Rio de Nuestra Señora de los Dolores

"Father Fray Francisco Atanasio awoke somewhat improved, and in order to change terrain and climate rather than to make progress, we set out from the camp and Rio de San Lázaro toward the northwest. We traveled a little more than a league, swung west by west-northwest, and went five leagues through leafy forests and good pastures. Then we turned west, traveled two and a half leagues through a chamise thicket with little pasturage, went a quarter of a league to the north, crossed Rio de Nuestra Señora de los Dolores, and camped on its north bank. This river rises on the north slope of the Sierra de la Plata, and runs southwest to this place, where it makes a sharp turn. It is a little smaller than the Rio del Norte in this season. - Today a little more than eight and a half leagues," wrote Francisco Silvestre Vélez de Escalante, on August 12, 1776.

Thing of the past ...
Dolores, stages for the San Juan
Creator: Jackson, William Henry, 1843-1942
Date:1882-1900
Stagecoaches and passengers on the main street in Dolores (Montezuma County), Colorado. A man on horseback packs a rifle, gold pan, and shovel. Men stand in front of a storefront with a sign that reads: "J.J. Harris & Co."
Physical Description: 1 photoprint : albumen ; 17 x 23 cm (7 x 9 in.) mounted on album page.
Born-Digital or Analog: Analog
Subject: Dolores (Colo.)--19th century Passengers--Colorado--Dolores--19th century Stagecoaches--Colorado--Dolores--19th century
Geographic Area: Dolores (Colo.)
Collection: Photographs - Western History
Related Material: Image File: ZZR700301037
Type of Material: Sample books Albumen prints Photographic prints Black & white photographs
Digital Version Created From: W. H. Jackson sample album. Colorado Book V. no. 93
Original Material Found in: Collection W. H. Jackson sample album. Colorado Book V
Notes: Attribution to Jackson based on inclusion in bound W. H. Jackson sample album. Condition: edges worn, discolored. Hand-lettered title reproduced in print. Mounted on verso of album page: WHJ-1038. Number: "4245" hand lettered on negative and reproduced on print. Title supplied. R7003010371
Denver Public Library Special Collections  

 

Thing of the past ...
Creator: Beam, George L. (George Lytle), 1868-1935
Date: 1915-1925
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."
Physical Description: 1 photonegative : nitrate ; 20 x 25 cm (8 x 10 in.)
Born-Digital or Analog: Analog
Subject: Dolores (Colo.)Business districts--Colorado--Dolores.
Geographic Area: Dolores (Colo.)
Collection: Photographs - Western History
Related MaterialImage file: ZZR700135039
Type of Material: Nitrate negatives
Original Material Found in Collection: James Ozment collection of George Beam photographs
Notes: Formerly HC3668; Scanned image from loaned collection. Title supplied. R71001350393
Denver Public Library Special Collections

Thing of the past ...
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.
Physical Description: 1 photoprint : black-and-white ; 16 x 25 cm (6 x 9 3/4 in.)
Born-Digital or Analog: Analog
Subject: Dolores (Colo.)Children playing with dolls--Colorado--Dolores Girls--Colorado--Dolores Streets--Colorado--Dolores Geographic Area: Dolores (Colo.)
Collection: Photographs - Western History
Related Material: Image File: ZZR710007734
Type of Material: Photographic prints Black & white photographs
Digital Version Created From: R. L. Dorman - 11/92 gift.
Notes: Hand-written on back of photoprint: Reference only - originals in La Plata County Historical Society, Durango, Colorado. Title suppled by cataloger. R7100077341
Denver Public Library Special Collections 

Thing of the past ...
Creator: Mollette, Rex.
Date 1920-1930
Two cars with four people in each drive down an unpaved street in the town of Dolores, Colorado, in Montezuma County. People sit and stand along the sidewalk and watch the scene. One-story commercial storefronts are along the street. Signs include: "Dolores Mercantile Co."Physical Description 1 photoprint : black-and-white ; 17 x 25 cm (6 3/4 x 9 3/4 in.)
Born-Digital or Analog: Analog
Subject: Dolores (Colo.)Business districts--Colorado--Dolores Streets--Colorado--Dolores
Geographic Area: Dolores (Colo.)
Collection: Photographs - Western History
Related MaterialImage File: ZZR710007733
Type of Material: Photographic prints Black & white photographs
Digital Version Created From: R. L. Dorman - 11/92 gift.
Notes: Hand-written on back of photoprint: Reference Only - originals in La Plata County Historical Society, Durango, Colorado. Title hand-written on back of photoprint. R7100077333
Denver Public Library Special Collections 

 

Thing of the past ...
Dolores Valley near Dolores, Colo.
Date:1890-1900
Rio Grande Southern Railroad tracks in Dolores Valley, Montezuma County, Colorado.Physical Description1 photoprint on album page ; 10 x 12 cm (4 x 4 1/2 in.)
Born-Digital or Analog: Analog
Subject: Rio Grande Southern -- Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad Company Dolores (Colo.)Railroad tracks--Colorado--Dolores
Geographic Area: Dolores (Colo.)
Collection: Photographs - Western History
Related Material Image File: ZZR710021044
Type of Material: Photographic prints
Original Material Found in: Collection C Photo Album 109. Colorado 1890s
Notes: Condition: image faded. Image mounted with X-21043 ; on verso X-21045, and X-21046. Title hand written on album page.
Denver Public Library Special Collections

 

Thing of the past ...
Dolores, Colorado
Creator: Sanborn (Colo.)
Date: 1920-1930
Panoramic view of Dolores, Colorado, in Montezuma County.
Physical Description: 1 photoprint : black-and-white ; 15 x 24 cm (5 3/4 x 9 1/2 in.)
Born-Digital or Analog: Analog
Subject: Dolores (Colo.)--Aerial views
Geographic Area: Dolores (Colo.)
Collection: Photographs - Western History
Related Material: Image File: ZZR710007732
Type of Material: Photographic prints Black & white photographs
Notes: Photographer's stamp on front of photoprint; also X-910. Title printed on front of photoprint. R7100077325
Denver Public Library Special Collections 

Ridgway, Greeley, Loveland, Telluride and more

 

Thing of the past ...

