Dolores, Stoner and Rico on the Rio Grande Southern

Running the rails in downtown Dolores

Please click on photos to view slightly larger.

 

Title: Rio Grande Southern Railroad right of way and mills at Dolores (Colo.)
Date/circa: 1951-05
Photographer: Chione, Alfred G. (Morton, Ill.)
Notes: Mile Post 102.34.
Photoprint#: P026139
Rio Grande Southern Railroad photographs
Center for Southwest Studies, Fort Lewis College

Title: Rio Grande Southern Railroad three-way track and right of way at Dolores (Colo.)
Date/circa: 1951
Photographer: Chione, Alfred G. (Morton, Ill.)
Notes: Mile Post 102.34.
Photoprint#: P026138

Rio Grande Southern Railroad photographs
Center for Southwest Studies, Fort Lewis College

Title: Rio Grande Southern Railroad section houses at Dolores (Colo.)
Date/circa: 1951
Photographer: Chione, Alfred G. (Morton, Ill.)
Notes: Mile Post 102.34.
Photoprint#: P026140

Rio Grande Southern Railroad photographs
Center for Southwest Studies, Fort Lewis College

Stoner and the railroad

Title: Rio Grande Southern Railroad tank and buildings at Stoner (Colo.)
Date/circa: 1952
Photographer: Chione, Alfred G. (Morton, Ill.)
Notes: Mile Post 087.40.
Photoprint#:P026134
Negative#: 968
Center of Southwest Studies, Fort Lewis College

RGS narrow gauge motor car number 4
Photographer: Richardson, Robert W.
Three-quarter view of right sid of motor car, from the front end, close view: Galloping Goos near water tank.
Photographed: Stoner, Colorado, May 23, 1951
Western History Department, Denver Public Library

Rio Grande Southern narrow gauge locomotive, Engine number 20, engine type 4-6-0
Photographer: Richardson, Robert W.
Right rear view of engine, close view, at water tank, brush at rear of tender
Photographed: Stoner, Colorado, May 23, 1951
Western History Department, Denver Public Library

Rio Grande Southern narrow gauge views
Photographer: Richardson, Robert W.
Water tank and section house (quarters for maintenance workers)
Photographed: Stoner, Colorado, 1953
Western History Department, Denver Public Library

Rico railroad in railyard

Title: Rio Grande Southern Railroad yard at Rico (Colo.): looking south
Date/circa: 1952-05
Photographer: Chione, Alfred G. (Morton, Ill.)
Notes: Mile Post 066.24. A closer view than photoprint P026119 looking down the rails toward the water tank and (on the right) the engine house.
Photoprint#: P026120

Negative#: 947Title:Rio Grande Southern Railroad depot and tank at Rico (Colo.): looking north

Date/circa: 1952-05

Photographer: Chione, Alfred G. (Morton, Ill.)

Notes:Mile Post 066.24.
Photoprint#: P026123

Title: Rio Grande Southern Railroad buildings and structures at Rico (Colo.)
Date/circa: 1950/1965
Photographer: Chione, Alfred G. (Morton, Ill.)
Notes: Mile Post 066.24. A slightly more distant view than photoprint P026121.
Photoprint#: P026122
Negative#: 957

Title: Rio Grande Southern Railroad tank and depot at Rico (Colo.): front and south 3/4
Date/circa: 1952-05
Photographer: Chione, Alfred G. (Morton, Ill.)
Notes: Mile Post 066.24.
Photoprint#: P026124

Rio Grande Southern Railroad Collection

Center for Southwest Studies, Fort Lewis College


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Colorado Restless Native reaches 1.5 million Pageviews milestone this week!

 

Thing of the past ...

