Saturday, August 31, 2024

Lizard Head, Child Labor, Downtown Craig, and more

 

Thing of the past ...

Sugar beet workers, Sugar City, Colorado. Mary, six years, Lucy, eight, Ethel, ten. Family has been here ten years. Children go to school in the winter. See Hine Report, Colorado Beet Workers, July 1915.] Location: [Sugar City, Colorado]
Hine, Lewis Wickes, 1874-1940, photographer
Created / Published: [1915 July]
Headings:
- Girls
- Agricultural laborers
- Sugar industry
- Beets
- United States--Colorad--Sugar City
Genre: Photographic prints
Notes:
- Attribution to Hine based on provenance.
- In album: Agriculture.
- Title from NCLC caption card for Hine no. 3942.
- Hine no. 3944.
- Credit line: National Child Labor Committee collection, Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division.
- General information about the National Child Labor Committee collection is available at: https://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pp.nclc
Medium: 1 photographic print.
Source Collection: National Child Labor Committee collection
Repository: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA https://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pp.print
Library of Congress Control Number:2018677811


Thing of the past ...
 
Main street of Craig, Colorado. A new and thriving boom town.
Wolcott, Marion Post, 1910-1990, photographer
Created / Published: 1941 Sept.
Headings:
- United States--Colorado--Moffat County--Craig
Genre: Safety film negatives
Notes:
- Title and other information from a possibly related negative. Image came to Library of Congress untitled. (There was no caption for this image in the FSA/OWI shelflist.)
- Appears to be related to negative LC-USF34-058879-D https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2017808356/
- Transfer; United States. Office of War Information. Overseas Picture Division. Washington Division; 1944.
- More information about the FSA/OWI Collection is available at http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pp.fsaowi
- Temp. note: usf34batch7
- Film copy on SIS roll 8, frame 1007.
Medium: 1 negative : safety ; 3 1/4 x 4 1/4 inches or smaller.
Source Collection: Farm Security Administration - Office of War Information Photograph Collection (Library of Congress)
Repository:Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pp.print
Digital Id: fsa 8c15944 //hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/fsa.8c15944
Library of Congress Control Number: 2017808359


Thing of the past ...
 
Log bridge across Frying Pan Creek from the road to the ranch house. Near Meredith, Colorado
Wolcott, Marion Post, 1910-1990, photographer
Created / Published: 1941 Sept.
Headings:
- United States--Colorado--Gunnison County--Frying Pan Creek
Genre: Safety film negatives
Notes:
- Actual size of negative is C (approximately 4 x 5 inches).
- Title and other information from caption card.
- Electronic surrogate made from item with the same number in the LC-USF34 series.
- Transfer; United States. Office of War Information. Overseas Picture Division. Washington Division; 1944.
- More information about the FSA/OWI Collection is available at http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pp.fsaowi
- Temp. note: usf34batch7
Medium:
1 negative : safety ; 3 1/4 x 4 1/4 inches or smaller.
Source Collection:
Farm Security Administration - Office of War Information Photograph Collection (Library of Congress)
Repository: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pp.print
Digital Id: fsa 8c15980 //hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/fsa.8c15980
Library of Congress Control Number:2017808564


Thing of the past ...
 
Cebolla, a famous fishing place on Gunnison River, Colorado
Train in center.
Created / Published: c1910.
Notes:
- Stereo copyrighted by Underwood & Underwood.
- This record contains unverified, old data from caption card.
- Caption card tracings: Shelf.
Medium: 1 photographic print on stereo card : stereograph.
Repository: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA
Library of Congress Control Number: 2007678824
 

Thing of the past ...
 
