Harry Rhoads stood behind the images in his Colorado camera

'Body of work' documents Denver

Harry M. Rhoads, behind the steering wheel, poses in a convertible with passenger in front of Westminster University or College, at 3455 West 83rd Avenue in Westminster (Adams County), Colorado. Circa 1895. (Harry Mellon Rhoads/Denver Public Library/Western History Collection

By Rob Carrigan, robcarrigan1@gmail. com

"Body of work" is perhaps the best description for someone like Harry Mellon Rhoads' lifetime image collection where he is documenting what happened in Denver and nearby, during the early 20th Century and beyond. 

"A Rocky Mountain News photographer with a career stretching across seven decades, Rhoads was a consummate man-about-town. His camera captured everything from presidential visits to breaking news to mundane city moments. His work demonstrates a mastery of daily life documentation. Many of the moments ingrained in his often glass-plated negatives seem too picturesque to be candid," says Kevin Beaty any of "The Denverite."

"In Rhoads’ work we observe a true sense of what life in Denver looked and felt like in the early 1900s. The introduction of the automobile and airplane is a recurring theme in his work and is presented with a kind of miraculous viewpoint that must reflect of how these inventions were seen as they were introduced," says Beaty.

"For almost seventy years, Harry Mellon Rhoads was Denver's very own one-man "maestro paparazzi." Starting in 1900 as photojournalist for the Denver Republican, until his retirement from the Rocky Mountain News in 1969, at almost every important event, Harry's lens would be focused on the action. He captured images of U.S. Presidents from Theodore Roosevelt to Dwight Eisenhower, and legends like Charles Lindbergh and Amelia Earhart," according to Randel Metz on January 7, 2015, for Denver Public Library History.

"Harry Mellon Rhoads (who called himself the "fat photographer") was born in Unionville, Berks County, Pennsylvania, on August 28, 1881. He attended East and West High Schools in Denver, and after graduation began his career as a newspaper photographer with the Denver Republican. Until his retirement from the Rocky Mountain News in 1969, Harry continued to work as a newspaper photographer. Harry was a family man. He married twice and was the proud father of two daughters -- Mary Elizabeth and Harriet. The Rhoads collection contains numerous family photographs," wrote Metz.

Spectators watch as former President Theodore Roosevelt rides in an open automobile, with Secret Service Agents, in a motorcade down 17th Street in Denver, Colorado. Circa 1910. (Harry Mellon Rhoads/Denver Public Library/Western History Collection

Two boys fight with boxing gloves and a man with a pocket watch acts as referee, probably in Denver, Colorado. Between 1910 and 1920. (Harry Mellon Rhoads/Denver Public Library/Western History

A large crowd watches a ski jumper at a ski resort in Colorado, possibly Steamboat Springs. Between 1930 and 1939. (Harry Mellon Rhoads/Denver Public Library/Western History Collection

People watch men open cases of liquor from the Blue Valley Distillery Company during a Prohibition arrest in Colorado. The men use crowbars to open the wooden cases. Circa 1920. (Harry Mellon Rhoads/Denver Public Library/Western History Collection

Charles A. Lindbergh inspects the engine of probably a Ryan B-1, manufactured by the B.F. Mahoney Aircraft Corporation, in Denver, Colorado. Between 1920 and 1930. (Harry Mellon Rhoads/Denver Public Library/Western History Collection

View of a burning cross on Ruby Hill, in Denver, Colorado; a man in Ku Klux Klan uniform and hood is to the side. Between 1920 and 1930. (Harry Mellon Rhoads/Denver Public Library/Western History 

Collection

President Woodrow Wilson sits surrounded by a group of men at the Denver Press Club, Denver, Colorado. Between 1910 and 1930. (Harry Mellon Rhoads/Denver Public Library/Western History Collection

View of a bear in the crux of a tree, Colorado. Between 1910 and 1930. (Harry Mellon Rhoads/Denver Public Library/Western History Collection

View of a fire at McPhee and McGinty building and firemen in Denver, Colorado. May 23, 1935. (Harry Mellon Rhoads/Denver Public Library/Western History Collection

Sunrise over rusty, old steam shovels

Sunrise, Wyoming, in its heyday during 1930s. 

Every kid should get a chance to operate a steam shovel

Steve Berry operates the 1927 Osgood Steam Shovel at the Western Museum of Mining and Industry during a Reynolds Ranch Restoration Day as I “fire” in the background, behind a camera.

By Rob Carrigan, robcarrigan1@gmail.com

Acting as the fireman on the old, orange-rust-colored Osgood Steam shovel during a Reynolds Ranch Restoration Day at the Western Museum of Mining and Industry years ago, I was reminded of when I first visited the town of Sunrise, Wyo.

Orange houses, orange buildings, even orange trees . . . Sunrise was aptly named, looking like the picture of an orange fireball sun.

Colorado Fuel and Iron hoped to make Sunrise a model company town back in 1904, when it bought the entire Sunrise Mine from Charles A. Guernsey, namesake of nearby town Guernsey, Wyo. Guernsey founded the Wyoming Railway and Iron Company in 1898.

I was the editor of Guernsey Gazette and Lingle Guide for a time in the mid-1980s in Lingle and Guernsey, Wyo. The two tiny papers covered those towns in eastern Wyoming, and several other nearby towns including Fort Laramie, Hartsville and Sunrise.

