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

Tri-Lakes Independence Day

Reputation for Celebration

Photos by Rob Carrigan, robcarrigan1@gmail.com

In the Tri-Lakes area, citizens have a reputation to uphold for pulling off a grand Independence Day celebration every year. The Fourth of July has only been a federal holiday in the United States since 1941, but the tradition of Independence Day celebrations goes back to the 18th century and the American Revolution. On July 2nd, 1776, the Continental Congress voted in favor of independence, and two days later delegates from the 13 colonies adopted the Declaration of Independence, a historic document drafted by Thomas Jefferson. From 1776 to the present day, July 4th has been celebrated as the birth of American independence, with festivities ranging from fireworks, parades and concerts to more casual family gatherings and barbecues.

 Monument and the surrounding Tri-Lakes Community carries on the long-standing tradition, year after year.

Not a bad year for flowers

I have been to the end of the Earth.
I have been to the end of the waters.
I have been to the end of the sky.
I have been to the end of the mountains.
I have found none that are not my friends.
—Navajo proverb