Tourists at cliff dwellings, and more

 

Thing of the past ...
Tourists at cliff dwellings in Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado
Lee, Russell, 1903-1986, photographer
Created / Published:1939 Aug.
Headings:
- United States--Colorado--Mesa Verde National Park
- Mountains, tourists--Colorado
Genre: Nitrate 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
Medium:1 negative : nitrate ; 35 mm.
Call Number/Physical Location:
LC-USF33- 012346-M5 [P&P] LOT 615 (Possible associated group of images)
Source Collection: Farm Security Administration - Office of War Information Photograph Collection (Library of Congress)
Repository: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, DC 20540 USA http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pp.print
Digital Id: fsa 8a26851 //hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/fsa.8a26851
Library of Congress Control Number:2017740641 

Thing of the past ...
A double rarity (for 2015) in Kremmling, Colorado: an old motel turned art gallery, and a working pay telephone
Names: Highsmith, Carol M., 1946-, photographer
Created / Published:2015-07-29.
Headings:
- United States--Colorado--Grand County--Kremmling
- America
- Art galleries
- Pay telephones
- Pay phones
Genre: Digital photographs--Color--2010-2020
Notes:
- Title, date and keywords based on information provided by the photographer.
- Coin-fed pay phones peaked at more than 2 million installations across the United States in the 1990s, before hand-held cellular phones became commonplace. The number of working phones was estimated at fewer than one-fourth that many in 2013, after the industry was left to small, independent providers once the nation's two principal providers, AT&T and Verizon, dropped pay-phone service.
- 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.
Call Number/Physical Location: LC-DIG-highsm- 33689 (ONLINE) [P&P]
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 33689 //hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/highsm.33689
Library of Congress Control Number:2015633705  

Thing of the past ...
[People on horseback going up mountain in Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado]
Created / Published:[between 1909 and 1932]
Headings:
- Horseback riding--Colorado--Rocky Mountain National Park--1900-1940
- Rocky Mountain National Park (Colo.)--1900-1940
Genre:Photographic prints--1900-1940
Notes
- No. 728.
- National Photo Company Collection.
Medium:1 photographic print.
Call Number/Physical Location:LOT 12352-8 [P&P;]
Digital Id:cph 3c00923 //hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/cph.3c00923
Library of Congress Control Number:90715607 

Thing of the past ...
The first known photo of a Rocky Mountain Collegian staff, in 1896.
“After much delay, resulting from a number of causes, the Collegian has at last made its appearance. The managers will do their utmost to produce a creditable paper, and one that will meet with the approval of all friends of the College. It shall be our earnest endeavor at all times to present all of the College news — what the students are doing in different departments, the changes that are being made, and, in fact, everything of interest connected with the College.”
From Colorado State University "Source." Mar, 2017.
By Jeff Dodge 

  

Thing of the past ...

 Twenty-five thousand people gathered at the state fair, Pueblo, Colo. / photographed and published by B.W. Kilburn.

Kilburn, B. W. (Benjamin West), 1827-1909.
Created / Published:Littleton, N.H. : B.W. Kilburn, c1907.
Headings:
- Fairs--Colorado--Pueblo--1900-1910
- Carts & wagons--Colorado--Pueblo--1900-1910
Genre:
Stereographs--1900-1910
Photographic prints--1900-1910
Notes:
- H88419 U.S. Copyright Office.
- Copyright by B.W. Kilburn.
- No. 17013.
Medium:1 photographic print on stereo card : stereograph.
Call Number/Physical Location: STEREO SUBJ FILE - Fairs--Colorado--Pueblo--1907(?) [P&P;]
Digital Id: cph 3c13592 http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/cph.3c13592
Library of Congress Control Number:95509284

Thing of the past ...
Stereograph showing woman crossing dirt road with man and boy standing in middle of road; in background townspeople entering and exiting shops. Aspen, Colorado.
Kilburn, B. W. (Benjamin West), 1827-1909, photographer
Created / Published: Littleton, N.H. : Photographed and published by B.W. Kilburn, c1890 Mar. 29.
Headings: - City & town life--Colorado--Aspen--1890
Genre:
Stereographs--1890
Photographic prints--1890
Notes:
- No. 5676.
- Title from item.
Medium: 1 photograph : print on card mount ; mount 9 x 18 cm (stereograph format)
Call Number/Physical Location: STEREO U.S. GEOG FILE - Colorado--Aspen--Street Scene [item] [P&P]
Repository: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pp.print
Digital Id: cph 3a30609 http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/cph.3a30609
Library of Congress Control Number:2014649851 

 Thing of the past ...