Creator: Jackson, William Henry, 1843-1942

Date: 1872-1880

The Manitou Soda Spring in Manitou Springs, Colorado, looking northwest; shows the rustic gazebo with its branch uprights and benches, a man standing next to it, the boulder at the confluence of Ruxton and Fountain Creek with several children atop. A group is gathered around the stone ring-basin from which the spring originates. The men are in sack suits and straw hats, and a woman wears a white shawl, derby bonnet and draped overskirt. In the upper right is the Cliff House Hotel, a three story frame building with hipped gable roof, wrap around porch and widow's walk. A sign on the top of the widow's walk railing reads: Cliff House.

Physical Description: 1 copy photo negative : black-and-white ; 10 x 13 cm (4 x 5 in.); 1 photoprint ; 10 x 16 cm (4 x 6 1/2 in.)Born-Digital or Analog: Analog

Subject: Manitou Springs (Colo.)--19th century Sightseers--Colorado--Manitou Springs--19th century

Springs--Colorado--Manitou Springs--19th century

Geographic Area: Manitou Springs (Colo.)

Collection: Photographs - Western History

Related Material: Image File: ZZR710001685

Type of Material: Film negatives Photographic prints

Notes: Formerly F25390. Title reproduced on photo print from label on negative; at head of title: 402. R7100016858

Denver Public Library Special Collections

250 years seems like a long, long time

 The United States will celebrate its 250th anniversary (Semiquincentennial) on July 4, 2026, marking 250 years since the signing of the Declaration of Independence in 1776.

 But here in Colorado: 

Centennial State Lighting up the Fourth of July

O beautiful for spacious skies,

For amber waves of grain,

For purple mountain majesties

Above the fruited plain!”

__ Katharine Lee Bates

 

D. & R.G. Scenic Railroad Band in Monument

4th of July celebration, 1889 to 1900, Ouray

Crowds gather around the bunting-draped flagpole and grandstand on Main Street and Fifth (5th) Avenue, Ouray, Colorado; the Magnolia Band is in the center with parade floats on Main (Third, 3rd.) United States flags, streamers, and evergreens decorate the street for the Independence Day celebration. Shows a painted sign on the Hiebler building that reads: "Cabinet Club House" another advertises chewing tobacco., Western History/Genealogy Dept., Denver Public Library.


Group near Palmer Lake, July 4, 1893

Six children, three girls and three boys, pose in the brush on a hillside on Independence Day (July 4th), Palmer Lake, El Paso County, Colorado. The girls wear long, ruffled dresses and hats; the boys wear suits, bow ties, and hats.  Western History/Genealogy Dept., Denver Public Library.


Fourth of July festival, Victor, 1899
 

Bird's eye view of Fourth Street during 4th of July celebration, 1899, Victor, Colorado. Parade consists of horse-drawn wagons & floats marching underneath welcoming arch lettered with Florence & Cripple Creek and Golden Circle names; erected for 1899 festivities boasting 12 million dollars of production by mines in/around Victor. People crowd the boardwalks, businesses have awnings, a United States flag, and sign: "Mitchell's."  Western History/Genealogy Dept., Denver Public Library.

Cripple Creek, July 4 - 1893 

J. G. Wilson, photographer. Crowded street scene with people and horse-drawn wagons and carriages for Fourth (4th) of July celebration on Bennett Avenue, Cripple Creek, Colorado; spectators stand on second story porch of Palace Hotel; striped bunting and United States flags are on commercial buildings; men and women use umbrellas for shade.  Western History/Genealogy Dept., Denver Public Library.

Early Telluride, 1890 and 1895

Telluride Silver Cornet (?) Band parades west on Main Street (Colorado Avenue), Telluride, Colorado. Townspeople line street to watch Fourth of July parade. Businesses include: A. J. Vart, Merchant, two-story Sheridan commercial block, and buildings past First National Bank building. A dog walks with uniformed band with tubas, trombones, drum, horns and banner. Group of uniformed masons march behind band. A tall flagpole with inverted funnel shape platform shows in the middle of the street in background. Ajax, Ingram, and Telluride Peaks are in distance.  Western History/Genealogy Dept., Denver Public Library.

