Oscar at Berts

Thing of the past ...

Not many people today know that Oscar (Lindholm) was quite the beer drinker in his earlier days. He as a every afternoon visitor to Berts and on weekends too. His wife Elsie was with him on her stool a lot too, up until her death. Oscar, like a lot of us, quit beer drinking as he got older and instead of spending his spare time at Berts, he used it at the Pantry or putting on displays of how to make horseshoes. Oscar was who I used to shoe my horse for many years. Here is a photo I took of him one evening at Berts with him puffing on his trademark cigar that he used to always have. With him are Tom Kelly and Dean Settles, circa 1979.---Steve Plutt.

2022 Colorado Things of the Past ...

Thing of the past ...

Milwaukee Brewing Co.
Creator: Collier, Joseph
Date: [1890-1900?]
The Milwaukee Brewery Company was established in 1859 by James Endlich at 10th and Larimer Streets in Denver, Colorado. In 1860, the brewery was sold to John Good, who enlarged it and renamed it after the Tivoli Gardens in Copenhagen. In 1901, the brewery merged with the Union Brewing Company to form the Tivoli-Union Brewery. The plant shown here continued to operate until 1969, producing Denver Beer. Several horse-drawn wagons are on the dirt street in front of the building.
Colorado Restless Native note: After a forty-three-year absence, Tivoli Beer began flowing again in 2012. To further develop the revived brand, the brewery’s owners embarked upon a $3.5 million renovation of the old building (with the help of ($975,000 in State Historic Preservation Tax Credits) to serve as their brewery and tap house. The non-historic additions of the 1980s were removed, and the historic interior features were restored. New brewing equipment occupies the space where Tivoli’s original mash tuns and copper kettles once stood, according to the brewery's information.
Denver Public Library Special Collections

 

Thing of the past ...

Glen Eyrie
Date: ca. 1903
Photographer: unknown
The tower at Glen Eyrie under construction. Scaffolding is visible inside and at building at left. A worker is visible on the roof on the left side of the building. Rocky cliffs are visible behind the building.
Location: Colorado Springs (Colo.)
Carl Mathews Collection, Pikes Peak Library District

Thing of the past ...
Ramona Hotel
Date: 1899-1901
Photographer: Stevens, F. P.
Ramona Hotel in Cascade, Colorado, showing open porches on side and large stairway at left. Pine trees are in foreground and treed hillside is behind. "Stevens Photo Colo. Springs, Colo." written on lower left of print.
Carl Mathews Collection, Pike Peak Library District

Thing of the past ...
The Lake at Green Mountain Falls
Creator: Jackson, William Henry, 1843-1942
Green Mountain Falls resort in El Paso and Teller Counties, Colorado; shows a gazebo in the lake, boats, a boat house, the hotel, and an approaching Colorado Midland Railroad train.
W.H. Jackson Photograph and Publishing Co.
History Colorado

Thing of the past ...
Artus Van Briggle working in 1887 at Holmes Ranch, east of Colorado Springs. Boy in background is William C. Holmes and his dog "Curley." Photo from Pikes Peak Library District.

Colorado Things of the past ... Oct. 7,8, 10, 11,12. 14

 Thing of the past ...

Galloping Goose

Creator: Noel, Thomas J.
Date: 1998
Galloping Goose No. 5 at the railroad depot in Dolores (Montezuma County), Colorado. Letters on the motor read: "The Galloping Goose" with a picture of a goose with a banner tied to its neck that reads: "The Galloping Goose." "Rio Grande Southern" and the number "5" are on the train. The passenger compartment and cab both show signs of wear, with faded and peeling paint.
Tom Noel photograph collection, Denver Public Library
From the Galloping Goose Historical Society website: "Motor No. 5 went into service on June 8, 1933. (The railroad officially called these vehicles Motors until 1950.) The cost was $2,599 for No. 5, which was built with a 1928 Pierce-Arrow limousine body and running gear. It was rebuilt in 1946/47, using a World War II surplus GMC gasoline truck engine and a Wayne Corporation school bus body. In 1950, the freight/mail compartment was converted to carry 20 additional passengers for sightseeing trips. With a one-man crew, and operating on gasoline rather than steam, our local Galloping Goose and its fellow goslings fit the bill for economic travel."; Title and content derived from inventory prepared by Kathleen Barlow.; Scanned image from loaned collection.; Digitization sponsored by the Kenneth King Foundation.
ColoradoRestlessNative Note: Old Hollywood building in background across Flanders Park. Goose No. 5 has since been restored and running on local and statewide tracks.

