Harlan earned a reputation for attention to detail

 

Scene of the great fire, Victor. Creator: Harlan, Andrew James, Date1899.

Group of men, women & children posed in front of ashes & debris of R. H. Atchison's residence, Victor, Colorado, one day after devastating fire of August 21, 1899. The fire is reported to have destroyed 14 blocks in four hours; a single portion of brick wall & smoke from smoldering remains are in background. Shows mines & mine dumps, distant background hillsides, and people examining remains of fire debris at center right.

 

 "The View Man's' images were

thorough, elaborate, comprehensive 

By Rob Carrigan, robcarrigan1@gmail.com 

Andrew James Harlan had earned a reputation for attention to detail. Unfortunately, the detail of his life, and what kind of processes drove his fine-tuned photo work, remain somewhat obscure for someone able to capture such essence of the mining district of the time.

He started his photography business in a tent in Victor, Colorado, taking scenic shots, and publicity pictures of the larger gold mines in the area such as the Independence and the Gold Coin. 

He was in Victor at the time of the great fire on August 21, 1899 and took numerous photos of the conflagration. 

Andrew James Harlan was born in 1859 in Ohio and died June 28, 1926 in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Harlan was a teacher in Western Kansas before coming to Colorado in 1892.  

A.J. Harlan was born November 27, 1858 in Adams, Ohio to Robert Morrison Harlan and Mary (Downard) Harlan. He moved to Victor, Colorado in 1896 and set up a photography shop. 

He married Jessie Luella McGill in 1898 in the Presbyterian church in Victor (no longer standing). 

They stayed in the Cripple Creek and Victor area until 1900 when they moved to Colorado Springs. After he moved to Colorado Springs, in 1902 he opened a photography studio at the corner of Weber Street and Pikes Peak Avenue. There he specialized in making scenic postcards, and developing film for the public. He soon became the official photographer for Union Printers Home, the Modern Woodmen Sanitorium, and the Cripple Creek Short Line Railroad.

In 1902 they had a son who was stillborn. He is also buried in Evergreen. Unfortunately the baby's grave no longer has a headstone. In 1911 they had a daughter who they named Dorothy J. Harlan. She became a musician. It's believed Dorothy died in Denver in 1986, but that is not confirmed, and as of now her final resting place is unknown. 

Andrew, also known as "The View Man" had a photography shop in Colorado Springs from the 1902 to 1917 when the family moved to Junction City, KS. 

While on vacation in Colorado Springs in June of 1926 he died unexpectedly and was buried July 1, 1926 in Evergreen Cemetery. 

His wife Jessie never remarried. She remained for a time in Junction City, then moved to Denver to live with her aunt and uncle, Enoch and Nellie Nock until their deaths in the mid-1940s.

 Jessie died in 1965 and is buried in Fairmount Cemetery in Denver. Her grave, like her infant son's, is also without a headstone, according to Colorado Gravestone Photo Project. 

 

Creator: Harlan, Andrew James. Date:1894, July 9

A Florence and Cripple Creek Railroad wreck near Anaconda (Teller County), Colorado; shows men, women and children looking at wrecked passenger cars. A photographer has a box camera on a tripod.

 

Creator: Harlan, Andrew James, Date1895-1899

Burro pack train, Victor Avenue, Victor, Colorado. Several burros are lined up and loaded with supplies; three men are on horseback, and one man holds reins to horse. The commercial business district consists primarily of two-story falsefront wooden frame buildings including the original Victor Hotel. Signs attached to buildings include: Hallet & Baker undertakers, furnished rooms, Victor Stage Line - livery, feed-sale, stable (Hall & Kennedy), Vienna bakery, La Veta restaurant, Miners restaurant, Night (or Hight) & Shephard real estate, bank, the Kentucky Sampleroom, and the Victor pharmacy.