Byers, County Seat squabbles, First Winter Sports Carnival, more

 

Date: 1899-1910, The Frank Byers property above Hot Sulphur Springs, Grand County, Colorado, includes the Willows, a grand two-story house with hipped roof and dormers and the original log house. Three men are outside a walled canvas tent with a stove and coffee pot. A wagon is parked next to them with harnesses on the hitch and canvas rolled off its frame.

Father & Son: Two Byers played prominent Grand County development role

By Rob Carrigan, robcarrigan1@gmail.com

William N. Byers, the founder of Denver’s Rocky Mountain News, came to Middle Park in 1860 and located the hot springs, pinched between two small mountains at the foot of the Rabbit Ears Range. He planned to turn the area into a resort community and founded the town of Saratoga West in 1860. Byers built a resort around the springs, and the town’s name was changed to Hot Sulphur Springs in 1863, says Grand County, on its history for the county.

First Colorado Newspaper Publisher and Editor, Byers was a big Denver booster. From Ohio he started west going first to Iowa and then to Omaha, the great jumping-off place and home base for the Union Pacific Railroad. Byers helped lay out Omaha, the largest town between St. Louis and San Francisco. Then gold fever struck him, he left Omaha in 1859 for the Cherry Creek gold rush towns. He authored one of the 17 guidebooks to the new promised land printed in 1859, and convinced himself and thousands of others about the golden gamble called Denver City. In the summer of 1859, having secured a printing press, a wagon and teams, Byers left Omaha for Denver. On the side of his wagon he had painted the name of his contemplated newspaper, "The Rocky Mountain News," says obituaries in the News.

The newsman Byers' son, Frank Sumner Byers, who during the greater part of his active business career was extensively engaged in raising horses and cattle, was a well known and influential citizen of Denver. His birth occurred in Omaha, Nebraska, on the 16th of October, 1855, and he went to Cherry Creek, Kansas territory (now Denver), August 7, 1859, with his parents, William Newton and Elizabeth M. (Sumner) Byers, the former born in Madison county, Ohio, February 22, 1831, and the latter at Chillicothe, Ohio, August 31, 1834.

In the acquirement of an education Frank Byers attended private and public schools of Denver, Colorado, and studied in the Michigan Agricultural College at Lansing from December, 1870, to February, 1872. During the winters of 1867 and 1868 he carried the outside, or pony route, of the Rocky Mountain News, and with the money thus earned he invested in the cattle business in association with Governor Evans and WilHam Daily.

In 1875, when the herd was moved to Wyoming, Mr. Byers drew out his number of cattle and took them to Middle Park, where he continued in the cattle business until 1902. He first went to Middle Park in 1865, went there again with stock in 1874 and became the first permanent settler there. In 1883 he began the operation of a general store at Hot Sulphur Springs, where he thus remained active in business until he sold the establishment three years later.

Byers had a mail contract from 1885 until 1888 and operated a stage line between Hot Sulphur Springs and Georgetown. He also had mail contracts, at different times, between Hot Sulphur Springs and Breckenridge, Hot Sulphur Springs and Grand Lake and Hot Sulphur Springs and Steamboat Springs. During the twelve year period between 1883 and 1895 he was also engaged in the sawmill business at Hot Sulphur Springs in association with his father. From 1895 until 1902 he operated a small hotel which he had erected at Hot Sulphur Springs. He has had charge of the Hot Sulphur Springs since 1874, or for a period covering more than a half century. The major portion of his life, however, as above stated, has been devoted to the stock business.

Frank S. Byers also figured prominently in public affairs. He was treasurer of Grand county in 1877 and 1878 and again served in that capacity for two terms during the '90s. He likewise served as county commissioner of Grand county for one term in the '80s and filled the office of game warden of Grand county for one term. He has been a volunteer officer of the Colorado Humane Society since September 9, 1889. He was appointed to fill his father's place as a director of the Humane Society in May, 1903, and at the present time is first vice president of the organization.

The younger Byers belonged to the Society of Colorado Pioneers, of which he served as president during the years 1916, 1924 and 1926, and is a life member of the State Historical and Natural History Society of Colorado, in which he was a member of the board of directors beginning 1922. He is a Methodist in religious faith and fraternally is affiliated with the Woodmen of the World.

On the 16th of October, 1877, at Hot Sulphur Springs, Frank S. Byers was united in marriage to Josephene McQueary. They became the parents of a daughter, Mrs. Grace (Byers) Boston, a resident of Fort Lupton, Colorado. For his second wife Frank Byers chose Miss Mary W. Sullivan, whom he wedded January 1, 1885, in Denver, Colorado.

In 1862, road builder Edward L. Berthoud made new inroads for white settlement in Middle Park when he surveyed a stagecoach route along a seldom-used Ute trail that is now known as Berthoud Pass.

According to Thomas J. Noel, Paul F. Mahoney, and Richard E. Stevens, in "Historical Atlas of Colorado," most violent of the County Seat squabbles in Colorado was the struggle between Grand Lake and Hot Sulphur Springs in Grand County, culminating in a July 4, 1883, shooting that ended the lives of four men.

The town of Grand Lake was laid out in 1879, and in 1881 the county seat was moved there due to a brief mining boom. This led to a feud between two political factions, one supporting Grand Lake and the other supporting Hot Sulphur Springs in Grand County.

The feud culminated in a deadly shooting in Grand Lake in 1883, which left three county commissioners and the county clerk dead; the county sheriff, a backer of Hot Sulphur Springs, shot and killed a pro-Grand Lake official during the incident and later killed himself. The county seat was returned to Hot Sulphur Springs in 1888, ending much of the bitterness.

Grand County History

Native Tribes

"The archaeological record of Grand County shows evidence of human occupation dating to about 11,000 years ago during the Clovis, Folsom, and Plano periods. Paleo-Indians occupied the area until about 7,500 years ago. The projectile points found throughout the region display a variety of technologies throughout this period," says Grand County information.

The first modern Native Tribe to occupy the region were the Utes. By about the sixteenth century the Utes had migrated into Colorado’s mountains. They were hunter-gatherers who travelled throughout the Rockies, following game herds and gathering berries, roots, and other dietary plants. They hunted elk, deer, antelope, and bison and lived in portable or temporary dwellings such as tipis or wickiups. In the seventeenth century, after contact with Spanish explorers and settlements to the south, the Utes acquired horses, which made migration and hunting easier and expanded their hunting and raiding territory. The Utes spent winters camped near the natural hot springs by present-day Hot Sulphur Springs, which they used to revitalize both body and spirit.

