lo·cal col·or
Last Night We HIT
Our Current
Local Motive Milestone
Colorado Restless Native
Two Million Pageviews
Thousands per day!
Hundreds right now!
Now, on to Three Million and more
Up with the sun, gone with the wind
She always said I was lazy
Leavin' my home, leavin' my friends
Runnin' when things get too crazy
__ Bob Seagar , "Traveling Man"
By Rob Carrigan, robcarrigan1@gmail,com
Truth is, I have spent most of my entire life trying to call attention to things found, that are personally interesting to me. Though I have fought the notion at times, it is a conclusion in this late state of the game, that this cat was lucky to have grown up in Dolores, Colorado. It was bushels of "interesting," and still is.
Time moved slower there.
Slower pace, but also, with the benefits of positive energy.
The thing is, I can look at photos taken in 1945, and still recognize the same advantage elements of my experience there. Posted a photo today, of a nice-looking caboose, a few hundred feet from my boyhood home on 7th Street. A person can see Bud's Auto, (later other businesses) and the "hill-side "of town, in the background.
Partial to good-looking cabooses, as I am, it is still recognizable as the distinctive, one-of-kind, never to be duplicated elements of history for Dolores folk, shared only with those from the 'river city' of my youth.
And most of us weren't even born in 1945.
James Biard, Charles Berry, Keith Moore, Shiela Roseberry, Brent Hamilton, Wanda Maras, Kendall Hall Allen, Ellis Miller, Nick Randall, Lenetta Shull, Lenore Goode, Dorothy Delatorre, Gail Bash Butler, Bill Butler, and thousands more ... know precisely what we are talking about.
Sometimes at night I see their faces
I feel the traces they've left on my soul
Those are the memories that make me a wealthy soul
Photo Information:
By Rob Carrigan, robcarrigan1@gmail.com
Perhaps it it was not that long of a way from blacksmith — to pioneer master photographer — 100 years ago, in the style of the great Scott, and later Denver, and Central City resident Joseph Collier.
Becoming a blacksmith mostly takes a lot of practice of the basics of smithing. Today most users on Reddit, agree that starting out requires minimal equipment, and you can even improvise an anvil from a piece of railroad track or a forklift tine if needed.
Core Forging Techniques
Truth is, Pioneer Photography was not that different than Blacksmithing.
"Joseph Collier took up photography in Scotland, though it wasn’t until his move to Colorado that his fame took off. He lived in Central City and was well known at the time. In 1873, he presented stereographic images of Colorado to the wife of President Ulysses S. Grant and First Lady of the United States, Julia Grant.
Newspapers of the day called his work "some of the finest specimens of stereoscopic views" ever seen.
Join us, as we hit
(in the next week or less)
By Rob Carrigan, robcarrigan1@gmail.com
One of my favorite photographers is a fellow like me, born 100-plus years too late, roots in the 'Ole Sod,' hill billy sentiments and background. odd sense of humor — but lucky enough to wind up in Dolores, Colorado, near the railroad and the river.
Thomas Michael McKee was born in Scary Creek, West Virginia on March 17, 1854. When he was a baby, his parents traveled to Louisville, Kentucky by steamboat and from there took a stagecoach to Nashville, Tennessee, where the family remained for several years. During his boyhood, his leisure time was spent traveling throughout the South and painting landscapes along the way. He went to St. Louis to become a photographer's apprentice and later traveled to Texas to work as a railroad express messenger, according to Denver Public Library.
"After a jaunt to Sitka, Alaska in 1887, Mr. McKee received a letter from family friend A. E. Buddecke, who owned an opera house in Montrose, Colorado. When learning the town had no photographic studios, he and his family moved again and settled in the small southwestern town," says the library.
"There, Mr. McKee had no shortage of subjects to photograph - the scenic valleys, the ranchers, the miners, and the Native Americans. Long fascinated with science, he experimented for oil shale and discovered their commercial potential. He also was one of the first scientists to employ uranium nitrates instead of gold and to use carnotite, a radioactive ore, as a source of light. "
Mr. McKee is also believed to be one of the first photographers to take X-ray pictures. In 1892, when the Rio Grande Southern Railroad began laying tracks in the Lost Canyon region between Dolores and Mancos, Mr. McKee resumed his earlier job as express messenger. This provided the amateur paleontologist with an opportunity to collect fossils well as to capture images with the wet-plate camera that was always by his side. Always the innovator, he also introduced the region to motion picture equipment, taking the first moving pictures of Western Colorado in 1895.
"As the twentieth century dawned, Mr. McKee began concentrating on what had become his favorite photographic subjects - the Ute Indians. He befriended them, gained their trust, and then painstakingly documented their everyday lives."
Mr. McKee became an authority on Ute culture and customs, and in an interview with a local newspaper, he admitted, "Probably I have a greater knowledge of the Ute Indians than any other man living and my experience comes from personal contact."