Colorado Restless Native post date: October 7, 2022

Thing of the past ...
Hotel Glenisle, Platte Cañon, C. & S. Ry.
Creator: McClure, Louis Charles, 1867-1957
Date: [1900-1920]
Hotel Glenisle, Glenisle, Colorado, in Platte Canyon reached via Colorado and Southern Railway; wooden footbridge with adjacent railroad sign stating "Property of C. & S. Ry. Co., Danger, all persons are forbidden to enter upon the right of way, tracks, yards and bridges or to jump on or off of cars;" footbridge crossing North Fork of South Platte River and footpath leading to resort; portion of standard gauge track, foreground; men and woman sitting on rocks by lake; summer residences or cabins nestled amongst trees on hillside; Colorado Telephone Company Pay Station sign attached to hotel entrance.
Denver Public Library Special Collections,
Louis Charles McClure Papers 

Colorado Restless Native post date: October 8, 2022

Thing of the past ...
The Antlers
Creator(s) : Jackson, William Henry, 1843-1942
Antlers Hotel in Colorado Springs (El Paso County), Colorado. The rusticated stone and wood hotel has a turret and finial, half-timbered dormers, corblestep parapet, and a wrap around porch. Two horse-drawn wagons are on the street; one with a sign that reads "Union Ice and Coal Company." Streetcar tracks are on Cascade Avenue.
Date: [between 1883 and 1898]
History Colorado, Denver Public Library

Colorado Restless Native post date: October 10, 2022

Thing of the past ...
View from head of Horse Gulch near Rico, Colo.
Creator: McKee, Thomas Michael, 1854-1939
Date: 1897, Sep. 19
Donor: T.J. McKee
View of a trail, a gulch identified as Horse Gulch, and a mountain range near Rico in Dolores County, Colorado.
Denver Public Library Special Collections

Colorado Restless Native post date: October 11, 2022

Thing of the past ...
Rio Grande Southern narrow gauge locomotive, engine number 462, engine type 2-8-2
Creator: Richardson, Robert W.
Date: 1945
Three-quarter view of right side of engine, from front end; with caboose 0401. Photographed: Dolores, Colorado, October 10, 1945.
Colorado Restless Native Note: I think that is the old school in the background.
Denver Public Library Special Collections

Colorado Restless Native post date: October 12, 2022

Thing of the past ...
Fountain Saloon, Cripple Creek
Date: [1896-1900]
Fountain Saloon, Fourth (4th) Street and Myers Avenue, Cripple Creek, Colorado; one-story flat roof brick commercial building on corner, double-wide corner entry with brick pilasters frame entry, handrail in front of large storeroom window with unextended awning, group of men posed in front of doorway identified as Marus Durand (center and co-owner with A.Kinney), Charles Cobart wearing a long apron, and A. Kinney on left; "Fountain Saloon" painted on window and on side of building, arched sign "Saloon" on roof over door, two circular signs advertising Zang's Pilsener on both sides of entryway.
Digital version created from: Gwen Goldsberry - 4/12/75
Formerly negative F34315. Hand-written on back of photoprint: 4th & Meyers [sic] Avenue, Marus Durand was running it and my Dad (Kinney), Marus in center of doorway and Charles Cl--- in apron, A. Kinney. Title supplied by cataloger.
Denver Public Library Special Collections

