No matter what you call it, mining made a difference

Hikers pose on the rock formation known as Dutch Parliament, or Dutch Wedding Rocks, in Monument Park located near Modern Woodmen of America Sanatorium. About 1912. Monument Park was located in the present day neighborhoods of Rockrimmon and Woodmen Valley in Colorado Springs. Written on the back of the postcard "I'm in this also did not have time to finish these good. Take a piece of soft wool and some wood alcohol and those marks on the picture will rub off. Notice between those two rocks you can see a white Mt. it's Pikes Peak." Pikes Peak Library District.

Monument Park, Cemetery of the Giants, or Palmer's Bijou, Woodman Valley ...

By Rob Carrigan robcarrigan1@gmail.com

Marshall McLuhan said, “The naming of a man is a numbing blow from which he never recovers.” An interesting idea and perhaps it holds true for places as well – but only if the name sticks. Only if there are not a half-a-dozen other places with the same name, and, 100 years later, the place is
still recognized by that name.

Consider the example of the area on the north end of Colorado Springs that was originally known to residents and tourists as Monument Park or Cemetery of the Giants, or Palmer’s Bijou (little gem) or just plain “Cemetery.”

Today the area is commonly referred to as the Woodman Valley and its history is very much tied to the history of its neighbor to the north, which continues to go by the name of Monument. Early settler families like the Teachouts and the Harlows and the story of the harrowing
ride of “Wild Bill” share common thread.

“The Pikes Peak Fuel Division, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Golden Cycle Corp., produced and sold lignite coal at its Pikeview Mine, located just north of Colorado Springs, for many years,” wrote Max W. Bowen in a profile about the Golden Cycle Corp. in the December, 1960 edition of The Mines Magazine.

“During the World War II period, the power plant Pikeview, having capacity in excess of 8,000 kilowatts, served in a standby capacity to the city of Colorado Springs, thereby insuring the city of sufficient power capacity to serve the numerous armed services establishments in the region.”

“The Fuel Division also operated a sand, crushed rock and gravel business, supplying most of the concrete aggregate used in the region for the past several years.

Prior to abandoning the railroad (Midland) in 1949, crushed rock aggregate was produced in the Cripple Creek District and shipped to Colorado Springs by rail,” Bowen wrote in 1960.

The development of the Woodman Valley area is also very much tied to Golden Cycle Corp. presence as well.

The Golden Cycle Corp. secured clear title to Monument Park Land
Company in 1913.

“From 1913 this corporation, or its subsidiary Pikes Peak Fuel, held most of the land from Pikeview into Woodman Valley. From the shaft at Pikeview, tunnels ran north and west through most of the area south of Woodman Road. Although there was also coal north of Woodman Road, the surface rock made the area generally unsuitable for mining,” according John Kitch, Jr. and Betsy Kitch in their 1970 book Woodman Valley.

The Woodman Valley was home to the Modern Woodman of America Sanatorium and had been serving tuberculosis patients for years. By 1959, the two smaller valleys north of Woodman Valley were being called Hidden Valley and Red Spring Valley.

“Both were slowly being settled by new residents who had purchased homesites from the Golden Cycle Corporation,” wrote Kitchs.

The sanatorium closed to patients in 1947, and by 1950, wealthy Cripple Creek playwrite, financier and philanthropist Blevins Davis had purchased it. The Davis fortune was originally linked to James Hill railroad money. Davis was connected closely with the Truman administration.

 A rumor circulated at this time that the property was to be used for a Summer White House, allowing the entire presidential staff to escape the heat of Washington,” the Kitchs write. 

The Sisters of Saint Francis Seraph were eventually the benefactors of that land, more than $2.3 million dollars, and a Broadmoor mansion. 

Renamed St. Joseph’s Convent, Mount St. Francis, the property was dedicated as the order’s Mother House of the Western Province in 1954. It continues to serve in that capacity.
 

Polly Pry stories helped free "Colorado Cannibal"

 

Mrs. Leonel Ross (Campbell Anthony) O'Bryan, aka "Nell" and "Polly Pry"

 

By Rob Carrigan, robcarrigan1@gmail.com

 

If you were to tell the story of one of Colorado's best and boldest story tellers, I guess, it makes sense to start by talking about one of her most famous stories.

"Polly Pry's most famous story was about the 'Colorado Cannibal,' Alferd Packer," according to Special Collections And Digital Archives, Denver Public Library.

Legendary Colorado Cannibal Alfred or 'Alferd' Packer, (as guide) and Israel Swan, Shannon Wilson Bell, George Noon, James Humphrey, and Frank Miller risked the brutal Colorado winter of 1873-74 in search of mineral wealth in the snowy San Juans in southwest Colorado. After leaving Ouray's camp, nearby present-day Montrose, the group was buried by blizzard near the present site of Lake City, Colorado.

Packer was next seen on April 16, 1874, straggling into the Los Pinos Indian Agency with little more than a rifle and a skinning knife belonging to members of his party. The story Packer told at that time was that, once the storm hit, he had set up camp while the others went forward in search of food. They never returned, and Packer subsequently headed out for Los Pinos. 

After recovering, Packer left for Saguache, Colorado, where by some accounts he suddenly became a 'big spender' at the local saloon. Unfortunately for Packer, in Saguache he encountered several men from the original Provo group who were dubious about his version of the story.
Indian Agent Charles Adams took Packer back to Los Pinos for questioning about the matter, and on May 8, 1874, extracted the first of Packard's two conflicting confessions. 