The National Hotel was emblematic of the resurgence, rising like a Phoenix out of the ashes to prominence on Bennett Avenue.

https://coloradorestlessnative.blogspot.com/.../like.. 

 

 

Famed broadcaster Lowell Thomas (left) and former Colorado Gov. Ralph Carr (right) behind the bar at the Imperial Hotel in Cripple Creek in 1949.

The Gold Rush March 19, 2003 Trace Lineage of the Gold Rush "The historical sense involves a perception, not only of the pastness of the past, but of its presence." - T.S. Elliot, 1919  by Rob Carrigan, robcarrigan1@gmail.com  I like to read old newspapers and another pursuit I find interesting is to try to trace lineage. It is only natural then, that an effort to figure out The Gold Rush's family tree would follow. It is, however, a challenge. The current Gold Rush is a descendant of no less than 10 newspapers and their consolidations. As many as 20 different newspapers have operated in the Cripple Creek district over the years.  Lowell Thomas traditionally began his worldwide radio news broadcasts with "Good Evening Everybody" and signed off with "So Long Until Tomorrow".      Colorado Governor Ralph Carr   Notable journalists such as famous broadcaster Lowell Thomas reported for the Victor Record (merged into The Gold Rush early in the last century) in 1910 and 1911. Gov. Ralph Carr served as editor of the rival Cripple Creek Times during the same period. Irena Ingram became Colorado's first woman district judge in 1938 when Governor Teller Ammons appointed her to the bench. A 1978 book by Walter H. Stewart and Elma St. John Stewart, "Colorado Newspaper Editors, Owners, 1935-1977" was an outgrowth of research for the Colorado Press Association. In the Stewart's book, they claim the Gold Rush began its life as the Cripple Creek Crusher in December 1891, and the first publishers were E.C. Gard and W.S. Neal. Bert Pottenger was the first editor according to the book. A 1991 article by Ruth Zirkle (still a local fixture in Victor and Teller County) marking the 100-year anniversary of the Gold Rush says that Gard moved his news plant here from Palmer Lake and beat William McCrea to the punch by four days by publishing the first Crusher on December 4, 1891. The first Crusher was printed in gilded ink - a layer of gold over the regular ink. McCrea's Prospector, the second newspaper sported a vermilion headline that said, "New Gold Field," Zirkle wrote. The Gold Rush even incorporates news products and predates papers from the other side of the country as well. In 1952, Margaret A. Giddings and Blevins Davis bought the Cripple Creek Times-Record and absorbed the Woodland Park View, which was first published by Ken Geddes on Fridays in Teller Town beginning in 1948. The Times-Record was a daily newspaper itself until 1942 when World War II and the closing of the gold mines forced a downsizing to a weekly product. Giddings and Davis changed the name to The Gold Rush in 1952 when they purchased the paper, but the name was changed to the Teller County Times. Doug Hirsh bought the Teller County Times in August, l987, then changed the name to the Gold Rush. If you have information about newspapers in this area that you would like to share with me, I would be very happy to lend an ear. But remind me to take notes, because otherwise I don't think I can keep track without a written history. Rob Carrigan is a third generation Colorado Native, descendant of the wee Carrigans of Ferarmagh, and publisher of the Courier, Gold Rush and Extra.

Palisade, near Hotchkiss, Bain News Service, Phobe's Arch, Manitou, more

 

Thing of the past ...
Andy Bahain, FSA (Farm Security Administration) borrower, with horses on farm near Kersey, Coloardo
Rothstein, Arthur, 1915-1985, photographer
Created / Published:1939 Oct.
Headings: - United States--Colorado--Weld County--Kersey
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 671.
Medium: 1 negative : safety ; 3 1/4 x 4 1/4 inches or smaller.
Call Number/Physical Location: LC-USF34- 028326-D [P&P] LOT 453 (corresponding photographic print)
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 8b18541 //hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/fsa.8b18541
Library of Congress Control Number:2017778563