In the 1880s, the area around what would become Sunrise, was an important area in the mining of copper. Colorado Fuel and Iron, in the early 1900s, built company-owned houses, boarding houses, depots, a school, churches, shops, and other structures.

In response to the Ludlow Massacre here in southern Colorado, further improvements came to the town in the 1910s and ’20s in the form of better brick housing, a YMCA building, parks, a playground, better utility systems, a hospital, and other improvements. By 1928, the mine employed 547.

Sunrise properties were initially strip mined, and then mined using a glory-hole method. In 1930, underground block-caving mining was started, and by World War II all mining was underground.

Ore mined was partially processed on site and then sent to Colorado Fuel and Iron mills in Pueblo.

Because of decreasing ore quality and problems in the domestic steel market, the town and mine were closed by C.F. & I. in 1980.

Over the lifetime of the mine, 40 million tons of iron ore were produced, more than any other C.F. & I. mine. The district was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2005.

Osgood Steam Shovel, built in Marion, Ohio, circa 1920

This steam shovel was used by Colorado Fuel and Iron Corporation from 1927 until 1939 to mine hematite, iron ore; in glory holes in Sunrise, Wyoming. The shove dug pits 750 feet deep and and a quarter mile wide. The machine's overall reddish tint comes from the buildup of hematite dust, a legacy of its many years of faithful service.

When I worked in Lingle and Guernsey, near Sunrise, in the 1980s, though the company town had ceased operations years earlier, the trees and the remaining buildings and everything in Sunrise were orangish red still.
Two men were needed to operate the shovel. The fireman fed coal and water to boiler, and the operator controlled the three steam engines. The crowd engine would move the bucket forward and back, the hoist would raise the bucket, and the house engine would rotate the house. It is now at the Museum of Mining and Industry on Northgate Road near the north gate of the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs.
Located near the present day communities of Hartville and Guernsey in Platte County, Wyoming, it is one of the most historical iron ore mines in all of the country. Founded about 1899, Sunrise began as a company town with the construction of a general store. By 1902 there were 38 four-room homes with a boarding house with a “seating capacity of 90,” a school house, and a “sociological” building with a hall and reading room.

In 1917 a YMCA building was constructed that is still the centerpiece of this “Historical Community.” that by 1920 reached over 500 individuals. Operated until 1980, the now abandoned Sunrise Mine produced 42,457,187 tons of iron ore, with peak production being in 1941 when Sunrise produced approximately 1% of all iron ore mined in the United States. The iron was used in a variety of steel applications during WWII including structural members for ships, for barbed wire, and fencing.

As a kid, working in a hardware store in Dolores, Colo., I unloaded countless C.F. & I. trucks of smooth box nails, bailing wire and rolled fencing that probably utilized hematite mined from that very same Sunrise mine.

But the Osgood Shovel — originally steam, but now runs on compressed air at the Museum on North Gate Boulevard. Jeff Tapparo, on WMMI’s board of directors, and also at the shovel's controls from time to time, convinced me I should give it a try.

The shovel is one of the museum’s most popular attractions. Shovels like the Osgood have been tasked at building the Panama Canal, unearthing gold in mining districts of the Yukon – and in the case of this particular shovel, digging glory holes in Sunrise.

The C.F. & I. letters can still be seen on its side panels, if you look hard enough.

During the Reynolds Ranch Restoration Day, officials gave us clues about upcoming projects like eventually getting a mine hoist and headframe operating again.

The place takes you back in time. It is worth the visit . . . even if you aren't a rusty old Colorado relic like me (or the 1927 Osgood Shovel), from a Sunrise long past.

Executive Director Rick Sauers explained plans to get a hoist in operation at the museum, at the time.

Colorado things of the past ... Nov. 20

Ruins of city of Stout, winter of the big snow 1898-99, Gold King Mine, Elbert County Fair, Main Street, Dallas, Colo, Wild Bill Hickok, Buffalo Bill, Main Street in Canon City (Fremont County), table by the Dolores River in southwestern Colorado, Sulphur Spring, Manitou, leaving the "City of Sunshine", Rainbow Falls waterfall

Thing of the past ...

Ruins of the old city of Stout, Colorado

Creator: Dunning, Harold M.

Date: 1928

Summary: A man stands on top of the ruins of the quarry town of Stout (also known as Petra), Larimer County, Colorado. The big building is the hotel built by the Union Pacific Railroad.

Hand-written on back of photoprint: "Situated about ten miles northwest of Loveland, Colorado. The big building is that of the old hotel built by the Union Pacific Railroad. The city flourished during the building of Omaha, Nebraska, and many other large cities including Denver. Just as the rock for building and paving for Denver came from the quarries at Lyons, Nolan, Beach Hill and other places so the rock for the building of many inland cities such as Omaha came from Stout, Arkins, and so forth. When cement came into use all these industries died. Hundreds of men, mostly foreigners were thrown out of work. Hand-written title and photographer's stamp on back of photoprint. Western History and Genealogy Dept., Denver Public Library.

