colorado history
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100 Years Ago Today: Rugged and Raw, Rocky Mountain National Park
What a wild experience it must have been to explore Rocky Mountain National Park in 1919. The park was practically brand new, having been established on January 26, 1915 as the ninth National Park in the United States. The National Park Service was not established until August 25, 1916, when it was created as a Continue reading
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100 Years Ago Today: Carnegie Libraries
Andrew Carnegie, best known as a steel magnate and a philanthropist, donated 90% of his earnings during his lifetime, which amounts to an unparalleled 350 million dollars. That’s the equivalent of billions of dollars today. Jeff Bezos, are you taking notes? Carnegie Libraries are pillars of Andrew Carnegie’s enduring philanthropic legacy. A Carnegie Library is Continue reading
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100 Years Ago Today: Animas River Turns Cow Teeth Gold
The Animas River turned cow teeth gold? Never heard of anything like it! Oh wait, isn’t this the river where the EPA accidentally blew out 3 million gallons of water containing high levels of iron, arsenic, and other toxins during the Gold King Mine cleanup, which turned the Animas River into something resembling toxic butterbeer Continue reading
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100 Years Ago Today: Lunatic Threatens to Cut Off Police Chief’s Head
Governor Oliver H. Shoup (shoop ba-doop) was elected the 22nd governor of Colorado in November, 1918, and he was already receiving death threats by February, 1919. “Lunatics” weren’t wasting any time. Granted, Shoup’s own head was not under threat but that of a proxy, Hamilton Armstrong, long-serving Denver Chief of Police. Neither Shoup nor Armstrong Continue reading
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100 Years Ago Today: Cement Bill Gets Into Clay
William “Cement Bill” Williams is a guy I’d have loved to share a drink with, just to pry him for stories. Bummer that prohibition would’ve gotten in the way. But every time I come across a newspaper article about Bill he’s got his calloused hand in some new business or adventure, like digging out Berthoud Continue reading
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100 Years Ago Today: Mabel Normand, Silent Film Comedy Star
Last night I was watching an episode of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel where a male booking agent meets the comedian he hired, Midge Maisel, for the first time. She’s wearing a black evening dress. Her hair is fabulous. She looks gorgeous. He immediately dismisses her, saying she doesn’t look funny. He’d only booked her because Continue reading
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100 Years Ago Today: Breckenridge Issues Water Warning
People of Breckenridge, Colorado! Stop running your water at full blast all night! We know the pipes in your house might freeze and burst during the winter but our tiny reservoir only has a few feet of depth left! And the water pressure is so low that we couldn’t fight a fire if one broke Continue reading
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100 Years Ago Today: Steamboat Springs Winter Carnival
In honor of the 106th annual Steamboat Springs Winter Carnival, running from February 6th-10th, 2019, here’s an announcement of the Carnival from 100 years ago, albeit one with a misspelling (taurnament?) and misinformation — I think the “top notch professionals” were trying to *raise* the world record jump, not lower it. In 1912, ski pioneer Continue reading
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103 Years Ago Today: Flanger Jumps Track, Hits 75mph
A flanger is a railroad car that clears the area between the rails of ice and snow. A flanger would often be used in conjunction with a rotary snow plow when there was significant snow buildup on the tracks. Whereas a rotary is placed on the front of a train to blast the majority of Continue reading
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100 Years Ago Today: Relief for Armenian Genocide Survivors
Not mentioned in this Chaffee County relief fund drive article is the phrase Armenian Genocide, although that is what most historians and scholars today agree took place in Armenia from 1915-1918. The death toll of the genocide is estimated between 800,000 to 1.5 million Armenians at the hands of the Ottoman Empire. However, these mass Continue reading
About Me
Local history enthusiast curious about how Colorado’s present is informed by the people and places of its past
Pick and Sledge 