By the early 1800s, Arapaho and Cheyenne people began hunting in the Middle Park area during the summer, although they spent much of the year on the plains. The Utes and Arapaho often fought each other for control of the hunting ground, and the Cheyenne often fought alongside their Arapaho allies.

Early American Period

The United States acquired the current area of Grand County via the Louisiana Purchase of 1803, but it was still controlled mostly by the Utes and Arapaho for several decades thereafter. Vast numbers of beaver and other fur-bearing animals brought fur trappers into Middle Park as early as the 1820s. Fur trappers had led hunting parties in the Grand Lake area since the 1820s, but by mid-century, they were building summer lodges by the lake.

The first permanent white residents, however, did not arrive until after the Colorado Gold Rush of 1858–59. Joseph L. Wescott became the first permanent resident of the area when he built his cabin on Grand Lake’s west shore in 1867.

County Development

With the creation of the Colorado Territory, present Grand County was part of a larger Summit County that stretched from the Continental Divide to the Utah and Wyoming borders. In 1874 the territorial government formally established Grand County, choosing Hot Sulphur Springs as the county seat.

The creation of Routt and Moffat Counties established the current western boundary of Grand County in 1877. The Colorado Supreme Court established the current northern boundary in 1886, settling a dispute between Grand and Larimer Counties over land near the mining camp of Teller, in present-day Jackson County (the decision gave the land to Larimer County).

White occupation of Middle Park expanded after the Utes had been moved to the western part of the state as per the Treaty of 1868. In the early 1880s Rudolph Kremmling built a general store on the ranch of a Dr. Harris in western Grand County; by 1885 the site had a post office called Kremmling. In 1888 ranchers John and Aaron Kinsey had part of their ranch platted as the town of Kinsey City. Kremmling moved his store to the Kinseys’ new town, and the current community of Kremmling developed around it, incorporating under that name in 1904.

Grand County also enjoyed a small mining boom in the late nineteenth century. The first gold strikes were in Bowen Gulch, north of Grand Lake, in 1879. James Bourn and Alexander Campbell founded the Wolverine Mine in the gulch; however, unlike its fellow intermountain basins North Park and South Park, Middle Park produced little for miners. By 1885 metal mining had all but ended in Grand County.

Ranching and agriculture grew during and after the short mining boom, as the grass in Middle Park proved especially nutritious for cattle. One well-known ranch in the area was the Cozens Ranch. Built by Billy Cozens in 1874, the ranch also served as a stopping place for travellers coming across Berthoud Pass through the Fraser River valley. Cozens helped build the town of Fraser and served as its postmaster. Agriculture was limited by the climate and altitude of Grand County, but lettuce and hay became major cash crops for the region in the early twentieth century.

The first railroad arrived in Grand County in 1904, allowing for easier shipment of crops and livestock to market and easier access to Middle Park for tourists. The Denver, Northwest & Pacific Railroad, also known as the Moffat Road, reached Grand County by building a line over the Continental Divide at Rollins Pass. The railroad first reached the small town of Arrow, just beyond the pass, in 1904, and later that year it established the town of Granby, which connected train travellers to a stagecoach line that ran north to Grand Lake.

The Moffat line reached Kremmling in 1906, continuing north to Steamboat Springs. In 1928 the long-awaited Moffat Tunnel replaced the line over Rollins Pass. The tunnel allowed the railroad to go through the Continental Divide rather than over it. The tunnel also included a pipeline to move mountain water to the Denver Metro area beginning in 1936. Later, in 1956, completion of the Colorado-Big Thompson Project further appropriated water from the Colorado headwaters for farming and urban development along the Front Range. Lake Granby, a large reservoir that is now Colorado’s third-largest body of water, was created in 1950 as part of the project and now serves as a popular tourist destination in the summer.

During World War II, German prisoners of war were held near the towns of Fraser and Kremmling. Captive Germans loaded timber on trains and cut ice. About 200 prisoners worked in the Fraser camp, loading about 25,000 feet of lumber on rail cars daily.

Tourism 

Tourism proved the most consistent industry throughout the history of Grand County. Hot Sulphur Springs brought visitors to the area as early as the 1860s under the direction of William Byers. The hot springs became especially popular for their medicinal qualities. The town of Grand Lake, meanwhile, attracted hunting parties.

The railroad brought hundreds of tourists from Denver in the early twentieth century. It stopped at a station on top of Rollins Pass that featured a restaurant and dance hall. Rail access and the creation of Rocky Mountain National Park in 1915 paved the way for tourism development in Grand Lake. In 1920 entrepreneur Roe Emery opened the Grand Lake Lodge, and in 1938 the completion of Trail Ridge Road across the west side of Rocky Mountain National Park offered tourists a scenic drive to Grand Lake from Denver.

Though skiing began in the early twentieth century, it did not become a major industry with modern resorts until after World War II. The increased population in Colorado, as well as returning veterans of the Tenth Mountain Division, led to interest and investments in ski resorts. Winter Park began in the 1930s as a mountain resort community known as Hideaway Park. The Graves family began the community with ten tourist cabins for rent. In 1978 the town incorporated and changed its name to Winter Park. Its proximity to the growing city of Denver helped Winter Park develop into a tourist town that primarily catered to winter sports. Today, the town supports year-round outdoor recreation.


 

Date1911: Large group poses in front of the grocery store during the First Winter Sports Carnival, Hot Sulphur Springs, Grand County, Colorado. Some hold skis upright, others sit on toboggans or sleds. Carl Howelson holds a large shiny trophy cup. Other carnival goers include: James Cairns, J. N. Pettingell, Lawrence Sunderlin, George Steele, Harry Miller, Frank I. Huntington, Sam Riley, Brice Sheriff, Frank Adams, E. A. Morgan, P.S. Elting, Gunar Dahle, Green McQueary, Schmidt, Judge Palm, Judge Kennedy, John Peyer, Cyrus Sunderlin, Lee Fuller, Loius Janssen, C. C. Eastin (Lum), Elizabeth Pettingell, Earl McQueary, Fount McQueary, Lester Curtis, Albert M. Staley, Leslie Harrison, Tom Percy, Gunar Reini, Dist. Atty. Morgan, Lewis Wade, "Shorty" Carmean, Henry Eastin, Marion Gibbs, Charles F. Free, Clark Tel. Mgr., Rose Vaughn, Hannah Pettingell, Myrtle Miller, Laura Throckmorton, Emeza Davis, Glenn Sheriff, Mrs. Aug. Loehwing, Nona Morgan, Fred Throckmorton, Mrs. Leon Fuller, Leon Fuller, Jr. Florence Brinker, Chester McQueary, Adeline Morgan, Nora Sheriff, Pansy Perry, Anna Robinson, Miss Weymore, Jim Weymore, Roy Morgan, John Johnson, Gertrude Pettingell, Marjorie Johnson, Gus Severine, Arthur Vaughn, Horace Jansson, Roy McGlochlin, Jake Pettingell, Jr., Robert Crowell, Forrest Fay.