Dolores, Fourth of July, 1893

 Please click on following to read about early days of Dolores

Disappointment was too much to bear

Hanging flume photos

Water flowing in the hanging flume, early summer 1891.

Walking bridge across the Dolores River made from salvaged materials from the hanging flume.

Wooden trestle flume on a side canyon with man pointing on top.

New milestone for Colorado Restless Native

 

I know that many came before me

But none love the place more than me.

___ Restless Native 

 

Quickly, approaching 1.5 million pageviews.

Thing of the past ...

Indians Ute agencies taken at the reburial of Chief Ouray original pallbearers for Ouray

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

Portrait of Native American (Ute) men riding horses and identified as (l to r): "George Norris, Joseph Price, Colorow, and Buckskin Charlie." Attire includes feather headdresses, hair pipe chokers and breast plates, a squash blossom necklace, medals, a staff, rings, and eyeglasses, Ignacio, Colorado. A frame building has a sign: "Consolidated Ute Indian Agency."Physical Description1 photo negative ; 20 x 25 cm (8 x 10 in.); 1 photoprint ; 20 x 25 cm (8 x 10 in.)

Born-Digital or Analog: Analog

Subject: United States. Office of Indian Affairs. Consolidated Ute Agency Ignacio (Colo.)Horseback riding--Colorado--Ignacio Tribal chiefs--Colorado--Ignacio Buckskin Charlie, Ute Chief Colorow, ca. 1810-1888 Ouray--Death & burial Norris, George Price, Joseph, Chief. Collection Photographs - Western History Related Material Image File: ZZR700137914

Type of Material: Glass negatives Photographic prints

Notes: Formerly F6377; Title hand-written on back of photoprint, with: "Source of info: D & R G W Magazine V.2 #4 February 1926."; R7001379143

Denver Public Library Special Collections

Coal mine? Ski Area? Old Fort nearby?

 From Colorado Pressless Native

Thursday, September 19, 2013

The many faces of Hesperus

In Colorado:

Title: Rio Grande Southern Railroad depot at Hesperus (Colo.)
Date/circa: 1949
Photographer: Chione, Alfred G. (Morton, Ill.)
Notes: Mile Post 145.51. "The coach on the left is the replacement depot as the Hesperus depot. The rest of the buildings are section house, bunk houses, tool sheds, and the water tower." [Source of quote: Robert Herrone, email 3/27/07.]
Photoprint#: P026161
Center of Southwest Studies, Fort Lewis College

In British U-Boats:

In English Locomotives:

In Simon Newcomb Science Fiction about 1900:

In 19th Century poetry:

The Wreck of the Hesperus

IT was the schooner Hesperus,
That sailed the wintry sea;
And the skipper had taken his little daughter,
To bear him company.
Blue were her eyes as the fairy-flax,	5
Her cheeks like the dawn of day,
And her bosom white as the hawthorn buds,
That ope in the month of May.
The skipper he stood beside the helm,
His pipe was in his mouth,	10
And he watched how the veering flaw did blow
The smoke now West, now South.
Then up and spake an old Sailòr,
Had sailed to the Spanish Main,
‘I pray thee, put into yonder port,	15
For I fear a hurricane.
‘Last night, the moon had a golden ring,
And to-night no moon we see!’
The skipper, he blew a whiff from his pipe,
And a scornful laugh laughed he.	20
Colder and louder blew the wind,
A gale from the Northeast,
The snow fell hissing in the brine,
And the billows frothed like yeast.
Down came the storm, and smote amain	25
The vessel in its strength;
She shuddered and paused, like a frighted steed,
Then leaped her cable’s length.
‘Come hither! come hither! my little daughtèr,
And do not tremble so;	30
For I can weather the roughest gale
That ever wind did blow.’
He wrapped her warm in his seaman’s coat
Against the stinging blast;
He cut a rope from a broken spar,	35
And bound her to the mast.
‘O father! I hear the church-bells ring,
Oh say, what may it be?’
‘’Tis a fog-bell on a rock-bound coast!’—
And he steered for the open sea.	40
‘O father! I hear the sound of guns,
Oh say, what may it be?’
‘Some ship in distress, that cannot live
In such an angry sea!’
‘O father. I see a gleaming light,	45
Oh say, what may it be?’
But the father answered never a word,
A frozen corpse was he.
Lashed to the helm, all stiff and stark,
With his face turned to the skies,	50
The lantern gleamed through the gleaming snow
On his fixed and glassy eyes.
Then the maiden clasped her hands and prayed
That savèd she might be;
And she thought of Christ, who stilled the wave,	55
On the Lake of Galilee.
And fast through the midnight dark and drear,
Through the whistling sleet and snow,
Like a sheeted ghost, the vessel swept
Tow’rds the reef of Norman’s Woe.	60
And ever the fitful gusts between
A sound came from the land;
It was the sound of the trampling surf
On the rocks and the hard sea-sand.
The breakers were right beneath her bows,	65
She drifted a dreary wreck,
And a whooping billow swept the crew
Like icicles from her deck.
She struck where the white and fleecy waves
Looked soft as carded wool,	70
But the cruel rocks, they gored her side
Like the horns of an angry bull.
Her rattling shrouds, all sheathed in ice,
With the masts went by the board;
Like a vessel of glass, she stove and sank,	75
Ho! ho! the breakers roared!
At daybreak, on the bleak sea-beach,
A fisherman stood aghast,
To see the form of a maiden fair,
Lashed close to a drifting mast.	80
The salt sea was frozen on her breast,
The salt tears in her eyes;
And he saw her hair, like the brown seaweed,
On the billows fall and rise.
Such was the wreck of the Hesperus,	85
In the midnight and the snow!
Christ save us all from a death like this,
On the reef of Norman’s Woe!
___ Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807–1882)

In Greek Mythology as imagined by an Italian artist:

Back in Colorado:

 

Thing of the past ...
Fort Lewis, generator
Creator: Pendike Studio.
A man wears overalls and works on probably a belt-driven power generator at Fort Lewis High School (later Fort Lewis College) in Hesperus (La Plata County), Colorado. The generator reads: "Ames Iron Works."
Date: [between 1911 and 1913?]
Notes: History Colorado.; Handwritten on envelope: "C-Fort Lewis"; Title supplied.; R7200075277
Physical Description: 1 photographic print ; 13 x 18 cm. (5 x 7 in.) on album page.
Source: Gift of W.H. Eldridge, Ft. Lewis, Colo.
Is Part Of: History Colorado, subject file collection.  

 

 

Fort Lewis, kitchen

Creator(s): Pendike Studio.

Summary: A woman in a checkered apron poses with a water kettle in a kitchen at Fort Lewis High School (later Fort Lewis College) in Hesperus (La Plata County), Colorado. Shows a wood burning stove, a serving cart on wheels and pots and pans suspended from a ceiling rack.

Date: [between 1911 and 1913?]

Notes: Accession number: 2000.129.547; History Colorado.; Handwritten on envelope: "C-Fort Lewis"; Title supplied.; R7200075251

Physical Description: 1 photographic print ; 13 x 18 cm. (5 x 7 in.) on album page.

Is Part Of: History Colorado, subject file collection

Source: Source: Gift of W.H. Eldridge, Ft. Lewis, Colo.

History Colorado

 

Fort Lewis, dining room

Creator(s) : Pendike Studio.

Summary: View of a dining room at Fort Lewis High School (later Fort Lewis College) in Hesperus (La Plata County), Colorado. Tables are set with tablecloths, glasses and pitchers. The room has wainscoting, wood floors and ceiling, and curtains on windows.