Near Ridgway Colo.
Creator: McClure, Louis Charles, 1867-1957
Date:1940
Denver & Rio Grande Western Locomotive 453, leased to Rio Grande Southern (Baldwin type 2-8-2; with twelve cars; Civilian Conservation Corps excursion); northbound down Dallas Divide towards Ridgway, Ouray County, Colorado; engineer and passengers lean out windows; two men sit on top of a freight car; snowy ridges of Mount Sneffles in background.
Physical Description: 1 copy photonegative : black-and-white ; 9 x 11 cm (3 1/2 x 4 1/2 in.); 1 photoprint : black-and-white ; 18 x 24 cm (7 1/4 x 9 1/2 in.); 1 photoprint : black-and-white ; 19 x 24 cm (7 1/2 x 9 1/2 in.)
Born-Digital or Analog: Analog
Subject: Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad Company Rio Grande Southern Railroad Passengers--Colorado--Ouray County Railroad employees--Colorado--Ouray County Railroad locomotives--Colorado--Ouray CountyRailroads--Colorado--Ouray County
Geographic Area: Ouray County (Colo.)
Related Material: Image File: ZZR700073215
Type of Material: Film negatives Photographic prints Black & white photographs
Digital Version Created From: WH2300. Louis Charles McClure papers, album III, 147
Original Material Found in Collection WH2300.
Louis Charles McClure papers
Notes: Near Ridgeway Colo hand-lettered on bottom white border of photographic print. Copy of a O. C. Perry attributed to McClure; see also OP-8006. Title hand-lettered on white border of vintage album print. R7000732152
Denver Public Library Special Collections

 Thing of the past ...
R.G.S. roundhouse @ Ridgway
CreatorTrout, George A.
Date:1951 September 1
The Rio Grande Southern railroad roundhouse and turntable in Ridgway (Ouray County), Colorado. Railroad employees stand nearby. Shows a railroad handcar and axles. Physical Description: 1 photographic print ; 8 x 10 cm (3 x 4 in.)
Born-Digital or Analog:Analog
Subject: Rio Grande Southern RailroadRidgway (Colo.)Railroad employees--Colorado--RidgwayRailroad roundhouses--Colorado--RidgwayTurntables (Railroads)--Colorado--Ridgway Collection Photographs - Western History Related Material
Image File: ZZR711011035
Type of Material: Photographic prints Black & white photographs
Notes: Photographers information stamped on verso of print with: "negative no. 1026."; Title inked on verso of photographic print. R7110110353
Donor: George A. Trout
Denver Public Library Special Collections

 

Thing of the past ...
Ridgway School 1891 term Prof. Speer, Minnie M. Holaday teachers
Date:1891
Ridgway School, in Ridgway, Ouray County, Colorado; shows well-dressed women, men, girls, and boys posing by a brick building with a covered entry, widows' walks, and a cupola.
Physical Description: 1 photoprint on mat board ; 19 x 24 cm (7 1/2 x 9 1/4 in.)
Subject: Ridgway (Colo.)Schools--Colorado--Ridgway Students--Colorado--Ridgway Teachers--
Related Material: Image File: ZZR710013165
Type of Material: Photographic printsDigital Version Created FromHenry W. Rathmell.
Notes: Formerly F38843. Title hand-written on back of mat board. R7100131658
Denver Public Library Special Collections

Thing of the past ...
Greeley, Colorado
Date:1870-1880
Unpaved Seventh Street (earlier known as Maple Street) in Greeley, Colorado, in Weld County. Hotels and commercial storefronts are along the street with: The Greeley House, the town fire hall, Nathan Meeker's Greeley Tribune, and a masonry, commercial building with several men standing in front of it. Physical Description: 1 copy photonegative ; 13 x 18 cm (5 x 7 in.); 1 photoprint ; 10 x 15 cm (3 3/4 x 6 in.)
Born-Digital or Analog: Analog
Subject: Greeley (Colo.)--19th century Buildings--Colorado--Greeley--19th century Streets--Colorado--Greeley--19th century
Geographic Area: Greeley (Colo.)
Collection: Photographs - Western History
Related Material: Image File: ZZR710009060
Type of Material: Film negatives Photographic prints
Notes: Formerly F13263. Photoprint has yellowed and a corner has been torn off. Title hand-written on back of photoprint. R7100090608
Denver Public Library Special Collections

Thing of the past ...
The Greeley Tribune
Date:1880
Men pose in front of brick commercial buildings in Greeley, Colorado. The two-story structures have a bracketed cornice and gauge arched windows. Wooden livery doors serve the fire department; the hose drying tower rises from the roof. A sign reads: "The Gree[ley Tribune]; a horse-drawn hay rake is under a tree. Bills posted announce: "Weld County fair."
Physical Description: 1 photoprint on cabinetcard ; 11 x 16 cm (4 x 6 1/2 in.)
Born-Digital or Analog: Analog
Subject: Greeley (Colo.)--19th century
Geographic Area: Greeley (Colo.)
Collection: Photographs - Western History
Related Material: Image File: ZZR710009012
Type of Material: Cabinet photographs
Original Material Found in: Collection, Hazel E. Johnson Collection.
Notes: Hand-written on back of photoprint: Gerdes OK. 4/12/58 Hazel E. Johnson Collection from E. J. Carver Coll. by E. B. Fairchild. Stamped: "If used, please credit Hazel E. Johnson Collection."; Title supplied by cataloger. R7100090129
Denver Public Library Special Collections 

Thing of the past ...
Date:1910-1920
Standing in the door of a streetcar in Greeley, Colorado, the conductor wears a waist mounted coinchanger. The number "30" is painted on the car; sheds and a lightpole are in the background.
Physical Description: 1 copy photonegative ; 10 x 13 cm (4 x 5 in.); 1 photoprint : black-and-white ; 9 x 15 cm (3 1/2 x 5 1/2 in.)
Born-Digital or Analog: Analog
Subject: Greeley (Colo.)Street railroads--Colorado--Greeley
Geographic Area: Greeley (Colo.)
Collection: Photographs - Western History
Related Material: Image File: ZZR710009042
Type of Material: Film negatives Black & white photographs Photographic prints
Digital Version Created From: Al Moorman.
Notes: Formerly F34193. Photoprint has scalloped edges. Title supplied by cataloger. R7100090420
Denver Public Library Special Collections