According to Packer, Israel Swan had died and the others, being without food, had eaten him. Subsequently, three others had died from exposure and starvation. Then, Packer admitted to killing Shannon Bell, claiming it was in self-defense.

 Packer was transported back to Saguache and jailed outside of town, not in the town's jail house as some have told. In August, Packer escaped from custody and wasn't seen again until March, 1883, when Frenchy Cabazon, one of the original prospecting party, found him quite by accident in Douglas, Wyoming. By coincidence, on the day of Packer's escape from Saguache, the ghostly remains of the missing prospectors were found in a valley overlooking what is now Lake City, Colorado. There was evidence of a struggle and foul play.

In March, 1883, Packer was taken to Denver, Colorado, and questioned again about the incident. In his second confession, Packer stuck with his original claim of self-defense, but admitted to stealing the rifle and $70 in cash from the dead men. Packer was charged with the murder of Israel Swan, the first to die, and was taken to Lake City for trial. The jury wasted no time in finding Packer guilty of murder, and Judge Melville B. Gerry suggested he hang. 

Packer appealed his conviction to the Colorado Supreme Court where the verdict was reversed. He was tried again and this time found guilty of manslaughter and sentenced to 40 years in the state penitentiary. After serving only 17 years of his sentence, Packer's cause was championed by a grass-roots campaign in Denver. In 1901, Governor Charles S. Thomas granted Packer's parole request.

Polly Pry helps free "Colorado Cannibal"

"Adventurous newspaper writer, gossip columnist, and social activist who became one of the first women to run her own newspaper, Leonel Ross Campbell was born in 1857 to a wealthy Mississippi family. She went by her nickname, Nell, in everyday life," says Special Collections And Digital Archives, Denver Public Library.

"Many authors and journalists at the time used a pen name instead of their real name. Nell's fellow writers at the New York World nicknamed her Polly Pry because she could pry information from unlikely sources. She decided to use Polly Pry as her pen name, and kept it for the rest of her life."

After beginning her career with New York World, Nell's mother and father moved to Denver in the late 1890s. Nell's father had tuberculosis, and Denver had some of the best hospitals in the country to treat the disease. In 1898, Nell took a train from New York to Denver to visit them. On the train, she happened to meet, and strike up a conversation with one of the owners and publishers of the Denver Post, and soon she was working for the paper.

 For her most famous Colorado story:

"Nell originally met Packer in the Cañon City prison while researching a story about Colorado's prison system. Although Packer had avoided talking to reporters for years, Nell convinced him to give her an interview. 

This interview led to a series of meetings between Nell and Packer, in which he shared his side of the story. He told her that his companions had died in the mountains, and that he had eaten them to keep from starving to death. But, he said, he had never murdered anyone. 

Nell became convinced that Packer was innocent of murder. She argued that since sailors were legally allowed to eat people if they were lost at sea, the same rules should apply to people stranded in the mountains.

Nell told her idea to Frederick Bonfils and H.H. Tammen, the owners of The Denver Post. They agreed to hire a lawyer to help clear Packer's name - partly because Polly Pry's stories about Packer had gotten many new people to start reading the Post! They knew a court case would help sell even more newspapers. 

Nell was successful. Alferd Packer was released, but was told he could not leave the state of Colorado ever again. He moved near Littleton, Colorado, and lived the rest of his life as a vegetarian. 

After Alferd Packer's pardon, Nell found herself making headlines instead of writing them. Nell and her bosses discovered that the attorney hired by The Denver Post took payment from Alferd Packer as well as from The Post. 

Frederick Bonfils and H.H. Tammen called the lawyer into their offices at The Denver Post. Nell and her bosses confronted him about taking double payment, and demanded he return Packer's money.

 Frederick Bonfils

During the confrontation, the attorney, W. W. Anderson, pulled a gun and shot both of the men; as he prepared to shoot again, she jumped in front of Harry Heye Tammen, trying to shield him. Anderson threatened to shoot her if she didn't move. However, she stalled him long enough for the police to arrive and used her skirt to stop the bleeding. Later, rumors began circulating that her skirts saved her publishers' lives by slowing down bullets from the gun.

H.H. Tammen
 

"The gunman told her to move or she would be shot as well. Nell dared him to do so. She was the most popular writer in Colorado, and she told him he would get the death penalty if he hurt her."

 Anderson's portrait from the Colorado Bar Association

Nell stalled the attacker long enough for the police to arrive, and managed to stop the bleeding of her bosses by using her dress. 

"Rumors circulated about Nell catching bullets in her hoop skirts and tearing the gun out of the would-be murderer's hands. While untrue, these stories made Nell a bigger legend than ever."

In a story celebrating 125 years of The Denver Post stories, by Dick Kreck The Denver Post, October 15, 2017, tells about one of the paper's most famous and boldest characters, Polly Pry, by name.

"Her real name was Leonel Ross O’Bryan, born into a wealthy family in Mississippi and known to all as “Nell.” When she was 15, she eloped with George Anthony, the wealthy president of the Mexican Central Railroad, but it didn’t last. She grew bored being the wife of a much-older rail magnate and, two years later, left her husband and went to New York City for a more exciting life," wrote Kreck about Polly Pry.

"While there, she prevailed on the editor of The New York World, a friend of her father’s, for a job. He rejected her but offered an assignment covering a slum fire. She did such a good job that he hired her full-time."

It was while at the World that she got the name for which she would become well-known after fellow reporters called her “Polly Pry” because she could, it was said, pry information out of anyone.