Thing of the past ...
During the winter of the big snow 1898-99
Credit: Denver Public Library Special Collections
Date: [1898 or 1899]
The banker and city treasurer, George Engle, and his wife, Gertrude, approach through a snow tunnel on Main Street in Breckenridge, Colorado. He wears a topcoat, sack suit and gold chain, and fedora hat. She is in a puff shouldered bodice and feathered capote hat, with black gloves and dress. The stone storefront of Finding's Hardware is behind them, with its stepped pediment and "Gas fittings" sign. Summit County Historical Society. Hand-written on back of photoprint: George Engle and Gertrude Engle Breckenridge. Main Street tunnel is from Finding Hardware store to Denver Hotel. Title hand-written on back of photoprint.

Thing of the past ...
Gold King Mine, Cripple Creek
History Colorado
Creator(s): Jackson, William Henry, 1843-1942
Men pose with wheelbarrows by the entrance to the Gold King Mine near Cripple Creek (Teller County), Colorado. A separator screen is nearby. The photo was taken in 1892 by William Henry Jackson (1843-1942). The date and identified of several men in the photo have been identified by Leslie Doyle Spell in her 1951 book, "Forgotten Men of Cripple Creek": [first name unknown] De LaVergne lying in the wheelbarrow; Bob Womack second from left, standing; Andy Frazier standing by wheelbarrow; [first name unknown] Pourtales with the long overcoat; and Bill Spell seated on hillside in black suit and hat.
Date:1892

Thing of the past ...
Elbert County Fair
Credit: Denver Public Library Special Collections
Date: 1911
Dust follows galloping horses at This race at the Kiowa, Elbert County, Colorado, county fair. Women watch from the foreground; buggies and cars are among the crowd of spectators further back. Buildings of the town are in the background, against low hills.

Thing of the past ...
Main Street, Dallas, Colo
Creator: Goodman, Charles, 1843-1912
Date 1888
Summary : Dallas, Ouray County, Colorado, is a line of frame businesses. Signs read: "Saloon," "Restaurant," "Drugs," "Groceries," "Meat Market," "Montrose Merc Co's Branch House," and "Dallas [Ho]te[l]." Plows, lumber, and covered wagons edge the boardwalk, where people pose. Men stand on a platform scale in the thorougfare; women and children are on the balcony of the two-story hotel. Title inked on photoprint with: "Mt Sneffles and San Juan Range 14,250 ft. May, 1888." Western History and Genealogy Dept., Denver Public Library.

Thing of the past ...
Wild Bill Hickok, Buffalo Bill, and group
Credit Denver Public Library Special Collections
Date 1874?
Summary Group portrait of frontier celebrities; (L to R) probably Eugene Overton, Wild Bill Hickok, Buffalo Bill Cody, Texas Jack Omohundro, and probably Elisha Green. The men wear fringed buckskins and hats. Buffalo Bill has a hat with ostrich plumes. The men hold rifles. ummary of letters attached to verso reads: "left to right: the man on the left could be: California Joe Milner or Charley Utter or Arapahoe Joe; Wild Bill Hickok, Buffalo Bill Cody; J. B. (Texas Jack) Omohundro, and (possibly) Charlie Utter (Colorado Charlie)."; Title supplied. Library has additional iterations of this item.

Thing of the past ...
Between Second & Third St's.
Credit: Denver Public Library Special Collections
Date: 1870
Covered and freight wagons are parked on Main Street in Canon City (Fremont County), Colorado. Shows wood and brick false front commercial buildings, and one and two story buildings. Signs read: "Boot Maker," "Hardware," "Baldwin House," "C. Makley & Co. Blacksmithing," and "Resta[urant]." Mountains are in the distance. Modern copy print of a half stereograph. Title inked on original and reproduced in photographic print. Typed on verso of photographic print: "Main Street between 2nd and 3rd on the south side. C.W. Mack's boot and shoe store in the first building. A barber shop in the next building. J.C. Agard's Hardware Store in the first two story building. 1870."

Thing of the past ...
Prospecting party
Credit:Denver Public Library Special Collections
Date:1908 March 25
Men eat at a picnic table by the Dolores River in southwestern Colorado; one wears a bowler hat. On verso, "Dinner at Dolores Dam site, Mar. 25, 1908." If you ask me, one of the best places to eat, by a Dam site.

Thing of the past ...
Sulphur Spring, Manitou, Colo.
Credit: Denver Public Library Special Collections
Creator: McClure, Louis Charles, 1867-1957
Date: [1900-1910]
Sulphur Spring pavilion, Manitou Springs, Colorado; group of men, women & children standing underneath pavilion near spring, tin cup attached to chain and pipe; Manitou Mineral Bottling Works Company building behind pavilion; edge of Manitou Bath house, center right.

Thing of the past ...
AdAmAn Club Colorado Springs, Colorado, leaving the "City of Sunshine" bound for the snow banks on the summit of Pikes Peak to hold its annual New Year's meeting a unique fireworks display
Credit: Denver Public Library Special Collections
Creator: Standley, Harry L.
Date: [1925-1940?]
The AdAmAn Club poses in winter clothes including laced boots, fur collared parkas, striped knit hats, and mittens, above Colorado Springs, El Paso County, Colorado. The log house, base camp behind with the sign: "Barr's Camp." Western History and Genealogy Dept., Denver Public Library

Thing of the past ...
Waterfall
Creator Rhoads, Harry Mellon, 1880 or 1881-1975
Date [1918?]
Donor: Morey Engle
Summary A woman stands on a platform to view Rainbow Falls waterfall. Western History and Genealogy Dept., Denver Public Library.