Thing of the past ...
Creator: Beam, George L. (George Lytle), 1868-1935
Date:1909
Possibly Alex Carrie, a mule skinner or muleteer, leads his mule train along South Oak Street across West Colorado Avenue, Telluride, San Miguel County, Colorado. The mules drag poles from the McMahon Lumber Company, located by the Rio Grande Southern narrow gauge railroad. Signs on businesses read: "The Daily Journal, Insurance, Abstracts of Title, Mining," "Examiner, Printing" and "Furnished Rooms,"
Physical Description: 1 copy photonegative ; 10 x 13 cm (4 x 5 in.); 1 photoprint ; 21 x 26 cm (8 x 10 in.)
Subject: Telluride (Colo.)Mules--Colorado--Telluride Packtrains--Colorado--Telluride Streets--Colorado--Telluride Carrie, Alex.
Geographic Area: Telluride (Colo.)
Related Material: Image File: ZZR700137769
Type of Material: Film negatives Photographic prints
Notes: Formerly F3222. Title hand-written on back of photoprint; photographer's stamp also on back; additional information: This is on a glass plate at State Historical Society, 10/1971. R7001377696
Denver Public Library Special Collections 

Thing of the past ...
Creator: Collier, Joseph Date1875-1900
L.G. Denison's grocery store stands next to S.R. Fitzgarrald's law office on Main Street in Telluride, Colorado. Farther down the block are J. Tryan's hardware store, Charles Oderfeld's general merchandise shop and a meat market. Across the street is the Telluride House Lodging and Bath House and W.H. Stewart's hardware store. The post office, a bakery and a grocery store stand farther down the block. People stand down the block. People stand on the sidewalks in front of the shops. Two groups of pack burros are gathered in the dirt street in the foreground. A ridge of mountains is in the distance.
Physical Description: 1 copy photonegative ; 11 x 16 cm (4 x 6 1/4 in.); 1 copy photonegative ; 7 x 11 cm (2 3/4 x 4 in.); 1 photoprint ; 16 x 25 cm (6 1/4 x 9 1/2 in.)
Subject: Signs and signboards--Colorado--Telluride--19th century Telluride (Colo.)--19th century Business districts--Colorado--Telluride--19th century Commercial facilities- Colorado--Telluride--19th century Mountains--Colorado--19th century
Geographic Area: Telluride (Colo.)
Related Material: Image File: ZZR700130164
Type of Material:Film negatives Photographic prints
Notes: 365. Telluride handwritten on image in Collier collection of Western History Department, Denver Public Library. Larger negative has number "15" stenciled in upper corner. R7001301645
Denver Public Library Special Collections 

Thing of the past ...
Creator: Fick, William L.
Date: circa 1940
Automobiles are parked on Main Street in Telluride (San Miguel County), Colorado. Business signs read: "H. C. Baisch Drugs, Jewelry", "Bowl Upstairs", "Maytag Appliances, Telluride Elec. Shop", "Texaco", "Tribune", and "Bailey McDonald Conoco." Ajax Peak and Ingram Falls are in the background.
Physical Description: 1 photoprint on album page ; 20 x 24 cm (7 1/2 x 9 1/2 in.)
Born-Digital or Analog: Analog
Subject: Telluride (Colo.)Automobiles--Colorado--Telluride Cities and towns--Colorado--Telluride Mining--Colorado--Telluride Stores & shops--Colorado--Telluride Streets--Colorado--Telluride
Geographic Area: Telluride (Colo.)
Collection: Photographs - Western History
Type of Material: Photographic prints Black & white photographs Original Material Found in Collection C Photo Collection 255. Colorado Mining, William L. Fick.
Notes: Album in 7 unnumbered volumes. Handwritten on back of print: "1639."; Historical information bound in album includes: "Gold and Silver Mining in Colorado: Leading Gold Producing Counties, Leading Silver Producing Counties," and "Colorado's Gold and Silver: The Shining Mountains, Gold Discovered, and Great Gold Strikes Early in 1859."; Title supplied by cataloger. R7100631161
Denver Public Library Special Collections  

 

Thing of the past ...
Creator: Frisk, Harold.
Date: May 30, 1896
Bartholf Hose Team Number 1, poses in front of the Larimer County Bank building. They wear uniforms with breast bibs with: "B H 1", caps, white gloves and belts, two men hold horns. American flags hung on bank help celebrate Decoration Day.
Physical Description: 1 copy photonegative ; 10 x 13 cm (4 x 5 in.); 1 photoprint ; 13 x 18 cm (5 x 7 in.)
Subject: Loveland (Colo.)Fire fighters--Colorado--Loveland Geographic Area: Loveland (Colo.)
Related Material: Image File: ZZR710012223
Type of Material: Film negatives Photographic prints
Notes: Description typed on label on back of photoprint. Formerly F28845. Inked on front of photoprint: 27. Title, photographer and date hand-lettered on front of original. R7100122235
Denver Public Library Special Collections 

 

Thing of the past ...
Baptist Church, Loveland, Colo.
Creator: Dickerson, A. E.Date1902
The Baptist Church, Loveland, Colorado. A man walks in front of the brick Gothic church with massive corner tower with four sided steeple, entrance, stained glass windows, and intersecting gable roofs.
Physical Description: 1 copy photonegative : black-and-white ; 13 x 10 cm (5 x 4 in.); 1 photoprint : black-and-white ; 18 x 13 cm (7 x 5 in.)
Subject: Loveland (Colo.)Baptist churches--Colorado--Loveland
Geographic Area: Loveland (Colo.)
Related Material: Image File: ZZR710012210
Type of Material: Film negatives Photographic prints Black & white photographs
Notes: Formerly F18658. Photoprint shows deterioration on original. Title and photographer printed on bottom of stereo card and reproduced on negative, with "90."; R7100122104
Denver Public Library Special Collections  

Thing of the past ...
Switcher at Loveland, Colorado plant
Date1940-1950
A Great Western Sugar Company switcher locomotive on tracks at the Great Western Sugar Company plant in Loveland (Larimer County), Colorado. Shows a multi-story, brick, sugar processing building.
Physical Description: 1 photographic print ; 13 x 18 cm (5 x 7 in.)
Born-Digital or Analog: Analog
Subject: Great Western Sugar Company--Equipment & supplies Loveland (Colo.)Railroad locomotives--Colorado--Loveland Sugar industry--Colorado--Loveland
Geographic Area: Loveland (Colo.)
Related Material: Image File: ZZR711005651
Type of Material: Photographic prints Black & white photographs Digital Version Created From: Ed Sibert, Aug. 22, 1974.
Notes: Owned by Sugar Co., not R.R., Chas. Albi, 7/03/01 penciled on verso. Title penciled on verso. R7110056517.
Denver Public Library Special Collections 

Ute gathers rain clouds in his pockets

Photo near the old plywood plant with "The Ute" in the background. 