"Her mother and father moved to Denver in 1898, and she came for a visit. The story goes that on the train ride out she sat next to Frederick Bonfils, co-owner of The Denver Post. He took her to dinner in the dining car, and by the time the train reached Denver, he had hired her, making Polly the paper’s first female reporter," writes Kreck.

Her enduring fame in Denver history comes from an incident that exploded in the shared offices of her bosses, Bonfils and Harry Tammen.

"In 1901, Polly helped win the release of Alfred Packer, serving a life sentence in prison for cannibalizing some of his fellow hikers during a winter expedition in the Rockies. The Post hired a local attorney, W.W. “Plug Hat” Anderson, to help effect his release. When Tammen and Bonfils found out that Anderson was taking money from them and from Packer for the job, they were furious. A showdown in the partners’ office led to Anderson firing his gun at both men, wounding Bonfils seriously and winging Tammen. It could have been worse had Polly not jumped between the combatants, protected her bosses with her body and wrestled the gun away from Anderson," wrote Kreck.

After she left The Post, Polly founded her own newspaper, Polly Pry, and became a strong advocate for woman’s suffrage. When her paper folded, she moved back to New York City, says Kreck.

But according to information Special Collections And Digital Archives, Denver Public Library:

"Nell missed Denver, and was happy to come back when the Denver Times offered her a position as a reporter. Although she was now well past middle age, she accepted a job to go to Mexico and interview Pancho Villa, who had overthrown the Mexican government."

"Villa refused to talk to American reporters, and threatened to have Nell killed when she asked for an interview. Nell responded to his threats by telling jokes until Pancho Villa changed his mind," library information said.

After this, Polly Pry returned to journalism full-time, and covered World War I in Europe even though she was well into her sixties. 

Nell stayed active throughout her life, and only slowed down once she started having heart problems at age eighty-one. Her last words were as she was trying to leave her hospital bed against the nurses' wishes - "I must be up, and..." She passed away before she could finish her sentence. 

"Polly Pry was not only a beloved Colorado celebrity, she paved the way for women writers throughout the country. Although she sometimes faced prejudice because she was a woman, her strong personality and excellent writing won people over. Investigative reporters around the world were inspired by her writing and dedication to getting stories no one else could," says Special Collections And Digital Archives, Denver Public Library.

Mrs. Leonel Ross (Campbell Anthony) O'Bryan, aka "Nell" and "Polly Pry"
 

 

Castle Rock, Palmer Lake, Greeley, Estes Park and more ....

 

Thing of the past ...

Castle Rock on the D. & R.G.R.R.

Creator: McClure, Louis Charles, 1867-1957

Date: [1902-1908]

Denver & Rio Grande Railroad engine 4-6-0 number 1006 with passenger train heading south from station at Castle Rock, Colorado; Engine Class T-31, made by Baldwin in 1902, renumbered in 1908 to engine number 756, dismantled in March, 1926; "Castle Rock" sign on stone railroad station, wagon cart loaded with metal cannisters, man loading or unloading bicycle from railroad car; rock formation Castle Rock, background; wooden frame residences & buildings across standard gauge track with siding.

Format of Original Material: 1 copy photonegative ; 9 x 11 cm (3 1/4 x 4 in.); 1 photonegative : glass ; 21 x 26 cm (8 x 10 in.)

Original Material Found in Collection: WH2300. Louis Charles McClure papers.

Notes: Glass plate retouched by photographer. Title and signature hand-lettered on glass plate.

Denver Public Library Special Collections.

Thing of the past ...

Military duty in the railroad yard at Fort Logan, Colorado

Creator: Beam, George L. (George Lytle), 1868-1935

Railroad workers and soldiers in uniform pose near Denver and Rio Grande Western railroad passenger cars at the railroad yard at Fort Logan in Denver County, Colorado.

Format of Original Material: 1 photographic print ; 13 x 18 cm (5 x 7 in.)

Digital Version Created From Collection of Jackson Thode.

Type of Material: Photographic prints

Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad Company; Fort Logan (Colo.); Railroad employees; Soldiers.

Denver Public Library Special Collections.

 

Thing of the past ...

Paradox Valley near Bedrock

Creator: Wolle, Muriel Sibell, 1898-1977

Date: 1940-1950

Donor: Muriel Sibell Wolle estate, 1977

Either Paradox Creek or the Dolores River as it runs through the Paradox Valley near Bedrock, in Montrose County, Colorado.

Format of Original Material: 1 photonegative : black-and-white ; 7 x 12 cm (2 3/4 x 4 1/2 in.); 1 photoprint : black-and-white ; 6 x 11 cm (2 1/4 x 4 1/4 in.)

Original Material Found in Collection: WH906. Muriel Sibell Wolle papers

Type of Material: Film negatives; Black & white photographs; Photographic prints

Subject: Montrose County (Colo.); Paradox Valley (Colo.); Valleys--Colorado--Montrose County

 

Thing of the past ...

Palmer Lake, Colorado view of lake, D & RGW main tracks, depot, water tank, railroad cars, looking southwest.

Creator: Beam, George L. (George Lytle), 1868-1935

Date: [1912-1925?]

Palmer Lake (also known as Palmer and Weissport), Colorado in El Paso County; shows tracks, depot and boxcars of Denver & Rio Grande Railroad. Sign reads: "Palmer Lake."

Format of Original Material: 1 photonegative : nitrate ; 20 x 25 cm (8 x 10 in.)

Original Material Found in Collection: James Ozment collection of George Beam photographs

Type of Material: Black & white photographs

Denver Public Library Special Collections.

Notes: Scanned image from loaned collection. Title supplied.

 

Thing of the past ...