Things of the past ... Nov. 18

• Bingel Brewery in Del Norte

• Ship Rock

• Gold dredge near Craig

• Chief Ignacio 

• [Unidentified Office] Cripple Creek

• Pagosa Hot Springs

• Men at Fort Morgan depot

• Loveland bank

• downtown Grand Junction 

• stage station near Boulder Falls

• Town Jail, Mancos

• The Cosmopolitan

• Central City Teller House Bar

• Ski Broadmoor 

Thing of the past ...
Bingel Brewery, Del Norte, Colo.
Date: [1900]
Men stand in a line in front of the Bingel Brewery in Del Norte, Colorado, in Rio Grande County. Several have bicycles; some of them sit in carriages or wagons. The brewery is a multi-story, barn-shaped building with a cupola. A long tube leads from the main building to a smaller building.
Digital Version Created From
San Luis Valley Resource Center, Adams State College, Alamosa, Colorado 81101, January 7, 1976.
Denver Public Library Special Collections

Thing of the past ...
Navajo men
Credit: Denver Public Library Special Collections
Creator: Pennington, William M.
Date :[1904-1932]
Native American (Navajo) men pose on horseback near Ship Rock in New Mexico.Photocopy of the photograph as the cover for the February 1938 edition of The Desert Magazine accompanies original print. Portion of stamp is crossed out and "Pennington" is written above stamp. Stamped on back of print: "Copyright by Ellen Todd, Inc. Tales in Pictures (Trade Mark) This picture may not be syndicated, rented, loaned, nor utilized for advertising purposes."; Title supplied. Written on back of print: "Ind- Navajo Biog- men- Unidentified", "Pennington", and "Illustration only".

Thing of the past ...
Gold dredge
Creator: McClure, Louis Charles, 1867-1957
Date: [1911-1920]
Two men stand on a gold dredge, probably near Craig, Colorado; slag in foreground.
Original Material Found in Collection
Louis Charles McClure papers
Denver Public Library Special Collections

Thing of the past ...
Chief Ignacio and Family
Date: 1890
Photographer: unknown
Man and two women stand in front of tipi with blanket over door. Dog is sitting on the ground in front, and horse is tied in back. Photo identified on back as "U78 - Chief Ignacio and family. S.U. Res. 1890". Number 78 is written (reversed) on print. Research indicates that Ignacio [1828-1913] was Chief of the Weeminuche tribe of the Southern Utes located in present-day Colorado north of the San Juan River.
Location: Southern Ute Reservation
Ignacio (Ute Chief), 1828-1913
Carl Mathews Collection, Pikes Peak Library District

Thing of the past ...
[Unidentified Office]
Date: 1900
Photographer: unknown
Men sit in unidentified office with pot-bellied stove in center. Calendar on wall reads December 1900. One man sits at large roll-top desk at left. Cashier's cage is at right. Colorado State 1900 Business Directory and Cripple Creek and Victor 1900 City Directory sit on table in the center of the photo and a wrapped package is seen below with label from "A. Mayer & Son Advertising".
Location: Cripple Creek (Colo.)
Pikes Peak Library District, Carl Mathews Collection

Thing of the past ...
Pagosa Hot Springs
Creator(s): Desmond, D. C.
Men, women, and children gather around the edge of a large hot spring pool at Pagosa Springs (Archuleta County), Colorado. Men stand near commercial buildings in the distance. Signs on businesses read: "J. N. Johnson, General Merchandise," and "Pagosa Springs."
Date: [between 1890 and 1895?]
History Colorado

Thing of the past ...
Men at Fort Morgan depot
Date: [1914]
Lieutenant Biglow, Lieutenant Benidict, Mr. L. C. Paddock, Wm. Waddell, and Dr. Woods pose near the Fort Morgan railroad depot. A sign reads: "American Telephone and Telegraph and Associated Companies Long Distance Telephone Bell System Western Union Telegraph & Cable Office".
Digital Version Created From
Courtesy of Lee L. Scott.
Postcard has been printed backwards. Postcard stamp printed on back. Stamped on back of postcard: "Fort Morgan, Colo. July 8 PM 1914". Title supplied. Two cent U. S. stamp on back of postcard. Typed on back of post card: "Showing Lieutenant Biglow Lieutenant Benidict Mr L C Paddock, Boulder Wm Waddell, Aguilar and Dr Woods, Forbes at the Fort Morgan depot leaving for Sterling." and "The Adjutant General State House Denver Colo.

Thing of the past ...
Loveland bank
Title-Alternative
History Colorado, Buckwalter Collection, Book III, no. 34
Creator(s): Buckwalter, Harry H.
A group of men pose on the sidewalk in front of the Bank of Loveland, established in 1882, Loveland (Larimer County), Colorado. One man holds a bicycle.
Date: [between 1900 and 1910?]
History Colorado, Buckwalter Collection

Thing of the past ...
By the time this photo of a busy downtown Grand Junction was taken - sometime between 1919 and 1926 - the city was already the commercial hub of the Western Slope, drawing produce from the surrounding farmland and hundreds of tourists who came to see Colorado National Monument.