Date: [between 1911 and 1913?]

Notes: Accession number: 2000.129.547; History Colorado.; Handwritten on envelope: "C-Fort Lewis"; Title supplied.; R7200075243

Physical Description: 1 photographic print ; 13 x 18 cm. (5 x 7 in.) on album page.

Is Part Of: History Colorado, subject file collection

Source: Source: Gift of W.H. Eldridge, Ft. Lewis, Colo.

History Colorado

 

 

 

Local matters to your particular audience

Thing of the past ...

Rocky Mountain News printing plant - promotion using little people

Creator: Rhoads, Harry Mellon, 1880 or 1881-1975,

Date circa 1924. Seven male Little People tend the printing press at the Rocky Mountain News' printing plant, Denver, Colorado. The men were participating in a promotional campaign.

Local, local, local... 

it is all that matters anymore.

By Rob Carrigan, robcarrigan1@gmail.com 

First appeared in Newspapers & Technology in 2003

 

I remember the days of deadlines, but it has been a while.
With the advent of the 24-hour news cycle, deadlines, in their original form, went the way of the Dodo bird.
In my long news career, having worked on weeklies, dailies, monthly magazines, annual reports and consistently and constantly breaking online presences, I also remember when it made a difference.
With the blurring of the lines in modern media, changing economic and social conditions, and consumers that are always on, it no longer does.
That does not mean that the cycle is gone; it is just different.
One of my favorite all-time news references is “The Country Newspaper,” by Millard VanMarter Atwood, a Cornell University professor who first published “the little green book” in 1923.
“This little volume is an attempt to show the importance of the country weekly in the life of the small town and the rural community. It is hoped also that it will give residents of smaller places an insight into the problems with which the country editor is confronted in these days of changing economic and social conditions,” writes Atwood.
Accordingly, he notes that the writer “believes that the changes affecting the country newspaper which have been taking place in the East are prophetic of what may be expected, in time, throughout the whole country.”
Like Atwood, and W.P. Kirkwood, agricultural editor of the University of Minnesota, whom he quotes extensively, the emphasis lies on community service.
As observed more than 90 years ago, I think the local paper (he called it the country weekly) faces a future of growth and greatly increased usefulness.
That is based that on “the idea of community service clarifies the whole problem of policies and expediencies, for it gives the concrete aim to all editorial activities.”
What he meant by that was “purpose.”
“The community service, the community building, then as a master motive, establishes the country-weekly publisher securely in his position of leadership. It assures added community prosperity, and local development of the finer satisfactions of life in which he must share; and no agency can take this from him – neither the city daily, coming in from a distance and concerned with the larger affairs of a larger community, nor the school, nor the church, nor any other.”
Today, metro dailies have suffered recently from their addiction to much broader audiences. National news products like Newsweek can’t find a way to make it work. Even the internet needs to focus. Local, local, local.
But how does it affect the cycle. It is still a cycle, but no longer does it climb down from last page to the printer on Monday night, into a reconstructive Tuesday, followed by lets-get-something done Wednesday, ad-close and dummy Thursday, and Friday’s last chance to comment and file a story, finally spiraling out of control into a catch up weekend.
It is a convergence product we are offering, however, instead of only a weekly print edition. Up-to-date postings on our site. Referring pieces on Facebook and Twitter, maybe Pinterest, and Reddit, throw in a few other places for good measure, and now you have our reach. Our readers are the key. They don't care anything about deadlines. The want it now, or forget it.
We still have to get everything done. But now, it is always due.
But they also want it summarized, and archived, third-party verified, and a hard copy provided. They would like the news this way and that.
Terrible accident in town today, get it on the site right away. Public official resigns in disgrace, you must anticipate that sort of thing. Fire breaks out in the forest, how quickly can you have photos up?
With a certain irony, that is easier. Because the focus whips back around to local, local, local.
That is all that really matters anymore.
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