Noland, Colo band

Date: 1892

A band poses in bowler hats with cornets, French horns, snare and bass drums in Noland, Boulder County, Colorado. They are identified as: (front row l to r) C. K. Hirschfeld, Charles Cheney, John Cheney; (back row l to r): Fred Aldinger, Charles Cox, Gus Samuelson, (?), Charles Anderson, Otto Auftehar, (?).

Format of Original Material 1 copy photonegative ; 10 x 13 cm (4 x 5 in.); 1 photoprint ; 12 x 20 cm (4 1/2 x 8 in.)

Type of Material Film negatives; Group portraits; Photographic prints.

Notes: Stamped on back of photoprint: "The Musicians' Society of Denver Centennial Project 1958-1959."; Title inked on back of photoprint, with: "a stone quarry town about 2 mi northeast of Lyons, Colo.," and identification.

Denver Public Library Special Collections.

 

Thing of the past ...

Marking of Ute Pass Trail

Creator: Poley, H. S. (Horace Swartley)

Date: August 29, 1912

Native American (Ute) men sit in a convertible automobile as part of the marking ceremony for the Ute Pass Trail, El Paso County, Colorado. Some wear feather headdresses. One wears a fringed shirt. A house stands in the distance.

Format of Original Material: 1 photonegative : glass ; 8 x 11 cm (3 1/2 x 4 1/2 in.); 1 photoprint : black-and-white ; 8 x 9 cm (3 x 3 1/2 in.)

Original Material Found in Collection: C Photo Collection 37. H. S. Poley collection.

Type of Material: Glass negatives; Photographic prints; Black & white photographs

Notes: Condition: emulsion chipping on edge of glass negative. Title written on back of print. Vintage photographic print.

Denver Public Library Special Collections.

 

Thing of the past ...

Wiggins

Date: [1925-1935]

Main Street, in Wiggins, Morgan County, Colorado, has a columned town hall and signs: "Vance Hotel," "Cafe, Meals," "Kennish Cash Store," "Rooms," "Lunch," "Billiards," "Conoco," "Cremo," "Cash for cream," and "Produce, Ice." The town was first called Vallery, then Corona.

Format of Original Material: 1 copy photonegative ; 10 x 13 cm (4 x 5 in.); 1 photoprint ; 13 x 18 cm (5 x 7 in.)

Digital Version Created From William E. Basham, through Donald L. Smith 12/11/75.

Type of Material: Film negatives; Photographic prints; Black & white photographs.

Denver Public Library Special Collections.

 

 

Thing of the past ...

Rio Grande Southern Hotel, Dolores, Colo.

Creator: Noel, Thomas J. (Thomas Jacob)

Date: 2011.

The Rio Grande Southern Hotel located at 101 South 5th Street, Dolores, Colo. Built in 1893 by E. L. Wilbur, the three-story, frame hotel was enlarged in 1902 and stuccoed in 1913 to comply with a local fire ordinance. Under the peak of the wood shingle roof, the third-story retains the original, decorative barge board. The hotel is listed on the National Register.

Format of Original Material: 1 slide : color

Original Material Found in Collection: Tom Noel photograph collection, notebook Montezuma County.

Digital Version Created From Source: Loan, Tom Noel, 2014.

Notes: Title and content derived from inventory prepared by Nicholas Wharton.; Scanned image from loaned collection.; Digitization sponsored by the Kenneth King Foundation.

Item Owned By: Auraria Library

 

 

Thing of the past ...

Part of the Irish potatoes being grown on the center farm

Creator:McClelland, Joe.

Date: 1943 June 4

Several Japanese internees squat or bend to inspect a row of Irish potato plants in a field on the project farm, Granada Relocation Center, Camp Amache, Prowers County, southeastern Colorado. A row of deciduous trees forms a windbreak at the side and end of the field.

Format of Original Material: 1 copy photonegative ; 10 x 13 cm (4 x 5 in.); 1 photoprint : black-and-white ; 21 x 26 cm (8 x 10 in.)

Digital Version Created From War Relocation Authority.

Type of Material: Film negatives; Photographic prints; Black & white photographs.

Notes: Title and photographer printed on back of photoprint; additional information: "War Relocation Authority, Midland Savings Bldg., No: E-596, Date 6/4/43; Photo Location: Granada Relocation Center, Amache, Colorado."

 

Thing of the past ...

Don Luis Maria Baca Ranch, San Luis Valley

Creator: McClure, Louis Charles, 1867-1957

Date: [1900-1920?]

Don Luis Maria Baca Ranch house, Baca Land Grant Number Four (4), San Luis Valley, Saguache County, Colorado, an adobe house with a loggia. Men and a boy ride a horse drawn wagon; mountains are in the background.

Format of Original Material: 1 photonegative : glass ; image 10 x 12 cm (3 3/4 x 4 1/4 in.) on glass plate 21 x 26 cm (8 x 10 in.); 1 photoprint : black-and-white ; 12 x 15 cm (4 3/4 x 6 in.)

Original Material Found in Collection WH2300. Louis Charles McClure papers

Type of Material: Glass negatives; Photographic prints

Subject

Notes:Handwritten on verso of photographic print: "Luis Marie [sic] Blanca [sic] ranch."; One copy glass plate with four images. See also: MCC-3108. Signature & number "2257" hand-lettered on glass plate. Title supplied.

Denver Public Library Special Collections.

 

Thing of the past ...

The camp feast, Colo. Midland Ry.