Hot Sulphur Springs hosted their first Winter Carnival in 1911. The carnival included winter sports such as ice skating, tobogganing, cross country skiing, and ski jumping. This is considered to be the beginning of skiing in Grand County and is credited with bringing the ski industry to Colorado. With the establishment of Rocky Mountain National Park in 1915, additional tourists came to the area. Its west entrance was situated by Grand Lake, bringing a new road to the county through the park.

Granby Ranch is another all-season resort in Grand County, offering downhill and cross-country skiing. The resort also offers snowshoeing, and in warmer weather visitors can enjoy bike trails and a golf course.



 

William N. Byers,


Frank S. Byers

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It was the best of times, it was the worst of times

 

The Santa Fe depot in the foreground with Palmer Lake and the town in the background, circa 1888. 

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way—in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only. "

__ Charles Dickens 

 Dual rails through Palmer Lake

By Rob Carrigan, robcarrign1@gmail.com

 It may not have been a tale of two cities, but TWO tracks certainly, had an major effect on the way the the North/South corridor in Colorado developed.

"The Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway built its own line north from Pueblo to Denver, reaching Palmer Lake in September 1887. Its tracks paralleled those of the Denver & Rio Grande’s all the way, crossing over them at three locations, including one just north of Palmer Lake. Among the Santa Fe’s facilities at Palmer Lake, on the east side of the lake, was a large frame depot with a distinctive tower where the south end of the (current) Santa Fe Trail’s parking lot, information kiosk and restroom are," writes my friend and Palmer Lake historian Dan Edwards, in one of his papers for the Vaile Museum. 

"The Santa Fe and Rio Grande operated on their own tracks from 1887-1918. During World War I the United States Railroad Administration ordered that the two railroads operate their tracks from South Denver to Bragdon, just north of Pueblo as a double track railroad. To facilitate this, crossovers and connecting tracks were built at the three previous crossovers, including one at Spruce Mountain, just north of Palmer Lake to facilitate this. The D&RG track was south bound with the Santa Fe’s track north bound."

 "In 1938 the two railroads created a consolidated depot at Palmer Lake, made possible because the two sets of tracks were a few yards apart where County Line Road crossed them. The Santa Fe’s closed Pring depot was moved to Palmer Lake, its bay window facing west. The closed Greenland depot baggage door and bay window were added to the east side, facing the Santa Fe’s northbound tracks. The depot was staffed by the Santa Fe. The new “joint agency” was now in service. The railroad’s separate depots were torn down in 1939," according to Edwards.

"The Santa Fe’s original depot was a large unique structure for that railroad. Its distinctive tower seemingly served no known purpose other than ornamentation. Decorative windows in the tower may have been planned but were never installed. A large rectangular, long “roof,” covered four distinct “areas.” At the southern end was an open “waiting area” with seats, then the actual depot of three rooms – the telegrapher’s office, waiting room and a freight room, then an open, covered “breezeway” and lastly a kitchen and dining room. The dining room was smaller than others but nevertheless was operated as one of the Santa Fe’s famous Harvey House dining rooms. Some/many local folks said the food was superior to that of the D&RGs Judd Eating House. The dining room did not last very long and was closed about 1902. In 1915 the “breeze way” was enclosed and along with the kitchen/dining area converted to living quarters for the agent."

The Santa Fe Section Foreman’s home is now the Palmer Lake Police Dept. and is across from the Vaile Museum, on the north-west corner of Lower Glenway Street. With the establishment of the Santa Fe – Rio Grande “Joint Depot” staffed by Santa Fe agents and telegraphers serving both roads in 1938, the unique Santa Fe depot at Palmer Lake was closed and torn down about 1938 or 1939.

 A man rows his boat, "Lizzie," across Palmer Lake, Palmer Lake, El Paso County, Colorado; shows water squirting from fountain in the center of the lake and the Denver & Rio Grande railroad depot, tank, and train. Creator:Stone & Co. Date circa 1895.

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No alarm bell rang, no lonesome whistle

 

Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe train depot, Palmer Lake 1948

What Happened to Santa Fe Depot At the North End of Palmer Lake?

By Rob Carrigan, robcarrigan1@gmail.com

 No alarm bell rang out in 1968 when Palmer Lake lost one of its most historic structures. But fire was not culprit and the long lonesome whistle of a train may have been more fitting. 

“After welcoming travelers for more than 60 years, the Palmer Lake depot is doing a little traveling itself these days,” wrote William Marvel of the Rocky Mountain News late in 1968.

“The ancient wooden structure, decorated with carved fancywork in the Victorian manner, has taken to flatbed truck and is being towed towards a final resting place in South Park.”

In its last years in Palmer Lake, the station was used as an office for the Santa Fe Railroad’s agent that relayed orders to passing train that never stopped. The railroad donated it to a Palmer Lake youth group and as soon as the group realized that its members had no way of getting it off the property, they advertised it ‘for sale.’

Denver advertising executive Shelton Fisher saw the ad and talked to the group’s leader who told him he was selling the building to the first buyer that showed up with $100. Marvel’s story in the Rocky Mountain News quotes Fisher regarding his immediate interest.

“Thirty-nine minutes later, we were down there. I saw it from the highway and told my wife to write out the check,” he said. His plans called for having a house mover relocate the structure with a trip of 120 miles that required special dispensation form Charles Shumate, who was then head of the Colorado Highway Department. Part of its route included traveling down uncompleted lanes of I-70 that was known then as the Hampden Avenue Extension, to avoid traffic.

“Once there, it will be set up along with another rail road relic – a wooden caboose given to Fisher by the Colorado and Southern Railway (Burlington),” noted Marvel’s story in the Rocky Mountain News. Fisher planned to create a bunk house that would sleep ten and connect the two structures with a passageway between them for use as guest ranch of sorts for orphans. Still, bells and whistles aside, the loss is real even if most can’t remember any of those buildings. It is nice to know where they were.

A man with a hard hat sits atop the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe railroad depot as a flatbed truck transports it in Palmer Lake, El Paso County, Colorado. Signs on the side of the truck: "Ryberg Construction Co.," "Ryberg Constr. Co. House Movers, tel. 422-0177 Denver." Signs on building: "Palmer Lake" and "Santa Fe."
 