Thing of the past ...
Monument Park
Man standing on large rock, and aiming gun, Mounment Park, Colorado.
Chamberlain, W. G. (William Gunnison), photographer
Created / Published:
[Denver, Colorado : photographed and published by W.G. Chamberlain, c1878]
Headings:
- Rock formations--Colorado--1870-1880
Genre:
Stereographs--1870-1880
Photographic prints--1870-1880
Medium:
1 photographic print on stereo card : stereograph.
Call Number/Physical Location: LOT 11975 [P&P;]
Digital Id: cph 3c10835 http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/cph.3c10835
Library of Congress Control Number: 94505159 

Thing of the past ...
View showing the general devastation wrought by the flood to the industrial and business districts Pueblo, Col.]
Created / Published:[1921]
Headings
- American Red Cross
- United States--Colorado--Pueblo
Genre: Glass negatives
Notes:
- Title and date from related negative by same photographer: LC-A6197- RC-8859.
- Photographer name or source of original from caption card or negative sleeve: Standley, no. 5.
- Gift; American National Red Cross 1944 and 1952.
- General information about the American National Red Cross photograph collection is available at http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pp.anrc
- Temp note: Batch 28
Medium:1 negative : glass ; 5 x 7 in.
Call Number/Physical Location: LC-A6197- RC-8772 [P&P]
Source Collection: American National Red Cross 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: anrc 14054 https://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/anrc.14054
Library of Congress Control Number:2017679205

Thing of the past ...
Wash houses erected in the refugee camp so that the refugee families would have some sanitary way of washing their clothes. Pueblo Colorado flood
Created / Published:
June 4, 1921.
Headings:
- American Red Cross
- United States--Colorado--Pueblo
Genre: Glass negatives
Notes:
- Title, date and notes from Red Cross caption card.
- Photographer name or source of original from caption card or negative sleeve: Southwestern Division.
- Classification: Disaster Relief.
- Date received: July 1921.
- Gift; American National Red Cross 1944 and 1952.
- General information about the American National Red Cross photograph collection is available at http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pp.anrc
- Temp note: Batch 28
Medium: 1 negative : glass ; 5 x 7 in.
Call Number/Physical Location:LC-A6197- RC-8948 [P&P]
Source Collection: American National Red Cross 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: anrc 14137 https://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/anrc.14137
Library of Congress Control Number:2017679287 

Thing of the past ...
[Indian with two tepees beside a lake in Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado]
Created / Published:[between 1909 and 1932]
Headings:
- Indians of North America--Dwellings--Colorado--Rocky Mountain National Park
- Tipis--Colorado--Rocky Mountain National Park--1900-1940
Genre: Photographic prints--1900-1940
Notes:
- National Photo Company Collection.
- Neg. no. 1692.
- Slide no. 3588.
Medium: 1 photographic print.
Call Number/Physical Location: LOT 12352-8 [P&P;]
Digital Id:
cph 3c01036 //hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/cph.3c01036
Library of Congress Control Number:90709619

Thing of the past ...
Rocky Mountain Nat. Park
Created / Published: [between 1910 and 1925]
Genre: Glass negatives
Notes:
- Title from unverified data provided by the National Photo Company on the negative or negative sleeve.
- Date from negatives in same range.
- Gift; Herbert A. French; 1947.
- General information about the National Photo Company collection is available at http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pp.npco
- This glass negative might show streaks and other blemishes resulting from a natural deterioration in the original coatings.
- Temp. note: Batch seven.
Medium: 1 negative : glass ; 8 x 6 in.
Call Number/Physical Location:LC-F82- 451 [P&P]
Source Collection:National Photo Company 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: npcc 31520 //hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/npcc.31520
Library of Congress Control Number:2016824972 

Thing of the past ...
Fred Payne Clatworthy
The Wind River Trail - Photo Litho
Clatworthy began to produce autochromes, increasing the demand for his services. Developed in France, the autochrome consisted of a glass plate covered with a silver emulsion and tiny grains of potato starch dyed red, blue, and green. Each grain acted as a small filter permitting the corresponding colored light to pass through it at the time of exposure. The end result was an image that more or less faithfully reproduced the colors of nature. Excited by the advertising potential of full-color photographs, railways and transportation companies began sponsor Clatworthy’s travel to locations near and far.