Creator: McClure, Louis Charles, 1867-1957

Date:[1900-1919]

Two outdoorsmen soldiers seated at table in camp near Norrie, Colorado reached via Colorado Midland Railway; two men seated on makeshift benches eating meal; plates, bowls, cups, jar of Kuner pickles, bread slices, bucket & utensils on table; one bench made from slats labeled "The Quartermaster Recruit Depot, Fort Logan, Colo", wooden crated labeled "Sweet Candy Co., manufacturing confectioners, Salt Lake City, Utah"; cookstove, coffeepots, cooking pots, fishing poles, wicker creel, fishing net, waders, rifles, two dead grouse or pheasant tied to support post; partial view of open a-frame canvas shelter covering eating area.

Format of Original Material: 1 copy photonegative : black-and-white ; 9 x 11 cm (3 1/2 x 4 1/4 in.); 1 photonegative : glass, black-and-white ; 21 x 26 cm (8 x 10 in.); 1 photoprint ; 19 x 24 cm (7 1/2 x 9 1/2 in.)

Original Material Found in Collection: WH2300. Louis Charles McClure papers

Digital Version Created From WH2300. Louis Charles McClure papers, album XI, 290

Type of Material: Film negatives; Glass negatives; Photographic prints

Geographic Area: Norrie (Colo.)

Denver Public Library Special Collections.

 

Thing of the past ...

Palmer Lake, Colorado view of lake, D & RGW main tracks, depot, water tank, railroad cars, looking southwest.

Creator: Beam, George L. (George Lytle), 1868-1935

Date: [1912-1925?]

Palmer Lake (also known as Palmer and Weissport), Colorado in El Paso County; shows tracks, depot and boxcars of Denver & Rio Grande Railroad. Sign reads: "Palmer Lake."

Format of Original Material: 1 photonegative : nitrate ; 20 x 25 cm (8 x 10 in.)

Original Material Found in Collection: James Ozment collection of George Beam photographs

Type of Material: Black & white photographs

Denver Public Library Special Collections.

Notes: Scanned image from loaned collection. Title supplied.

 

Thing of the past ...

Al S. Lamb and wife, Aspen, Colo.

Date: 1888

Al Lamb and his wife and two dogs and a puppy litter sit on the lawn near a small evergreen tree in front of a house. Mr. Lamb wears a pinstripe suit a white shirt, a striped tie with a tie tack, and a bowler hat. Mrs. Lamb wears a long sleeved, fitted, damask top with large black and white buttons, a long, black skirt, a hat shaped like a top hat with a large, black plume, and gloves. The six retriever puppies are mostly white with dark markings on their heads. They gather around their mother, who lies on the ground wearing a large, metal collar. Another large, black dog sits near them.

Format of Original Material: 1 copy photonegative ; 20 x 25 cm (8 x 10 in.); 1 photoprint on cabinet card ; 15 x 24 cm (6 x 9 1/2 in.)

Notes: Title hand-written on back of photoprint.

Denver Public Library Special Collections.

 

Thing of the past ...

Ghost house

Creator: Berko-Henry Studio.

Date: 1951

Evening view of the dilapidated, snow-covered Henry Gillespie house in Aspen, Colorado; features a wood frame structure with towers with triangular dormers, pediments, numerous gables, finials, gingerbread ornamentation, and clapboard siding; panes of glass missing in many windows; window casing in the towers crumbling; overgrown weeds and vegetation in front yard; snow-covered split-rail fence in the foreground.

Format of Original Material: 1 copy photonegative ; 10 x 13 cm (4 x 5 in.); 1 photoprint ; 25 x 20 cm (10 x 7 3/4 in.)

Digital Version Created From WHC - Caroline Bancroft Collection

Denver Public Library Special Collections

Notes: Photographer's stamp on verso. Photoprint is stained with red ink and has been altered with white paint. Printed on newsprint and attached to back of photoprint: "This historic "ghost house" in Aspen currently is the subject of a heated controversy. One element wishes to tear it down to make room for a school playground; another, somewhat more sentimental, would preserve it as a memory of earlier days."; Title hand-written on back of photoprint.

 

 

Thing of the past ...

The Brown Palace Hotel bar, Denver

Date: 1910-1920

The interior of a saloon in the Brown Palace Hotel in Denver, Colorado. Men stand at a marble bar with a wooden top. The men wear suits and straw boaters or felt hats. Bartenders are behind the bar; mirrors, bottles, and glassware are behind them. An arch with electric light bulbs is over the bar. The saloon has a tile floor, a rounded column, and gas light fixtures.

Format of Original Material: 1 copy negative ; 13 x 18 cm (5 x 7 in.)

Type of Material: Film negatives; Photographic prints; Black & white photographs.

Notes: "Brown Palace Hotel, Denver ca 1911 F10455" printed on original and reproduced in copy negative. Formerly F10455; Title supplied. Library owns additional iterations of this image in various formats: 1 photographic print ; 12 x 17 cm. (4 1/2 x 6 1/2 in.). Denver Public Library Western History.

 

 

Thing of the past ...

Lunch en route Estes Park

Date: 1907, August 17

Women and men pose in and near a convertible automobile at a picnic in Larimer County, Colorado. The basket is on a nearby table.

Format of Original Material: 1 photoprint on album page : black and white ; 7 x 11 cm (3 1/2 x 4 in.)

Original Material Found in Collection: C Photo Album 113. Denver, Overland Park and Woodland

Type of Material: Photographic prints

Notes: Condition: print is faded. Mounted on album page with: Title hand-written on album page.

Denver Public Library Special Collections.

 

Thing of the past ...

Prohibition, seizure of still near Greeley, Colo.

Date: [1925-1933?]

