Telluride of yore

Horse and mule pack train near Telluride (San Miguel County), Colorado, with coils of wire for the Nellie Mine tramway. Denver Public Library Special Collections. Date: 1895?

Mythic place of youth and yesteryear

By Rob Carrigan, robcarrigan1@gmail.com

When I was a youngster, up until the early 1970s I guess, the Telluride of yore was this mythic place of ramshackle mining buildings, beat-up shacks, and former row houses mostly, along with ornate Victorians in various stages of decay of former glory. I loved the elements of its checkered past featuring labor unrest, outlaw bank robbers, saloon girls, and epic unruliness and isolation. We always talked about how you might have been able to buy the whole town for less than $100,000.  Now, I assume, that would be quite a stretch. 

Fourth of July was always a celebration, and the beautiful box canyon was always a draw in summer, fall, winter and spring. The zig-zag fencing, sheep herder wagons, jagged rocky surroundings, astounding water falls, and blow over meadows provided visual interest, of course.

The town was founded in 1878. Telluride was originally named "Columbia," but due to confusion with Columbia, California, the name was changed by the post office in 1887.  Some folks today suggest that the post-1970 boom has re-Californiacated the place,  and not necessarily in a good way.  

But from my vantage point,  I have reveled in the development of the ski area over the years, and the music, film and other festivals providing vitality and interest. Besides, after living for decade in California myself, I recognize some advantages. My only regret is that I didn't think of — or was not able to — scrape together $100,000 in the early 1970s.

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 a smokestack. 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.

The Cosmopolitan
Creator: Byers, Joseph E.
Date: [1905-1915]
The Cosmopolitan, Telluride, Colorado, a saloon and gambling club. Men in suits and hats are seated at gaming tables with stacks of poker chips, a roulette wheel table is in left foreground, and a bartender stands behind long wooden bar. Marshal Kenneth Angus Maclean leans with his back against the bar; a Black man kneels next to brass foot rail and polished brass spittoons. Bar area features a large mirror with deer heads above, decorative spindles and shelves with liquor bottles, glasses and cash register on back counter. Inked on white border of photoprint: Telluride, Colorado. Penciled on back of photoprint: "1910-15?". Stamp on back of photoprint: Homer E. Reid, Telluride Colo. Title and photographer's signature hand-lettered on bottom of original negative. Denver Public Library Special Collections.

Band in Bridal Veil Park, 

Telluride, Creator: Goodman, Charles, 1843-1912. Date: 1886, Sept
T.J. McKee, donor, Men wear suits and hats and hold musical instruments including tubas, cornets, trumpets, trombones, and a bass drum in a meadow below the San Juan Mountains near Telluride (San Miguel County), Colorado. Ingram Falls, Bridal Veil Falls and Ingram Peak are in the distance. Denver Public Library Special Collections.

Telluride Hose Team No.1 

The Champion, 100 yards, wet test, in southwestern Colorado, July 3" 1892
Creator : Carpenter, W. J., photographer.
Date: 1892
Telluride Hose Team Number 1 on July 3, 1892, on Colorado Avenue in front of First National Bank, Telluride, Colorado, in annual race competition against Delta, Ouray, Rico and Grand Junction down one block length, that included unreeling two hundred feet of hose and turning on the water. Fireman in long underwear and trunks include: Billy (Gregory?), Ed Martin, Oscar Lochman, Jake Miller, C. Umstead, Lou (Hampdon?), A Fitzpatrick, Glenn (McKaron?), W. A. Gannon, A. C. Heidloff, Harry Newcomb, J. E. Jennings (trainer), Ely Elder (Spike). Two-story Richardsonian style bank, constructed by L. L. Nunn constructed in 1892-3, features Cornet Creek sandstone, arched entry with stained glass window panels in doors, and a corner tower.
Denver Public Library Special Collections

Colorado Things of the Past, Oct.25, 2022

 

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

 

Ghost and president slept here

Haunted and historic, Cascade resort hotel survives in what was once Hurricane Canyon

By Rob Carrigan, robcarrigan1@gmail.com

Eastholme is the oldest of a group of resort hotels that once flourished between Manitou Springs and Cripple Creek. Eastholme was built by Eliza Marriott Hewlett, a wealthy widow from Schenectedy, New York, and her two sisters. Hewlett understood the tourist potential of the Ute Pass region and built the resort hotel in 1885, The eight gabled building reflects East Coast architecture and because of that, they named the it Eastholme Hotel in what was then known as Hurricane Canyon, and later renamed by Eliza as Cascade Canyon. Today we know it as Cascade, Colorado.