Thing of the past ...
Nightingale Mine, Bull Hill, earth's richest gold field, Cripple Creek, Colo.
Created / Published:[1910]
Headings:
- Cripple Creek (Colo.)--1910
Genre:
Stereographs--1910
Photographic prints--1910
Notes:
- Title from item.
Medium:
1 photograph : print on card mount ; mount 9 x 18 cm (stereograph format)
Call Number/Physical Location: STEREO U.S. GEOG FILE - Colorado -- Cripple Creek [item] [P&P]
Repository:Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pp.print
Digital Id: stereo 1s11022 //hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/stereo.1s11022
Library of Congress Control Number:2018646898 

Thing of the past ...
Cripple Creek and Mt. Pisgah (elevation 10,400 ft.) from the Anchoria-Leland Mine, Colorado
Created / Published:[1906]
Headings
- Cripple Creek (Colo.)--1900-1910
Genre
Stereographs--1900-1910
Photographic prints--1900-1910
Notes:
- No. 1599.
- Title from item.
Medium: 1 photograph : print on card mount ; mount 9 x 18 cm (stereograph format)
Call Number/Physical Location:STEREO U.S. GEOG FILE - Colorado -- Cripple Creek [item] [P&P]
Repository: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pp.print
Digital Id: stereo 1s11024 //hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/stereo.1s11024
Library of Congress Control Number:2018647150

Thing of the past ...
Phoebe's Arch, Palmer Lake, Colorado.
Keystone View Company, publisher
Created / Published:[1929]
Headings
- Palmer Lake (Colo.)--1900-1910
Genre:
Stereographs--1920-1930
Photographic prints--1920-1930
Notes:
- Title from item.
- No. 32028.
Medium: 1 photograph : print on card mount ; mount 9 x 18 cm (stereograph format)
Call Number/Physical Location: STEREO U.S. GEOG FILE - Colorado -- Palmer Lake [item] [P&P]
Repository: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pp.print
Digital Id: stereo 1s11339 //hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/stereo.1s11339
Library of Congress Control Number:2018647791 

Thing of the past ...
Phobe's Arch, Palmer Lake, Colo. U. S. A. On Line D. & R. G. R. R.
Keystone View Co., publisher
Created / Published:[1896]
Headings
- Palmer Lake (Colo.)--1890-1900
Genre:
Stereographs--1890-1900
Photographic prints--1890-1900
Notes:
- Title from item.
- No. 2403.
Medium:
1 photograph : print on card mount ; mount 9 x 18 cm (stereograph format)
Call Number/Physical Location
STEREO U.S. GEOG FILE - Colorado -- Palmer Lake [item] [P&P]
Repository: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pp.print
Digital Id: stereo 1s11341 //hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/stereo.1s11341
Library of Congress Control Number: 2018647793

Thing of the past ...
Manitou, six miles from Colorado Springs - soda springs
Brandt, Eugene, photographer
Created / Published: Colorado Springs, Huerfano Street : Eugene Brandt, [between 1870 and 1876]
Headings:
- Springs--Colorado--1870-1880
- Mineral waters--Colorado--1870-1880
Genre:
Landscape photographs--1870-1880
Stereographs--1870-1880
Albumen prints--1870-1880
Notes:
- Title from item.
- Inscribed in ink: R.D. Leidel Oct. 14/76.
- Part of series: Eugene Brandt's artistic series of famous Rocky Mountain scenery.
Medium: 1 photographic print on stereo card : stereograph, albumen.
Call Number/Physical Location: LOT 13581, no. 7 [P&P]
Repository: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA
Digital Id:
stereo 1s01659 http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/stereo.1s01659
stereo 2s01659 http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/stereo.2s01659
Library of Congress Control Number: 2006679446  

Thing of the past ....
[Printing the Bain News Service photos using a Bain-McDonald auto printer]
Bain News Service, publisher
Created / Published:[between ca. 1910 and ca. 1915]
Genre:Glass negatives
Notes:
- Forms part of: George Grantham Bain Collection (Library of Congress).
- Title based on negative LC-B2-2353-2.
- General information about the George Grantham Bain Collection is available at http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pp.ggbain
- Additional information about this photograph might be available through the Flickr Commons project at http://www.flickr.com/photos/library_of_congress/2163811426 External
Medium: 1 negative : glass ; 5 x 7 in. or smaller.
Call Number/Physical Location:LC-B2- 2353-1 [P&P] LOT 10933-5 (Corresponding print)
Source Collection:Bain News Service photograph collection
Repository:Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pp.print
Digital Id: ggbain 10071 //hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/ggbain.10071
Library of Congress Control Number:2014690055 