Law enforcement officers wearing suits and hats stand among barrels of liquor and a still in Greeley (Weld County), Colorado. Shows the front section of an automobile.

Format of Original Material: 1 photographic print ; 13 x 18 cm (5 x 7 in.).

Digital Version Created From Hazel E. Johnson.

Type of Material: Film negatives; Photographic prints; Black & white photographs.

Notes: Condition: original negative faded. Formerly F23238; Number inked on front of print: "F23238."; Penciled on back of print: "Lawmen seizing still near Greeley, Colo."; Title inked on front of print. Library owns additional iterations of this image in various formats: 1 copy negative ; 10 x 13 cm.(5 x 7 in.).

Denver Public Library Special Collections.

 

 

 

 

Troubled Texas troubadour pines for Colorado

 

 Van Zandt in 'Heartworn Highways' (1975)

My home is Colorado
With their proud mountains tall
Where the rivers like gypsies
Down her black canyons fall
I'm a long, long way from Denver
With a long way to go
So lend an ear to my singing
'Cause I'll be back no more

 

__ Townes Van Zandt  

 

 

  Album photo of Townes Van Zandt
 

 Saddened singer suffers for the sake of the song

 By Rob Carrigan, robcarrigan1@gmail.com

 

Born in Fort Worth, Texas, his father was corporate lawyer in the petroleum industry and his family moved around following the business to Montana, Colorado and Texas. Much of John Townes Van Zandt's later life was spent touring various bars, music clubs, colleges, and folk venues and festivals, often lodging in motel rooms or the homes of friends. He suffered from drug addiction and alcoholism, and was diagnosed with bipolar disorder.

"He was a reckless drunk and a hopeless idealist, but he was also the best Texas songwriter of our time. Just ask Willie Nelson, Lyle Lovett, Nanci Griffith, and countless others who knew him well," wrote Michael Hall. in Texas Monthly, after Van Zandt's death on New Year's Day in 1997.

 

Rocky Mountain News File Photo

In 1958, the family moved to Boulder, Colorado. Van Zandt remembered his time in Colorado fondly and often visited it as an adult. He later referred to Colorado in "My Proud Mountains,""Colorado Girl," and "Snowin' on Raton." Townes was a good student and active in team sports. In grade school, he was found to have a high IQ, and his parents began grooming him to become a lawyer or senator. Fearing that his family would move again, he willingly decided to attend the Shattuck School in Faribault, Minnesota. He received a score of 1170 when he took the SAT in January 1962. His family soon moved to Houston, Texas. 

 In 1962, he enrolled at the University of Colorado Boulder, wrote poetry, and listened to records by Lightnin' Hopkins and Hank Williams. In the spring of his second year, his parents flew to Boulder to bring Townes back to Houston, worried about his binge drinking and episodes of depression. They admitted him to the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, where he was diagnosed with manic depression. He received three months of insulin shock therapy, which erased much of his long-term memory.

 

 

Townes Van Zandt - Pioneer Inn, Nederland, Colorado, 1972

 

"Townes Van Zandt, an influential songwriter whose dark and tragic country and folk ballads mirrored his own life, died on Wednesday at his home in Smyrna, Tex. He was 52," according the New York Times obit on January 3, 1997.

"The cause was apparently a heart attack, said Beverly Paul, a spokeswoman for Sugar Hill, the music label for which he recorded. Mr. Van Zandt broke his hip last week and had just returned home after undergoing surgery, she said.

"Mr. Van Zandt's powerfully written songs and spare, haunting delivery influenced many country, folk and rock performers, including Neil Young, Rosanne Cash, Emmylou Harris, Steve Earle, the Cowboy Junkies and the grunge band Mudhoney. Willie Nelson and Merle Haggard topped the country charts in 1983 with a version of Mr. Van Zandt's song ''Pancho and Lefty.'' But Mr. Van Zandt never achieved mainstream success himself, in part because of his proclivity for living out his songs of drinking, gambling, rambling and depression.

''All that I've said/All that I've done/Means nothing to me,'' he sang on his most recent album, ''No Deeper Blue.'' ''I'd as soon be dead/All of this world be forgotten.''

"Mr. Van Zandt was born on March 7, 1944, in Fort Worth, into a wealthy oil family that had been prominent in Texas for four generations. Van Zandt County in West Texas was named for his forebears. He spent his childhood moving around the country with his family, and many of his teen-age years in a mental institution, diagnosed as a manic-depressive with schizophrenic tendencies.

"Influenced by the songs of Hank Williams, the guitar-playing of Lightnin' Hopkins and the lyrics of Bob Dylan, as well as by Elvis Presley's success, he moved to Houston in the early 1960's to try a career as a musician. Eventually he became so poor that he ate dog food and slept on concert stages. He tried to join the Air Force during the Vietnam War but was rejected because of his psychiatric history.

In 1968, Mr. Van Zandt moved to Nashville to record his first album, ''For the Sake of the Song,'' with the producer and songwriter Jack Clement, best known for his work with Johnny Cash. The album mixed humorous barroom songs with the tales of poverty, desperation and bleakness (''Waiting Round to Die,'' ''Tecumseh Valley'') that would make him, along with Guy Clark, a beacon to a generation of songwriters.

"He had since recorded nearly a dozen records and toured virtually nonstop, driven, his friends said, by inner demons that neither he nor they could account for. Sometimes his performances, like his last show in New York City, at the Bottom Line in 1995, movingly mixed minor-key tear-jerkers with a fatalistic sense of humor. Sometimes his shows were meandering, ending with him collapsing onstage.