Where sugar is made from beets, filter presses, Greeley, Colo.
Berry, Kelley & Chadwick.
Created / Published: Dallas, Tex. : Berry, Kelley & Chadwick, c1908.
Headings
- Sugar industry--Colorado--Greeley--1900-1910
- Machinery--Colorado--Greeley--1900-191
Genre:
Stereographs--1900-1910
Photographic prints--1900-1910
Notes:
- H117990 U.S. Copyright Office.
- Copyright by E.W. Kelley.
- No. 8795.
Medium: 1 photographic print on stereo card : stereograph.
Repository: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA
Library of Congress Control Number: 98511084
 

Thing of the past ...
A lone, 400-foot spire atop Lizard Head peak in the San Miguel Range of the Rocky Mountain is a favored progress marker for the many hikers in the area, around the ski-resort town of Telluride, Colorado
Highsmith, Carol M., 1946-, photographer
Created / Published: 2016-06-04.
Headings:
- United States--Colorado--San Miguel County--Telluride
- America
- Lizard head
- San Miguel Range
- Rocky Mountains
Genre: Digital photographs--Color--2010-2020
Notes:
- Title, date and keywords based on information provided by the photographer.
- Credit line: Gates Frontiers Fund Colorado Collection within the Carol M. Highsmith Archive, Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division.
- Gift; Gates Frontiers Fund; 2015; (DLC/PP-2015:068).
- Forms part of: Gates Frontiers Fund Colorado Collection within the Carol M. Highsmith Archive.
Medium: 1 photograph : digital, tiff file, color.
Source Collection: Highsmith, Carol M., 1946- Carol M. Highsmith Archive.
Repository: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pp.print
Digital Id: highsm 38050 //hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/highsm.38050
Library of Congress Control Number: 2017687942

 

Thing of the past ...
 
President Warren G. Harding and others
Harry Mellon Rhoads, photographer, 1922 or 1923
United States President Warren G. Harding poses with men by a pool table.The Harry M. Rhoads Photograph Collection, Western History/Genealogy Dept., Denver Public Library.
 
Thing of the past ...
[C.S. Jackson group on Dudley Walker's porch]
Detroit Publishing Co., publisher
Created / Published:[between 1895 and 1910]
Headings: - Porches - Dwellings
Genre: Dry plate negatives
Notes:
- Title from jacket.
- Possibly Clarence S. Jackson, son of photographer William Henry Jackson.
- "182" on negative.
- Detroit Publishing Co. no. 042506.
- Gift; State Historical Society of Colorado; 1949.
Medium: 1 negative : glass ; 8 x 10 in.
Source Collection: Detroit Publishing Company photograph collection (Library of Congress)
Repository: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pp.print
Digital Id: det 4a20314 //hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/det.4a20314
Library of Congress Control Number: 2016811538

 

Thing of the past ...
President Taft in Montrose, Colo., Sept. 23, 1909
Thomas M. McKee, photographer
President William Howard Taft addresses a crowd before the opening ceremony for the Gunnison Tunnel at the Montrose County Fairgrounds in Montrose (Montrose County), Colorado. The president stands behind a fence draped with flag bunting and fans. A large crowd of dignitaries sits behind him, and spectators and members of a brass band stand in front of him. Colorado Historical Society, Ronzio Collection.

 

Thing of the past ...
Hayden, Colorado
Vachon, John, 1914-1975, photographer
Created / Published: 1942 May.
Headings :- United States--Colorado--Routt County--Hayden
Genre: Safety film negatives
Notes:
- Title and other information from caption card.
- Transfer; United States. Office of War Information. Overseas Picture Division. Washington Division; 1944.
- More information about the FSA/OWI Collection is available at http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pp.fsaowi
- Temp. note: usf34batch8
- Film copy on SIS roll 11, frame 867.
Medium: 1 negative : safety ; 3 1/4 x 4 1/4 inches or smaller.
Source Collection: Farm Security Administration - Office of War Information Photograph Collection (Library of Congress)
Repository: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pp.print
Digital Id: fsa 8c22035 //hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/fsa.8c22035
Library of Congress Control Number: 2017815217

 

Thing of the past ...
Snowy range from Bald Mountain, Colo.
Jackson, William Henry, 1843-1942, photographer
Detroit Publishing Co., publisher
Created / Published: [ca. 1900]
Genre: Dry plate negatives
Notes:
- Date based on Detroit, Catalogue J Supplement (1901-1906).
- "WHJ 450" on negative.
- Detroit Publishing Co. no. 013850.
- Gift; State Historical Society of Colorado; 1949.
Medium: 1 negative : glass ; 8 x 10 in.
Source Collection: Detroit Publishing Company photograph collection (Library of Congress)
Repository: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pp.print
Digital Id: det 4a09203 //hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/det.4a09203
Library of Congress Control Number: 2016808870