---

Having read a column that I wrote earlier about moving the railroad depot in Palmer Lake, Marianne Zagorski wrote and provided a interesting postscript to the story.

“In ’66 my family and I moved from the USAFA out to Palmer Lake and eventually attended a town meeting, date of which I do not recall. It is a coincidence you should say “fire was not the culprit” because it almost was. Toward the end of the meeting a reminder was given of past business. ‘Don’t forget – our volunteer fire department will brush up on their skills on (date) when the depot will be set fire. Everyone
come.’

“Never shy, I jumped to my feet and had my say. In the interest of brevity, I will condense what ensued into: hostility, sharp words, disbelief and a final acquiescence in accepting my plan of putting it up for sale. ‘But remember, you only have two weeks, then we burn it. And you are limited to $100 – tops.’

Zagorski countered.
‘But why tie my hands? You already made it clear your funds are at a low ebb. I guarantee I can get you much more.’

“TWO WEEKS – ONE HUNDRED DOLLARS!”
“Yes sir.”

Zagorski said that they did have a good point about the dangerous condition of the building and how it would be expensive to rectify.

“But I knew my market and lost no time calling The Denver Post Sunday Empire section which also lost no time sending a reporter and photographer to meet me. I was aware of everything dealing with trains was high on their list of priorities. So, on the earliest Sunday, there was a good photo and article on a full page.”

“Early in the morning the phone started ringing and continued for days. Of course, I had to accept the first caller for which I was truly sorry when the second caller was the moving force behind the opening of Woodmoor. He was offering really big money (as many did) if only I would let him have it. He wanted it for the narrow-gauge tracks and train he was planning to run around his lake. Even though he never realized that idea, The Depot would have remained here.” Thus, the depot was saved from the torch.

“I do not recall anything at all said to me by the Palmer Lake commission members when I handed over the check. Not then or later. But I had accomplished my goal.”

Strange that little of the story made its way into town or Historical Society records. Maybe the shame of losing the depot had something to do with this.

 

 

The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe train depot in process of a move on a flatbed truck, with a horse in background, Palmer Lake, El Paso County, Colorado. The historic building features: bracketed eaves, a gable, a bay window, and board and batten siding.  

 

 

 

 

One dead, one injured, and bystander loses an arm

William (Big Bill) Thompson stood 6' 4" tall and weighed 280 pounds

 By Rob Carrigan, robcarrigan1@gmail.com 

In 1906, Durango was such a rough town, that the County Sheriff and the Town Marshal were fighting over whether, or not to allow gambling. The disagreement took a turn toward violence and escalated into the two officers emptying revolvers in street at each other. One dead, one injured, and a bystander losing an arm in the process.

Headlines across the state reflected the news then:

QUARREL WITH POLICEMAN AT DURANGO.

FIGHT AGAINST GAMBLING

Sheriff W. J. Thompson Meets Death at Hands of Policeman Jesse C. Stansel—Latter Officer Dangerously Wounded. 

 

"Sheriff Thompson was shot and killed by a town marshal after an argument stemming from the sheriff closing down gambling halls in the town of Durango. The two got into an argument at one of the halls and went outside and exchanged gunfire. Sheriff Thompson was fatally wounded and the marshal was wounded. The marshal was charged with murder after it was learned that Sheriff Thompson was shot in the back. The undertaker, however, burned all of Sheriff Thompson's clothes and destroyed the evidence, resulting in the suspect's acquittal, " according to modern-day posts by La Plata County Sheriff's Office, Colorado End of Watch: Tuesday, January 9, 1906.

 On January 9, 1906, William (Big Bill) Thompson stood 6' 4" tall and weighed 280 pounds, but that didn't help him when he got into a gun battle with Jesse Stansel, the Town Marshal of Durango. Thompson had been appointed La Plata County Sheriff in 1898, and began to close down Durango's gambling halls under orders from the Governor. Marshal Stansel objected, and the two got into an argument at the El Mano Saloon. The argument moved out onto the sidewalk, where the two men emptied their guns at each other.

After the smoke cleared, both men were taken to Mercy Hospital, where Sheriff Thompson died from four bullet wounds. Marshal Stansel sustained one bullet wound to the chest and survived. After it was discovered that one of Thompson's wounds was to his back, Marshal Stansel was arrested for murder.

Before the trial could take place, the undertaker burned Sheriff Thompson's clothing, which was vital evidence to prove the murder charge. As a result, Stensel was acquitted by the jury. Soon after, he moved to Texas.

  "Denver—A Republican special from Durango Tuesday says; Sheriff W. J. Thompson was killed to-day and Jesse r .. Stansel. a city officer, was dangerously wounded as a result of a revolver duel between the .two men. Thompson •as shot four times and pounded over the head with a gun by Stansel, and the latter was shot once. The tragedy was the outcome of a fight against gambling. I.ast September the sheriff ordered all saloon keepers to close their saloons at midnight and on Sundays and ordered that all gambling cease. Since that time there has been two opposing elements, the City Council favoring gambling, it is said," writes The Walsenburg World, 
January 12, 1906 .

"A raid by Sheriff Thompson last night was the cause of to-day’s tragedy, which occurred in the street in front of the El Moro saloon. Both men emptied their revolvers and then grappled (ml fought until separated by friends. Sheriff Thompson lived only a short time. night at 11 o’clock Sheriff Thompson went in a back room of the El Moro saluon and caught a crowd gambling. He confiscated a roulette wheel and stated while doing so that me police opposed his efforts to enforce the law. Mischief-makers carried the tale to Stansel. no doubt making it worse than it really was. and when Stansel came down town this morning he said he intended to see the sheriff about the report. They met in front of the El Moro saloon and hot words were exchanged. *The preponderance of evidence is that .Thompson was drinking some and had been drinking the night before when •he raided the gambling Joint. According to eye witnesses of the tragedy Thompson turned and started to walk away, but suddenly turned, drew his gun and commenced firing. "