 Or maybe, wakes and drives out newcomers

By Rob Carrigan, robcarrigan1@gmail.com

Every trip to Cortez -- which was at least a couple of times a week-- required a glance out the car window toward the Plywood Plant, with its smoking waste burner silo, and rounded long buildings in relief in front of the Sleeping Ute. 

Often, the log trucks with barreling 'Jake Brakes' and rough-sawn tree logs on trailers behind re-built tractors, could be seen making the turn-in. My childhood friends' fathers (or mothers) might be driving, or helped cut the logs, or skidded them out of the forest to be loaded in the trucks.

From 1965, to 1975, the Montezuma Plywood Plant, located near Dolores, produced all of Colorado's softwood plywood production. That plant was the only facility in the state recorded making plywood, at the time, according to The Softwood Plywood Industry in the United States, 1965-82, USDA Forest Service Resource Bulletin, FPL 13, by David B. McKeever and Gary W. Meyer. 

"Consumption rose rapidly between 1965 and 1978 in the United States by major end users, with the exception of the recession years of 1974-75, End use plywood percent rose at a rate averaging 3.5 percent per year. One reason for this consumption rapid increase is the substitution of plywood for other lumber (particularly sheathing-grade plywood) in a variety of (3/8-in. basis) in construction applications. These include sheathing and subflooring in residential construction and concrete New residential construction formwork in nonresidential construction, wrote McKeever and Meyer. 

" ... Sleeping Ute Mountain, a humanlike reclining figure with arms folded accross his chest, guards the ancient ruins that make McElmo Canyon one of America's greatest archaeological treasures. The Utes, like the Anasazi before them, depended on this mountain near Cortez in southwestern  Colorado to protect them from invaders. Alas, for the Utes, this giant went to sleep just a few miles west of Towaoc, allowing the Spaniards to enter Colorado. Subsequently, Plains Indians and pale faced prospectors also encroached upon Ute domain. But according to the Ute legend, the Sleeping Ute will someday wake up -- and drive away all non-Utes. Another legend contends the Sleeping Ute grew angry with the Utes and gathered all the rain clouds into his pockets. Then he lay down on his back, folded his arms across his chest, and went to sleep. When the clouds finally do descend from Sleeping Ute Mountain, the Utes say they are slipping out of his pockets," writes Dr. Colorado Thomas J. Noel.

 "The Utes -- a mountain tribe that has resided her for hundreds, perhaps thousands, of years -- have lived in Colorado longer than any other group. They are physically shorter, darker, and stockier than the Plains Indians and also differ from the Plains tribes in that they belong to the Shoshonean linguistic family centered in Utah and the Great Basin. They have descended from such prehistoric cultures as the Fremont people who occupied Colorado 10,000 years ago. Seven different Ute bands -- the Capote, Grand River, Mouache, Umcompagre, Uintah, Yampa, and Weminuche -- occupied central and western Colorado and eastern Utah," Noel writes.

 

 

Saratoga, and how to practice the art

Everyone wants answers to make solid decisions. 

The art is to recognize the right ones when you spot them.

By Rob Carrigan, robcarrigan1@gmail.com

Newspaper publishing is really the combined, life-long study of small-town philosophy, leadership and group dynamics as it relates to ethics and resource allocation. As such, I often ask others how to practice the art.

And I get answers — but I’m never really sure that they are the right ones.
“I wonder if we are all strung together by a universal ethic or model,” says my former football coach, Carl Rice, who lived and coached in Akron, Colo, and Wyoming.
“I think one can recognize right and wrong, especially in each other. I have been blessed to do what I do. I realize I have touched a lot of people. Think how many you touch with your decisions. I realize that much of the time we concentrate on the monster, which is the far removed machine. The truth is — the struggle rages in the individual. Ethics doesn’t just happen, it is a practice.”
But in a small town, is there an abundance or shortage of practitioners, and is change the agent? I’ll relay an answer from someone I have never met before, but feel connection to. Coy Hobbs edited the Saratoga Sun, in Saratoga, Wyo. When I contacted him a few years ago, he was editor of the same small-town newspaper I managed more than 20 years prior.
“There are frequent business startups (and closings) in town as the test for any local business remains ‘Can they make it through the winter?’” according to Hobbs.
“Saratoga's population is down to less than 1,700. The LP (Louisiana Pacific) sawmill closed a year ago, the coalmines at Hanna have closed, and the school district is leading the state in enrollment declines. We don't have problems here, just challenges and opportunities to see if we are as good as we think we are.
“Despite the changes, Saratoga is still one of the truly neat places in the world. Some say it will be the next Jackson Hole, to which most reply ‘Over my dead body.’ We're trying to reach a compromise between the two positions. I am still amazed by the wealth of talent and experience the residents of this quaint, little mountain village possess. It makes you want to believe that just about anything is possible here – and I'm just the cynical newspaper editor, not the chamber of commerce exec.”
Good publishers and editors have a knack of finding and printing what people want to read.
Jerry Elijah Brown, in the forward of the biography, “High Adventure” about noted Alabama Newspaper publisher Porter Harvey (written by his son, Sam) pays tribute to that effort.
“He published what readers need and want,” Brown said of Porter Harvey. “Not only what the cops, courts, and councils of governments were doing, but also how much rain was falling in different hamlets, where a column of ants in a bank parking lot was going, how the coin laundry was finally getting a restroom and which hymn and stanza a man was singing when he dropped dead at a church service. Porter knew how to excite by understatement — a rare talent that involves skill at both writing and display.”
But as we noted before, everyone wants answers to make solid decisions. The art is to recognize the right ones when you spot them.

 

I think about Saratoga, after many years away from there, And I remember the characters of the place, like Ralph Bartholomew, Joe and Mike Glode, Doug and Kathy Campbell, Dick Perue, Chuck Box, Stuart McCelland, Connie Patterson and of course, Candy Moulton. 