 

Thing of the past ...
Ophir Loop, Colo.
Created / Published: 1909.
Headings:United States--Colorado--Ophir Loop
Genre:
Postcards--1900-1910
Photographs--1900-1910
Notes:
- Title from item.
- Copyright no.: H 127344.
- Transfer; Copyright Office; 43662
Medium: 1 photograph : gelatin silver print ; sheet 9 x 14 cm (postcard format)
Source Collection:Postcard filing series (Library of Congress)
Repository: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA https://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pp.print
Digital Id:
Library of Congress Control Number: 2024686943


Thing of the past ...
Towards Duffield's from St. Peter's, Colorado, C.S. & C.C. [i.e. Colorado Springs & Cripple Creek] Short Line
Jackson, William Henry, 1843-1942, photographer
Detroit Publishing Co., publisher
Created / Published: [ca. 1900]
Headings:
- Railroad tracks
- Mountains
- United States--Colorado--Duffield
Genre: Dry plate negatives
Notes:
- Corresponding glass transparency (with same series code) available on videodisc frame 1A-29649.
- Date based on Detroit, Catalogue J Supplement (1901-1906).
- "WHJ 405" on negative and transparency.
- Detroit Publishing Co. no. 013790.
- Gift; State Historical Society of Colorado; 1949.
Medium: 1 negative : glass ; 8 x 10 in.
Source Collection:Detroit Publishing Company photograph collection (Library of Congress)
Repository: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pp.print
Digital Id:det 4a09162 //hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/det.4a09162
Library of Congress Control Number: 2016800324

 

Thing of the past ...
Georgetown, Colorado
Rothstein, Arthur, 1915-1985, photographer
Created / Published:1939 Oct.
Headings: United States--Colorado--Clear Creek County--Georgetown
Genre: Safety film negatives
Notes:
- Title and other information from caption card.
- Transfer; United States. Office of War Information. Overseas Picture Division. Washington Division; 1944.
- More information about the FSA/OWI Collection is available at http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pp.fsaowi
- Temp. note: usf34batch3
- Film copy on SIS roll 21, frame 1088.
Medium: 1 negative : safety ; 3 1/4 x 4 1/4 inches or smaller.
Source Collection: Farm Security Administration - Office of War Information Photograph Collection (Library of Congress)
Repository: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pp.print
Digital Id: fsa 8b18915 //hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/fsa.8b18915
Library of Congress Control Number: 2017779050


Thing of the past ...
Tom Reilly, FSA (Farm Security Administration) rehabilitation client on his farm near Hotchkiss, Colorado
Rothstein, Arthur, 1915-1985, photographer
Created / Published:1939 Oct.
Headings: United States--Colorado--Delta County--Hotchkiss
Genre: Safety film negatives
Notes:
- Title and other information from caption card.
- Transfer; United States. Office of War Information. Overseas Picture Division. Washington Division; 1944.
- More information about the FSA/OWI Collection is available at http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pp.fsaowi
- Temp. note: usf34batch3
- Film copy on SIS roll 21, frame 881.
Medium: 1 negative : safety ; 3 1/4 x 4 1/4 inches or smaller.
Source Collection:
Farm Security Administration - Office of War Information Photograph Collection (Library of Congress)
Repository:
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pp.print
Digital Id: fsa 8b18740 //hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/fsa.8b18740
Library of Congress Control Number: 2017778846

 

Thing of the past ...
 