"It is supposed that Stansel said something which caused Thompson to •decide to shoot. The men were very close together. They emptied their guns and then pounded each other with the butt end of the guns. John Acord. a man seventy-two years old, was shot by a stray bullet, the ball entering his forearm and ranging upward, shattering the elbow Joint. The two officers were separated by friends. After Thompson had been shot four a times and badly beaten, he w’alked a few steps and sank to the sidewalk. Stansel clubbed him with his gun after 1 he was down, according to witnesses After the fight was over it was no tlced that Stansel had two guns w’hlch he gave to a by-stander and then asked for a doctor. Thompson was hurried to the Ochs- , ner hospital and breached his last Just as he was being laid on a cot. He was conscious almost up to the last minute. Stansel and Acord were taken to Mercy hospital and Stansel’s wound ( was examined and the bullet removed, it having entered at the right collarbone, extended downward and lodged in the tissues of the right lung. Acord's arm was amputated above the elbow. Enmity had existed between Thompson and Stansel ever since the election a year ago last fall, when both t ran for sheriff, Thompson on the Republican ticket and Stansel on the Democratic ticket. Trouble breeders carried false tales to both men and while they were making their canvass they met and agreed to make a clean campaign and be friendly, but the trouble breeders kept busy and disrupted the friendly compact. Thompson frequently charged that the police opposed him in his efforts to enforce the law and these statements were repeated and distorted by the gambling fraternity and their sympathizers. so the breech between the two men grew wider. W. J. Tompson was thirty-four years of age and had lived in this section twenty-six years. During the early days he was in the stock business and rode the range when this was really a tough country; when It was infested with treacherous Indians and outlaws and there were many things to try a man’s courage. For the last fifteen years Thompson had acted in the capacity of peace officer the greater part of the time. He has been on th police force several times. He served ns deputy sheriff for three years under Joe Smith and a year or two under Joe Airy. He had the reputation of being the biggest sheriff in the state. He was six feet two inches tall and weighed 250 pounds. He was a man of great courage, a terror to the law breakers and never failed to arrest his man if he found him. He leaves a widow, three grown sons and two daughters, one ten years old and ;the other seventeen. He had suffered a great deal of late from rheumatism and this, coupled with his great size, made him clumsy. Stansel has a wife and five small children. He is a fearless officer, of large physique, much younger than Thompson and very active, according to the Trinidad paper, and other dispatches around the state.

Who killed the La Plata County sheriff?

"You may come up with your own answer after seeing the feature-length documentary “Tragedy at El Moro,” says an article in modern-day Durango Herald about the historic incident.

"The new film, directed by Durangoan Preston Benson, will premiere Tuesday at El Moro Spirits & Tavern. The bar and restaurant occupies the same spot that the El Moro Saloon did in 1906, when La Plata County Sheriff William J. Thompson died after a shootout with Durango Marshall Jessie C. Stansel."

Durango Police Department historian Sharon Greve, who helped research for the movie, said she is excited for the public to know the factual, historical story that’s been the subject of much speculation and subjective interpretation over the years.

"In the 1900s, Durango really was the Wild West. Most men worked at railroad, mining and ranching jobs, and there wasn’t much else for them to do besides frequent the many downtown bars and bordellos."

In the 900 block of Main Avenue, where El Moro sits, there were 11 saloons, Greve said, and in those saloons, they didn’t just drink 5-cent beers. They also gambled, and open gambling was shut down by Gov. Jesse Fuller McDonald on July 1, 1905.

At the root of the conflict between Thompson, played by Trapper Niccum, and Stansel, played by Jon Mattox, was Thompson’s belief that the Durango Police Department wasn’t doing enough to help him put a stop to the gambling, and friction built between the two law enforcers.

On Jan. 9, 1906, about midday, the two were in El Moro Saloon, and Thompson, who had been drinking, was using profanity with the sober Stansel, who didn’t like it and left the bar. Stansel was leaning against a light pole when Thompson exited El Moro, uttering more “not-too-nice words,” Greve said. Thompson turned around and fired at Stansel, and Stansel fired back.

They exchanged fire until they ran out of bullets. Thompson ran out first and hit Stansel over the head, and they continued to scuffle until Thompson started to go into Wesley Helm’s Barbershop next door, where he fell in the doorway. He died in a horse-drawn ambulance on the northern Main Avenue bridge as he was being transported to Ochsner Hospital on West Park Avenue.

After a 10-day trial and testimony from 50 witnesses, Stansel was acquitted because of a lack of evidence that he had fired the shot that killed Thompson, Greve said.

"The account of one witness stated there was a pale, smooth-shaven, tall man in dark clothing standing in the El Moro doorway with a gun drawn, Greve said. The witness said the man was there long enough to fire two shots, but he couldn’t tell if he did shoot, she said. During the gunfight, Thompson and Stansel always were facing each other, but Thompson was shot in the back. So that’s where the discrepancy lies. And Hood Mortuary burned Thompson’s clothes the night of the accident, so evidence was lost."

It’s possible that someone in the saloon industry wanted Thompson out of the way because he was cracking down on gambling. A Durango newspaperman once said to Thompson, “Watch out, Bill. They’re out to get you,” Greve said.

“Both men were very dedicated to their jobs,” Greve said. “They were very well-liked by the population, but they knew that it was brewing, and it was not a surprise that it was going to one day explode with the controversy between them.”

Much investigation and research went into this movie, and audiences will be intrigued to learn what really happened on that tragic day, Benson said.

“It’s really kind of an incredible story, beyond what everyone knows or has heard about,” Benson said.

Kris Oyler, co-owner of El Moro, opened the bar in summer 2013.

“It’s very cool to have the history behind what we’re doing,” he said, according to the Durango Herald. 

But the Herald (full disclosure: I carried the Durango Herald in routes in Dolores as a lad.) had it's own baggage to carry around.

Of editors and publishers, historically speaking, I feel that we have it pretty good nowadays. As evidence, I offer the following account from Duane Smith’s 1992 book on the history of the Durango Herald provided to me by David Staats, the former managing editor of the southwestern Colorado daily.
“The long standing newspaper rivalry (between the Durango Democrat and Herald) thundered violently over Durango when Rod Day shot and killed the Herald’s city editor, William Wood. The incident was sparked by a series of ‘newspapers exchanges,’ ‘joshing comments’ from each about the other’s violation of prohibition,” according to Smith’s report.

“Monday morning, April 24, 1922, shortly before noon, marked the nadir of Durango’s newspaper history. The published facts depend on which paper one reads, but one or the other of the men prowled Main’s 900 block looking for his antagonist. Their meeting prompted and aggressive attack by one of them upon his rival. Day suffered a broken nose before firing, after which he entered a nearby barbershop, cleaned himself up, and surrendered. The coroner’s jury made no recommendation. Day, however was forced to stand trial in the District Court for murder; he was acquitted.”

Rod Day sold the Democrat in 1924 but helped start another rival paper in Durango in 1930.
###  

 

 

Cornet Creek flood in Telluride

 Northwest down Colorado Avenue after the Cornet Creek flood on July 27, 1914, Telluride, Colorado; shows First National Bank Building on corner of Fir and Colorado, three false front businesses, the Sheridan Hotel, the San Miguel County Courthouse, and mud and debris- filled street. Townspeople are near the bank and in distance in front of the Sheridan with a horse and automobile; electric and telephones lines cross street; chairs and tables are part of debris.