"After his wife Amanda died in 1919, Mr. McKee sought solace in his adopted Ute family, after previously becoming a close confidant to Chief Ouray," (who died in 1880) and his wife Chipeta (who lived on until 1924.) He photographed Chipeta standing in front of her Utah teepee in 1924, less than one year before her death. Thomas McKee died in 1939, and was buried next to his wife in his beloved Montrose. Many of his photographs and artifacts were donated to the state of Colorado and are now on display in Montrose's Ute Indian Museum," says Ancient American Indians: Their Origins, Civilizations & Old World Connections.
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By Rob Carrigan, robcarrrigan1@gmail.com
Years ago, when I was more active in Colorado Press Association, I loved the annual visit to the Governor's Mansion during convention. It was the former home of the Charles Boettcher and his desendents.
"The Governor's Residence at the Boettcher Mansion, located at 400 E. 8th Avenue in Denver, CO, is the official executive residence for Colorado's governor, in use since 1960. Built in 1908 for the Cheesman family, this Georgian Revival-style mansion is on the National Register of Historic Places and serves as a historical home and official function space," according to the Mansion site.
Charles Boettcher (1852 – July 1948) was a businessman in Colorado in the hardware, mining, cement and sugar beet businesses. He was one of the founders of the Ideal Cement Company. Born in Kölleda, Kingdom of Prussia, he came to the US at age 17 and worked with his brother Herman, first in Wyoming. He moved to Colorado and pursued various business projects, often partnering with John F. Campion. His family fortune has funded many philanthropic enterprises.
"Situated atop Logan Hill, the magnificent Governor’s Residence at the Boettcher Mansion and its one-acre grounds has entered its second century of helping to create Colorado history. Since 1908, this engaging 27-room red brick mansion has stood serenely in a neighborhood once referred to as Quality Hill. In 1959, when the Boettcher Foundation gave the property to the State of Colorado, it became the official residence of the Governor’s family. The mansion was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1969.
"Today the Governor's Residence at the Boettcher Mansion is a treasure that stands as one of our finest symbols for Colorado's state civic heritage.Years of stewardship have served as “stepping stones” to the current and expanded preservation efforts," notes the The Governor’s Residence Preservation Fund.
Charles Boettcher
Born in Kölleda, Germany in 1852, Charles Boettcher, began his career in a hardware store, quickly mastering the tinner's trade and making a name for himself.
H. Boettcher and Company
By 1870, Herman Boettcher owned H. Boettcher and Company, which included a Greeley, Colorado store that was managed by Charles. The successful business expanded to Fort Collins, where Charles arrived in 1872. In 1873, he met and married Fannie Augusta Cowan. The couple moved Boulder in 1874 to open another hardware store. After a partnership change, Charles gained control of multiple businesses, securing a near-monopoly on blasting powder sales by 1876, a much coveted mining supply.
Family Life
During Colorado's early boom, Charles and Fannie settled in Boulder, building their first home and raising their son Claude (born 1875). Despite his strict Prussian upbringing, Charles was a devoted father who often brought his family along on train trips to Denver.
Boulder
Charles built a grand two-story hardware store at Broadway and Pearl in Boulder, marked by a keystone with the inscription C. Boettcher A.D. 1878 and is currently the Häagen-Dazs ice cream store. Opened in 1879, it was hailed as one of Colorado's largest and finest hardware stores. Recognizing the booming silver market in Leadville, Charles quickly shifted focus, leaving Boulder to seize new opportunities in mining.
Opportunities and Expansions
By March 1879, Herman managed the Boulder store while Charles pursued mining opportunities in Leadville, quickly building a business that grew to nearly $40,000 monthly. Although he later regretted moving his family at such a happy time in their life. In 1882, during a family trip, he stopped in North Park, Colorado, where they filed a homestead claim that eventually blossomed into the 180 square mile Bighorn Ranch. Managed by family, it once served as home to about 600 horses, some of which were purebreds imported from Europe.
In 1884, Charles purchased a wholesale hardware business in Denver, renaming it Boettcher Hardware Company. He later moved it to 402 Lawrence Street, expanding the inventory and positioning it next to the iconic Daniels & Fisher store, later known as May D&F.
As business slowed in Leadville and grew in Denver, the Boettcher's shifted their focus to the city. By the early 1890s, they joined many prominent residents in Capitol Hill, Denver’s most fashionable neighborhood. Landmark buildings like the Brown Palace Hotel had already begun shaping the city's skyline.
A Home on Millionaire's Row
Charles and Fannie soon built their home at 1201 Grant Street in Denver. Though modest compared to some neighbors, Charles considered it “complete in every detail.” The house was proudly situated along the prestigious “Millionaire’s Row.”
Boettcher's hunting lodge, the Boettcher House (also sometimes referred to as Lorraine Lodge; National Register of Historic Places listed building #84000858, Charles Boettcher Summer Home and the Jefferson County Conference & Nature Center) was built in 1917 as a summer home and seasonal hunting lodge. It sits on 110-acres donated to Jefferson County, Colorado, in the 1970s and has been used for weddings and other public events since 1975. It was designed by Denver architect John J. Huddart.
The foundation bearing his family name has supported numerous projects in Colorado such as the Boettcher Concert Hall and the Denver Botanic Gardens. In 1963, he was inducted into the Hall of Great Westerners of the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum, and was also a rancher.
