broken utility poles in Monument (El Paso County), Colorado. A row of poles lay in an open field. 


Colorado Historical Society, Mountain States Telephone collection

 View of broken utility poles in a field in Monument (El Paso County), Colorado. Telephone wires are draped on the ground. Shows a barbed wire fence and open field. Colorado Historical Society, Mountain States Telephone collection

View of a Denver and Rio Grande Railroad Company railroad car tipped over on the embankment in Monument (El Paso County), Colorado. The Monument train depot is in the distance.


Colorado Historical Society, Mountain States Telephone collection

Tuesday, September 6, 2011

Telluride I recall as a youngster

Telluride Brewery
Al Bachman, photographer.
View of an abandoned brewery in Telluride (San Miguel County), Colorado. The wood, stone, plaster and tin building has a false front and asmokestack. A corrugated tin buildings is nearby. Photo created 1963. Western History/Genealogy Dept., Denver Public Library.
Brick Building
Al Bachman, photographer.
View of an abandoned brick building in Telluride (San Miguel County), Colorado. The buildings has arched windows with radiating voussoirs, and a corbeled parapet. The porch roof on the front of the buildings has a shingled hip roof and wooden pillars. Photo created 1963. Western History/Genealogy Dept., Denver Public Library

Telluride Opera House
Al Bachman, photographer.
View of a brick theater in Telluride (San Miguel County), Colorado. The building has a stepped parapet, a projecting enclosed balcony with a tile roof and a hip roof tile porch. Lamp posts are near the theater and a sign on the building reads: "Opera House, Picture Shows Every Evening, Admission 10 and 15 Cents." A sign projecting from the building reads: "Show." Photo created 1954. Western History/Genealogy Dept., Denver Public Library.

Monday, September 5, 2011

Hard Time in Wyoming Territorial Prison



Built in 1872 and restored in 1989, Wyoming Territorial Prison, operated from 1873 to 1903. Over 1,000 men and 12 women incarcerated in a span of 30 years. In the early days of the prison, it was only about 10 degrees warmer inside than outside during the winter until a radiator system was installed. Prison was expanded 1889 and notable criminals, including Robert Leroy Parker (Butch Cassidy), Clark “the Kid” Pelton, and Ellijah Canary all served time there.The broom factory was constructed and staffed by inmates beginning 1892. When in full swing of production, the factory could produce as many as 720 brooms a day. Nearly a quarter of the inmates escaped because of lack of staff and guard inexperience.

Teachout Ranch in Northern El Paso County

Teachout Ranch, photographed sometime between 1860 and 1878.
A view of Teachout's Ranch near Edgerton, Colorado, includes a two-story gable-roofed building with a porch with Victorian decorative woodwork, and a smaller building nearby; numerous people stand near a board fence in front, including a seated elderly woman, a child holding a doll, a woman and child each on horseback, a seated man holding a rifle, and what appear to be ranch hands. Two wagons are in front of the fence. One is covered and is pulled by two horses with a man next to the horses. The other, also pulled by two horses is uncovered and has a man at the reins. Trees, another fence, and fields are in the background. 
Western History/Genealogy Dept., Denver Public Library.

Historical Byers-Evans House in Denver





Built for William N. Byers in 1883, the stately Italianate-style home reflected its owner’s standing in the community. Byers printed Denver’s first newspaper, the Rocky Mountain News, on April 23, 1859. As editor, Byers used his paper pulpit to promote Denver and the surrounding region.

Byers became close friends with John Evans, Colorado’s second territorial governor. These men - along with their wives Elizabeth Byers and Margaret Evans - played pivotal roles in Denver’s early growth by helping to establish religious, educational, legal, and social institutions.

William G. Evans, the oldest son of former governor John Evans, bought the home in 1889. William and his wife Cornelia moved in with their two young children, John and Josephine. During the next five years, daughters Margaret and Katharine were born. An important business and civic leader in his own right, William headed the Denver Tramway Company and helped develop the Moffat Tunnel. Piercing the Continental Divide, the 6.2 mile tunnel culminated efforts to link Denver to Colorado’s western slope and solidified the city’s place as the region’s commercial hub.