"In this quaint bed and breakfast in the heart of the Rocky Mountains lives a female ghost whose identity is unknown. She has been heard on the third floor whispering, “Grace?” tickling the piano keys, and walking throughout the building. She has been seen in a red satin dress standing on the balcony, and in the foyer wearing a long dark dress, " says HauntedPlacesofUSA.blogspot.com.

It was built by a widow, Eliza Marriott Hewlett, and her sisters, Ellen and Caroline. Hewlett was from Schenectady, New York. Eliza Marriott Hewlett, the oldest of three sisters, left the state of New York for Colorado in the 1880s, and brought her two children with her to Cascade. It was quite uncommon for "ladies of leisure" to have moved to Colorado during this period; It was theorized that the women "may have come because of the publicity lent to the area by such romantic writers of the day as Helen Hunt..., who extolled the beauties of the Pikes Peak region."

Eliza Marriott Hewlett, an early settler who served as the secretary of the Cascade Town and Improvement Company, built and operated the two-story wood frame boarding house. 

Most of Cascade Canyon was homesteaded by the sisters. Caroline Marriott lived near the confluence of French and Fountain Creeks. Ellen lived beside waterfalls, "high up in the canyon" and Eliza lived at the entrance to Cascade Canyon in a log cabin. There she "entertained friends from Manitou at taffy pulls and sledding parties. Others came to the area for their health or to establish ranches. Uncommon for a woman the 1880s, Hewlett became the Cascade Town and Improvement Company's secretary. The company contributed to the cost of the development of the Pikes Peak Carriage Road and, having purchased land from the sisters in 1886 opened two larger hotels in Cascade.

The building, designed after elegant eastern hotels, had eight gables. When the railway was established through Ute Pass, there was an increase in tourism in the area and development of large resort hotels. Eastholme is the only remaining summer resort building in Cascade.  The inn became a designated Ute Pass Landmark by 1976, and recognized by the state's Bicentennial Committee.

In 1888, Eastholme was sold by Hewlett to her sister. Hewlett was, however, listed as proprietor of the hotel in 1892 and 1897 business directories. For a short period of time Eastholme was used as a sanitarium and leased as a boarding house. William Slutz bought the property in 1899. It was purchased in 1913 by Mr. and Mrs. A.S. Hewitt.

Following the closure of the Colorado Midland Railway, large hotels "would disappear in the 1920s." Over time, though, Eastholme was able to survive and continues to operate as a source of lodging.

During the 1920s many tourists began to travel by car, rather than train. Eastholme accommodated the travelers, as well as racers in the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb. 

Before they were married, Dwight and Mamie Eisenhower stayed at the inn," according info submitted to National Register of Historic Places.  "As did Mamie's parents, the Douds, from Denver. The Douds stayed at Eastholme on many occasions. Racers in the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb stayed at inn in the 1920s. They "soaked the wooden wheels in barrels in the yard."

In operation by 1887, it was a precursor of the larger resort hotels that later dominated the Ute Pass area. It is the only surviving building representing the early railroad period of Cascade’s commercial development as a summer resort for the wealthy.

"The ghost of a young woman in a tea-length, red satin dress is said to have been seen in the inn. The inn is also said to have experienced supernatural events when no one is visible, such as notes being played on the piano, electrical equipment being manipulated, the name "Grace" being whispered, and the sound of footsteps," writes Robert Wlodarski (17 January 2001). in Dinner and Spirits: A Guide to America's Most Haunted Restaurants, Taverns and Inns.

Printer ghost can't find his way home

Old printers never die, they just give up the chase

By Rob Carrigan, robcarrigan1@gmail.com

In the old days of newspapering (of which, my own journalism career reaches clear back into) there seemed to always be an ancient, but usually friendly, ghost wandering around the old press facility. Most presses would splatter ink, solvent, fixer, D-76, PMT fluid, blood, sweat and tears — during the manic wee hours of election night coverage, or high school state championships, or local disasters and town council atrocities. As a result, news executives and owners didn't go for cosmetic niceties, or dare fix up the place with unnecessary froufrou.