 

Though we never worked together, I ran into stories  of C.J. (Chuck) Box . He is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of more than thirty books, including the Joe Pickett series. 

After graduating from college, unable to find work in Denver, Box returned to Wyoming, where the publisher of the Saratoga Sun invited him for an interview on a fishing boat on the Platte River.

“For five hours, we floated and fished and drank beer. By the end of it, I would have paid him for the job,” says Box.

At the Saratoga Sun, Box became the sports editor and “features guy.” He also married Laurie Meese, whom he’d met in college, and began writing fiction.

 I also recall the following article that explained Old Baldy to me, when I was there, that appeared in the Chicago Tribune.

Jet-setters Change Remote 

Old Baldy Into A Shangri-la

June 16, 1987|By James Coates, Chicago Tribune

The nearest McDonald`s from this stunningly beautiful mountain country hamlet is 40 miles away in Rawlins, Wyo. The closest Burger King is 70 miles in the opposite direction, in Laramie.``Where the Fish Jump in Main Street`` boasts the sign on the bridge over the trout-filled North Platte River on the edge of Saratoga, a picture-pretty town with frontier-style, log false-front buildings lining Main Street.

Many of the very rich and the very lucky in America are making this town in Wyoming`s remote and tranquil Platte River Valley their new summertime Shangri-La.

There was a time when these very rich and very lucky Americans roosted each summer in the Colorado mountain hamlet of Aspen. Titans of industry, giants of Hollywood and lions of literature jealously guarded the secret of that Colorado hideaway before the hoi polloi followed their footsteps.

But today, tourists in loud clothing jam the waiting lines at McDonald`s and Burger King on Aspen`s main drag, and the jet set is winging this way instead.

Here Bob Hope and Mitzi Gaynor rub shoulders with Oral Roberts, Neil Armstrong, Gerald Ford, Frank Borman and aviation tycoon Frank Lorenzo on the impossibly well-manicured greens of one of the world`s least-known, yet most elegant, golf courses.

Armed guards man the gate house at the Valley`s Old Baldy Club to assure that newspaper reporters and curious locals don`t interfere with the membership`s putting, fly casting and other sundry pursuits of leisure.

Down the road is the ultraexclusive A Bar A Ranch, a 5,000-acre pied-a-terre owned by Denver`s fabulously wealthy Gates family, where a group of the country`s top aerospace and defense contractors gather for meetings of a club they call Conquistadors del Cielo, Spanish for ``conquerors of the sky.``

Each Labor Day weekend the Conquistadors assemble for a legendary round of high jinks that features dressing up in antique Spanish armor for a torchlight procession up a nearby mountain, men dressing in female finery and chasing one another on horseback, knife-throwing contests and high-stakes poker games.

Even the pilots who ferry the titans of industry, movie moguls and cultural shakers from America`s power centers to Saratoga`s Shively Field can`t enter either the Old Baldy Club or the A Bar A.
" The pilots and the (members`) wives stay in town playing gin rummy when things start hopping at A Bar A,`` said one knowledgeable and well-heeled local resident, who recalled that when he asked the management at the Old Baldy Club how much it cost to join he was told, ``If you have to ask, you can`t afford it.``

Like several other locals, he asked not to be named.

Founding lights of the club included Charles Gates, chief of the multinational Gates Rubber Co., and members of the Lear family, as in Lear Jet.

Native Saratogans are a friendly lot. They`ll tell you where to go to find just the right trout fishing conditions. They`ll fix you a glass of iced tea and lend you a fishing pole, but they`d just as soon not gossip about Old Baldy or the Conquistadors.

Established in the early 1970s by George Storer, the late tycoon who made a fortune pioneering cable television through his Storer Broadcasting Corp., Old Baldy is probably the biggest source of revenue in the Platte Valley, where farmers, ranchers, loggers and miners all are fighting depressed economic conditions.

Nobody wants to irritate the captains of industry who so value their high-priced solitude on the edge of Wyoming`s stunning Snowy Range in the shade of Kennedy Peak, named Old Baldy by natives because it has no trees on top.
"When the millionaires and the billionaires fly in, we`re the third busiest airport in Wyoming," boasted Dick Perue, former publisher of the town newspaper, the Saratoga Sun, and now a local businessman. 

"Sometimes in the deepest part of the night everybody in town wakes up when one of the big jets take off," said Carol Sherrod of the local Chamber of Commerce, who recalled the night two years ago when a large number of Pan American World Airways executives made a panic departure after one of their jets was hijacked in the Middle East.

Perue's brother works at the Old Baldy Club along with many other townsfolk, and Perue, an unabashed civic booster, gave a reporter a ride along the prohibited perimeter in his trusty, if dented, three-quarter-ton Chevy pick-up.

Pointing to a ridge covered with perhaps a dozen houses that would qualify as mansions in most of the nation`s plush neighborhoods, Perue said with a smile: "Those are the places where each member stays when they come here. They call them `cottages."' 

Asked how the fishing was in the North Platte River as it passes through the stunning green fairways, Perue said, "They stock the river from their own fish hatchery."

He added, "Anything that they can't catch goes down the river, where we peons get a chance to catch them."

From Legacy Library:

In the crisp Wyoming air of 1908, a stagecoach rumbled along the rugged route between Saratoga and Encampment for the final time. Captured in a somber black-and-white photograph, this was more than just a farewell to a mode of travel—it marked the end of an era. The completion of the Saratoga & Encampment Railroad meant swifter journeys and modern efficiency, but for the passengers aboard that last stage, it felt like a loss of something personal and irreplaceable.

The image tells a quiet story: stoic faces, bundled in dusters and shawls, some trying to smile for the camera. To lighten the mood, the photographer reportedly cracked a joke—perhaps something about this being a historic moment. But the driver, reins in hand and heart heavy, wasn’t having it. His reply became legend: “Hell, boy, this is a funeral.” It was a fitting eulogy for the stage line that had carried people, freight, and stories through storms and solitude.

For years, the Saratoga & Encampment stage was a lifeline across Wyoming's raw and rolling landscapes. It connected mining camps, ranches, and remote settlements, weaving threads of civilization into the frontier. With the train came progress, but also silence—replacing the creak of leather and jingle of harness with the whistle of iron and steam. The old driver knew: a way of life had just taken its last ride.