Thing of the past ...
Farm scene with Tom Reilly, FSA (Farm Security Administration) borrower. 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 880.
Medium: 1 negative : safety ; 3 1/4 x 4 1/4 inches or smaller.
Call Number/Physical Location: LC-USF34- 028598-D [P&P] LOT 453 (corresponding photographic print)
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 8b18739 //hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/fsa.8b18739
Library of Congress Control Number:2017778845

Thing of the past ...
Grand River Valley and its peach orchards, N.N.W., Palisade, Colo.
Underwood and Underwood, publisher
Created / Published: [1910]
Headings:Palisade (Colo.)--1910
Genre:
Stereographs--1910
Photographic prints--1910
Notes:
- Title from item.
- No. (34)-10638.
Medium: 1 photograph : print on card mount ; mount 9 x 18 cm (stereograph format)
Call Number/Physical Location: STEREO U.S. GEOG FILE - Colorado -- Palisade [item] [P&P]
Repository: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pp.print
Digital Id: stereo 1s11336 //hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/stereo.1s11336
Library of Congress Control Number:2018647788 

Estes Park man's camera images set an example

 Clatworthy with camera on Trail Ridge Road in Rocky Mountain National Park, circa 1920.

Clatworthy's excellent images 

in color, and black & white

By Rob Carrigan, robcarrigan1@gmail.com

Fred Payne Clatworthy made photos locally and nationally for more than half a century from head-quarters in Estes Park, and while he mostly worked in national parks throughout the American West, he also traveled outside of the continental United States to shoot Autochromes.

"Clatworthy first visited Colorado during a cross-country bicycle trek that took place over a year between 1898 and 1899. Clatworthy left Evanston, Illinois in June of 1898 and bicycled nearly 1000 miles to Denver. He then continued on to New Mexico, Arizona, California, and Washington, snapping photographs the along the way," according to History Colorado's Adrienne Evans, Former Colorado 20th Century Photo Collections Project Archivist.

"Clatworthy eventually returned to Colorado in 1902 and settled in Estes Park around 1904. There, he opened a curio store called “Ye Lyttel Shop.” The store sold a variety of items including furniture, produce, Kodak cameras, film, and Clatworthy’s own images of the area. 

 Clatworthy would develop additional business interests in the area including rental cottages, a Kodak store, and for a time, even a zippy laundry service. He would eventually marry and raise his family in Estes Park, residing in the town until his death in 1953.

Photography remained a constant throughout Clatworthy’s life. In 1900, he sold a series of Grand Canyon images to the Atchison, Topeka, and Sante Fe Railroad Company,and began a long relationship with the American railroads. By the end of his career, Clatworthy could count the Great Northern, the Union Pacific, the Southern Pacific, the Denver and Rio Grande, and the Chicago, Burlington, and Quincy Railroad among his clients. In 1914, Clatworthy began to produce autochromes, increasing the demand for his services. 

A line of automobiles on Fall River Road in Rocky Mountain National Park, Fred Clatworthy, circa 1925.

Developed in France, the autochrome consisted of a glass plate covered with a silver emulsion and tiny grains of potato starch dyed red, blue, and green. Each grain acted as a small filter permitting the corresponding colored light to pass through it at the time of exposure. The end result was an image that more or less faithfully reproduced the colors of nature. Excited by the advertising potential of full-color photographs, railways and transportation companies began sponsor Clatworthy’s travel to locations near and far. For instance, the Great Northern Railroad sent Clatworthy to Glacier National Park in 1925, and the Matson Navigation and Union Steamship Companies sent Clatworthy to New Zealand and Tahiti in 1928.

An avid traveler, Clatworthy conceived of a plan to bicycle across the continental United States while in college. After his graduation from Stetson University in 1896, Clatworthy traveled by steamship to Brooklyn, New York. From there, he bicycled to his parents’ home in Evanston, Illinois. He considered this the first leg of a cross-continental journey. He spent the next two years in the Chicago area working as an office boy and attending the University of Chicago Law School. 