Colorado Restless Native post date: October 14, 2022

Railway founded to move beets to plant

Also operated passenger service from 1917 to 1926

 By Rob Carrigan, robcarrigan1@gmail.com

The Great Western Railway of Colorado, founded in 1901 to serve the Great Western Sugar Company and other sugar, beet, and molasses companies in Colorado, operates about 80 miles of track in Colorado and interchanges with the Union Pacific Railroad as well as the BNSF Railway.
It also operated passenger services from 1917 to 1926.
It currently a subsidiary of OmniTRAX a transportation and transportation infrastructure holding company based in Denver, Colorado, in the United States. It primarily owns and operates railroads, with a network of 21 regional and shortline railroads in 12 U.S. states and three Canadian provinces. It is one of the largest privately owned railroad companies in the United States. The firm also invests in, develops, and operates ports, multimodal transportation terminals, and industrial parks.
Great Western Railway of Colorado route consists of a line from Loveland to Johnstown, Colorado, where it splits to Miliken and Longmont. Going north out of Kelim is Windsor where, once again the line splits to go to their industrial park and Greeley, or Fort Collins. It recently expanded service to include customers such as Anheuser-Busch, Eastman Kodak and Simplot.

Charles Boettcher I.
Creator: Rhoads, Harry Mellon, 1880 or 1881-1975
Date: [1940-1950]
Donor Morey Engle
Summary: A portrait of Colorado philanthropist Charles I. Boettcher, Denver merchant, industrial promoter and banker; founder of Great Western Sugar Co.; director of National Bank of Commerce and Colorado Midland Railroad.
Description: 1 photonegative ; 10 x 13 cm (4 x 5 in.); 1 photoprint ; 13 x 18 cm (5 x 7 in.)
Is Part Of: Western History and Genealogy Dept., Denver Public Library.

Loveland Colo Depot, Great Western Ry.
Creator: Davis, Mike B.
Date: October 1959
Summary: View of the Great Western Railroad Depot, Loveland, Colorado, shows the wood frame building with overhanging bracketed eaves and tracks in foreground.
Description: 1 photoprint ; 21 x 26 cm (8 x 10 in.)
Western History and Genealogy Dept., Denver Public Library. 

Office building and view looking to the south-west
Date: [1899-1901]
Summary: View of the multi-story Great Western Sugar Factory under construction; includes the office building with a stepped parapet, railroad cars, horses, buggies, and wagons.
Description: 1 copy photonegative ; 10 x 13 cm (4 x 5 in.); 1 photoprint ; 13 x 18 cm (5 x 7 in.)
Western History and Genealogy Dept., Denver Public Library
Related Material: Image File: ZZR710012206
Notes: Formerly F28854. Title typed on label on back of photoprint; additional information: "Must have been in the horse and buggy days;" "21" inked on front. R7100122065

Great Western train, engine number 51, engine type 2-8-0
Creator: Perry, Otto, 1894-1970
Date: 1966
Summary: Rocky Mountain Railroad Club excursion to Boulder, Colo.; 4 cars, tender lettered "Manassa Mauler". Photographed: at Denver Union Depot, [Colo.], September 24, 1966.
Description: 1 photonegative ; 9 x 14 cm; 1 photoprint : silver gelatin, black and white ; 9 x 14 cm
Is Part Of: Otto C. Perry memorial collection of railroad photographs
Western History and Genealogy Dept., Denver Public Library.