 

 

 

 

Beer, Police, Church, Firefighters, Soldiers, and more ...

 

Thing of the past ...

Soldiers chug beer during a "Beer Bust"

Date: December, 1943

Group includes William Palmer (drinking), Robert B. Martin (126-D), Burt Kramer (226th Engineer), Robert Langer (126-D), Hermann Wolkowicz (126-D)

Physical Description: 1 photographic print : black-and-white ; 21 x 28 cm (8 x 11 inches)

Born-Digital or Analog: Analog

Subject: United States. Army. Mountain Division, 10th Martin, Robert B., 1919-1991

Kramer, Burt R.Langer, Robert G., 1918-2005 Langer, Robert G., 1918-2005Wolkowicz, Hermann (1919-1997)Bars (Drinking establishments)Drinking games

Geographic Area: Camp Hale (Colo.)

Collection 10th Mountain Division Records

Type of Material: Photographic prints Black & white photographs Group portraits Digital Version Created From TMD351, Box 1, FF7

Original Material Found in Collection TMD351. 10th Mountain Division digitized photograph collection; 10th Mountain Division Resource Center Collection

Notes: On associated paper: "These pictures are from a Christmas 1943 "Beer Bust" at Camp Hale. The pictures were given to me by Robert Langer." Derived title

Thing of the past ...

Tivoli beer wagon, Denver

The Tivoli Union Brewery beer wagon and team of horses, in Denver, Colorado; storefront sign reads: "Tivoli Beer T.W. Potter Barber Billiards."Physical Description1 copy photonegative ; 10 x 13 cm (4 x 5 in.); 1 photoprint : black-and-white ; 20 x 25 cm (8 x 10 in.)

Born-Digital or Analog:Analog

Subject: Tivoli Union Brewing Company--Public relations Denver (Colo.)Brewing industry--Colorado--Denver Wagons--Colorado--Denver

Geographic Area: Denver (Colo.)

Collection Photographs - Western History Related Material: Image file: ZZR710023903

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

Notes: Formerly F22797. Title supplied; penciled on back of photoprint: "probably 1948 when carriage was rebuilt."; R7100239032

Denver Public Library Special Collections

Thing of the past ...

Date: 1942

A Ford Coors delivery truck parks on a Colorado street with cases of beer showing through side door. Lettering on truck reads: "Adolph Coors Co. Denver" and "Coors Brewer of Fine Beer."

Physical Description:

1 copy photo negative ; 10 x 13 cm (4 x 5 in.); 1 photo print ; 13 x 18 cm (5 x 7 in.)

Born-Digital or Analog: Analog

Subject: Adolph Coors Company

Golden (Colo.)Brewing industry--Colorado--Golden Trucks--Colorado--Golden

Geographic Area: Golden (Colo.)

Collection: Photographs - Western History

Related Material: Image File: ZZR710010019

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

Notes: Formerly F47741. Title supplied by cataloger. R7100100194

Denver Public Library Special Collections

Thing of the past ...

Beer depot thru which the Zang Brewing Co. of Denver distributed their beer. Photo created about 1900. A wagon drawn by a team of horses is parked next to a brewery in the town of Creede, Colorado, in Mineral County. The driver sits in the cart and a man stands next to the wagon. The building is a two-story, wood- frame structure with gables, shingles, chimneys, rectangular windows, and a covered porch with spindles. Snow covers the ground and the hills in the background. "Beer Depot of P.H. Zang Brewing Co. Jno. Knodel, Agt." shows. Western History/Genealogy Dept., Denver Public Library.

Thing of the past ...
Date:1921 March
Denver police officers pose near the South Denver Police Station located at 11 East 1st (First) Ave. in the Beyers Neighborhood of Denver, Colorado. Officers on police motorcycles with side cars are on the sidewalk and other officers stand in rows nearby. Commanding officers stand on the dirt road. From left to right are: Sergeant Dave Sullivan, Captain Frank Campbell and Sergeant James C. Jones. Signs on the police station read: "South Denver Police Station." Posters hanging near a garage read: "Denham, Wilkes Players, Week Starting Sunday Mar. 20, Thomas Wilkes Presents Kindling, Margaret Illington's Smashing Success."
Physical Description: 1 photonegative : nitrate ; 21 x 26 cm (8 x 10 in.).
Born-Digital or Analog: Analog
Subject: Denver (Colo.). Police Department--People Beyers (Denver, Colo.)Motorcycles--Colorado--Denver Police stations--Colorado--Denver Police--Colorado--Denver
Geographic Area: Denver (Colo.)
Collection: Photographs - Western History
Related Material: Image File: ZZR710029720
Type of Material: Nitrate negatives Photographic prints
Notes: Condition: discolored, scratched. Formerly F3364; Number: "3364" inked on negative. Title supplied. Library owns additional iterations of this image in various formats: 1 photographic print ; 21 x 26 cm. (8 x 10 in.). R71002972000
Denver Public Library Special Collections

 

Thing of the past ...
Creator: Wright, Charles C.
Date1883-1886: Portrait of an African American (Black) Denver Police Officer identified as John Bill. He wears a uniform jacket with two rows of brass buttons, and a second issue Denver Police Department badge reading: "Denver Police, 27."
Physical Description: 1 photographic print on card mount ; 15.5 x 10.5 cm (6 x 4 1/2 in.).
Born-Digital or AnalogAnalogSubjectDenver (Colo.). Police Department.--PeopleAfrican AmericansPoliceBill, John.
Geographic Area: Denver (Colo.)
Collection: Photographs - Western History
Related Material: Image File: ZZR710029674
Type of Material: Film negatives Photographic prints Portrait photographs
Digital Version Created From: Tod New.
Notes: Condition: slightly discolored. Formerly F20507; Gilt trim around beveled edge of card. Inked on back of card: "John Bill."; Title supplied. Library owns additional iterations of this image in various formats: 1 copy negative ; 13 x 18 cm.(5 x 7 in.). R7100296741
Denver Public Library Special Collections 

 

 