Back in the mid-1990s, when I first stumbled into the sprawling, confusingly cut-up, two or three - building, monstrosity of the Douglas County News-Press at 319 Perry Street in Castle Rock — and having already spent years in such ink-stained edifices, I felt right at home.

"Although there began to be problems with the old building, it was familiar. We knew where we were. We knew all the building's sounds, its creaks and groans," wrote someone from the paper when we later moved a few blocks West.

"Some of us joked the old building was haunted by one of its first owners, George Kobalt," it was written at the time of the move.

"Kobalt built the building in the 1950s and the newspaper was so much a part of his life, we believed his spirit remained there.

Employees sometimes reported hearing footsteps when working alone. Time will tell if George moved with us," said the former editor of the Douglas County News-Press.

To tell you the truth, it was not hard to imagine that some sort of ghost wandered around the dripping basement (complete with abandoned composing room and discarded Exacto knife arsenal, pica poles, proportion wheels, and light tables,  process cameras, or the old house that at one time served as the accounting department, or up in the expansive attic with its own portion of a separate newspaper morgue. 

But George Kobalt was nothing, if not a flexible ghost. 

Another paper I later worked for, allowed that his spirit might have relocated, or at least visited the Monument and Palmer Lake areas,  sometime after Kobalt began a paper south of his Castle Rock press facility.

“Howdy and good morning,” wrote George Kobalt himself , probably with an old 7200 Copugraphic head writer and it stretched across the top of the page for the Palmer Lake - Monument News for the Jan. 15, 1965 edition of the paper. It was the second issue.

George Kobolt ran a photo of himself, and a caption that said, “Don’t shoot this man, if you see him ‘casing the joint’ — It’s Editor Geo. Kobolt, in a light blue 1962 or a green 1963 Chevrolet (Wagon) and he is probably trying to show a merchant how advertising doesn’t cost — It pays!”

Years later, I would listen to ghost stories related of how old Geo. could be heard rattling around sometimes at night at what once was the reinforced basement of the former printing plant at 319 Perry Street in Castle Rock. The stories were most frequently focused on the area that was once under the presses known as the ‘morgue’ because it was where so many of the dead papers went.

“To answer the questions that arose from my visit to the Palmer Lake-Monument Post Offices last Friday morning, and advertising calls made Monday by our Bob Shchultz — We are concerned about the success of the new paper,” Kobolt wrote.

“Because the Columbine Herald didn’t make it, and another paper is having its troubles. Yes, I am familiar with both instances for we printed for another gentleman, the Columbine Herald. In those days, we were platen press printers and in my estimation, no newspapers could be printed economically in small quantities with that method. So, I held off until we purchased our present lithographic press.”

Kobolt was proud of the new equipment, and at the same time cautious and distant, about a competitive product sometimes printed in the Tri-Lakes market at the time.

“It is the largest press of its type between Denver and Colorado Springs — even Littleton. The other paper we print when it is brought to us to print. We are the only commercial printers for it, not editors or business managers — wonderful people endeavoring to put it out for the area.”

He answered a question about affiliations with other nearby papers at the time. “Are you Geo. Kobolt, connected in any way with either of the Colorado Springs papers?”

“No. I am a printer. Independent as a married man can be, with a 24-year-old married daughter and a 16-year-old son. I have no connections with the papers there — I’m just a little ‘feller’ competing in a world of tycoons,” he answered and expounded upon the things his new paper was not trying to do.

“You will see ads from here and there. That is the choice of the businessmen to make. Please, do not take it as an indication that editor Geo. is trying to change your buying practices — Buy at home.

He noted the presence then of such fine establishments as Higby Mercantile, Glenside Store, McCall Mercantile, Churches including Little Log Church, St. Peter Catholic, Monument Community Presbyterian and others.

In closing, Geo. Kobolt had this to say about the new paper 50 years ago.

“This little Palmer Lake-Monument News is not out to cover the world — just the area of our local interest.”