Thing of the past ...
W. E. Galverts lunch house & stage station near Boulder Falls, Boulder Canon
Creator: Sturtevant, J. Bevier (Joseph Bevier), 1851-1910.
Date: [1875-1890?]
View of a stage stop by North Boulder Creek, Boulder County, Colorado; shows men, horses, a covered coach, a frame restaurant and stable. A woman is on the porch; a wagon carries a crate.
Title inked on original and reproduced in photoprint; typed paper on back reads: "The Half-Way House, just above Boulder Falls in Boulder Canon, about 10 miles from the town of Boulder. As the caption on the face of the photo indicates, the establishment catered to stage passengers and other wayfarers and had stable facilities for the stage teams, which were often changed at this point. The buildings have long since been razed, and only those who knew the spot would be able to point out where they once stood. The date of the photograph is not known. The photographer, J. B. Sturtevant, of Boulder, was a picturesque character who wore his hair long, and often dressed in fringed buckskins. He claimed to be an intimate of Buffalo Bill, and called himself "Rocky Mountain Joe."
Denver Public Library Special Collections

Thing of the past ...
Town Jail, Mancos, Colo.
Creator: Noel, Thomas J. (Thomas Jacob)
Date: 1991.
Jail located in the Mancos town park on Main Street, Mancos, Colo. The one-and-one-half-story two-cell jail house sits on the east side of Main Street and was constructed in 1895 of two-by-six boards.
Original Material Found in Collection
Tom Noel photograph collection, notebook Montezuma County.
Digital Version Created From Auraria Library

Thing of the past ...
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

Thing of the past ...
In the Central City Teller House Bar, Montie Montana, Frank Johns, John Justin.
Date: 1954 July
Donor: Steve Matthews; gift; July 14, 1999.
Cowboy actor and rodeo star, Montie Montana, Frank Johns, and John Justin Jr., members of the Roundup Riders of the Rockies from right to left, sit on their horses in the interior of the Teller House Bar in Central City (Gilpin County), Colorado. The men are dressed in western clothes and pose with their cowboy hats in the air. Two of the men wear vests. Paintings are on the walls of the bar.
Handwritten on verso of photographic print: "1954 Montie M., Frank Johns, John Justin. Jr., Teller House Bar."; Label on photographic print reads "238."; Title and identification from printed inventory titled: "Roundup Riders of the Rockies, pictorial history," prepared by Steve Matthews.
Denver Public Library Special Collections

Thing of the past ...
Ski Broadmoor was the largest and the longest-operating ski area in Colorado Springs. It was opened as part of the Broadmoor Resort in 1959, with one double chair lift, one tow line, and state-of-the-art snowmaking machines. ... In 1986, The Broadmoor sold the ski area to the city of Colorado Springs. It was built at the bottom of Cheyenne Mountain in 1959 and was one of the first ski areas to have snow-making and to host night skiing. The ski area remained a part of the Broadmoor Hotel until it was sold to the City of Colorado Springs in 1986. Eventually, the city sold it off to Vail resorts after only two years of ownership and in 1991, Ski Broadmoor was shut down for good because the lack of snowfall due to its low elevation. Ski Broadmoor had one double chair lift, a rope tow, and a small lodge at the base. Their longest run was only three quarters of a mile and 80% of the terrain was rated either beginner or intermediate.

Kid Curry had a 'reverse outlaw' problem

Bessie was a lovely child from West Tennessee
Leroy was an outlaw hard and mean
One day she saw him starin' and it chilled her to the bone
And she knew she had to see that look on a child of her own

__ Waylon Jennings, opening stanza, Ladies Love Outlaws

Harvey Logan and Della Moore.

Logan loved ladies, touched babies like banker touches gold

By Rob Carrigan, robcarrigan1@gmail.com

The real 'Kid Curry,' Harvey Logan, was an off-and-on member of the 'Wild Bunch' comprised by Butch Cassidy, Sundance Kid, and other notable outlaws of the early 1900s and it seems, had "reverse outlaw" problem. Though the 'soiled doves' probably cared for him — but loved his loot more, Logan, as an outlaw, loved the ladies.

Reports said he would often return from a train or bank robbery, get drunk and lay up with prostitutes until his share of the take was gone.  

Logan, contrary to the reputation of most of the rest of the 'Wild Bunch,' was also a wicked bar-room brawler and a cold-blooded killer, reportedly killing as many as nine law enforcement officers, and several others.

Until at least 1883, Harvey made his living breaking horses on the Cross L ranch, near Rising Star, Texas. While there, he met and befriended a man named "Flat Nose" George Curry, from whom he took his new last name. His brothers soon adopted the same last name. The Logan brothers were known as hard workers until they got paid. Money did not stay in their pockets for long. All the brothers were also known to have a taste for alcohol and a weakness for cavorting with wild women.