President Theo Roosevelt at Hotel Colorado, Glenwood, Springs, Colo.]
Created / Published: c 1905.
Headings: Roosevelt, Theodore,--1858-1919
Genre:
Portrait photographs--1900-1910
Photographic prints--1900-1910
Group portraits--1900-1910
Notes:
- Title from item.
Medium
1 photographic print.
Repository:
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pp.print
Digital Id: ppmsca 36285 //hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/ppmsca.36285
Library of Congress Control Number: 2013651154


Thing of the past ...
Caboose of the Rio Grande Southern narrow gauge railway. Telluride, Colorado
Lee, Russell, 1903-1986, photographer
Created / Published: 1940 Sept.
Headings:
- United States--Colorado--San Miguel County--Telluride
Genre: Safety film negatives
Notes:
- Title and other information from caption card.
- Transfer; United States. Office of War Information. Overseas Picture Division. Washington Division; 1944.
- More information about the FSA/OWI Collection is available at http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pp.fsaowi
- Temp. note: usf34batch4
- Film copy on SIS roll 24, frame 2308.
Medium: 1 negative : safety ; 3 1/4 x 4 1/4 inches or smaller.
Source Collection: Farm Security Administration - Office of War Information Photograph Collection (Library of Congress)
Repository:Library of Congress Prints & Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA.
 

Thing of the past ...
Creator:Trout, George A.
Date: 1951 September 2
Rio Grande Southern narrow gauge steam locomotive no. 74 (2-8-0) with a tender, caboose and gondola cars is stopped at the coaling station (coal chute) in Vance Junction (San Miguel County), Colorado. Members of the Rocky Mountain Railroad club are on the roof and door of the caboose or in the gondola car.
Physical Description: 1 photographic print ; 8 x 10 cm (3 x 4 in.) Analog
Subject: Rio Grande Southern RailroadRocky Mountain Railroad Club--PeopleVance Junction (Colo.)Clubs--Colorado--Vance JunctionNarrow gauge railroads--Colorado--Vance JunctionRailroad facilities--Colorado--Vance Junction Railroad locomotives--Colorado--Vance JunctionCollection Photographs - Western History Related Material Image File: ZZR711011039
Type of Material: Photographic prints Black & white photographs
Notes:Photographers information stamped on verso of print with: "negative no. 1057."; Title inked on verso of photographic print. R7110110395
Donor: George A. Trout
Denver Public Library Special Collections
 

Tuesday, August 20, 2024

Hope and Joy in Ilium Valley

Goose making a stop at Vance Junction. Rotary #2 and the coal chutes are in the background.

 Vance Juction coal pockets last of its kind

2002 photo of the Vance Junction "pocket," History Colorado.

"The circa 1890 chute is associated with the Rio Grande Southern Railway’s narrow-gauge line that operated through the mountainous regions of southwestern Colorado. Once common along coal burning railroads, it is Colorado’s only remaining coaling chute on a narrow-gauge line," says History Colorado.

The two-story section house (section crew stayed in the bottom level and depot manager lived above) at Vance Junction, and several train car out buildings used for storage and ticketing.

"At the start of the 1900s, Ilium Valley was in full swing: Rio Grande Southern trains making the climb towards Ophir and up the railroad’s Keystone Hill to Telluride, coal for their engines clattering out of the chutes at Vance Junction. The Ilium hydroelectric power plant, the old church camp as we know it now, was humming, powered by water flowing through a six-mile wooden flume from Ames. In Keystone Placer Mine, the roar of water cannons as they blasted away Keystone Gorge, day and night, washing away the earth to flush out gold. Ilium was once a busy place," writesin an Apr. 18, 2024, article.

 

Inside of power plant about 1900.

 "It’s quieter these days. Nature is reclaiming most of the mining industry endeavors. Their places of work are now our places of recreation. And Ilium was never highly populated, even at its peak: Telluride Power Company employees lived at the Ilium plant, placer miners lived in a boarding house in the gorge, a handful of Rio Grande Southern employees at Vance Junction, and only a small scattering of ranching cabins. Much of the land along the San Miguel River was claimed for placer mining but beyond the placers in Keystone Gorge, most don’t appear to have been mined extensively. It was rare to see a profit, the effort typically too expensive for the gold retrieved. That might have kept the population down, all those existing claims on the land. Case in point, USFS’s Mary E Campground down here was previously a placer claim named Mary E. "

Wilson says, "It’s most likely that Ilium’s first full-time, year-round resident was Colonel James (Jim) Vance. Vance was in Ilium as early as 1880, soon after San Miguel’s first prospectors, working his own placer claims, though only half-heartedly as his small ranch here occupied most of his time."