The Palmer Lake - Monument News maintained that strategy for those 50 years and eventually became, over time and different editors and publishers, the Tri-Lake Tribune. I served for years as publisher, at three different stretches myself.

But it was always noted in print, and otherwise, that George Kobalt was happy to be located in the buildings, and in the spirit of newspapers at his favorite haunts. Perhaps,  the old, ink-stained buildings and labyrinth passages makes it hard for such ghosts to abandon the Linotype,  or other Compugraphic keyboards, and light tables, and just go home.

He's got the right kind of language

“When writing a novel a writer should create living people; people not characters. A character is a caricature.” 

― Ernest Hemingway, Death in the Afternoon

Send in the cavalry, if it is not too late

By Rob Carrigan, robcarrigan1@gmail.com

As I am prone to do, today I  think of times past from my newspaper days and of Oscar Lindholm, and his conservative ways. It has been years since Oscar's death, but still I have an overwhelming desire to recycle some of his blacksmith/ferrier wisdom from time to time. 

For example: "The stable cleaning was seven days a week. In fact you got so 'stabilized' that when I went on leave the first time, I couldn't get used to not cleaning a stable every morning," wrote in his 1984 book "Horseman's Territory."

Oscar, born on April 12, 1916 in Holmquist, South Dakota, passed away at the age of 93, on February 7, 2010. Having joined the US Army in 1936, he was awarded the Bronze Star and retired as a CW03 in 1957. While in the Army, Oscar married his wife Elsie Alexander in October of 1940, and they had four wonderful children. He spent many years perfecting the craft of "horse shoeing" in which he became very well known as the area's "Horse Shoer." 

He is buried in Woodland Park Cemetery.

"Oh, we all griped in the horse cavalry just like any other outfits, but the old saying I believe is true. 'If they ain't griping, they ain't happy.' Another saying I remember: 'Everything is funny, as long as it happens to someone else.'"

It has been a long time since the U.S. horse cavalry of Oscar's day existed, which makes his wonderful stories so precious.

The last horse cavalry charge by a U.S. Army cavalry unit took place against Japanese forces during the fighting in the Bataan Peninsula, Philippines, in the village of Morong on 16 January 1942, by the 26th Cavalry Regiment of the Philippine Scouts. Shortly thereafter, the besieged combined United States-Philippine forces were forced to slaughter their horses for food and the 26th Regiment fought on foot or in whatever scarce vehicles were available until their surrender.
The 10th Mountain Cavalry Reconnaissance Troop of the 10th Mountain Division, with its roots in Colorado, while not designated as U.S. Cavalry, conducted the last horse-mounted charge of any Army organization while engaged in Austria in 1945. An impromptu pistol charge by the Third Platoon was carried out when the Troop encountered a machine gun nest in an Italian village/town sometime between April 14, and April 23, 1945.

"Actually I served with Machine Gun Troop of the 4th Cavalry Regiment in Ft. Meade, South Dakota, from February 1936 till the spring of 1940 when half of the regiment mechanized. A & B Troops retained their horses till approximately May or June, 1942. In the spring of 1940 when the unit half mechanized, Machine Gun Troop became Service Troop of the mechanized part of the regiment," wrote Oscar.

"I think I saw three generals while in army from1936 to 1942. One of these, I believe was Chief of Cavalry in approximately 1936. Whoever he was, he came to Ft. Meade, South Dakota, on an inspection tour. After the general and his inspection team had walked through the stables, the general said to our sergeant, 'You maybe won't believe this, Sergeant, but I have seen mess halls that were cleaner than that stables.' That is the kind of good stuff we lived on for days back then."

“When you first start, the more you hammer, the worse it gets.” According to what Oscar told me years ago about his initial solo horse shoeing at Fort Mead, South Dakota for the Fourth Calvary in 1936. “I was sweating and swearing pretty good in both Swede and English,” he said and as Sergeant Sears, his superior at the time noted, “I guess he’ll make a pretty good blacksmith, he's got the language right already.”

Mules, and troops of the 10th Mountain at Camp Hale, near Aspen.

Some of the last Cavalry unit in Italy during W.W.II.

37 mm pack gun, on W.W. II cavalry troops in Italy.

10th Mountain mules, and troops in Italy during W.W.II.