The events that changed the course of his life began when his brother Hank and friend Jim Thornhill bought a ranch at Rock Creek, Montana. The ranch was near the site of a mine strike made by local miner and lawman Powell "Pike" Landusky. Landusky, according to some reports of the day, confronted Curry and attacked him, believing Curry was involved romantically with his daughter Elfie. Landusky then filed assault charges against Kid Curry, who was reportedly arrested and beaten.
Two friends of Curry's, A.S. Lohman and Frank Plunkett, paid a $500 bond for Curry's release. Landusky's daughter Elfie later claimed it was Curry's brother, Lonny, with whom she had been involved. However, the confession came much too late. On December 27, 1894, Curry caught Landusky at a local saloon and hit Landusky, stunning him. Curry, evidently believing the fight was over, began walking away. Landusky pulled his pistol and began threatening Curry, who was unarmed. Curry's friend and his brother's partner, Jim Thornhill, gave Curry his pistol. Landusky's gun jammed and Curry shot him dead.
Curry was arrested, but was released at an inquest when it was judged that he acted in self-defense. However, a formal trial was set. Curry believed he would not get a fair trial because the judge was close friends with Landusky. For this reason, Curry left town.

Curry started riding with outlaw Tom "Black Jack" Ketchum. Pinkerton detectives began trailing Curry shortly after his departure from Montana. In January 1896, Curry received word that an old friend of Landusky's, rancher James Winters, had been spying on him for the reward offered in his arrest. Curry and two of his brothers, Johnny and Lonny, went to Winters' ranch to confront him. However, a shootout erupted. Johnny was killed, while Curry and Lonny escaped. Shortly after, Curry and Lonny argued with Black Jack Ketchum over the take in a train robbery. The two brothers left the gang and joined the circus, according to W.C. Jameson,  (2019), in "Rocky Mountain Train Robberies: True Stories of Notorious Bandits and Infamous Escapades." 

The Wild Bunch, From left to right: Harry A. Longabaugh, a.k.a. "The Sundance Kid," William Carver, Ben Kilpatrick, a.k.a. "The Tall Texan," Harvey Logan, a.k.a. "Kid Curry" and Robert Leroy Parker, a.k.a. "Butch Cassidy." The photo was taken Nov. 21, 1900, at John Swartz's studio in Fort Worth, Texas.

The brothers then received employment on a cattle ranch, arranged by their cousin, Bob Lee, near Sand Gulch, Colorado. Pinkerton agents trailing Curry gave up his trail briefly. Curry, Lonny, Walt Putnam and George Curry formed their own gang around this time. Curry temporarily left Colorado, intending to scout good targets for potential robberies. On April 15, 1897, Curry was reportedly involved in the killing of Deputy Sheriff William Deane of Powder River, Wyoming, as he and his gang gathered fresh horses on a ranch in the Powder River Basin. After this, he returned to Colorado to the ranch where he was working.

By June 1897, the cowboy job had ended, and Curry ventured north with the rest of the gang. They robbed a bank in Belle Fourche, South Dakota, and met resistance outside the bank from the townspeople. One of their friends, Tom O'Day, was captured when his horse spooked and ran away without him. The others escaped, but while planning a second robbery a posse from the town caught up with them in Fergus County, Montana. During a shootout, Curry was shot through the wrist, and his horse was shot from under him, resulting in his capture. George Curry and Walt Putnam were also captured. All three were held in the Deadwood, South Dakota jail, but only briefly; they overpowered the jailer and escaped. They headed back into Montana and robbed two post offices.

Kid Curry (Logan) also had a reputation of loving and leaving. As mentioned, reports said he would often return from a train or bank robbery, get drunk and lay up with prostitutes until his share of the take was gone. Numerous prostitutes would name him as the father of various "love childs" that sometimes were referred to as "Curry Kids." Some sources credit Kid Curry with as many as eighty-five children, though the real number was probably closer to five or six.

To complicate things on the Kid Curry front, in addition to the Wild Bunch, the Kid, Harvey Logan, also rode with Sam Ketchum, who was the brother of Tom "Black Jack" Ketchum and Ezra Lay.
Also muddying the water, was the fact that Curry (Logan) liked to hide out in San Antonio, Texas.
While there he met prostitute Della Moore (also known as Annie Rogers or Maude Williams), with whom he became romantically involved. At the time of their meeting, she was working in Madame Fannie Porter's brothel, which of course, was a regular hideout for the Wild Bunch gang. In October 1901, Della Moore was arrested in Tennessee for passing money tied to an earlier robbery involving Curry. The gunman is credited shortly afterwards with killing two policemen in Knoxville in a shootout and escape on Dec. 13, 1901.

On February 28, 1900, lawmen had attempted to arrest Lonny Curry at his aunt's home. Lonny was killed in the shootout that followed, and his cousin Bob Lee was arrested for rustling and sent to prison in Wyoming. Kid Curry was now the last surviving Logan brother. Meanwhile, Curry was identified in St. Johns, Arizona, as he was passing notes suspected of being from the Wilcox robbery. Local Apache County Sheriff Edward Beeler gathered a posse and began tracking Curry, who was accompanied by Bill "News" Carver. The posse shot it out with Curry and Carver on March 28. Curry and Carver killed Deputy Andrew Gibbons and Deputy Frank LeSueur. On May 26, Kid Curry rode into Utah and killed Grand County Sheriff Jesse Tyler and Deputy Sam Jenkins in a brazen shootout in Moab, according to the Officer Down Memorial Page. Both killings were in retaliation for Tyler and Jenkins having killed George Curry and his brother Lonny.