Telluride's 1914 Cornet Creek flood 

 July 1914, Southeast down Cornet Creek after the flood on July 27, 1914, Telluride, Colorado. Jack Hawkins' two-story wood frame Victorian with front porch and second story bay window tilts on side from flood waters in centerground; smaller destroyed structures are along path of flood; townspeople survey damage; San Juans in background. 

Telluride area had seen floods before

By Rob Carrigan, robcarrigan1@gmail.com

 Telluride, and the region was no stranger to flood problems. The largest known flood in the Telluride region occurred on Sept. 5, 1909. It devastated the Lake Fork Valley (below Trout Lake), the Ilium Valley (South Fork Canyon) and the San Miguel Canyon from the bottom of Keystone Hill to beyond Placerville. It took out three major railroad trestles of the Rio Grande Southern Railroad and destroyed much of the railroad bed, as well as taking out every bridge between Ames and the confluence of the San Miguel River with the Dolores River between Naturita and Uravan, a distance of about 75 miles," according to a 2006 story in the WATCH of Telluride.

The massive flood damage occurred as a result of the earthen dam failure of the so-called middle reservoir, situated about a half-mile east of Trout Lake. After the flood, the dam was never repaired or rebuilt. It still sits there today, on private land, looking almost exactly as it must have right after the flood, save for a little weathering and vegetation changes. Had the Middle Reservoir dam not burst, it is debatable whether there would have been any noteworthy flood damage and perhaps no flood damage at all, downward from Trout Lake into the San Miguel River," says the WATCH article.  

"That particular 1909 storm was apparently a beaut by any standard, and rather general in scope. It created enough floodwater to take out some RGS railroad bridges on the Dolores River plus one over near Mancos. A newspaper report of the day said it rained heavily in Grand Junction that day, so this was not a storm of the local thunder-cell development type. "

But unlike the Cornet Creek Flood of 1914, it didn't go right through Telluride, and it didn't drown Vera Blakeley and her dog, in front of her husband.

According to Colorado Encyclopedia and History Colorado, the following details transpired more than century ago.

Cornet Creek

Telluride, fifty miles north of Durango in southwest Colorado, is situated in San Miguel Park, one of the most picturesque alpine valleys in the West. Nearly six miles long and a half-mile wide, the park is traversed by the San Miguel River. In spring the river’s muddy brown water churns through an emerging abundance of brightly colored wildflowers, and by summer the water splashes over smooth boulders among the conifers and salt cedars that intermittently crowd its banks. The changing San Miguel Park seasons were well-observed in the town of Telluride, situated at the east end of the park.

In the early 1890s, the Telluride town council made the fateful decision to reroute Cornet Creek from its natural course by constructing a small dam. Diverting the creek opened land needed for the construction of more homes and buildings along the creek’s former course through the west side of town.  Unfortunately, diverting the creek’s natural run also altered its drainage patterns in ways that would not become fully evident until tested by a severe weather event. In 1914 Cornet Creek and the Liberty Bell Mine’s enormous waste dump—thousands of tons of pulverized rock—combined to create a catastrophe that nearly decimated downtown Telluride.

The Flood

 Just after noon on July 27, several cloudbursts occurred directly over the Cornet Basin behind the Liberty Bell Mine complex. At 12:50 p.m. a torrent of water swept away the enormous Liberty Bell waste dump down Cornet Creek, hurtling beyond Cornet Creek Falls to smash the small dam at the foot of the canyon. Gaining momentum, the huge mass of sludge, with its tumbling trees and boulders, surged down Oak Street to Colorado Avenue, Telluride’s main thoroughfare. Terrified residents barely had time to get out of the way.

Historian David Lavender later wrote, “Totally bewildered by the appalling noise, mothers rushed out into the deluge, screaming for their children.” The mother of year-and-a-half-old Irene Visintin and three-week-old Elvira Visintin was at home with her two girls when the flood struck. Elvira later recalled,

Mother was washing clothes when she heard this horrible sound of rushing water and debris hitting the house. She ran to the window and was very frightened, about that time Dad and some friends came—so she tossed [out the window] first one and then the other of us girls and jumped—so we were saved.

Vera Blakeley was not so lucky. Her tormented husband told the Telluride Daily Journal that “when he looked up the river of mud and debris, swirling past . . . with incredible swiftness[,] had swallowed his wife and their pet dog, which Mrs. Blakeley had by the collar.”  The force of the surging mass of debris and mud knocked homes from their foundations, twisting and turning them like dollhouses. Horrified families watched as their homes buckled under the advancing wall of mud. Contorted houses littered the hardest-hit residential areas.

Lavender later wrote that the flood “filled the lower floors of both the Miners Union Hospital and the Sheridan Hotel with goo, and left five-foot mats of tangled debris in the central parts of Columbia and Colorado Avenues.” Deep, pasty mud inundated Colorado Avenue for two blocks from the San Miguel County Courthouse to the First National Bank. Instead of customers, sludge bellied up to the New Sheridan’s elaborate hardwood bar. Shocked residents began to search for personal belongings and pets through the waist-deep, gummy mud.

Recovery

In a blaring headline after the flood, the Telluride Daily Journal asserted that “Telluride Will Triumph Over Her Crushing Blow,” noting that “Carpenters and workmen will work three shifts of 8 hours each until the damage done to the town has been repaired.” On July 29, less than forty-eight hours after the flood, the paper declared that conditions were improving, reporting that workers were “busily engaged in the work of staving off the thousands of tons of pressure being exerted against many sections of the city by the sea of mud and debris.”

A force of “half a hundred carpenters and nearly a hundred assistants” worked continuously on a “giant sluiceway constructed from the San Miguel River” to a point near the center of town.  These workmen, mostly miners by trade, used powerful fire hoses in combination with the hastily constructed sluice to quickly wash away the deep debris. Given the destruction wrought by the flood, it is remarkable that only one person died and that the town recovered so quickly and efficiently.  Most local mines resumed normal production and shipping by the end of the following month, and most of the damaged structures had been fully repaired by July of the following year.

Adapted from Christian J. Buys, “‘Mothers Rushed Into the Deluge’: Telluride’s Great Flood of 1914,” Colorado Heritage 20, no. 3

As reported in the local newspaper, The Telluride Daily Journal, which covered the event following day's issue recounting the disaster:

At 12:50 o'clock Monday afternoon, July 27, 1914, following on the heels of one of the hardest rain storms ever experienced in the city, a river of mud, very conservatively estimated at between eight and ten feet in height, swept out of Cornet Creek Canon, just north of town and traveling a southeasterly direction through town, swept everything which was in its path.

