Burns Canyon slide (near the end of RGS)

Thing of the past ...

Denver & Rio Grande Western train (Narrow Gauge), engine number 464, engine type 2-8-2

Creator: Perry, Otto, 1894-1970

Date:1945

Freight, southbound, Burns Canyon, on the Rio Grande Southern; 27 cars. Photographed: near Rico, Colo., June 26, 1945.

Physical Description: 1 photonegative ; 9 x 14 cm; 1 photo print (postcard) : silver gelatin, black and white ; 8 x 13 cm

Born-Digital or Analog: Analog

Subject: Locomotives Railroads--Trains--Pictorial works--1945 Narrow gauge railroads Railroad locomotives--Colorado--Rico Denver and Rio Grande Western Railway Company Railroads, Narrow-gauge 

Related Material: Image File: ZZR700008123

Type of Material: Film photo negatives Photographic postcards Silver gelatin photoprints 

Original Material Found in Collection: Otto C. Perry memorial collection of railroad photographs

Notes: Title from catalog prepared by Western History Department, Denver Public Library. R7000081234

Denver Public Library Special Collection

 

 Slide just above Rico hastens the end of RGS

 

 By Rob Carrigan, robcarrigan1@gmail.com

 

I always had a lot of respect for slides after seeing a little one in Burns Canyon (also near Rico) run one time, and witnessing the damage that a slide was capable in several locations on the Upper Dolores.
But avalanche caution was sort of institutionalized in San Juans. It definitely helped hasten the end of the Rio Grande Southern Railroad.

 

Burns Canyon, located just north of Rico, Colorado, was a narrow, steep, and treacherous section of the Rio Grande Southern (RGS) railroad, roughly near milepost 63-64. It featured rocky cliffs, a tight S-curve along the Dolores River, and shared a precarious ledge with the highway. It was known as a significant snow slide area for operations.

Click on photos to view larger.

#1) Rio Grande Southern Railroad track removal near Burns Canyon
(above Dolores, Colo.
Date:1952
Notes:Near Mile Post 63. A crew apparently is working on removing the first section of track at the lowest washout of track above Dolores when the Rio Grande Southern was being abandoned and scrapped.

# 2) Rio Grande Southern Railroad tracks covered by snow near Burns Canyon Date/circa: 1950/1951Photographer:Chione, Alfred G. (Morton, Ill.)Subjects:Rio Grande Southern Railroad
Burns Canyon (Colo.)Notes: Near Mile Post 63. Probably south/lower end of Burns Canyon, near Rico. "That slide was notorious for closing the railroad there. Since it was not plowed, I'd figure it was in 1950 or 1951 since by this time they [had] lost the ability to fight the deep snows." [Source of quote: Robert Herrone, email 3/27/07.]

#3) "Appears to be Burns Canyon near Coke Ovens above Rico." [Source of quote: Robert Herrone, email 3/27/07.] A man is standing at the end of the visible track.

 

Rio Grande Southern Railroad track removal near Burns Canyon: (above Dolores, Rico, Colo.)

Near Mile Post 63: A crew apparently is working on removing the first section of track at the lowest

washout of track above Dolores when the Rio Grande Southern was being abandoned and scrapped. The location apparently is Burns Canyon, a narrow rocky area just south of bridge 64-A, which both the track and the Dolores River twisted through on an S curve. According to Robert Herronen (analyst, UNCG MIS department; builder, Rio Grande Southern R.R. of N.C.; and alumnus, Fort Lewis College, 1993), who supplied this info via emails on 3/26 and 3/28/2007, "The RGS received word from the courts that it could be abandoned April 24, 1952. The RGS began to dismantle the trackage starting in May of 1952, it appears.

 

"Scrapping was done June 17, 1953." He believes this view is"around milepost 70. Below MP. 70, there are photos of Goose 7 scrapping the tracks. So it was a section that they could not use the steam train to scrap the railroad. That would explain why they were scrapping up the side of Lizard Head pass by October. They had Rico to scrap (at MP 66.2) and by October two outfit cars had run away and were left where they ran off the tracks at Coke Ovens (at MP 60.49)."

 

He explained, "The other sections between the washouts were removed using the Galloping Geese engines with their box bodies removed. [That way, the work crews] could truck them around the washouts and tear up the track between the washed out tracks.

They used the K-27 class locomotive #461 with a winch mounted on the tender to pull the rails up onto the flat car as they went along (the winch was not installed by the time the time these photos were taken.) "

 

Rio Grande Southern Railroad track removal near Burns Canyon
(above Dolores, Colo. (actually Rico)
Date/circa: 1952/1953

Photographer Notes: Near Mile Post 63. A crew apparently is working on removing the first section of track at the lowest washout of track above Dolores when the Rio Grande Southern was being abandoned and scrapped. The location apparently is Burns Canyon, a narrow rocky area just south of bridge 64-A, which both the track and the Dolores River twisted through on an S curve. According to Robert Herronen (analyst, UNCG MIS department; builder, Rio Grande Southern R.R. of N.C.; and alumnus, Fort Lewis College, 1993), who supplied this info via emails on 3/26 and 3/28/2007, "The RGS received word from the courts that it could be abandoned April 24th, 1952. The RGS began to dismantle the trackage starting in May of 1952 it appears. Scrapping was done June 17, 1953." He believes this view is "around milepost 70. Below MP. 70, there are photos of Goose 7 scrapping the tracks. So it was a section that they could not use the steam train to scrap the railroad. That would explain why they were scrapping up the side of Lizard Head pass by October. They had Rico to scrap (at MP 66.2) and by October two outfit cars had run away and were left where they ran off the tracks at Coke Ovens (at MP 60.49)."

He explained, "The other sections between the washouts were removed using the Galloping Geese engines with their box bodies removed. [That way, the work crews] could truck them around the washouts and tear up the track between the washed out tracks. They used the K-27 class locomotive #461 with a winch mounted on the tender to pull the rails up onto the flat car as they went along (the winch was not installed by the time the time these photos were taken.)"

___ Center of Southwest Studies,Fort Lewis College.

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


###

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