 

Then, in June 1898, Clatworthy embarked from his parents’ residence and spent the next year bicycling across the Western United States. Clatworthy's route took him through Iowa, Nebraska, Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, California, and Washington. He documented much of the journey with a 4x5" view camera. In 1900, Clatworthy traveled across the Yuma Desert from Los Angeles, California to Flagstaff, Arizona via wagon and mule team.He sold some of the photographs that he shot at Grand Canyon National Park during the trip to the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway.

Two women on the bank of Nymph Lake in Rocky Mountain National Park, Fred Clatworthy, 1949.

After spending two years ranching near Loveland, Colorado, Clatworthy visited Estes Park in 1904 and decided to relocate. Soon after his first visit, Clatworthy purchased two lots on the west end of Estes Park. He erected a tent house on the property and started a photography business. He used water from the nearby Thompson River to develop and print photographs. In 1905, Clatworthy built a small building on his property and named it "Ye Littel Shop." In addition to serving as the base of Clatworthy's photographic operations, "Ye Littel Shop" also functioned as a curio store. There, Clatworthy sold a variety of items including furniture, produce, Kodak cameras, film, and Clatworthy's own images of the area. In the coming years, Clatworthy would develop additional business interests in the Estes Park area including rental cottages, a Spaulding Athletic Agency, a Kodak store, and briefly, a zippy laundry service.Clatworthy also served as the official photographer for the Stanley Hotel, Covenant Heights, and the Rocky Mountain Young Men's Christian Association. In addition, his landscape photography was featured in the Outlook, Century, World's Work, Country Life Magazine at this time. 

Two people pose in cave at Hawlett (Rowe) Glacier in Rocky Mountain National Park, Fred Clatworthy,1910.

Clatworthy began to produce Autochromes, the format for which he would become internationally known, in 1914.In exchange for image use rights to Clatworthy's Autochromes, railways and transportation companies began to send him on all-expenses-paid photo assignments to various locations. By the end of his career, Clatworthy counted the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad,the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad, the Northern Pacific Railway, the Southern Pacific Transportation Company, and the Union Pacific Railroad among his clients. 

While Clatworthy mostly worked in national parks throughout the American West, he also traveled outside of the continental United States to shoot Autochromes. For instance, the Matson Lines sent Clatworthy to Hawaii in 1926; the Union Steamship Company and Matson Lines sent Clatworthy on a tour of Polynesia that included stops in New Zealand, Tahiti, the Cook Islands and Hawaii in 1928; and the Southern Pacific Transportation Company sent Clatworthy to Mexico in 1929 and 1930.

In 1917, Clatworthy presented Autochromes of Estes Park and Rocky Mountain National Park (RMNP) before members of the United States Congress. Held at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington D.C., Clatworthy's exhibition was part of an effort headed by Colorado senator John F. Shafroth to increase the area of RMNP. The senate passed Shafroth's bill, which had been stalled for the past year, the day after Clatworthy's presentation. It was also around this time that Clatworthy became acquainted with the National Geographic Society. Approximately 100 of Clatworthy's Autochromes accompanied photo essays in National Geographic Magazine between 1923 and 1934, and he became one illustration editor Franklin Fisher's go-to Autochromists. 

 

Fred Payne Clatworthy

The National Geographic articles included: "Western Views in the Land of the Best" (April 1923); "Photographing the Marvels of the West in Colors" (June 1928); "Scenic Glories of Western United States: Autochromes" (August 1929); "Adventures in Color in Mexico's West Coast" (July 1930); "Colorado: Among the Peaks and Parks of the Rockies" (July 1932); "Sunshine Land of Fruits, Flowers and Sport" (November 1934). Finally, this 1917 trip also marked the beginning of Clatworthy's career as a slide lecturer. 

For the next 21 years, Clatworthy would spend his off-seasons presenting Autochromes to packed venues throughout the country. Clatwothy's most notable lecture venues included the Field Museum, the American Museum of Natural History, and Carnegie Museum of Natural History. Between Clatworthy's lectures and published images, his work was seen by over ten million people in over 160 countries.

 "A Colorado luminary, photographer Fred Payne Clatworthy’s mastery of the autochrome process brought Colorado’s beauty to audiences throughout the United States in the early 1900s. Richelle Cross Force, author of “Fred Payne Clatworthy – Colorado’s Color Photography Pioneer.”