A waterspout of unbelievable volume and resulting from a cloudburst near the top of Sawtooth range directly north of town, was the source of the flood...The water dam owned by the city just northwest from the storage reservoirs for domestic purposes was completely swept from its moorings and its supply of stored up water was added to the awe-inspiring flood.

Boulders weighing half a ton were easily carried along on the crest of the big mass of mud and debris forced on by the irresistible force of the onrushing water...Huge timbers and trees were also carried down with the rush as though they had been mere chips of wood and these with the boulders were driven through houses in the path of the flood and landed high and dry ten blocks from the mouth of the canon.

The newspaper reported in detail the loss of several residences and businesses. One of the most dramatic depictions was that of the Sheridan Hotel's Grill Room, where it was said that the mud was "within a foot of the 14-foot ceiling."

Perhaps the greatest tragedy was the loss of one of the town's residents, and the newspaper reported on Mr. and Mrs. Blakley's final moments together:

Mr. and Mrs. Blakley, hearing the tremendous roar of the flood in the mouth of the canon, ran through the rear of their home, but had barely reached the gate opening into the alley when the flood struck them. Mr. Blakley was thrown to his face and crowded to the edge of the flood. Mrs. Blakley was carried down in the main current of the river of mud, her body still being unfound though several hundred men have diligently searched since the catastrophe.

 

 

Exterior view of Jack Hawkins residence, on Oak Street, filled with mud and debris from the disastrous Cornet Creek flood on July 27, 1914, Telluride, Colorado; shows two-story wood frame Victorian with front porch and second story bay window tilting on side from flood waters, smaller destroyed structure, and the San Juans in background. 

 

Oak Street filled with mud and debris from the disastrous Cornet Creek flood on July 27, 1914, Telluride, Colorado. Jack Hawkins' two-story wood frame Victorian with front wraparound porch and second-story bay window tilts on side from flood waters; smaller wood frame structure with front intersecting gables destroyed in foreground; cliffs in background.

 

North, up mud and debris-filled street from the disastrous Cornet Creek flood on July 27, 1914, Telluride, Colorado; shows two-story false front, Iowa House on corner, and residence across street.

Two men stand on top of debris brought down by the Cornet Creek flood on July 27, 1914, Telluride, Colorado. Mud and debris fill street with damaged wood frame structures; Telluride Hospital is in background with building leased to San Miguel County Historical Society for use as a museum.

Interior of Sheridan Hotel Bar with mud and high-water marks from the disastrous Cornet Creek flood on July 27, 1914, Telluride, Colorado. Calendar on back wall marks date; room includes a clock high on left wall, stuffed bird with outstretched wings on top decorative molding, bar, cash register, and electric lights. 

View south down Oak Street filled with mud and debris from the disastrous Cornet Creek flood on July 27, 1914, Telluride, Colorado. Townspeople survey damage. Jack Hawkins' two-story wood frame Victorian with front porch and second story bay window tilts on side from flood waters; smaller destroyed structure is next door; residences line street; church and back of San Miguel County Courthouse are in distance.

###. 

 

 

 

The newspaper’s most important ‘job to be done’

 Boys and a teacher from Clayton College look on as a man operates a printing press at the Denver Post printing plant in Denver, Colorado. Buckets of ink are suspended from the ceiling nearby.

 From October, 2007 edition of Newspapers & Technology

Still concerned with Widows and orphans 

By Rob Carrigan, robcarrigan1@gmail.com

It has been roughly one year since the American Press Institute introduced us to the idea that consumers don’t buy products. Instead, they hire them to get key jobs done in their lives.
The concept, “Jobs to Be Done,” arose from the API’s Newspaper Next project.

Newspaper execs alternately embraced the idea, puzzled over it, and in a few cases, outright rejected it.
Depending on whom you talk to, the printed newspaper is either a dying breed or in the throes of being reinvented into a yet-to-be-determined entity.

Yet according to the World Association of Newspapers, global newspaper circulation is up nearly 10 percent since 2002, although the group is careful to note that the North American marketplace is not participating in that growth.

As Gregg Bergan, a columnist for the Denver Business Journal noted recently, “predicting the future of newspaper readership is possibly as confounding as Yogi Berra’s puzzling statement, ‘Nobody goes there anymore; it is too crowded.’”

Good idea
But the idea of readers hiring us to get a job done is a good one. Community newspapers should be reflective of the community they are in. If a paper manages to do that — and in a way that is better than anything else
available — it will survive.

Bill Haupt, president of the International Society of Weekly Newspaper Editors, brought that point home several years ago.
“… A hometown or community newspaper will always be here to hold a mirror to the community. That means the good, the bad and the ugly, generally in that order. A good community newspaper reflects the essence of a community. An outstanding community challenges it to be better,” wrote Haupt.

It is as Walter Williams, the first dean of the school of journalism at the University of Missouri, articulated before his death in 1935.“I believe that the public journal is a public trust; that all connected with it are, to the Internet during the day, and view cable news in the evening. Ease of use, convenience, timeliness, relevance and, of course, quality of content serve as drivers in the selection process. 

In short, those readers migrate to the source that best gets the job done.
Granted, consumer choice 75 years ago was far more limited, but to quote Walter Williams again: “I believe that advertising, news and editorial columns should alike serve the best interests of all readers; that a single standard of helpful truth and cleanliness should prevail for all; that the supreme test of good journalism is the measure of public service.”

If we can somehow keep that in mind, no matter if our story-telling platform is the traditional newspaper, a blog, podcast or something that hasn’t even been developed yet, we will survive and prosper. We will continue to be
hired. And in keeping all that in mind, I guess we have identified our primary “Job to Be Done.”

At the time of this article, Rob Carrigan was in the sales and business development group of weekly newspaper publisher Colorado Publishing Co., a Dolan Media Co. unit based in Colorado Springs.

Jimtown, Willowcreek, Stringtown, Amethyst and Creede

It's day all day, in the day-time,
And there is no night in Creede

By Rob Carrigan, robcarrigan1@gmail.com 

Creede was originally located on East Willow Creek just above its junction with West Willow Creek, however, it was originally named Willow. The post office opened on May 12, 1891, and it was renamed Creede on July 1, 1891.
Below Creede were Stringtown, Jimtown, and Amethyst. The Amethyst, Colorado, post office opened on January 25, 1892. The Town of Creede was incorporated on May 19, 1892. Ranching and tourism are well-established traditions in the Upper Rio Grande Valley, says the town of Creede's web site.

