Frontier photographer George L. Beam touched local bases

 

 George L. Beam examines a glass plate.

 Railroads, photography, history and art

By Rob Carrigan, robcarrigan1@gmail.com

This guy, George Lytle Beam, was a man after my own heart ... frontier photography, Four Corners, trains, postage stamps, railroad promotion, Colorado, ancestral puebloans, President Theodore Roosevelt, Monument, Palmer Lake, Durango, S.K Hooper. He touched all my bases, at least 100 years before I did.

George Beam photo of Cliff Palace, Mesa Verde, 1910.

 New Mexico Archives Online notes that "George L. Beam (1868-1935) was an American photographer for the Denver & Rio Grande railroad company. George L. Beam was born May 18, 1868 in New Paris, Ohio. At the age of five him and his family moved to Lawrence, Kansas where he grew up and saw the deaths of his mother and two siblings. When he was twenty-one years old he established himself as a used foreign and domestic postage stamps dealer. He and his father moved to Denver, Colorado around 1890. In Denver Mr. Beam worked for the Chain Hardy & Co. as a stenographer, but soon there after he began working as a stenographer for the Chief Storekeeper and Purchasing Agent of the Denver & Rio Grande until 1893. In 1894 he became a secretary to Shadrach K. Hooper (the general passenger and ticket agent) for the Rio Grand. He was skilled with photography and was well established as the Rio Grande company photographer by 1905 when he photographed President Theodore Roosevelt in the Royal Gorge. He became a well respected photographer, taking photographs for the Denver & Rio Grande company along with other scenic views of the Western United States. At the age of 62 he married Fay L. Kuellmer in Colorado Springs on June 7, 1930. He died March 16, 1935 at the age of 66 in Denver and was buried in Lawrence, Kansas. 

George L. Beam photo of President Theodore Roosevelt in the Royal Gorge.

"George Lytle Beam made photographs professionally for 30 years, and within that body of work, valuable records of historical data are mixed with gems of artistic sensitivity. Many of the Beam images in our database were un-printed glass or nitrate negatives that had been in storage and unseen for decades, with many rapidly deteriorating into un-useability. We are delighted to have rescued these long-lost gems of one man's achievements, and share them with the world.," says  Randel Metz, of Denver Public Library and Archives about their collection of his photos. 

Early Palmer Lake photo by George L. Beam

"George Beam was born the youngest of three children, on May 18, 1868, in New Paris, Ohio. When Beam was 5 years old his family moved to Lawrence, Kansas, where he grew up and attended school and then established himself as a dealer in new and used domestic and foreign postage stamps. In 1889, after the death of his mother and siblings, George and his father moved to Denver, Colorado," Metz says.

"Upon his arrival in Denver George Beam worked as a stenographer for Chain Hardy & Co. Soon after, he took a position as a stenographer with the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad. He left the railroad in 1893. After a brief period as an independent photographer he returned to the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad in 1894 as Secretary to the General Passenger Agent, a position he held until his death in 1935,"

George Beam poses with an unidentified man and a pack horse along a rocky slope in Mancos Canyon Valley, Montezuma County, Colorado. Beam wears a bowler hat and suit; the other man has on suspenders and a gun in a holster.

It is unclear when George Beam began to photograph for the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad, however the earliest image appears to have been taken in 1898. By 1905 Beam was the Company Photographer, a position he held with that of Secretary to the General Passenger Agent, until the end of his career. Beam photographed D&RGW promotional activities in parades and public events throughout its domain, capturing people's enthusiasm for the world of modern travel.

Woman fishing in South Platte River by George L Beam.

George Beam is most noted for his photographs for the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad (later Denver & Rio Grande Western Railroad). These images include not only an extensive collection of railroad trains and tracks, but also numerous scenic photographs of the areas that tourists might visit while using the railroad. His final project for the railroad was the documentation of the construction of the Dotsero Cutoff and its' dedication in 1935.

Saltair Pavilion photo by George Beam, circa 1925.

From the Harold B. Lee Library is the main academic library of Brigham Young University located in Provo, Utah.  BYU Library - Special Collections.

George L. Beam and the Denver & Rio Grande, 1986: p. 12 (b. May 18, 1868 in New Paris, Ohio; moved to Lawrence Kansas; mother and siblings passed away; stamps dealer; moved to Denver, Colorado around 1890) p. 13 (worked for the Chain Hardy & Co. as a stenographer; stenographer for the Chief Storekeeper and Purchasing Agent of the Denver & Rio Grande until 1893; secretary to Shadrach K. Hooper in 1894; skilled at photography) p. 14 (Rio Grande company photographer; photographed President Theodore Roosevelt in the Royal Gorge, 1905) p. 15 (married Fay L. Kuellmer June 7, 1930 in Colorado Springs, Colo.; d. March 16, 1935 in Denver, Colo.; buried in Lawrence, Kan.)

Dolores, Colo.

George L. Beam, photographer, created between 1915 and 1925. View of an unpaved street in Dolores (Montezuma County), Colorado; shows a woman and three children standing near parked car and commercial buildings with signs: "Harris Bros. Mercantile Company" "Restaurant" "National Bank" and "Garage." James Ozment collection of George Beam photographs. From the Western History/Genealogy Dept., Denver Public Library.