Thing of the past ...
Creator: Rocky Mountain Photo Company
Date:1921 March
Denver police officers stand by police vehicles near the City Hall Building located at 14th (Fourteenth) St. and Larimer Street in Denver, Colorado. A line of black Fords are arranged on 14th Street and a policeman stands next to each car.
Physical Description:1 photographic print : black-and-white ; 21 x 26 cm (8 x 10 in.).
Born-Digital or Analog:Analog
Subject: Denver (Colo.). Police Department.--Equipment & supplies Police vehicles--Colorado--Denver Police stations--Colorado--Denver Police--Colorado--Denver Vehicles--Colorado--Denver
Geographic Area: Denver (Colo.)
Collection: Photographs - Western History
Related Material: Image File: ZZR710029730
Type of Material: Group portraits Photographic prints Black & white photographs
Notes: Condition: discolored, yellowed, corner torn. Handwritten on back of print: "Ford Motor Co. Prints."; Number inked on original negative and reproduced in print: "12744."; Title supplied. R7100297307
Denver Public Library Special Collections

 

Thing of the past ...
Members of the 11th U.S. Cavalry, unload a covered wagon from a flatcar on the tracks of the Colorado & Southern Railway (C & S) in Trinidad, Las Animas County, Colorado. Spectators stand nearby. The 11th Cavalry was called in at the request of Colorado Governor Ammons, to restore order in the coal fields after the Ludlow Massacre at the time of the United Mine Worker's strike against Colorado Fuel & Iron.
Physical Description: 1 photographic print ;
11 x 17 cm (4 1/2 x 6 1/2 in.)
Born-Digital or Analog: Analog
Subject: Colorado and Southern Railway Colorado Fuel and Iron Company--Strikes United Mine Workers of America--Strikes Coal Strike, Colo., 1913-1914Wagons--Colorado--TrinidadCavalry--Colorado--Trinidad Miners' strikes--Colorado--Ludlow Mining--Colorado--Ludlow Railroad freight cars--Colorado--Trinidad United States. Army. Cavalry, 11th.
Geographic Area: Trinidad (Colo.)
Collection: Photographs - Western History
Related Material: Image File: ZZR710060573
Type of Materia: lPhotographic prints
Notes: Title hand-written on back of print. R7100605738
Donor: Ed Doyle 

 

Thing of the past ...
Date: 1900-1909
Men work by a Denver, Laramie and Northwestern railroad construction crane in (probably) Colorado; railroad ties are positioned on dirt grade.
Physical Description: 1 copy photonegative ; 10 x 13 cm (4 x 5 in.); 1 photoprint ; 11 x 17 cm (4 1/2 x 6 1/2 in.)
Born-Digital or Analog:Analog
Subject: Hoisting machinery--Colorado Railroad construction & maintenance--Colorado Railroad construction workers--Colorado Denver, Laramie, and Northwestern Railroad Company.
Collection: Photographs - Western History
Related Material: Image File: ZZR710022229
Type of Material: Film negatives Photographic prints
Notes: Condition: fold cracks, yellowing, top section missing. Formerly F34552. Title penciled on back of photoprint. R7100222297
Denver Public Library Special Collections 

 

Thing of the past ...
Creator: Biglow.
Date:1911
Migrant workers gather with their children along the tracks of the Denver & Rio Grande railroad in La Jara, Colorado in Conejos County. Their possessions, including bedframes, cabinets, wardrobes, tables, chairs, and kitchen utensils are gathered at the side of the tracks. The La Jara Milling and Elevator Co. is in the background. Signs: "The La Jara Milling and Elevator Co. Wholesale Flour Grain and Feed."
Physical Description: 1 photoprint ; 12 x 20 cm (4 3/4 x 7 3/4 in.)
Born-Digital or Analog:Analog
Subject: La Jara (Colo.)Children--Colorado--La Jara Migrant laborers--Colorado--La JaraRailroads--Colorado--La Jara Collection: Photographs - Western History
Related Material: Image File: ZZR710011933
Type of Material Photographic prints Black & white photographs
Digital Version Created From: Denver & Rio Grande Railroad.
Notes: Formerly F25173. Hand-written on back of photoprint: "Sugar beet workers arriving."; Photoprint has yellowed. Title hand-written on front of photoprint. R7100119339
Denver Public Library Special Collections 

 

Thing of the past ...
Creator: Wolle, Muriel Sibell, 1898-1977
Date:1935
Weathered front facade of First Baptist Church on Bluff Street at base of Crystal Peak, Lake City, Colorado. The first service was held in 1891. Shows front gable and intersecting side gable, shingle roof, clapboard siding, central corner tower with tall steeple, stained glass windows, and porch over double door entry.
Physical Description1 photonegative : black-and-white ; 12 x 7 cm (4 1/2 x 2 3/4 in.); 1 photoprint :black-and-white ; 12 x 7 cm (4 1/2 x 2 3/4 in.); 1 photoprint : black-and-white ; 10 x 6 cm (4 x 2 1/2 in.)
Born-Digital or Analog: Analog
Subject: Lake City (Colo.)Baptist churches--Colorado--Lake CityFirst Baptist Church (Lake City, Colo.)
Geographic Area: Lake City (Colo.)
Collection:Photographs - Western History
Related Material: Image File: ZZR710000013
Type of Material: Film negativesBlack & white photographs Photographic prints
Original Material Found in Collection WH906. Muriel Sibell Wolle papers
Notes: Album photoprint has adhesive staining on back of image. Historic designation in Lake City Historic District, 1977. Penciled on back of photoprint: Lake City, Baptist Church, 1935. Photonegative was formerly negative number WO684. Title supplied by cataloger. Vintage photographic print with white border framed by a narrower black border. R7100000132
Donor: Muriel Sibell Wolle estate, 1977
Denver Public Library Special Collections 

 