Sunday, April 10, 2011

Ophir Loop


Ophir Loop, Photo taken between 1900 and 1930
The Rio Grande Southern Railroad traveled along this stunning section of track known as the Ophir Loop. It was a series of turns and trestles that allowed the train to make its way up this steep section.
From the Walker Art Studio (Montrose, Colo.) Photographer, Byers Photo
Center of Southwest Studies, Fort Lewis College

Saturday, March 12, 2011

Saloon in Telluride


The men on the right are leaning against the bar. Musicians are seated in the rear. On the left, men are seated at a gambling table. The electric lights hanging from the ceiling indicate that the photo was taken after 1891 when power arrived in Telluride.
Denver Public Library, Western History Collection,
From Doing History:Keeping the Past, University of Northern Colorado

Construction near Capital


Shot this from the front of the library January, 2011, looking back toward the dome.

Mesa Verde National Park


Tourists at Mesa Verde National Park. Farm Security Administration, Office of War Information, Lee Russell, photographer. August, 1939.

Hardware store in Monte Vista


Interior of the Rio Grande Hardware Store in Monte Vista displaying scissors and knives, axes, files, saws, metal pots, and toy wagons. taken in 1928. __ Denver Public Library, Western History Collection

Grand Valley Resettlement Project


In the 1930's Fruita also participated in several government projects including the Grand Valley Resettlement Project (later Western Slope Farms). Settled in groups of two or three families per area, thirty-four families were relocated by 1937. Photo by Authur Rothstein, Farm Security Administration, Office of War Information.

Gillett Store


This is the interior of Woodruff’s general store in the town of Gillett, Colorado (no longer a town there, near Cripple Creek). The photo shows brooms standing in a wooden box, canned food on the shelves, and boxes of cigars in a glass display case. The white bags stacked in the back of the store may contain flour. From Doing History:Keeping the Past, University of Northern Colorado, Hewit Institute.

Pipe Organ in Colorado Springs Church


Pipe Organ in First Presbyterian Church in Colorado Springs.
__ Denver Public Library, Western History Collection

Gates Rubber about 1925



"The founding of the company in Colorado was an accident. The two Gates brothers came here after graduating form the University of Michigan as mining engineers to engage in mining. When this business did not pan out, they invested their capital of $1500 in leather halters and gradually branched out into the rubber business. They formed a closed corporation and have developed a business, which in 1940 sold 16 million dollars worth of goods. Their payroll of $4,3000,000 was distributed among 3,200 employees….
"Five thousand different articles are made by the company. About 30 per cent of the business is devoted to the manufacture of tires and tubes-70 per cent of the products being other types of rubber goods."
Source: “Gates Rubber Company,” in “Industry and Commerce, Sketches of Denver,” Writers’ Program, Colorado, Colorado Historical Society Library, [1940]. From Doing History: Keeping the Past. University of Northern Colorado.

Citizen's Bank of Victor


Citizens Bank, Victor, CO.
"As I sold newspapers on the street, I was often in Johnny Nolan's saloon, where I sometimes sold all my papers. It was not an uncommon sight to see ten- and twenty-dollar gold pieces piled high in the center of the round, green cloth-covered tables. Of course, there were many stacks of silver dollars. Hard money was always used when the games of chance were in vogue." __ William W. Wardell, from an article titled "Cripple Creek Memories," in "Colorado Magazine," 1960. Photo from Denver Public Library, Western History Collection, From "Doing History: Keeping the Past." project. University of Northern Colorado.

Bank in Telluride


This photo may have been an advertisement to show customers how safe it was to leave their money in the Bank of Telluride. Stacks of silver dollars are lined up on the counter on the right. Next to the rolls of coins are two pistols. During the Great Depression of the 1930s, many people lost faith in banks because so many failed or closed.
__ Denver Public Library , Western History Collection