Kit Carson’s brother-in-law, Tom Boggs, and several other settlers began farming at Wagon Wheel Gap as early as 1840. M.V.B. Wason homesteaded the Wason Ranch in 1871. Hay became a major commodity for the mining camps at Summitville and Lake City. Prospectors and other travelers, lured by the wealth of the San Juan’s mineral fields, coursed toll roads linking Lake City with supply towns in the San Luis Valley. Barlow and Sanderson stages made several runs daily. 

"By the mid–1870s, tourist activities also began to thrive along the Rio Grande. Books such as Crofutt’s Gripsack Guide or Ingersoll’s Crest of the Continent enticed Easterners and Europeans to experience the American West. The pioneering name of Soward became associated with the Upper Rio Grande Valley in 1876 with the purchase of the Antelope Springs Stage Station and Halfway House. James Workman bought the Texas Club, now the location of Freemon’s Ranch, at the stage-stop settlement of San Juan. Nearly 15 years before there was a town called Creede, a hotel opened at Wagon Wheel Gap," says information from the town of Creede. 

"The Denver & Rio Grande Railroad began transporting eager tourists into the area as early as 1883 with the opening of the depot at Wagon Wheel Gap. Fishermen would ride the train to a favorite “hole,” disembark to fish for the day, and then catch a ride on a returning train. The Utes’ favored hot springs soon became a popular spa with tourists coming in droves to “take the waters.” Praise for the curative and restorative benefits, both by drinking from the bubbling hot springs as well as bathing in the soothing flow, spread through publications promoted by the railroad. A lavish bathhouse sheltered guests as they luxuriated in the therapeutic springs. The historic bathhouse still stands at the 4UR Ranch as a poignant reminder of those early tourism heydays."



 

Nicholas Creede & Nephew Harvey Lester, 1870 - Creede Historical Society Archive #3069

Jimtown's great fire of 1892

 
Jimtown was the historic, bustling, lower section of Creede, Colorado, during its famous silver boom in the early 1890s. While the original tent city and stilt-supported wooden buildings no longer exist, the area's explosive mining past is preserved through local museums, underground tours, and scenic drives.The Silver Boom (1890-1893): Following Nicholas C. Creed's discovery of the Holy Moses mine, Willow Creek Canyon swelled from a remote wilderness to a wild-west boomtown of 10,000 residents. Creede Camp (Upper Creede) and "Jimtown" (Lower Creede) eventually merged into the incorporated city of Creede.Wild West Outlaws: Jimtown and early Creede attracted notorious frontier figures. 

Infamous characters like Bat Masterson and Bob Ford (the man who killed Jesse James) briefly set up shop or operated saloons in the area before the silver crash of 1893.




Burn district, Jimtown, Colo.,
great fire of June 5th, 1892
Creator: Goodman, Charles, d. 1912.
Summary: Smoke rises from the smoldering ashes of the fire that burned a portion of Creede (Jimtown/Upper Creede), Colorado, in Mineral County. Men walk through ashes and debris that litter the center of town. Buildings, shanties, cabins, and tents that escaped the fire are on the hillside in the background.
Date: 1892, June 5
Notes: Formerly F44688.; Formerly X-7462.; Inked title reproduced in photographic print with: "no. 3."; R7110015375
Physical Description: 1 copy photonegative ; 10 x 13 cm. (4 x 5 in.); 1 photographic print on card mount : albumen ; 13 x 21 cm. (5 x 8 in.); 1 photoprint ; 11 x 17 cm. (4 x 6 1/2 in.)
Source: Mrs. L. P. Thompson.
Western History/Genealogy Dept., Denver Public Library.




Here's a land where all are equal -
Of high or lowly birth.
A land where men make millions,
Dug from the dreary earth.
Here the meek and mild-eyed burro
On mineral mountains feed -
It's day all day, in the day-time,
And there is no night in Creede.

 Creede, by Cy Warman

Creede was originally known as Jimtown.
Title: Jimtown (Colo.) Great Fire of June 5th, 1892
Year/era: 1892-06-05
Photographer: Sanborn (Denver, Colo.)
Publisher: Sanborn Souvenir Co., Inc.
Center of Southwest Studies, Fort Lewis College, Nina Heald Webber Southwest Colorado Collection




Main Street, Jimtown, Colo.
Creator: Goodman, Charles, d. 1912.
Pedestrians walk down the unpaved street of Creede (Jimtown), Colorado in Mineral County; many people stand on the wood-plank sidewalks in front of the building. Horse-drawn wagons are parked at the sides of the street. Architectural elements of the one and two-story wood-frame buildings include clapboard siding, bay windows, cornices, false fronts, flat roofs, and gables. The narrow, steep, rocky canyon that surrounds the town is in the background. Signs: "Thomas & Thomas Law Office" "Theatre Comique" "Stoves Hardware" "White and Mitchell" and "Thomas Charpe Staple Fancy Grocers."
Date: [between 1892 and 1899]
Notes: Formerly F44689.; Formerly X-7915; Inked on back of photographic print: "Creede is about a mile North of Jimtown. Principle street of Jimtown.; Inked title reproduced in photographic print.
Physical Description: 1 copy photonegative ; 10 x 13 cm. (4 x 5 in.); 1 photographic print on card mount : albumen ; 13 x 20 cm. (5 x 8 in.); 1 photoprint ; 10 x 17 cm. (4 x 6 3/4 in.)
Is Part Of Views of Creede and vicinity.
Source: Mrs. LP Thompson.
From the Western History/Genealogy Dept., Denver Public Library.
 

Creede, Colorado Date: [1890?]




Two men stand in the open doorway of the Holy Moses Saloon, which is next to the narrow, rocky, canyon walls that surround the town of Creede, Colorado, in Mineral County. The building is a one-story, clapboard storefront with a broken cornice and a transom over the front door. A step leads from the narrow, wood-plank sidewalk in front of part of the building to the entrance of the building. A barrel lies on its side near the entrance.
Format of Original Material 1 copy photonegative ; 20 x 25 cm (8 x 10 in.); 1 photo print on cabinet card : cabinet card ; 9 x 9 cm (3 3 1/2 x 3 1/4 in.)
Notes: Formerly F3941. Hand-written on back of photo print: Saloon was located at the mine named Holy Moses. It is 2 1/2 miles N.E. of Creede. The man standing in his shirt sleeves in the doorway was the owner of the saloon and he is now Sheriff of Creede. Mr. William Orthen. This saloon was the first liquor shop above Creede. Photoprint has yellowed and faded, and the card to which it is attached is dirty. Title hand-written on back of photo print.
Denver Public Library Special Collections.