Force explained that her book on Clatworthy, who spent his 65-year career in Estes Park, came about as a result of her acquaintance with Clatworthy’s daughter, Barbara Clatworthy Gish, who was looking for someone to writer her father’s history. When Force saw tables and tables of written material, photographs and memorabilia in Gish’s basement she immediately thought, “this is a book waiting to be written,” says Callie Jones of prairiemountainmedia.com, Sterling Journal-Advocate in May 26, 2022, article.

 Featuring original Clatworthy autochromes, the book tells the story of how the photographer ended up in Estes Park and was catapulted into the national spotlight.

In 1907, he sold his first large photo album with scenes from Estes Park, Big Thompson Canyon and other sites.

Clatworthy eventually had three buildings on Elkhorn Avenue in full operation, an art gallery and studio, a gift shop and a general store featuring an ice cream parlor and confectionary. He sold rustic little chairs and tables, alabaster sculpture and kitchenware, Navaho rugs, baskets, riding equipment, souvenirs, jewelry and artifacts he acquired on his picture taking expeditions.

"In May 1909, during a visit to Yosemite National Park he encountered the famous conservationist John Muir and naturalist John Burroughs, who asked him to join their group and as the two gentlemen were resting and clearly joking with each other, Clatworthy took a casual black and white photo of them that became a standard illustration in Yosemite’s promotion brochures. It is said to be the only picture of Burroughs in which he was smiling."

Then, in Oct. 1911, he married Mabel Leonard and they had three children. Their family home in Estes Park on what is now Riverside Drive is listed on the Colorado Register of Historic Properties and the National Register of Historic Places.

"Clatworthy was introduced to the autochrome process in 1914, by an accomplished photographer at the American Museum of Natural History in New York, who spent summers in Estes Park. The method used a single glass plate covered with panchromatic emulsion and millions of grains of potato starch dyed red, blue and green, and produced impressionistic soft focused images."

After mastering the autochrome technique, Clatworthy decided to re-photograph all of the scenes he had previously captured in black and white. By then he was one of Colorado’s leading commercial landscape photographers and his work, featured in the national parks, was receiving an exposure in national publications.

"Clatworthy’s photographs were crucial in the preservation of Rocky Mountain National Park. The park opened in 1915 and in 1916 when Charles Evans Hughes, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, was running for president against Woodrow Wilson, he brought a delegation to Estes Park and Clatworthy was asked to photograph the party and subsequently was invited to present his color slides of Rocky Mountain National Park to members of Congress in Washington D.C. At the time, a bill to enlarge the parks numbers and increase appropriations for them had been stalled for a year, but after seeing Fred’s slides Congress passed the legislation the next day," says Richelle Cross Force, author of “Fred Payne Clatworthy – Colorado’s Color Photography Pioneer.”

As a result of his association with Hughes, Fred was put in touch with the National Geographic Society and thus began a long relationship that would catapult him into the national spotlight. The magazine published six series of his autochromes featuring images of Rocky Mountain National Park, Mesa Verde, the Grand Canyon, Bryce Canyon, Zion, Glacier and Yellowstone National Parks.

Almost overnight he had a new career, that of travel lecturer. He crisscrossed the nation showing color slides on a giant satin screen to audiences sometimes numbering in the thousands. Throughout the 1920s and 30s and beyond he was in great demand as a travel lecturer all over the country.

“He addressed prestigious audiences hungry for more of the vibrant images of the national parks in the western United States and these slideshows undoubtedly contributed to the tourism boom over the ensuing years in Colorado and the west,” Force said.

Well into his 70s Clayworthy was still presenting his slide shows to the hometown folks in Estes Park. He died after a stroke in 1953 at the age of 77 and was buried in Fort Collins since there were no funeral homes or graveyards in Estes Park at the time.

The Smithsonian in Washington D.C. has an extensive collection of Clatworthy articles, as does the History Colorado museum in Denver and of course the Estes Park Museum, which was the primary beneficiaries of Clatworthy memorabilia.

“He was a true Colorado luminary, distinguishing himself not only as a landscape photographer but as a commercial success in a career spanning over 60 years, one of the fortunate few who could make money doing what he loved,” Force said.

 

 Photograph of John Burroughs & John Muir,1909.