Thing of the past ...
Creator: Wolle, Muriel Sibell, 1898-1977
Date:1935-1949
Northwest towards exterior of St. Patrick's Catholic Church at corner of Galena Avenue and North Spruce Street, Telluride, Colorado. Built in 1896 on what became known as "Catholic Hill" for a large number of Catholic Italians and Austrians who lived there, the delapitated wood frame structure with front gable and clapboard siding is in need of paint. Belltower and apex of gable have decorative wood trim; side facade has four arched windows, two more flank projecting front entry vestibule, with a round floret window above entry. The church is surrounded by overgrown grasses and a low concrete wall; a powerline pole with bulb streetlamp is in foreground; residences and mountain are in background.
Physical Description: 1 photonegative : black-and-white ; 7 x 11 cm (2 1/2 x 4 1/4 in.); 1 photoprint : black-and-white ; 10 x 17 cm (4 x 6 3/4 in.)
Born-Digital or Analog:Analog:
Subject: Telluride (Colo.)Catholic Churches--Colorado--TellurideHistoric sites--Colorado--TellurideSt. Patrick's Catholic Church (Telluride, Colo.)
Geographic Area:Telluride (Colo.)Collection Photographs - Western HistoryRelated Material: Image File: ZZR710000082
Type of Material: Film negativesBlack & white photographs Photographic prints
Original Material Found in Collection WH906. Muriel Sibell Wolle papers
Notes: Formerly WO2088. Penciled on back of photoprint: "Catholic Church". Telluride Historic District designated a National Historic Landmark in 1964. Title supplied by cataloger.
R7100000823
Donor: Muriel Sibell Wolle estate, 1977
Denver Public Library Special Collections 

 

Thing of the past ...
Creator: Wolle, Muriel Sibell, 1898-1977
Date: circa 1959
Bullet fuel tank, automobile on road and bluff in background.; View southeast along Fifth Street to side facade of the Presbyterian Church, Lake City, Colorado. Known as the oldest church on the Western Slope, it was built by George M. Darley in 1876; Capenter Gothic style with clapboard siding and front gable. Leaves of tall cottonwoods mask steeple and bell tower that rise above projecting vestibule. View includes: small gable structures behind church, post and picket fences along roadside, station wagon parked in driveway, silver
Physical Description: 1 photonegative : black-and-white ; 7 x 12 cm (2 3/4 x 4 1/2 in.); 1 photoprint : black-and-white ; 10 x 17 cm (4 x 6 3/4 in.)
Born-Digital or Analog:Analog
Subject: Lake City (Colo.) Presbyterian churches--Colorado--Lake City Darley, George M.--Homes and haunts.
Geographic Area: Lake City (Colo.)
Collection: Photographs - Western History:
Related Materia: lImage File: ZZR710000046
Type of Material: Film negativesBlack & white photographs Photographic prints
Original Material Found in Collection: WH906. Muriel Sibell Wolle papers
Notes: Historic designation in Lake City Historic District, 1977. Penciled on back of photoprint: Lake City Presbyterian. Photonegative was formerly negative number WO1208. Title supplied by cataloger. R7100000467
Donor: Muriel Sibell Wolle estate, 1977

 

Thing of the past ...
Date: 1899
A Sunday school gathers in front of the first church building erected on the Western Slope of Colorado; built by George M. Darley, dedicated November, 1876. Carpenter Gothic with front gable, clapboard siding, four double-hung windows along side face of building; steeple with bell tower added later. Group of men, women and children are dressed in dresses, hats, suits, and jackets; baby carriage is on left.
Physical Description:1 copy photonegative ; 10 x 13 12 cm (6 3/4 x 4 3/4 in.)
Born-Digital or Analog: Analog
Subject: Lake City (Colo.)Children & adults--Colorado--Lake CityPresbyterian churches--Colorado--Lake CityDarley, George M.Geographic AreaLake City (Colo.)
Collection: Photographs - Western History
Related Material: Image File: ZZR710000068
Type of Material: Film negatives Photographic prints
Digital Version Created From: Darley, George M., "Pioneering in the San Juan" Chicago: 1899 p 16
Notes: Formerly F24541. Historic designation in Lake City Historic District, 1977. Penciled on back of photoprint: Presbyterian. Photoprint reproduced from page in George Daly's "Pioneering in the San Juan". Title printed below photoprint in George Daly's "Pioneering in the San Juan". R7100000687
Publisher:Fleming H. Revel Company
Denver Public Library Special Collections 

 

Thing of the past ...
Date: 1900-1910
Fire station in Denver, Colorado; men by iron beds pull pants on over long underwear.
Physical Description: 1 photographic print on card mount ; 18 x 24 cm (7 1/2 x 9 1/2 in.)
Born-Digital or Analog: Analog
Subject: Denver (Colo.). Fire Department--People Fire fighters--Colorado--Denver Fire stations
Geographic Area: Denver (Colo.)Collection Photographs - Western History
Related Material: Image File: ZZR710029621
Type of Material: Photographic prints Black & white photographs Digital Version Created From: Denver Art Museum, rec. Sept 17, 1974.
Notes: Condition: fold cracks, peeled emulsion. Title supplied; inked on tape on verso: "A.U.S. 25. XX.778.E." Stamped: "Glenn Durston."; R7100296212
Denver Public Library Special Collections  

 

Thing of the past ...
Date:1941
Firemen climb ladders on the side of a brick building in Denver, Colorado; smoke and boxes come out of a window, and crates are in a pile on the ground. A dome and wrought iron gate are in the background.
Physical Description: 1 photographic print : black-and-white ; 13 x 10 cm (5 x 4 in.)
Born-Digital or Analog:Analog
Subject: Denver (Colo.)Fire fighters--Colorado
Geographic AreaDenver (Colo.)CollectionPhotographs - Western HistoryRelated MaterialImage File: ZZR710029546Type of MaterialFilm negativesPhotographic printsBlack & white photographsNotesFormerly RMN1977. Title supplied. Library owns additional iterations of this image in various formats: 1 copy negative ; 10 x 13 cm. (4 x 5 in.);
R7100295460
Denver Public Library Special Collections  

 

Thing of the past ...
Creator: Rhoads, Harry Mellon, 1880 or 1881-1975
Date:1900-1920
Firemen survey the fire damage in a grocery store possibly in Denver, Colorado.Physical Description1 photonegative : glass ; 10 x 13 cm (4 x 5 in.)
Born-Digital or Analog: Analog
Subject: Denver (Colo.)Fire fighters--Colorado--Denver Fires--Colorado--Denver
Geographic Area: Denver (Colo.)
Collection: Photographs - Western History
Related Material
Image File: ZZR700186975
Type of Material Glass negativesBlack & white photographs
Original Material Found in Collection:mHarry M. Rhoads photograph collection
Notes: Condition: Emulsion is chipped. Title hand-written on photofile envelope. R7001869758
Donor: Morey Engle
Denver Public Library Special Collections