Curry then returned to the Wild Bunch. On August 29, 1900, they robbed Union Pacific train No. 3 near Tipton, Wyoming,from which newspaper stories claimed the gang got more than $55,000. The gang again split up, with Kid Curry and Ben Kilpatrick heading south to Fort Worth, Texas, while Cassidy, the Sundance Kid, and Bill Carver immediately pulled off another robbery in Winnemucca, Nevada.
Siringo, still working the case for the Pinkertons, was in Circleville, Utah, where Butch Cassidy had been raised. Curry rejoined the gang, and they hit a Great Northern train near Wagner, Montana, on July 3. This time, they took over $60,000 in cash. Gang member Bill Carver was killed in Sonora, Texas, by Sutton County, Sheriff Elijah Briant during the pursuit following that robbery.
Again the gang split up. In October 1901, Della Moore was arrested in Nashville, Tennessee, for passing money tied to an earlier robbery involving Curry. On November 5 and 6, gang members Ben Kilpatrick and Laura Bullion were captured in St. Louis, Missouri.  On December 13, Kid Curry shot Knoxville, Tennessee, policemen William Dinwiddleand Robert Saylor in a shootout and escaped, according Officer Down Memorial Page. Despite being pursued by Pinkerton agents and other law enforcement officials, Curry returned to Montana, where he shot and killed rancher James Winters, who was responsible for the killing of his brother Johnny years before.

Curry later traveled back to Knoxville. In a pool hall on November 30, 1902, Curry was captured after a lengthy physical fight with lawmen. He was convicted of robbery because facts in the murder of the two policemen were not definite and no witnesses would testify, and he received a sentence of 20 years of hard labor and a $5,000 fine. On June 27, 1903, Curry escaped. Rumors that a deputy had received an $8,000 bribe to allow his escape spread, but this was never proven.
On June 7, 1904, Kid Curry was tracked down by a posse outside of what is now Parachute, Colorado. Curry and two others had robbed a train and they stole fresh horses owned by Rolla Gardner and a neighbor. Gardner and the neighbor set out after them and joined up with a posse and continued tracking, caught up the outlaws, who then shot Gardner's and his neighbor's horses from under them. Gardner found cover while his neighbor started running. Kid Curry took aim at the neighbor and Gardner shot Curry. The wounded Curry then fatally shot himself in the head to avoid capture. 

Rulon Gardner, Olympic Gold- and Bronze-medal winner and celebrity.

Incidentally, Rolla Gardener's descendent, Rulon Gardner (Olympic Gold- and Bronze-medal winner and celebrity) was stand-out Wyoming high-school wrestler, reality TV star, pro wrestler and coach, who spent years in Colorado Springs at the Olympic Training Center.

The rifle Gardner used is still in the family today. Rumors persist that Curry was not killed in Parachute and was misidentified, having actually departed for South America with Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. Charlie Siringo resigned from the Pinkertons, believing they got the wrong man.
Curry is buried in Pioneer (Linwood) Cemetery overlooking Glenwood Springs, Colorado, a short distance from gunfighter Doc Holliday's memorial.

Harvey Logan in death photos.

Colorado things of the past ... Across the state

Stratton's Independence, Governor "Billy" Adams poses on a Harley,

Main street of Creede, Duffy's Bar, Denver, The North American Air Defense Command (NORAD).

Thing of the past ...

W.S. Stratton's Independence
Date: ca. 1902
Photographer: unknown
Man wearing striped shirt, work pants with suspenders and cap leaning against steam-powered hoist equipment inside the Independence Mine. Title and "642" written on bottom of print.
Location: Victor (Colo.)
Carl Mathews Collection, Pikes Peak Library District

Thing of the past ... 

Governor "Billy" Adams poses on a Harley Davidson motorcycle in front of the state Capitol. When he was 17, Adams moved to Alamosa, Colorado. As a Democrat, He was later elected to City Treasurer, then Mayor of Alamosa, and later as Conejos County commissioner. In 1886, he was elected to the Colorado General Assembly as a member of the Colorado House of Representatives. In 1888, he was elected to the Colorado Senate where he served until 1926, when he was elected as Governor of Colorado. He served from January 11, 1927 – January 10, 1933. In 1921, during his term as Colorado Senate Senator, Adams received approval on a bill that formed Alamosa State Normal School in Alamosa, Colorado. The college’s name was later changed to Adams State Teachers College in honor of its founder and finally to its present name Adams State University. Adams died on February 4, 1954, in Alamosa, Colorado, at the age of ninety-two, where he is buried.

Thing of the past ...

Production. Lead. Main street of Creede, Colorado. Creede, for many years a "ghost town," has resumed the activities that made it an important lead-producing center years ago, and is now producing much metal vitally needed for the war effort
Contributor Names
Feininger, Andreas, 1906-1999, photographer
United States. Office of War Information.
Created / Published
1942 Dec.
Farm Security Administration/Office of War Information Black-And-White Negatives

Thing of the past ...