A Civil War vet, Vance and his ranch were enough of a fixture in Ilium that the Rio Grande Southern named their Vance Junction after him, where the restored coal chutes still stand. Vance Creek, which crosses the Galloping Goose Trail as you begin the climb out of Ilium towards Telluride, carries his name as well.

"Active in his political party, Vance was well-known and respected in Telluride, the newspaper always mentioned his visits to town. But this was a time when you were washing your dirty laundry out in the open and those same newspapers would happily hang it up for everyone to see. Vance appeared to suffer from alcohol abuse and even his visit to the Keeley Institute, famous for curing alcoholism with snake oil, was made public. Some years later, a grisly front-page headline told of Vance’s attempt to take his own life at his little Ilium ranch. But the modern world that had sprung up around Jim was there to save his life, friends at the Ilium power plant coming to his rescue, and the Rio Grande Southern train transporting him to the Telluride hospital, where he survived," Wilson writes.

"Jim Vance lived out his last years in a veterans’ home in Monte Vista, Colorado, passing away in 1914. The old soldier of the 16th Regiment, Illinois Infantry is buried in that home’s cemetery, his grave marked with a simple Civil War vet headstone, with no mention of Vance being a pioneer of Ilium Valley. Only his last name remains here today, on a small stream and an abandoned railroad junction," he says.

"And what of real ghosts? If there is a haunted place in Ilium, it’s Keystone Gorge. Men were killed there in the placer mine. Maybe don’t venture down there after dark… "

Wilson notes that some Ilium stories are returning to their places of origin: the county’s historical commission and staff worked with the Telluride museum on interpretive panels that share the history of the destructive Keystone Placer Mine and L.L. Nunn’s revolutionary Telluride Power Company, along with more on the Rio Grande Southern’s activities in Ilium. These panels will be installed this spring near the picnic tables on the lower Keystone Gorge Loop Trail and on the county-built deck on the Coal Chutes Loop Trail.

"Given our wealth of public lands, we have that unique opportunity to step out the front door and right into these historic sites. That’s a gift for history lovers, that slow walk through the ruins, searching for history’s ghosts. And if you get hooked, and your eyes can’t stop roaming the hillsides as you look for more, welcome to the club," Wilson writes.

 "In the Illium Valley, just over Lizard Head Pass, visitors can hike a segment of the restored Vance Junction coal chute is the only remaining coal storage facility along the historic Rio Grande Southern Railroad," says Jim Mimiaga Cortez Journal staff writer.

"Drive Colorado Highway 145 over Lizard Head Pass. At the Ophir intersection, turn left onto the gravel road (Road 63L) and drop into Illium Valley. Follow the easy dirt road north for 6 miles to the trailhead. From there, it is a 1-mile hike to the Vance Junction coal chute,"writes Mimiaga.

"Built in 1890, the row of eight pocket chutes was designed to dump premeasured amounts of coal quickly into waiting coal cars. Loading the chutes with coal was very labor intensive. Railcars carrying 10-25 tons of coal would be moved behind the chute structure," he says.

"Workers called “coal heavers” loaded the coal into the chutes manually and were paid just 15 cents per ton, according to an information panel. A stairway leads to the back of the structure, where there is still coal on the ground, and visitors can peer into the chutes."

 In 1891, toll road builder Otto Mears launched the Rio Grand Southern Railroad, which operated between Ridgway, Placerville, Telluride, Rico, Dolores and Durango until 1951. The Vance Junction coal chute was part of the Illium Loop section of the RGS line.

Today, the old railroad bed continues as the Galloping Goose Trail system used by cyclists, hikers, equestrians and anglers.

The Galloping Goose was a type of rail bus that carried passengers and mail along the Rio Grand Southern line after it became too expensive to run freight trains. Galloping Goose No. 5 is on display in downtown Dolores.

Beyond the Vance Junction coal chutes, the trail continues along the South Fork San Miguel River, then along the main stem of the San Miguel River.

 


Generator and two power plant employees.