Great Western engine 2, engine type 2-8-0
Creator: Hallock, Ralph E.
Date: Oct 22, 1949
Summary: Great Western Railway Company (GW) 2-8-0 2 at Loveland CO
Description: 1 negative : film, black-and-white ; 10 x 13 cm (4 x 5 in.)
Is Part Of: Hallock (Ralph) Collection; Loveland & Longmont: Oct 22, 1949
Item Owned By Colorado Railroad Museum

Switcher at Loveland, Colorado plant

Date: [1940-1950?]
Summary: View of a Great Western Sugar Company switcher locomotive on tracks at the Great Western Sugar Company plant in Loveland (Larimer County), Colorado. Shows a multi-story, brick, sugar processing building.
Description 1 photographic print ; 13 x 18 cm. (5 x 7 in.)
Source Ed Sibert, Aug. 22, 1974.
Notes: "Owned by Sugar Co., not R.R., Chas. Albi, 7/03/01" penciled on verso.; Title penciled on verso.; R7110056517

The Great Western passenger depot was built by the Great Western Railway in 1902, the year after the sugar factory opened. The factory was the first Great Western Co. sugar plant in Northern Colorado, although three other sugar processing plants had previously been built in the state. 

"The sugar factory drove our economy for eight decades and grew Loveland’s population by 300% the first decade of operation! It was a major contributor to the area’s economic success and remains a very important piece of our history and heritage. All the next generations in Loveland deserve a chance to know and appreciate the Great Western legacy." says a post by Historic Larimer County.

"The Great Western Railway’s main purpose was to transport beets from outlying farmers’ beet dumps, as well as refined sugar, molasses, coal and lime rock, but it also operated passenger service from 1917 – 1926. Before and after passenger service years, it was used as the railroad agent’s central office. In the 1980s, Great Western Railway offered popular rail excursions, and school classes rode cabooses for years, but the railroad never got back on its feet. The passenger depot was closed in the mid-1980s. The little freight depot to the east was built in 1942."

Fee proposed for Devil's Backbone

Users may soon be paying the price for intense management

Photos by Rob Carrigan, robcarrigan1@gmail.com

A potential fee has been proposed for the Devil's Backbone Trailhead, which is the south entrance to Devil's Backbone Open Space, located off U.S. 34 west of Loveland. This trailhead has had no charge to the public historically, said Larimer County officials.
A fee is charged at the Blue Sky Trailhead, which is the north entrance to Devil's Backbone Open Space, located off County Road 38E west of Fort Collins. The department also charges entrance fees for Horsetooth Mountain Open Space and Hermit Park Open Space, which are the two other intensively managed open spaces in Larimer County's system.
"The department is funded primarily through a sales tax and user fees," said Larimer County Natural Resources Director Gary Buffington, "and we have a responsibility to maintain financial stability."
"Devil’s Backbone Trailhead is currently the only intensively managed location in Larimer County's park and open space system where we do not collect a fee," Buffington said.
 Open house presentations were held at the Larimer County Loveland Campus on Oct. 22, and a second open house took place at Larimer County Courthouse Offices in downtown Fort Collins on Nov. 8. A third meeting took place  Nov. 20 in Estes Park.
For more information on the fee study, please contact Natural Resources Director Gary Buffington at (970) 619-4560 or gbuffington@larimer.org.
View proposed fee adjustments (PDF of presentation from consultant Harvey Economics).

Stop along the river

High marks for story telling

By Rob Carrigan, robcarrigan1@gmail.com

Rusty May is a saddle maker, and story teller, that I happened upon in recent wanderings.
His shop was almost wiped out by the September 2013 flooding along the Big Thompson River when the water rose six feet inside it.
As he showed me the high water marks and related stories, and we each reached out for common markers in our own histories, I couldn't help but feel I had known this character all my life.
"When May and his wife, Jo Ann, learned that a 20-foot wall of water was surging down the nearby Big Thompson River, they had just minutes to grab some saddles and equipment, then load their horses into a horse trailer before driving to safety," reported the Denver Post at the time.
Now, every time I drive past his shop on the river, I think to myself that I should stop by for a story, or six.

Color fall: A summary

Fast-moving color in the Estes Park area in the fall of 2018

Nothing lasts forever, including fall colors. Still moving down valley with the freeze, there is still time. But very little. Winter's coming. At some point, the candle will go out, so make use of the light.

Photos by Rob Carrigan