At the time of his death, Mr. Van Zandt was working on a boxed set of his music. He had assembled a group of well-known musicians including Willie Nelson and Freddy Fender to record new versions of his songs.

Van Zandt was addicted to heroin and alcohol throughout his adult life. At times, he became drunk on stage and forgot the lyrics to his songs. At one point, his heroin habit was so intense that he offered Kevin Eggers the publishing rights to all of the songs on each of his first four albums for $20.At various points, his friends saw him shoot up not just heroin, but also cocaine, vodka, as well as a mixture of rum and Coke. On at least one occasion, he shot up heroin in the presence of his son J.T., who was only eight years old at the time, according to the Dallas Observer in 2002 in "The Way of the Gun – Living up to his famous father is a tall order for J.T. Van Zandt"

"Some of the best golden-era Colorado anthems came from the late Townes Van Zandt, whose spare, largely acoustic recordings have only recently built a sizable national following," writes Steven Rozen in his blog about the "Golden Age of Colorado songs."

"He was a Texas troubadour and Colorado devotee whose introspective, often-pining compositions like “If I Needed You” and “Waiting Round to Die” serve as the archetype for today’s Americana (or alternative-country) music.

"Earle — today a bard of contemporary Americana himself — released a tribute album called “Townes.” On it, Earle covers Van Zandt’s 1969 “Colorado Girl.” Van Zandt briefly attended the University of Colorado at Boulder in the 1960s, and during the 1970s he spent summers in the state, writing such other songs about it as “Snowin’ on Raton,” “Our Mother the Mountain” and “My Proud Mountains.”

“Townes used to say there are two kinds of music — blues and zip-a- dee-doo-dah, and a lot of songs written about Colorado tend to be zip-a-dee-doo-dah,” Earle says. “But Townes’ stuff is not that.”

Face on the floor story appears all over state and country

By Rob Carrigan, robcarrigan1@gmail.com

Like many good Colorado stories, "The Face on the Barroom Floor" paints a beautiful picture of a snap shot in time, and gets told over and over again, until no one is really sure who told it first.  All that is remembered then, and remains — is to point out the very best, or a favorite version of such a story.

It is true in the case of Herndon Davis' painting on the floor of Tabor House Bar, near the Central City Opera House. Other versions of the story pop up around the state, and indeed, the whole country.

Davis had been commissioned by the Central City Opera Association to paint a series of paintings for the Central City Opera House; he was also requested to do some work at the Teller House. One afternoon at the bar he became embroiled in a heated argument with Ann Evans, the project director, about the manner in which his work should be executed. The upshot of the fight was that Davis was told to quit, or else he would be fired.

According to one version of the story, the painting was the suggestion of a busboy named Joe Libby; knowing that Davis would soon be fired, he suggested that the artist "give them something to remember him by."

In Davis' own words,

"The Central City Opera House Association hired me to do a series of paintings and sketches of the famous mining town, which they were then rejuvenating as an opera center and tourist attraction. I stayed at the Teller House while working up there, and the whim struck me to paint a face on the floor of the old Teller House barroom. In its mining boom heyday it was just such a floor as the ragged artist used in d’Arcy's famous old poem. But the hotel manager and the bartender would have none of such tomfoolery. They refused me permission to paint the face. Still the idea haunted me, and in my last night in Central City, I persuaded the bellboy Jimmy Libby to give me a hand. After midnight, when the coast was clear, we slipped down there. Jimmy held a candle for me and I painted as fast as I could. Yet it was 3 AM when I finished."

Whatever the inspiration, Davis did not sign his work, and soon the bar's owners chose to capitalize on it. They advertised the painting as that from the poem "The Face on the Barroom Floor" by Hugh Antoine D'Arcy. The actual subject of the painting is Davis' wife, Edna Juanita (Cotter) Davis "Nita." She lived with Herndon at 1323 Kalamath St,  in Denver, Co

 "The Herndon Davis Collection in our Western History and Genealogy Department is one of our most prized treasures. Anyone dealing with major characters and/or notable buildings in Colorado should check into Davis’s portraits and paintings of notable sites. In some cases Davis provides the only extant image of certain people and places. In hundreds of colorful paintings and drawings he adds impressively to our portrait gallery. The Denver Public Library is pleased to be a collaborator on this overdue book on one of our most popular and prolific artists.”
—James X. Kroll, Manager, Western History and Genealogy Department, Denver Public Library

Herndon Davis, an artist and journalist, dedicated his life to depicting the major landmarks and personalities of Colorado in watercolor, oil, and pen and pencil. Best known for the Face on the Barroom Floor, the portrait of an alluring woman on the floor of the Teller House Hotel barroom in Central City, Colorado, Davis was a prolific artist whose murals, sketches, and portraits can be found all over the state, from the Sage Room of the Oxford Hotel on Seventeenth Street to the Denver Press Club poker room. Despite his numerous contributions, his work was never showcased or exhibited in the traditional manner.

In this biography and first-ever collection featuring most of his life’s work, authors Craig Leavitt and Thomas J. Noel provide a detailed look into Davis’s life and career and include a catalog of almost 200 photographs of his work from Colorado and around the country. They also put his work into the broader context of the time through comparison with such contemporary Colorado artists as Muriel Sibell Wolle, Allen Tupper True, Charles Waldo Love, and Juan Menchaca.

Published to coincide with the Denver Public Library’s 2016 exhibition—the only public display of Davis’s work to date—and bringing deserved attention to this overlooked figure, Herndon Davis: Painting Colorado History, 1901-1962 is an important contribution to Colorado’s cultural history.

Among my favorite Davis works of art however, is the Poker Room Mural at the Denver Press Club. When I worked next door, (we shared a rear parking lot between the two buildings at the time) at Colorado Press Association years ago, I tried to make it to the basement any time I was in the nearby building.

"The Denver Press Club at 1330 Glenarm Place still treasures Davis’s work on its basement poker room walls," writes Craig Leavitt  and Thomas J. Noel in Herndon Davis: Painting Colorado History, 1901-1962.

"That large mural depicts the 1940s Press Room of the Rocky Mountain News, a place Davis frequented and where he worked. Among the immortals whose heads Davis painted on the outer edges of the mural are longtime favorite Rocky Mountain News columnist Lew Casey (editor of the book Denver Murders) and News photographer Harry Rhoads (the most famous and ribald of the press photographers, whose work is preserved in a biography and in the Western History and Genealogy Department of the Denver Public Library). On that same Denver Press Club mural, look for Gene Fowler, the Denver Post reporter who graduated to the big time and national fame in New York City. Among Fowler’s many books is one of the liveliest accounts in Denver literature, Timberline: A Story of Bonfils and Tammen. More than just a history of the founders of the Denver Post, this is a colorful, if not always factual, history of Colorado. It portrays in print the wild, funny, vividly colorful good old days that much of Herndon Davis’s work captures. Presumably, the Denver Press Club Davis murals are safe. That fortress claims to be the oldest continuous surviving press club in America and is a designated Denver landmark. And its inner sanctum’s most treasured relic is the Herndon Davis mural."

 

The original poem was written by the poet John Henry Titus in 1872. 

A later version was adapted from the Titus poem by Hugh Antoine d'Arcy in 1887 and first published in the New York Dispatch.

Twas a balmy summer's evening and a goodly crowd was there,

Which well-nigh filled Joe's barroom on the corner of the square,

And as songs and witty stories came through the open door

A vagabond crept slowly in and posed upon the floor.

“Where did it come from?” someone said, “The wind has blown it in.”

“What does it want?” another cried, “Some whiskey, rum or gin?”

“Here Toby, sic him, if your stomach is equal to the work —

I wouldn't touch him with a fork, he’s as filthy as a Turk.”

This badinage the poor wretch took with stoical good grace;

In fact, he smiled as though he thought he'd struck the proper place.

“Come boys, I know there's kindly heart among so good a crowd —

To be in such good company would make a deacon proud.”

“Give me a drink — that’s what I want — I'm out of funds you know;

When I had cash to treat the gang, this hand was never slow.

What? You laugh as though you thought this pocket never held a sou:

I once was fixed as well my boys, as anyone of you.”

“There thanks, that’s braced me nicely; God Bless you one and all;

Next time I pass this good saloon, I'll make another call.

Give you a song? No, I can't do that, my singing days are past;

My voice is cracked, my throat's worn out, and my lungs are going fast.

“Say, give me another whiskey, and I'll tell you what I'll do —

I'll tell you a funny story and a fact I promise too.

That I was ever a decent man, not one of you would think;

But I was, some four or five years back. Say, give me another drink.

“Fill 'er up, Joe, I want to put some life into my frame —

Such little drinks, to a bum like me are miserably tame;

Five fingers! — there, that's the scheme — and corking whiskey too.

Well, here's luck, boys; and landlord, my best regards to you.

“You’ve treated me pretty kindly, and I'd like to tell you how

I came to be the dirty sot, you see before you now.

As I told you once, was a man with muscle, frame and health,

And, but for a blunder, ought to have made considerable wealth.

“I was a painter — not one that daubed on bricks or wood,

But an artist, and for my age I was rated pretty good,

I worked hard at my canvas and was bidding fair to rise,

For gradually I saw the star of fame before my eyes.

“I made a picture, perhaps you've seen, 'tis called the 'Chase of Fame.'

It brought me fifteen hundred pounds and added to my name.

And then I met a woman — now comes the funny part —

With eyes that petrified my brain, and sunk into my heart.

“Why don't you laugh? 'Tis funny, that the vagabond you see

Could ever love a woman and expect her love for me;

But 'twas so, and for a month or two, her smiles were freely given,

And when her loving lips touched mine it carried me to heaven.

“Did you ever see a woman for whom your soul you'd give,

With a form like the Milo Venus, too beautiful to live;

With eyes that would beat the Koh-i-noor, and a wealth of chestnut hair?

If so, 'twas she, for there never was another half so fair.

“I was working on a portrait, one afternoon in May,

Of a fair haired boy, a friend of mine, who lived across the way.

And Madeline admired it, and much to my surprise,

Said she'd like to know the man that had such dreamy eyes.

“It didn't take long to know him, and before the month had flown

My friend had stolen my darling, and I was left alone.

And, ere a year of misery had passed above my head.

The jewel I had treasured so had tarnished, and was dead.

“That's why I took to drink, boys. Why, I never saw you smile,

I thought you'd be amused, and laughing all the while.

Why, what's the matter friend? There's a teardrop in your eye.

Come, laugh like me; 'tis only babes and women that should cry.

“Say boys, if you give me just another whiskey, I'll be glad,

And I'll draw right here a picture, of the face that drove me mad.

Give me that piece of chalk with which you mark the baseball score —

And you shall see the lovely Madeline upon the barroom floor.

Another drink, and with chalk in hand, the vagabond began,

To sketch a face that well might buy the soul of any man.

Then, as he placed another lock upon that shapely head,

With a fearful shriek, he leaped and fell across the picture — dead!