Duffy's Bar, Denver
Credit: Denver Public Library Special Collections
Creator: Whitacre, Roger
Date:[1980-1990?]
Donor: Roger Whitacre
A Renaissance Revival style building at 1635 Court Place (built 1910) in downtown Denver, Colorado; features include ornamental brick and a cornice, corbels, blind oculus ornamentation and brackets. Neon sign reads: "Duffy's Restaurant Bar." A truck and station wagon are parked. The St. Patrick’s tradition was reportedly revived in 1962, when Denver Post columnist Red Fenwick and his “Evil Companions Club” staged a march.
“Witnesses claim it was a short march: the paraders walked out of Duffy’s Shamrock Restaurant, went around the block, and back to the bar,” according to the Post.
By 1974, the revived Denver March 17 celebration was claiming it was the second largest parade in the U.S.

Thing of the past ...

The North American Air Defense Command (NORAD) was established and activated at the Ent Air Force Base on September 12, 1957. This command is a bi-national organization, of Canadian and United States Air Defense Command units, in accordance with NORAD Agreements first made on May 12, 1958. In the late 1950s, a plan was developed to construct a command and control center in a hardened facility as a Cold War defensive strategy against long-range Soviet bombers,ballistic missiles, and a nuclear attack.
In 1957, the Strategic Air Command began construction in New England inside Bare Mountain for a hardened bunker to contain the command post for the 8th Air Force, which was located at nearby Westover Air Force Base, Chicopee, Massachusetts. This underground facility was nicknamed "The Notch" (or formally as the 8th AF "Post-Attack Command and Control System Facility, Hadley") and was hardened to protect it from the effects of a nearby nuclear blast and designed so that the senior military staff could facilitate further military operations. Four years later, construction at Cheyenne Mountain was started to create a similar protection for the NORAD command post. Cheyenne Mountain was excavated under the supervision of the Army Corps of Engineers for the construction of the NORAD Combat Operations Center beginning on May 18, 1961, by Utah Construction & Mining Company.
The Space Defense Center and the Combat Operations Center achieved full operational capability on February 6, 1967. The total cost was $142.4 million. Its systems included a command and control system developed by Burroughs Corporation. The electronics and communications system centralized and automated the instantaneous (one-millionth of a second) evaluation of aerospace surveillance data.[The Space Defense Center moved from Ent AFB to the complex in 1965.The NORAD Combat Operations Center was fully operational April 20, 1966. The Space Defense Command's 1st Aerospace Control Squadron moved to Cheyenne Mountain then. The following systems or commands became operational between May and October, 1966: The NORAD Attack Warning System, Combat Operations Command,and Delta I computer system, which recorded and monitored every detected space system.

Colorado Things of the Past ... Dolores, Mancos

Thing of the past ...
Mancos Jim
Date [1890-1900?]
Head and shoulders portrait of Native American (Paiute) man, Mancos Jim. He wears his hair in braids, a cotton print shirt, and a jacket with a safety pin in the lapel. Title and "was a bad Paiute Indian. Killed many a cowboy and prospector in the early settlement of the country." hand-written on front of mat board. Vintage photographic print. Western History and Genealogy Dept., Denver Public Library.

Thing of the past ...
Stagecoaches at Dolores
Creator Jackson, William Henry, 1843-1942
Date :1892
Men sit or stand on, in and near stagecoaches on the main street in Dolores (Montezuma County), Colorado. A miner on horseback packs a rifle, gold pan and shovel. Men stand in front of false front buildings with ornate cornices, and a sign that reads: "J.J. Harris & Co." Western History and Genealogy Dept., Denver Public Library.

Thing of the past ...
Dolores, Colorado
Creator Mollette, Rex.
Date [1920-1930]
A girl holding a doll walks along a muddy street in Dolores, Colorado, in Montezuma County. Patches of snow melt on the street, on the sidewalks, and on top of the one-story commercial storefronts along the street. Western History and Genealogy Dept., Denver Public Library.

Thing of the past ...
Christmas party for the kids at Pleasant's House. Bob and Judy Harp, Wayne Carrigan, and a bunch of rug rats, but no rug. My heroes have always been cowboys, Rob Carrigan, (they still are it seems,) Dan Pleasant, Elaine Carrigan (Andersen,) with my Dad is trying to fix something that is not quite working), Tim Pleasant, Andy Pleasant, Robbie Harp on Judy's lap. Not sure who the fellow in background with glasses is, but he's presenting some good arguments. Might be Tommie Thompson?

Thing of the past ...
Ritter Ranch, Main House, Old Dolores Highway, Dolores, Montezuma County, CO
Contributor Names;

Historic American Buildings Survey, creator
Ritter, Frank
Ritter, William & Edith
May, William
Lowe, Jet, photographer
White, John P, historian
Dishman, Linda, historian
Gerhold, Maureen L, historian
Mausolf, Lisa B, historian
Wiesenthal, Steven M, delineator
Insinga, David J, delineator
Brown, Dabra J, delineator
Created / Published
Documentation compiled after 1933
- Significance: The Ritter Ranch is historically significant as the most technologically progressive ranch within the Lower Dolores Valley. The extensive outbuildings and their mechanical devices, including manure tracks for the barn and chicken house, prompted local residents to call this operation a "model farm." The Ritters owned the ranch from 1908 until 1947, raising registered Hereford cattle, Suffolk and Hampshire sheep, and up to 250 chickens.
- Unprocessed Field note material exists for this structure: FN-13
- Survey number: HABS CO-38
- Building/structure dates: after 1930 Initial Construction
Source Collection: Historic American Buildings Survey (Library of Congress)
Repository:Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA