Enterprise & Innovation in the Pikes Peak Region

William Jackson Palmer writing about the future Colorado Springs to Queen Mellen, August 7, 1869 The Quest for the Best:...

Author: Tim Blevins | Dennis Daily | Sydne Dean | Chris Nicholl | Michael L. Olsen (editors)

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William Jackson Palmer writing about the future Colorado Springs to Queen Mellen, August 7, 1869 The Quest for the Best: William Jackson Palmer, 1836–1909

“I shall never forget my sudden sense of hopeless disappointment at the moment when I first looked on the town. It was a gray day in November . . . there stretched before me, to the east, a bleak, bare, unrelieved, desolate plain. There rose behind me, to the west, a dark range of mountains, snow-topped, rockywalled, stern, cruel, relentless. Between lay the town—small, straight, new, treeless.” Helen Hunt Jackson, writing about Colorado Springs, 1880 The Quest for the Best: William Jackson Palmer, 1836–1909

“The perfect purity of the air, the unequaled beauty of the sky, the imposing sight of a high mountain range, the quiet and restfulness of the place—all around contributed to make the conditions for scientific observation ideal.”

VISION 2020

Regional History Series

ISBN 978-1-56735-302-0 90000 >

9 781567 353020

In the Pikes Peak region

Nikola Tesla, writing about Colorado Springs, 1906 The Transmission of Electric Energy Without Wires

Enterprise & Innovation

“There should be fountains and lakes and lovely drives and horseback trails through the groves—all planned and planted by ourselves . . . Can you imagine anything more delightful than to form and gradually to carry out such a plan? . . . Life would be poetry . . . that gives wing to the imagination and allows no foothold for it to halt upon, short of infinity.”

Regional History Series

Enterprise &Innovation in the Pikes Peak Region

Enterprise & Innovation in the Pikes Peak Region

Pikes Peak Regional History Symposium Sponsored by Special Collections, Pikes Peak Library District Pikes Peak Library District Foundation Friends of the Pikes Peak Library District Colorado Springs Pioneers Museum &

In Partnership With Historic Preservation Alliance Pikes Peak Community College Pikes Peak Genealogical Society Pikes Peak Posse of the Westerners United States Air Force Academy University of Colorado, Colorado Springs Western Museum of Mining & Industry

Pikes Peak Regional History Symposium Committee Chris Nicholl, Chair Tim Blevins David Carroll Dennis Daily Beverly Diehl Beth Fox-Kret Dolores Fowler Lynn A. Gilfillan-Morton Carol Kennis

Michael Olsen Judith Rice-Jones Katie Rudolph Mary Elizabeth Ruwell Kathy Sturdevant Dee Vazquez Leah Davis Witherow Amy Ziegler

Enterprise & Innovation in the Pikes Peak Region

Edited by Tim Blevins, Dennis Daily, Sydne Dean, Chris Nicholl & Michael L. Olsen Published by

with

VISION 2020

Enterprise and Innovation in the Pikes Peak Region © 2011 Pikes Peak Library District. All rights reserved. First edition. Printed in the United States. This publication was made possible by private funds. Interpretation of events and conclusions are those of the authors, and do not necessarily represent the opinions of Pikes Peak Library District (PPLD), PPLD Board of Trustees, or PPLD employees. ISBN 978-1-56735-302-0 Library of Congress Control Number 2010936593

Regional History Series Currently In Print The Colorado Labor Wars: Cripple Creek 1903–1904, A Centennial Commemoration “To Spare No Pains”: Zebulon Montgomery Pike & His 1806–1807 Southwest Expedition Doctor at Timberline: True Tales, Travails, & Triumphs of a Pioneer Colorado Physician Legends, Labors & Loves: William Jackson Palmer, 1836–1909 Extraordinary Women of the Rocky Mountain West Lightning in His Hand: The Life Story of Nikola Tesla

Forthcoming The Pioneer Photographer: Rocky Mountain Adventures with a Camera Doctors, Disease & Dying in the Pikes Peak Region Rush to the Rockies: The 1859 Pikes Peak or Bust Gold Rush

For purchasing information, contact: Clausen Books 2131 North Weber Street Colorado Springs, Colorado 80907 tel: (719) 471-5884, toll free: (888)-412-7717 http://www.clausenbooks.com

Acknowledgments The Editorial Committee appreciates the timely submissions from the authors, making it possible to publish this book less than ten months after they presented their research at the 2010 Pikes Peak Regional History Symposium, “Enterprise & Innovation in the Pikes Peak Region.” Thank you to Michael L. Olsen, a co-editor of this publication, for his knowledgeable guidance and expert editorial skills. This was our first collaboration with Mike as a book editor and he undertook the responsibilities with enthusiasm and thoughtfulness. We look forward to working with him on additional publications in our Regional History Series. This book is the product of many individuals’ work. In addition to the efforts of the writers and editors, we appreciate the excellent proofreaders who helped ensure that this volume is as error free as possible. Our thanks go to Emily Anderson, Sandy Fledderjohann, Toni Miller, Katie Rudolph, Susie Stepanek, and Amy Ziegler. Many PPLD Special Collections staff members undertake a greater share of public service and other work whenever we host events or work on publications. Staff members Dave Doman, Jody Jones, Sharon Konen, Nina Kuberski, Marta Norton, and Bill Thomas are commended for keeping everything running smoothly in the department while others are assisting with these projects. We are grateful for Colorado Humanities’ long-term financial support of the Pikes Peak Regional History Symposia and for the work they do promoting history and the humanities for the entire state. The Pikes Peak Library District Foundation, Friends of the Pikes Peak Library District, and the Colorado Springs Pioneers Museum also have committed funding and time to ensure the success of our annual symposium. We could not accomplish the symposia without their assistance and are thankful that we can depend on them. Special thanks are due Mary Ann McNair and David N. Wetzel for their knowledgeable assistance and feedback on the chapter about Francis Schlatter. Thanks are due, also, to Virginia Church for her donation of photographs illustrating the Sociability Tour chapter and to Martha J. Tilley for contributing photographs for the chapter about Fannie Mae Duncan. We thank Stephen Collins and Katherine Scott Sturdevant for their faithful support of the symposium efforts each year. Finally, we thank all the people of the Pikes Peak region who appreciate their cultural heritage and encourage our programming and publishing efforts. The Editorial Committee

CONTENTS Dream City Vision 2020 • 4 Dennis Daily • 15 El Paso County Inventors & their 19th-Century Patents Ginny Kilander • 65 Transits, Timbers, & Tunnels: The Legacy of Colorado Inventor David W. Brunton Nikola Tesla • 105 The Transmission of Electric Energy Without Wires Katie Rudolph • 115 Bumps in the Road: The Spirit of Enterprise & the Sociability Tour of 1914 Donald McGilchrist • 149 The Quest for the Best: William Jackson Palmer 1836–1909 Rick W. Sturdevant • 165 Aeronautics & Astronautics: Pioneering Air & Space Business in the Pikes Peak Region Judith R. Finley • 213 Hustling the Tourists: Early Automobile Sightseeing in the Pikes Peak Region

Elaine Freed • 229 The Hassell Iron Works Steve Ruskin • 243 Science as Enterprise & Industry: The Monument Valley Park “Geological Section” in Context Beth R. Barrett • 259 From Prize-Fights to Shakespeare: Traveling Entertainers in the Pikes Peak Region Amy Ziegler • 269 Mining for Interest in the First National Bank of Cripple Creek Collection Kathleen F. Esmiol • 297 Chasing the American Dream: Fannie Mae Duncan & the Cotton Club Traci West • 337 Ballroom & the Barn: Dr. Lloyd Shaw, Dean Edwards & the Western Square Dance Revival in Colorado Springs Tim Blevins • 359 Marketing a Messiah: Denver’s Divine Healer & His Inspiration of Entrepreneurs Selected Bibliography • 397 Index • 405

FOREWORD “Enterprise & Innovation in the Pikes Peak Region” was the subject of the 7th Annual Pikes Peak Regional History Symposium. This book includes the research presented at the symposium, as well as some supplemental resources that round-out a discussion of the diverse innovations of the region. Developments in invention, commerce, science, flight, tourism, crafts, arts, acting, healing and community building are explored in the chapters of this book. Every idea, attempt, failure and accomplishment was founded on dreams and the anticipation of success. The topic of Enterprise and Innovation resonated in the Pikes Peak community in 2010. Imagination Celebration of Colorado Springs hosted a What If, Festival of Innovation & Imagination on September 11, 2010, at the Pikes Peak Center. There were exhibits and learning activities for everyone in the community. The Pikes Peak Library District also participated, and the 2010 All Pikes Peak Reads (APPR) kickoff event was held in conjunction with the What If Festival. APPR reading selections in 2010, centering on innovation and creativity, appealed to all ages. Community members read about and discussed the Chicago World’s Fair of 1893, Nikola Tesla’s discoveries and innovations with electricity, and the magic of snowflakes. In addition, in 2009, the Dream City project formed to create a vision for the community’s future. Many citizens contributed ideas and an inspiring goal for the Pikes Peak region took shape. The Dream City Vision 2020 is included in this book. The Pikes Peak Library District also embraced innovation in 2010. New technology such as Radio Frequency Identification (RFID), a Library Express book and DVD dispensing machine, a computer download station, and streaming video from our website allowed the Library to be more responsive to patron needs and to provide 24/7 service more efficiently. Determination and fearlessness, in the face of possible failure, fueled our predecessors’ successes. We must continue to take risks, dream big, strive for better, evaluate and innovate to ensure a prosperous and vibrant outlook in the years to come. Perhaps some of the examples in this book will inspire you to seek your own enterprising potential, adventure, and even fun! Wishing you success in these endeavors, Paula J. Miller, Executive Director, PPLD Tim Blevins, Special Collections Manager, PPLD

Regional History Series Editorial Committee Tim Blevins Dennis Daily Sydne Dean Chris Nicholl

Principal Series Consultant Calvin P. Otto

Cover Design Katie Rudolph

Cover photographs (from the top, left to right): Touring automobiles, (Virginia J. Church 1914 Sociability Tour Collection. Special Collections, Pikes Peak Library District, 262-6947); “Healer” Francis Schlatter (courtesy Ed and Nancy Bahtke); Eaglerock airplane, (Special Collections, Pikes Peak Library District, 001-5501); General William Jackson Palmer statue, (Stewarts Commercial Photographers, Special Collections, Pikes Peak Library District, 013-1009); Colorado Springs Opera House, (Stewarts Commercial Photographers, Special Collections, Pikes Peak Library District, 013-5300); Glen Eyrie, (Mathews Collection, Special Collections, Pikes Peak Library District, 005-4100); Sunrise on Pikes Peak, (painted paper by Jay Miller, gift of the artist, Special Collections, Pikes Peak Library District); Nikola Tesla, (Bain News Service photograph, Library of Congress, LCB2- 1026-9); First National Bank at Cripple Creek, (Mathews Collection, Special Collections, Pikes Peak Library District, 005-2101); Hassell & Talcott Wire Iron Works, (gift of Mrs. John Lipsey, Special Collections, Pikes Peak Library District, 001-528); The Cotton Club, (Norman Sams photograph, Special Collections, Pikes Peak Library District, 101-4846).

About Pikes Peak Library District Pikes Peak Library District (PPLD) is a nationally recognized system of public libraries serving a population of more than 547,000 in El Paso County, Colorado. With thirteen facilities, online resources, and mobile library service, PPLD responds to the unique needs of individual neighbourhoods and the community at large. PPLD has an employee base of 432 full- and part-time staff, and utilizes roughly 1,500 volunteers. It strives to reach all members of the community, providing free and equitable access to information and an avenue for personal and community enrichment. PPLD is recognized for its commitment to diversity and community collaboration, its quality programming, and its excellent customer service.

Board of Trustees 2011 John Wilson, President Jill Gaebler, Vice President Katherine Spicer, Secretary/Treasurer Kenneth Beach John Bornschein Robert Hilbert Kathleen Owings Executive Director Paula J. Miller

About Dream City Vision 2020 Imagine a new approach to charting our community’s future. Imagine people of every walk of life getting together to discuss what we want our community to be like in the year 2020. Dream City is a grassroots, community-owned project that engages people throughout the Pikes Peak region in meaningful dialogue to create a brighter future. The goal of Dream City is to promote civic engagement, and to identify common visions and values as well as big ideas that, in the hands of likely champions, will move us forward in the coming decade. More than 100 local organizations and more than 1,000 citizens have already joined the effort. Although The Gazette, Leadership Pikes Peak, Pikes Peak Library District and COPPeR (Cultural Office of the Pikes Peak Region) are some of the organizing entities behind the initiative, Dream City is owned by you. Your ideas about our future as a region are just as important as anyone else’s, and together we can inspire, educate and mobilize this community to create a better place for us all to live, work and play. Vision 2020 The project is divided into three categories: Inspiration, Education and Engagement. Inspiration Dream City launched in the fall of 2009 with an Arts Summit, organized by COPPeR, that drew nearly two hundred members of the Pikes Peak arts community. They began to design a cultural plan for the region. Education In March 2009, The Gazette launched a series of history pieces about the visions and people who shapes our region. Future stories will also look at best practices in other cities that we can learn from.

Engagement With help from Everyday Democracy (formerly Study Circles Resource Center) and Leadership Pikes Peak, Dream City has facilitating a series of discussion groups throughout the region, reaching people in all parts of our community. As elements of our collective vision start to crystallize, hundreds participated in a summit in July of 2009. This event refined the themes of our collective vision and marked a new beginning in reaching toward collective plans and dreams. A collaboration with the Quality of Life Indicators project has played the key role of linking the community vision with measurable outcomes and community action. Pikes Peak Library District’s 2009-2011 All Pikes Peak Reads programs have reflected and continued this process. Groups that participated in Vision Sessions: • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

Academy International Elementary School Academy School District 20 Administration APA, American Planning AssociationM Art Commission of the Pikes Peak Region Artemis ASLA, American Society of Landscape Architects CASA, Court Appointed Special Advocates of the Pikes Peak Region Citizens Project City Council and City employees Colorado College Students and Staff Colorado South Chapter of the American Institute of Architects Colorado Springs Entrepreneurs Group Colorado Technical University Staff and Students Come One Come All Community Invitations (4) Community Partnership for Child Development Center CONO, The Council of Neighbors & Organizations District Attorney’s Office El Paso Corporation Employees El Paso County Bar Association El Pomar Emerging Leaders Asian Advisory Council

6 • DREAM CITY VISION 2020

• El Pomar Emerging Leaders Black Advisory Council • El Pomar Emerging Leaders Hispanic Advisory Council • El Pomar Emerging Leaders Native American Advisory Council • ESL Students and recent immigrants • Gay & Lesbian Fund of Colorado Staff • Gazette employees • Girl Scouts—two small groups—Audra Parker’s troops - Middle School and High School • HB&A Architects and Staff • Members of the Community with Developmental Disabilities and those closely allied with them (family, caregivers, etc.) • Members of the Old North End Neighborhood Association • Neighborhood Dinner Group—East Side of Town • NES Landscape Architects • North Colorado Springs Rotary Club • North Middle School—7th grade students • Old Colorado City Merchants and Friends • OZ Architecture • Pikes Peak Behavioral Health Group Clients and Staff • Pikes Peak Library District—Supervisors, Managers and Board Members • Quality of Life Community Engagement Vision Council • Quality of Life Safety Vision Council • SAAL Group—Self Advocates as Leaders Group • Seniors Philosophical Café Group Members • Service-Learning Action Council from Wasson High School • Society of Women Engineers • Southern Colorado Better Business Bureau staff • Staff of the First Presbyterian Church • The Chamber Rising Professionals • The Colorado Natives Club • The Colorado Springs Diversity Forum • The Pikes Peak Interagency Transition Team • The Resource Exchange

DREAM CITY VISION 2020 • 7

• The Southern Colorado Chapter of the U.S. Green Building Council • Tuesday Morning Drop in Group • UCCS Business College Staff and Students • UCCS School of Public Affairs • Urban League of the Pikes Peak Region Staff and Board Members • Youth Speak Out • Various sessions organized by facilitators (e.g. book clubs, neighbors, co-workers, etc.) Dream City 2020 Vision Statements Below is a listing of the “Vision Statements” from each of the ten Quality of Life Indicator areas. Each vision statement outlines the core vision, philosophy, orientation, goal and or objectives for this particular area of focus. It is intended to capture the spirit of cooperation, collaboration, and intention for excellence as a community. These Vision Statements were “captured, collected, and communicated” through a variety of community “Visioning” sessions and roundtables that were comprised of over 3,000 local citizens in over 300 groups. Economy—Vision Statement • Our business environment makes us a region of choice for new employers as we encourage entrepreneurship and have a vibrant, diversified and resilient regional economy. • Our community supports infrastructure improvements in a planned and robust manner, including physical, social, and intellectual infrastructure that is attractive to future generations. • Our employers attract the Nation’s best talent for quality jobs and have a commitment to community. • We support and protect the core of our economy, including local business, industry, tourism, the military, education, amateur athletics, and a vibrant downtown. • There are a variety of employment opportunities throughout our region offering attractive wages.


Social Wellbeing—Vision Statement • We embrace a diversity of thought, politics, faith, and culture. We respect the uniqueness of each individual while creating and maintaining a cohesion that unifies us as a community. • There are consistent opportunities to connect intergenerationally through community events, social networking, volunteerism, and leisure activities. • We share a collective social responsibility and care deeply for all in our community. We actively seek ways to connect and support our seniors, at-risk youth, the homeless, and those with mental and physical disabilities. • Our public, private, and nonprofit sectors provide comprehensive, coordinated and conveniently accessible services that meet our citizens’ needs. • Our community supports our public health, safety, and transportation services which promote a rich quality of life. Natural Environment—Vision Statement • We are a model green city for the nation, relying on renewable and sustainable energy, including a commitment to solar- and wind-generated power. • We recycle and reuse our resources. Everyone has access to affordable curbside recycling of plastic, glass and metals. • We utilize efficient and conservative water resource management, and require that new construction meet the highest conservation standards. • We have multiple uses for parks and open space, and we preserve the natural landscape that defines our community. • There is synergy between the built and natural environments.


Health—Vision Statement • We have a broad range of quality health care options that are accessible to all. • Our community enthusiastically promotes and enjoys healthy recreation and physical fitness activities. Our mountains and other natural features brand the Pikes Peak region as the outdoor capital of the West. • We support and enjoy a healthy environment that includes clean water, air, soil, and local food options. • The education, prevention, and treatment for mental health and substance abuse improves lives in our community. Education—Vision Statement • Our community encourages, rewards and sets expectations for lifelong learning. • We are a leader in early childhood through post secondary education. Our schools operate with maximum administrative efficiencies and the community supports the focus on student learning needs at all levels. • We embrace and support non-traditional learning opportunities and flexible education options. • We are known for our robust regional approach to collaborations and partnerships, which include cross-district initiatives, apprenticeships, internships, mentoring, school-to-work transition programs, tools for parents, and superior technology. • We celebrate diversity, equality, and access to quality education regardless of geographic region, socioeconomic status or school district. • Higher education institutions provide an economic power-base in key research and learning areas.


Arts/Culture/Recreation—Vision Statement • Our varied and abundant arts scene creates a vital community that attracts and welcomes the creative class. • Our communities are infused with a multitude of arts and cultural offerings—including vibrant arts districts— that are family friendly and accessible year round. The Pikes Peak region is a nationally recognized cultural hub. • We celebrate our unique regional history to create an exceptional experience for our visitors. • Our governments take an active interest in stimulating, promoting, and supporting arts and culture. • We enjoy and embrace a diversity of cultures, and our many forms of artistic expression reflect that diversity. Transportation—Vision Statement • We embrace a culture of a highly-mobile community through viable alternative transportation options (e.g., buses, light rail, shuttles, and bicycles) to reduce road congestion and automobile-generated pollution. • The Pikes Peak region has a comprehensive, integrated, reliable, and prolific multi-modal transportation infrastructure (e.g., bus, light rail, auto, and bicycle) that enables universal rider (including disabled, youth, and seniors) access to all points within and beyond the city, including access to/from the Colorado Springs airport and statewide access. • Commerce, leisure, and commuting along the Front Range from Albuquerque to Cheyenne are significantly improved by a state-of-the-art green rapid transit system. • We have a top-quality, robust, and highly integrated biking infrastructure (e.g., trails, facilities, loaner bikes, and maps) that encourages cycling-based transportation for functional and recreational purposes.


• A walkable-city concept is created through the designation of automobile-restricted zones throughout the city as well as a marquee element of a downtown pedestrian and transit mall (e.g., Tejon Street). • Safety of all people should be paramount. • Alternate forms of transportation should be made more viable by making them more affordable. • The Pikes Peak regional planning commission applies cutting edge urban and suburban planning design to achieve sustainable, multi-modal communities. Transportation is an integral part of all planning and zoning decisions. • Our transportation infrastructure must be maintained and expanded to meet the needs of our community. Maintenance must be supported with sufficient funding. Public Safety—Vision Statement • Our criminal justice system practices restorative justice resulting in low recidivism and keeping jail population low and significantly reducing jail costs. • Our first responder safety system is efficient, innovative, and effective; rapidly providing highly trained response. • Parks, public spaces, and streets are family friendly and safe to enjoy free of crime and drugs 24/7. • Our community embodies an attitude of responsibility to look out for one another to reduce crime and augment emergency medical response. • An engaged citizenship creates collaborative partnerships with traditional law enforcement agencies to make our community safe. • Our city is respected as having the lowest crime rates in the Nation. • Our community creates adequate funding for public safety by adopting consistent and predictable funding sources (i.e. increasing property taxes and decreasing sales tax). • Our police force understands gang psychology and addresses gang issues in the community.


Community Engagement—Vision Statement • We enjoy the benefits of a close relationship between our local higher-educational institutions and the local community. • Our citizens readily embrace community trusteeship, bringing a high degree of community involvement, sense of ownership, personal responsibility for our future, and pride. • Citizen sweat-equity offsets taxes—volunteerism helps create that capabilities, attributes, and deliver the services in our community that otherwise would go unfulfilled or require tax dollars (volunteer hours attracts State and Federal investment). • Our community embodies an attitude of responsibility to look out for one another to improve quality of life. Built Planned Environment—Vision Statement • A vital downtown Colorado Springs is a focal point of the greater Pikes Peak area preserving, creating, and promoting a safe and vibrant hub for business, family entertainment, culture, arts and educational activity. Downtown will be a destination for local residents and area visitors. Downtown Colorado Springs incorporates mixed use development creating a high density area that is walkable, bikeable and pet friendly. • Community hubs reflect unique characters. Our neighborhood centers provide all basic needs in close proximity. Attributes of these areas are interconnected trails, open space, community gardens, family and pet friendly. Development and redevelopment consists of mixed-use, mixed-income with single and multi-family housing and higher density areas. • We are recognized as a sustainable community and environmental impact is considered in all decisions. Sustainable buildings are sited for energy efficiency in natural environments. We maintain open spaces, trails and other natural resources; conserve native vegetation,


wildlife habitats and ecosystems in order to insure clean water, clean air, abundant wildlife, parks and wilderness areas for present and future generations. We are a community that conserves water use indoors and out. • Our community respects and preserves its historic origins and western heritage while promoting smart growth, affordable housing and economic development. Attention is paid to reducing sprawl by balancing natural and built environment and old versus new development. Smart growth is defined and maintained by a collaborative process between citizens, city, county and state governments. • Community leadership within and outside of city, county and state governments must collaborate to articulate, promote and advance a shared preservation and development vision for the entire Pikes Peak area. Balance the conflicting and competing ideas with understanding and respect. Insure that no neighborhood or community is left behind in terms of quality of life, economic opportunity and access to community services.

VISION 2020

http://dreamcity2020.org

A graph of patents issued to El Paso County inventors during the 19th century shows an upward trend between 1873 and 1899. Across the United States, the number of patents increased dramatically following the Civil War.

El Paso County Inventors & their 19th–Century Patents Dennis Daily The years between 1871 and 1900 saw the rapid growth and development of El Paso County and the Colorado Springs area, as adventurous men and women left their homes, mostly in the East, to gamble on new, uncertain lives on the ruggedly beautiful land around Pikes Peak. The region drew farmers and ranchers, railroad men and miners, tradesmen and merchants, homemakers and nuns, physicians and health seekers, tourists and hostlers, ministers and educators, laborers and vagabonds. Some stayed to make the area their permanent home. Many others returned East or simply moved on, looking for better opportunities, which seemed the promise of America’s developing West. Whether they stayed or left, prospered or busted, made a name for themselves or were forgotten at life’s end, each made some indelible mark that helped write this region’s story. Among those living in El Paso County during the last 3 decades of the 19th century were roughly 196 men and women whose initiative and creative drive led them to invent and receive United States patents for a wide variety of innovative devices and designs. These inventors, nearly all now forgotten to our region’s history, are remarkable for the contributions they made to the advancement of their fields of interest and for the invariably interesting details of their life stories. Perhaps more significantly, they were among the countless everyday folk who, despite their anonymity in our time, played their part in the civic, business and cultural development of the Pikes Peak region. Collectively, their stories fill some of the gaps that remain when history is viewed only through the lives of the well known and well-to-do. The lives of these inventors were shaped by the circumstances of the time in which they lived—a time in American history generally referred to as the Gilded Age. Following the great upheaval of the American Civil War, 1861 to 1865, the • 15 •

16 • EL PASO COUNTY INVENTORS

United States entered into an era of unprecedented growth and prosperity, fueled by advances in industry and technology, as well as the megalomanic personalities of the great industrialists and entrepreneurs, such as Cornelius Vanderbilt, Andrew Carnegie, J. P. Morgan, John D. Rockefeller and John Jacob Astor. Related to the growth in industry and technology, the Gilded Age also saw a great transportation revolution, as railroad lines spread like spider webs throughout the United States, the longest threads stretching across the continent and opening up the West for exploration and settlement. The Gilded Age also was an era of invention. It seemed that anyone with a good idea and the initiative to realize it could open for themselves a new world of opportunity, perhaps riches, and contribute to the reinvention of the world. Inspired by the stories and examples of the great inventors of their day—people like Elias Howe, Charles Goodyear, Samuel Morse, George Eastman, Thomas Edison, Nikola Tesla, George Westinghouse, and many more—Americans applied for invention patents at a rapidly accelerating rate following the Civil War. In 1865, the U.S. Patent Office granted 6,099 patents. A mere 2 years later, in 1867, that number had doubled to 12,301. The trend would continue throughout the remainder of the century. In the 83 years between 1790, when the U.S. Patent Act was made law and the first U.S. patents were granted, and 1872, a total of 155,057 patents were granted by the U.S. Patent Office. From 1873, when the first U.S. patent was granted in El Paso County, through 1899, the 27-year period being examined in this paper, the total number of U.S. patents granted was 571,685. Viewed another way, the average number of patents granted per year between 1790 and 1872 was 1,868, while between 1873 and 1899 it had leaped to 21,173, an increase of 1,000 percent. As one might guess, the number of U.S. patents granted over time has followed a general trend upward from 1790, when three patents were granted, to the present, with 191,474 patents granted in 2009, with some minor downturns during times of war or economic crisis.1 In addition to being influenced by broad, national trends in the politics, economics and cultural circumstances of

DAILY, ET AL. • 17

their time, inventors in El Paso County also were shaped by the development, and to a large extent the geography, of the region in which they lived. The unique geography and geology of the Pikes Peak region was responsible, more than any other factor, in the way the region developed during its formative years. General William Jackson Palmer’s decisions to run a north-south rail line down the Front Range, where the Rocky Mountains met the Great Plains, and to locate a town at the base of Pikes Peak, at the confluence of Fountain and Monument creeks, were decisions ultimately based on geography. The major early industries that developed in El Paso County—farming and ranching, railroads, scenic tourism, health sanatoria, and mining—each had a direct connection to the physical geographic circumstances of the region, which determined its climate, its flora and fauna, its geology and its aesthetic appeal. Not surprisingly, these industries provided the principal employment opportunities in El Paso County and, in turn, inspired innovation and invention among its residents. From 1873 through 1899, a total of 230 U.S. patents were granted to residents of El Paso County.2 Of the 196 inventors granted patents, 193 were men and three were women. To aid in the analysis of the patents, the inventions can be classified into fourteen broad categories or types—apparel; artificial limbs; business and office; electrical and mechanical; farm and ranch; funerary; household; leisure; mining and milling; musical instruments; railroad; tools; toys and games; and transportation. These fourteen categories, it is important to note, are subjective creations since the patent applications themselves did not include this information. Given the major industries of El Paso County, noted above, it should not be a surprise that the greatest number of patents were granted in the areas of farming and ranching, mining and milling, and railroads, with seventeen, thirty-three and forty-four patents respectively. Two other categories of patents with large numbers were electrical and mechanical, forty-eight patents, and household, fifty-two patents. However, these are “catch all” categories with a great deal of variety in their contents.


The number of patents granted in El Paso County during these years followed a general trend upward as the end of the century approached, with a marked increase during the 1890s. For instance, there was one patent granted in 1873, four in 1883, fifteen in 1893, and a high of thirty-six granted in 1898. Patents related to farming and ranching stayed relatively level across the entire period, demonstrating that these were among the earliest occupations in El Paso County and they were not subject to boom and bust periods. On the other hand, there was only one mining and milling patent granted in the county before 1894. That year, the number of patents shot up to seven and remained high for the rest of the decade, obviously a result of the discovery of gold, and the subsequent mining boom, at the Cripple Creek Mining District, which then was a part of El Paso County. Patents were granted to residents of twenty-two different El Paso County communities. The vast majority of the patents, 145, were granted to residents of Colorado Springs. Other towns with fairly large numbers of patents included Colorado City (twenty-one patents), Cripple Creek (fifteen patents), Victor (thirteen patents), and Manitou Springs (nine patents). In other El Paso County communities where patents were granted—places like Altman, Cascade, Divide, Gillett, Goldfield, Midland, Southwater, and Woodland Park—only one or a few patents were granted. Patents related to mining and milling, as might be expected, were clustered in the Cripple Creek District (fourteen patents), where the mining took place, and the Colorado Springs area (nineteen patents), the center of milling activities. Likewise, the seventeen farming and ranching patents were divided between Colorado Springs (ten patents) and the rural, mostly plains, communities of Roswell, Monument, Table Rock, Eastonville and Surber. The patents themselves paint a fascinating picture of the cultural and economic landscape of El Paso County during the last 3 decades of the 19th century. Some of the surprisingly diverse and imaginative inventions included artificial limbs, coffin and burial platforms, a cork puller, driving gears for bicycles, an electric hair brush, a screen for protecting the eyes of horses, an


apparatus for raising sunken vessels, a device for preserving dried flowers, and moving picture viewing machines. The inventors came from every strata of El Paso County society, from mine laborers, ranch hands and preachers to bank clerks, physicians and state politicians. Many worked in a field related to their invention, with their inspiration coming from the desire to find a practical solution for some real-world, day-to-day problem. Others seem to have been inspired by the possibility of striking it rich with an invention that might transform society or at least find a wide market. Although a patent application stated the intended use of the invention, and in many cases why it was needed, it still is hard to determine the inventors’ true motivations for their labor in inventing and then patenting their devices. Harder still is to determine what impact these inventions had, if they were ever widely adopted, or if the inventors ever reaped financial benefits from their patents. Despite their backgrounds, occupations, social standing, successes or failures, the lives of these inventors invariably were remarkable, as they tell the story of the real men and women who settled and transformed El Paso County and the American West. What follows are fourteen mini-biographies of El Paso County inventors and descriptions of their 19th–century patents. These biographies were researched and written by staff members of the Special Collections department of the Pikes Peak Library District: Emily Anderson, Dennis Daily, Sandy Fledderjohann, Chris Nicholl, Marta Norton, Susie Stepanek and Bill Thomas. Attribution is given below each article. Research for the project is ongoing and further publication is anticipated. Dennis Daily has been assistant manager of Special Collections at the Pikes Peak Library District since 2007. Prior to that, he worked for 10 years in the Archives and Special Collections of the New Mexico State University Library. He received an MLS from the University of North Texas in 2006. He has presented papers at various U.S. and international conferences on the topics of archives of Mexico and the U.S. Southwest, folk religious traditions of Durango, Mexico, and MexicanAmerican family history research.


Ambrose, Joshua E. (1810–1895) Colorado Springs Patent: Improvement in Lamps; No.: 30,381 Original patent filed October 16, 1860; Reissue filed February 12, 1873; Issued: Renewal No. 5,412 issued May 20, 1873 Joshua E. Ambrose was born July 5, 1810, in North Sutton, New Hampshire. He attended Madison University (now Colgate University), a Baptist seminary in Madison County, New York, in 1831.3 He became a missionary in the American Baptist Home Mission Society and was ordained in Wyoming, New York, in 1834.4 That same year he married Miss P. Johnson and the couple moved to Chicago, where Ambrose began a long and fruitful career in the ministry. His first wife died shortly after arriving in Chicago and in 1835 he married Eliza Ann Root.5 The couple had four children.6 Ambrose was a “circuit rider,” or traveling minister, and established between 35 and 40 churches in northern Illinois and southern Wisconsin during his lifetime.7 His second wife, Eliza, died January 25, 1854, and on June 6 that same year Ambrose married Sarah Tennant in Winnebago County.8 In 1860, while residing in Batavia, Kane County, Illinois, Ambrose patented his improved design for an oil lamp. In the patent application, Ambrose claimed that the unchecked escape of combustible vapors from conventional oil lamps could prove uncomfortable and hazardous to people in closed rooms, and that they “frequently ignite from the flame of the lamp, and often cause explosion.” The principle improvement in his design of oil burning lamps lay in the creation of a tube that allowed combustible vapors from the oil to pass directly up to the flame, where they would be consumed, eliminating noxious fumes and reducing the risk of explosion. In 1861, in Middletown, New York, Ambrose was granted a patent for another improvement in oil lamp design and in 1865 he patented a coal oil lamp and gas stove, which he assigned to his wife Sarah. By 1869, Ambrose was back in Illinois where he patented another design for a “hydrocarbon burner.” Ambrose became associated with the Colorado Springs Company around 1872 and served, in Chicago, as a promoter


of migration to the Fountain Colony.9 He was the owner of a building located on the northeast corner of Pikes Peak Avenue and Cascade Avenue, which housed the Delmonico restaurant, opposite the Colorado Springs Hotel.10 By August 1873, he was living and preaching in Colorado Springs.11 He was a vocal proponent of the temperance regulations of the Fountain Colony and was incensed that “intoxicating drinks” were being sold in the town in 1873.12 That year, in Colorado Springs, he filed to have his 1860 patent reissued, as its original 14-year term was expiring. A patent reissue was good only for 3 years and in 1876 Ambrose, apparently having left Colorado Springs, filed for another reissue from Plattsville, Colorado. Both of these reissued patents were assigned to Edward Miller & Co., a lamp-making company in Meriden, Connecticut. By 1880, Ambrose was back in the area of his old ministry circuit in the rural areas northwest of Chicago.13 He was the first pastor of the La Grange, Illinois, First Baptist Church, organized April 29, 1884.14 He died in La Grange, Cook County, Illinois, on February 10, 1895.15 Ambrose’s patent reissues became the center of a lawsuit between Edward Miller and the Bridgeport Brass Company in 1877, with Miller claiming patent infringement. The case, which went all the way to the United States Supreme Court, was ruled in favor of the Bridgeport Brass Company and set precedent in United States law on patent reissues.16 Dennis Daily Baldwin, Moses M. (1844–1912) Colorado Springs Patent: Potato-Digger; No.: 596,647 Filed: December 16, 1896; Issued: January 4, 1898 Moses Baldwin’s Potato-Digger was a hand-guided plow that excavated potatoes, and other “subsoil-growing” edible plants, from the ground. By a series of revolving screens the potatoes were separated from any adhering soil and deposited “either in a row on top of the ground or in a receptacle.” The new and improved digger was meant to “perform the required work in a rapid and effective manner without injury to the vegetables.”


Moses Marcellus Baldwin was born in Knox County, Tennessee, in 1844. He attended Friendsville College, in neighboring Blount County, for 2 years.17 During the Civil War, he served 3 years in the Union’s Company C, 3rd Tennessee Cavalry. Entering as a private, he was promoted to sergeant before being captured and enduring 7 months as a prisoner-ofwar in the infamous Confederate prison camp at Andersonville.18 He obtained his freedom from Andersonville in a November 1864 prisoner exchange.19 Between his Civil War service and his arrival in Alma, Colorado, in 1877, Baldwin was a farmer and stock man in Polk County, Missouri. He dabbled in mining near Leadville and had a mercantile store while also farming in 1882 El Paso County.20 The Colorado state census of 1885 shows Baldwin, his wife Sarah, and their four children, Gertrude, Cora, Grace and Harry, living in the Manitou area, probably Manitou Park, which later would become Woodland Park. Baldwin’s brother, James, and his family also were living in the same area in 1885.21 Baldwin’s primary occupation throughout his life was farming, but he also held important political appointments. In 1890, Baldwin was appointed postmaster of Woodland Park and the town of Woodland Park was incorporated at his store in December of that same year.22 In 1891, he was one of three men presenting a proposal to the Colorado State Legislature “to organize and establish the county of Crystal.”23 Crystal County was to be carved out of El Paso, Park, Douglas and Jefferson counties, creating a new county lying “nearly in the geographical center of the state.” Between 1891 and 1899, during 8 years of discussion, the new county was alternately known as Crystal County, Sylvanite County, Cripple Creek County and Rhyolite County.24 In March 1899, the new county was created and named Teller County. In 1892, the Baldwin brothers, along with Samuel I. Altman and William A. Brook, became directors of the Free Coinage Gold Mining Company, locating their principal place of business in Colorado Springs. Moses Baldwin also was reported to have “large mining interests in the Cripple Creek gold fields.”25 In 1892, he was elected as a representative from El Paso County to the State Legislature.26


On October 6, 1893, Baldwin was an invited speaker at an event called the “Great Potato Bake,” where farmers of “the divide at Monument” fed about two thousand people with “tons of potatoes baked in pits,” two large roasted oxen, and pumpkin pies “galore.” One hundred thirty varieties of Colo-rado-grown potatoes were exhibited. The feast was followed by speeches, music, dancing and athletic games.27 In December 1894, Moses M. Baldwin, a prominent Colorado Moses Baldwin, Charles farmer and politician who helped found Woodland Park, in 1890, and Teller Ferguson and L. A. Town- County, in 1899, was also an inventor. sley incorporated the Gold From Frank Hall, History of the State of Reserve Mining Company Colorado, Vol. IV, 1895, p. 16. with a capital stock of $500,000. They located their principal offices in Colorado Springs.28 In February 1896, Baldwin and the Huggins brothers found a vein of sylvanite as they were driving a tunnel in their Populist No. 1 holding.29 By May 1896, the Republicans elected Baldwin as delegate to both their state and congressional conventions.30 Also in 1896, the Colorado City Iris Supplement gave a fullpage write up to the splendors of the newly developing Woodland Park, “a thriving town, with fine hotels and modern improvements—located at the head of Ute Pass on the crest of Hayden Divide.” The author of the article dubbed Moses M. Baldwin, “the father of Woodland Park,” saying: Hon. M. M. Baldwin may very properly be called the father of Woodland Park. Eighteen years ago he and his brother, James, now postmaster at that place, located homesteads and have resided there ever since. A portion


of their ranch is included in the town site and they own several hundred acres adjoining the same. Mr. Baldwin, or “Bud,” as he is familiarly called, is one of the best known men in El Paso County and was a member of the 10th general assembly. He is a tipical [sic] Western man and never fails to stand up for Colorado. He has always had faith in the future of the region in which he has so long resided and has labored and spent hundreds of dollars in prospecting for gold in the hills about the towns.31 Baldwin and his wife, Sarah, continued to live in Woodland Park until his death, from Bright’s disease, at their home, 1642 Grant Avenue, on July 28, 1912. He was buried in the town he helped found, in the pioneer section of the Woodland Park Cemetery.32 Sarah died in March 1931, “so long a resident of the Pikes Peak region that she was here before Colorado Springs itself.” Her obituary stated that she was the “widow of M. M. Baldwin, pioneer rancher.”33 Emily Anderson & Susie Stepanek Bernier, Amede B. (1861–1938) Victor Patent: Combined Knife and Candlestick; No.: 631,270 Filed: May 16, 1899; Issued: August 22, 1899 Amede B. (Barney) Bernier was born in Quebec, Canada, August 23, 1861.34 He immigrated to the United States in 1880 and was naturalized as a U.S. citizen in 1894.35 In 1899, while living in the bustling mining town of Victor, Colorado, Bernier was issued a patent for his design of a combined knife and candlestick for miners. A practical device that incorporate two of the important tools of the miner’s trade, the combined knife and candlestick allowed the miner to carry the two objects in one easily handled package. They could be separated, however, to allow the miner to hang the candlestick on a wall or timber “to afford light while the knife is being used for cutting fusepowder” or to crimp a cap on a fuse. The knife, along with a tine or spike, folded into the handle of the device.



The miner’s candlestick, also known as a “sticker” or “sticking tommy,” was a ubiquitous mining accoutrement of the 19th century, lighting mineshafts until the adaptation of carbide lamps and, later, electric lights.36 More than 80 patents were granted for miner’s candlesticks between 1872 and 1920, with 24 granted in Colorado.37 Many of these inventions incorporated folding knives and crimpers, so it is difficult to say whether Bernier’s invention was novel enough to gain wide acceptance or make the inventor any money. Bernier continued living in Victor, working as a “timber man” at the Vindicator Consolidated Gold Mining Company, until at least 1901.38 By about 1905, he had followed the trail of gold to Fergus County, Montana, where he was a “lumber man” in the lucrative new mines at Kendall, a burgeoning gold camp at the foot of the North Moccasin Mountains.39 The 1910 census lists him as married for 22 years, although no spouse is included on the census record.40 He was granted 153 acres of land in Fergus County by the United States government in 1913.41 In 1920, now a widower, he was superintendent of the Hanover gypsum mine in Fergus County.42 In 1930, Bernier was 68 years old and operating the Teepee gas filling station in Lewistown, the Fergus County seat.43 In ill health, he traveled to Phoenix, Arizona, for treatment in 1938, where he died on May 4, at the age of 76.4 Dennis Daily Blake, Henry T. (1840–1918) Manitou Springs Patent: Pitcher Carrying Basket; No.: 499,775 Filed: July 27, 1892; Issued: June 20, 1893 Although there are differing accounts of his early life, Henry T. Blake probably was born in 1841 in Pennsylvania to Henry and Caroline Blake.45 In 1850, the Blake family was living in Philadelphia and in 1860, Henry, age 19, still was living at home while working as a clerk.46 On June 18, 1861, 2 months after Confederate forces attacked Fort Sumter, igniting the United States’ Civil War, Blake enlisted in the Sixth Ohio Infantry of the Union Army.47 According to one


source, he was “always at the front; he was in the hottest part of the fight in the battles in West Virginia, Pittsburg Landing, Corinth, Stone River, Chickamauga, Mission Ridge, finishing up with Sherman’s march through Georgia, and still he never was wounded, and always well and ready for duty.”48 After mustering out of the army on June 23, 1864, Blake began a series of occupations that took him from the east coast to burgeoning Colorado, and eventually west to California. In 1865, he was a clerk in the Brooklyn Navy Yard and from 1865 to 1868, clerk of the Union League Club of New York City. From 1868 to 1871, he was a clerk on Lake Champlain steamers. Aro-und 1870, he married a Miss Austin of New York, and the couple moved to Greeley, Colorado in 1871. Tragically, his bride died of typhoid fever on October 15, 1871, shortly after their arrival in Greeley.49 After her death, Blake left his bookkeeping job in a Greeley bank and moved Henry T. Blake was a pioneering hotel to Manitou Springs where proprietor, sheriff, bookkeeper and newspaperman in the Pikes Peak Region for he became proprietor of more than 2 decades. From History of the the Manitou House by Arkansas Valley, Colorado, 1881, p. 73. 1873.50 In 1874, he was a clerk at the Colorado Springs Hotel and in 1875, a bookkeeper at the First National Bank in Colorado Springs.51 Blake moved to newly formed Custer County, which was experiencing a silver boom, and became a bank cashier in the mining camp of Rosita in 1876. On June 4, 1876, he married Cornelia Davis, whose father was one of the early prospectors in that county.52 He was appointed the first sheriff of Custer County in 1877.53 The Blakes’ first son was born March, 1877.54 For 16 months, Blake was superintendent of Mallett’s Reduction


Works. In February 1879, he bought the Fremont County Record and moved to Cañon City. There “he made that paper a financial success and one of the liveliest weekly papers in the State.”55 The Blakes’ second son, Percy, was born April 7, 1879, in Cañon City.56 Sometime before 1880, the older son died and a third son, Henry’s namesake, was born in 1881.57 By 1885, the family had moved to a house on North Weber Street in Colorado Springs and Blake was working again as a bookkeeper.58 By 1886, he was listed in the city directory for Manitou Springs as the chief clerk at the Iron Springs Hotel.59 On March 31, 1887, a fourth son was born in Manitou Springs.60 By May 1887, Blake had become the proprietor of the Iron Springs Hotel.61 He stayed there at least until 1893—the year he was granted a patent for a pitcher-carrying basket. This invention may have arisen to solve a problem Blake was having transporting pitchers to and from tables in the dining room of the Iron Springs Hotel. While a basket for carrying four vessels at a time already had been in use at the hotel, its design allowed the pitchers to bump and rub against each other, causing chipping and breaking of the glass or ceramic containers. In Blake’s design, the outer sides of the tray were low enough to accommodate any handles or spouts of the pitchers, but the basket had taller inner partitions that were high enough to prevent the pitchers from touching each other and causing damage. Made from ordinary basket-willow, they must have provided a more suitable means of transporting pitchers at the hotel. In 1900, Blake and his family were living in Manhattan, New York, where he was working as a “restaurateur.”62 In 1910, Henry and Cornelia Blake, two of their sons and Blake’s sister, Josephine, were living in San Luis Rey, California, and running a hotel.63 On September 15, 1918, Blake died in Los Angeles, California.64 Cornelia Blake still was living in Los Angeles, with her two sons, Percival and Harry, in 1930.65 She died there February 7, 1945, nearly 90 years old.66 Sandy Fledderjohann


Brown, Ainsworth (1834–1917) Colorado Springs Patent: Rolling Window Screen; No.: 285,006 Filed: July 16, 1883; Issued: September 18, 1883 Patent: Window Screen; No.: 297,667 Filed: October 3, 1883; Issued: April 29, 1884 Ainsworth Brown was born into a Massachusetts mercantile family around 1834. By age 16, he worked as a clerk in the family’s provisions shop, and a decade later was an accountant in a Brooklyn, New York, telegraph office.67 On May 15, 1860, Ainsworth married “Miss Lucy Ellen Wise of Boston.”68 Luella, the Brown’s only child, was born in New Jersey in 1866. In 1870, Brown was employed as a machinist in New York City, where he remained until at least March 28, 1876, as evidenced by his witnessing a diamond-polishing machine patent there. 69 By the late 1870s, the Brown family lived in Colorado Springs, where, engaging in a variety of businesses, an enterprising Ainsworth became one of the city’s most prominent and influential citizens. 70 At his spacious, five-room shop, located in the Colorado Springs Opera House building, Brown’s business was “the handsomest and most complete establishment of artists’ and decorators’ goods in Colorado.”71 According to print advertising, Brown also dealt in “Shade Goods and Shade Fixtures,” including his invention of a rolling window screen, attached to a top roller that allowed it to be adjusted up or down to fit the window’s length. 72 A unique feature of Brown’s screen was that a series of spaced cleats, installed along the window frame, secured its lengthwise sides, ensuring that wind could not blow it about. According to a notice in the local paper, “Mr. Ainsworth Brown . . . received from the patent office at Washington letters of patent on his window screen . . . It is a very simple invention, and will, we predict, meet with a large sale. Mr. Brown will at once begin the manufacture and sale of them.”73 The second patent was a modification to the earlier invention that did less damage to the window frame when attached. Brown’s innovative screens offered both an esthetic and a sanitary benefit in an era in which animals, including


horses, cattle, pigs, goats and chickens lived in the city, creating conditions for fly and insect infestations. Brown was also the treasurer of the Pike’s Peak and Seven Lakes Toll Road Company and a member of the Board of Trade, the city’s first commercial club founded in 1882.74 Brown aggressively promoted business and tourism. With an appreciation for the power and economic advantages of advertising, Brown “leased the wooden structure . . . placed in front of the Opera House for a bulletin board. The side fronting on Tejon Street will be painted white and space upon it leased to business men for advertising purposes.”75 In the summer of 1880, he “issued a time table of the Colorado Springs and Manitou railroad . . . out of purely philanthropic motives and to advertise his business.”76 In a subsequent promotional venture, Brown “leased the high board fence enclosing the Pike’s Peak Driving Park on the Manitou road, which he [used] for advertising purposes.”77 Brown also was active in local politics, serving as an alderman from 1880 through 1883, and as an El Paso County delegate to the 1880 state Republican convention. 78 Although nominated for mayor in 1881, he withdrew his name from the polling process in favor of Matt France, another influential regional pioneer.79 In October 1883, Brown was chosen foreman of a coroner’s jury that investigated a cold case homicide. After extensive testimony, the jury determined that two men had been shot to death and their bodies left on the Ute Pass approximately a year before.80 Mr. and Mrs. Brown’s names frequently appeared in the social pages of the Denver Rocky Mountain News in the 1880s, where notices of their activities were chronicled, including, they “passed a few days,” in Denver or “camped near Cheyenne Canon.” The Browns were among the regional luminaries who were invited to attend the elegant inaugural ball of Colorado Governor Alva Adams in January 1887.81 Brown departed the region around 1898.82 By 1900, following his retirement, the Browns had relocated to Omaha, Nebraska, dwelling with their daughter and son-in-law, Marmaduke Wyrille, a clerk with the Union Pacific Railroad.83 Continuing a westerly migration, the Brown and Wyrille families had


relocated to Alameda, California, by 1910.84 On June 21, 1917, Ainsworth Brown, at age 83, died in Portland, Oregon.85 Chris Nicholl Fowler, William (1855–1913) Colorado Springs Patent: Electrical Hose-Signaling Apparatus; No.: 470,752 Filed: August 24, 1891; Issued: March 15, 1892 Patent: Odor-Arresting Lid for Vessels; No.: 511,692 Filed: May 1, 1893; Issued: December 26, 1893 Patent: Electrical Hose-Signaling Apparatus; No.: 539,000 Filed: June 20, 1894; Issued: May 7, 1895 Patent: Electrically Arranged Hose Coupling; No.: 539,017 Filed: November 30, 1894; Issued: May 7, 1895 Dr. William Fowler was born in London, England, in 1855. In 1871, at the age of 16, he came to the United States and first lived in Boston, Massachusetts, where he studied dentistry. In 1883, Dr. Fowler came to Colorado Springs and formed a professional relationship with Dr. Charles E. Edwards, another pioneer dentist.86 Dr. Fowler’s name first appears in the Colorado Springs city directory in 1886, where he is listed as a dentist with a practice at 18½ Tejon Street.87 Around 1887, William Fowler and Marietta Ryerson of Nova Scotia, Canada, were married and began their life together in Colorado Springs.88 Dr. Fowler was one of the most well known dentists in Colorado Springs. He was a member and officer in several professional dental organizations at the county, state, and national levels. In 1889, Colorado Governor Job A. Cooper appointed him to the first State Board of Dental Examiners.89 Dr. Fowler was also a charter member of the El Paso County Odontological Society. The Odontological Society was created at a meeting of “ethical dentists” held in the Colorado Springs El Paso County Bank building on May 15, 1902, and would eventually become the Colorado Springs Dental Society.90



Dr. Fowler was also well known outside of his professional circle and led a very active social life. He held positions in the International Order of the Odd Fellows, he was a charter member of the Elks Club, and especially important, as related to the nature of some of his patents, Dr. Fowler was an influential member of the Jackson Hose Company, a volunteer fire fighting company.91 In the decades immediately following the city’s founding, the volunteer fire companies were at the center of the city’s social life. Many of the firefighters and their families were listed among Colorado Springs’ most prominent citizens. Combining his passion for public service as a firefighter and his interest in electricity, Dr. Fowler invented several devices that enhanced the efficiency of the fire fighting services of his day. Three of his patents—two electrical hose-signaling devices and an electrically-arranged hose coupling—taken together, provided a much-improved means of communication between the firefighter positioned at the far end of the hose and the pump or engine operator. Using a simple bell-ringing signal protocol made possible by Dr. Fowler’s inventions, firefighters were able to communicate more effectively in the loud, smokefilled environment surrounding many large fires. Being able to command the presence or absence of water greatly improved the effectiveness of the firefighting effort. An empty, lighter hose allowed firefighters to move more quickly, laterally, around the fire, and vertically, up multi-storied buildings. Moreover, the ability to turn water on and off, on command, prevented unnecessary water damage as the firefighters moved about. Finally, these devices made it possible to warn others within earshot of some impending danger. According to the Colorado Springs Gazette, Dr. Fowler’s invention “attracted a good deal of attention among firefighters who pronounced it an excellent thing.”92 Dr. Fowler’s fourth patent, although less technical in nature than his firefighting devices, may have been equally appreciated by its users. His Odor Arresting Lid for Vessels was designed to make domestic life more pleasant. As described in his patent application, this invention “relates to improvements in covers for slop buckets and similar vessels, and the object


of the improvement is to provide a cover which shall render these receptacles odorless and at the same time allow the free entrance of liquids from the outside.” Dr. Fowler remained in Colorado Springs all of his life practicing dentistry for nearly 30 years. On April 12, 1912, he was adjudged insane by the El Paso County Court. On the same day, he was taken to a hospital in Pueblo for treatment.93 On October 4, 1913, after a prolonged illness, Dr. Fowler died. His body was taken to Denver for cremation and the ashes were sent to Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, his wife’s home, for interment.94 William Thomas Hennefeld, Albert (ca. 1863–1895) with Christ Dehner and Charles H. Van Ness Colorado Springs Patent: Section-Insulator (Break for Trolley-Wires); No.: 529,616 Filed: April 19, 1894; Issued: November 20, 1894 The three men who patented the Section-Insulator left only the slightest of impressions on the historical record of Colorado Springs. Although their names are relatively unusual, little is known about the inventors at this time. Charles H. Van Ness appears in the 1892 Colorado Springs city directory with the occupation of cleaner and dyer. Christ Dehner, whose unique name appears in the 1900 Utah census, appears to have been born in August 1862, in Illinois. He, too, was a dyer by occupation.95 Albert Hennefeld’s seemingly brief story in Colorado Springs is told through two announcements appearing in the local newspaper, one, announcing his wedding, the other, just 2 years later, his death. A few invited guests gathered at the residence of the bride’s mother, 212 East Cimmaron street, Thursday evening, Dec. 8, 1892, to witness the marriage of Mr. Albert Hennefeld and Miss Reta Baker. Mr. J. E. Chovin and Miss Lela Easley were the attendants. The ceremony was pronounced by Rev. J. P. Lucas, after which congratulations and refreshments followed. The bride was the recipient of several very handsome presents.96


The second article, a terse statement of vital record, announced, “DIED. . . . Friday, Feb. 1. 1895, at 109 West Moreno avenue, Albert Hennefeld, aged 30 years. Interment at St. Louis, Mo.”97 The 1880 St. Louis census lists a Hennefeld family in which both the head of household and the oldest son were named Albert. If this is the correct family, Hennefeld, then listed as 17 years old, was born in Germany around 1863. Immigrating to the United States in 1870, the family settled in St. Louis where the elder Albert worked as a lumber peeler and the younger worked in a planing mill. The record suggests that Reta and Albert may have had a son, also named Albert, born in November 1893.98 Hennefeld’s untimely tuberculosis death is representatively significant in the region’s history. Renowned as a resort for consumptives and a center of experimental tuberculosis treatment, Colorado Springs boasted of its sunshine and clear mountain air as the only palliative, before the advent of antibiotics.99 While many of the region’s significant immigrants gained health, including Colorado Midland railway founder James J. Hagerman, author Marshall Sprague, and booster and businessman H. Chase Stone, so many others, including Hennefeld, died. The Section-Insulator Hennefeld helped design represents another piece of regional history: the streetcar and trolley business that began with the first horse-drawn streetcar on November 2, 1887. Soon thereafter, in early 1890, electric railways were constructed by the Colorado Springs Rapid Transit company, requiring heavy rails, “ties, poles to support the overhead, span wire, miles of copper trolley wire, and rolling stock.”100 By 1898, the city boasted of “22 miles of street railway . . . running from the city’s center to Broadmoor, Cheyenne Canons, Colorado City . . . Roswell and the East End addition.”101 It is likely that the three men’s invention significantly advanced the efficiency of trolley maintenance and provided some relief for the maintenance crews, who worked out of doors year round, whether in sub-freezing or stinging hot


temperatures. For according to the patent letters, the men claimed to “have invented a new and Improved Break for Trolley-Wires . . . The object . . . is to provide a simple and effective trolley wire break, which may be inserted in the line at any time without interfering with traffic, and without the necessity of slackening the line.” The patent letters further stated, “Our invention consists in a curved bar of wood or other insulating material provided at its ends with metallic tips, and furnished with means for mechanically connecting the ends of the trolley wire and for engaging the span wire.” They claimed that their “improved break may be inserted in the line without the use of solder, and with the expenditure of very little time and labor, and it is not liable to breakage which occurs in other forms of break where solder is employed.” Chris Nicholl Laughlin, Homer (1849–1940) Eastonville Patent: Stirrup; No.: 321,984 Filed: December 15, 1884; Issued: July 14, 1885 Homer Laughlin was born December 1849, in Greene Township of Beaver County, Pennsylvania, to Thomas and Nancy Laughlin.102 By 1860, his family had moved to Smith Township in Dade County, Missouri, where his father, formerly a carpenter by trade, began farming.103 In 1870, Homer, now 20, and his two older brothers, Robert and Benjamin, were helping their father work the family farm in Missouri. In addition to their three sons, the Laughlins had four daughters, younger than the boys.104 Sometime in the 1870s, the family relocated to Colorado Springs, where Nancy Laughlin died in 1878.105 By 1880, Thomas Laughlin had retired from farming and Homer had decided to try his hand at the cattle trade in the growing community.106 On April 9, 1881, he homesteaded 120 acres east of Colorado Springs, near the young town soon to become Eastonville.107 His father died shortly afterwards, on November 1, 1881.108 Laughlin’s familiarity with the day-to-day work of the western cowboy, and its inherent dangers, inspired him to


conceive the idea for a safer saddle stirrup. In his patent application, submitted in late 1884, he remarked that his design would be “especially useful in the Western country among stockmen, as the horses frequently fall with their riders, and sometimes the boot of the rider hangs in the stirrup and cannot be extricated, causing the horseman to be dragged and not infrequently seriously hurt.” His design consisted of two swiveling connections which made it easier for the rider to disengage his boot from the stirrup, “for if the rider be thrown from the animal, the stirrup will immediately turn by reason of the swivel connection, and thereby release the foot of the rider, so that he cannot be dragged.” The design also featured a horizontal swivel that, according to Laughlin, would facilitate easier mounting, as it allowed for the foot to always be flat in the stirrup. Saddle stirrups, which have been described as one of the more significant inventions in the history of mankind, continually have been the subject of design experimentation over the centuries, as inventors have tried to improve their utility and safety features.109 Patent activity in stirrup design continues today. Having established himself as a farmer and cattleman, Laughlin married Cora Shouts on April 18, 1889.110 In 1892, she died of “childbed fever” after giving birth to their second child, Clarence.111 A prior infant had died in 1890.112 About 1907, Laughlin married Gertrude (last name unknown) and in 1909 their only son, William, was born. The family still resided in Eastonville.113 A note appeared in the El Paso County Democrat in May 1915, saying that Laughlin had been called to Missouri due to the illness of his wife, who had left Colorado several months earlier for health reasons.114 In 1920, he was back in Colorado Springs, with only his 11-year-old son, working as a real estate agent at 70 years of age.115 In 1930, he was living by himself at 216 North Prospect Street.116 He was granted an old-age pension, but on June 22, 1934, the county rescinded this privilege.117 He passed away in a local hospital on December 26, 1940 at the age of 91.118 Sandy Fledderjohann


McCreery, Ashby (1824–1918) Colorado Springs Patent: Burial Apparatus; No.: 301,381 Filed: May 3, 1884; Issued: July 1, 1884 Ashby McCreery was born April 3, 1824, to Alexander and Ann (Herrell) McCreery of rural Franklin County, Illinois.119 One of ten children, McCreery started working on the family farm as a young man. He married Sarah E. Mitchell, also of Franklin County, October 17, 1844.120 Ashby and Sarah had seven children together, with only four living into adulthood— Adelia, Hardin, Quincy and Charles. The McCreerys owned several hundred acres of farmland in Franklin County before moving to Colorado Springs in 1883.121 Upon arriving in Colorado Springs, McCreery continued working as a farmer, but by 1888 he had changed his occupation and was employed as an expressman.122 In 1888, McCreery purchased a home at 410 South Weber Street, where he lived until his death in 1918. In 1884, at the age of 60, McCreery filed and received a patent for a device to lower coffins into graves. The invention, a simple A-framed construction made of wood, with pulleys, ropes and a ratcheted “winding drum” with hand crank, would make it easier to place caskets into the ground, McCreery claimed. In operation, the frame, on wheels, would be brought beside a grave, then opened to straddle the hole. “The operator then, after buckling the straps around the coffin, can, by grasping the crank of the windlass or drum, carefully and steadily, allow the coffin to descend into the grave, after which the straps are unbuckled and drawn up by the reverse movement of the drum or windlass.” The patent application does not state McCreery’s interest or inspiration for inventing such a device. Between about 1894 and 1896, during the boom of the Cripple Creek district, McCreery became involved in gold mining there, evidently making some profit. When he and his wife celebrated their golden wedding anniversary, in 1894, the newspaper reported “perhaps no couple ever before celebrated their golden wedding by getting a good interest in a gold mine, as have the McCreerys.”123 On September 22, 1895, McCreery’s wife, Sarah, died and was buried in Evergreen Cemetery.124



About 18 months later, McCreery married Anna Bullock in Colorado Springs.125 During his last few years of employment, between 1898 and 1901, McCreery, now in his mid 70s, worked as a clerk and coal salesman for the Union Ice and Coal Company.126 In 1901, he submitted a letter detailing the McCreery family history to the Colorado Springs Century Chest, a time capsule addressed “To the Citizens of Colorado Springs of the Twenty First Century.” The Century Chest, which contained letters, photographs and memorabilia from many of Colorado Springs’ foremost residents of 1901, was opened in a ceremony at Colorado College January 1, 2001. At 90, McCreery still was active enough to travel between Colorado Springs and his sister’s house in Kansas. On the Fourth of July, 1914, while outside his Weber Street home feeding his chickens, McCreery was struck in the arm by a stray .32 caliber bullet shot from a celebrant’s revolver.127 He had not heard the shot “because of the noise made by exploding firecrackers,” but had felt a stinging sensation in his left arm and then noticed a hole in his coat sleeve. “The bullet was found embedded in the flesh,” the newspaper reported. He was not seriously hurt.128 McCreery died soon after turning 94, on April 12, 1918, at the home of his son, Charles, 923 North Weber Street. He was one of the oldest residents of Colorado Springs at the time. He was buried beside his first wife, Sarah, at Evergreen Cemetery.129 His second wife, Anna, died less than 3 months later, on July 3, at the age of 75.130 Marta Norton Meek, William Edgar (1848–1911) with Henry Shank Colorado Springs Patent: Device for Weaning Calves; No.: 332,293 Filed: August 13, 1885; Issued: December 15, 1885 with James Monroe Bradshaw Table Rock Patent: Separator; Patent No.: 399,486 Filed: February 8, 1886 (renewed August 4, 1888); Issued: March 12, 1889


with James Monroe Bradshaw Eastonville Patent: Bag Holder; No.: 399,373 Filed: August 16, 1888; Issued: March 12, 1889 William Edgar Meek was born in Brooks County, West Virginia, July 2, 1848, and grew up in Washington County, Iowa. Meek married Amoret S. Barton November 10, 1870, in Missouri.131 She died just 3 years later, June 18, 1873, in Marion, Kansas, leaving Meek with their infant daughter.132 That same year, Meek arrived in Colorado and by 1880 was settled on the Divide at Table Rock (near present-day Monument), living with his parents, Garrett and Sophia Meek. There he served on the Divide Board of Trade. He also participated in the newly opened Agricultural College of Colorado’s 1880 agricultural experiments, conducted by the Farmer’s Institute of the college. Meek collected data regarding corn crops “on the Divide” and alfalfa crops grown without irrigation for a gathering to be held in Bijou Basin in 1881.133 Meek was a civil engineer by profession and served as El Paso County surveyor for several terms. He also served 2 years in the Colorado state legislature as representative from El Paso County, beginning in 1887.134 Meek collaborated on three inventions, all related to farming activities, during the late 1880s. In 1885, Meek and Henry Shank filed a patent application on a device for weaning calves, which, according to the application, was simple, strong, durable and cheap to manufacture. The device consisted of a rectangular plate with a sliding clamp that attached to the nose of a calf or other animal. When locked in a closed position, via a spring, the plate blocked the calf’s ability to position its head for suckling but still allowed the animal to eat and drink from other sources, via an oval cutout for the mouth. Meek was granted two patents in 1889 with James Monroe Bradshaw, both related to a machine that would clean, separate and bag vegetables. The machine had an inclined, vibrating chute with a wire mesh bottom, where the vegetables would be placed and the chute shaken to loosen and separate dirt and other unwanted matter. The shaking movement, which could be done by hand or by attaching the separator to a powered


source, also would advance the vegetables down the chute into a bag or other receptacle. The entire separator was portable, being mounted on a sled frame that could be drawn by a horse or outfitted with wheels. The first of the two patents granted to Meek and Bradshaw was for the separator itself, while the second was for an improved bag holder for the machine. On September 8, 1891, Meek married, Mary M. Williams, of Colorado City.135 By 1900, the Meeks were living in Woodland Park with two children, Idella, 7, and Ralph, 1.136 The Meek family lived on “a large and well improved farm,” and, although active and successful in public life, Meek preferred “to quietly attend to the needs” of his land and family.137 Mary was active in local organizations and served as vice president of the Women’s Christian Temperance Union for Woodland Park in 1900.138 By the beginning of 1902, Meek had sold off his farm equipment and John Cummins had purchased his farm.139 Meek was elected county commissioner for Teller County in 1904 and served 4 years in that capacity.140 William Meek died August 24, 1911, at the home of his sister, Mrs. E. C. Bale, 734 East Platte Avenue, Colorado Springs. He was survived by his wife, his mother, his children, and three sisters.141 Meek had written and registered a will at Cripple Creek in 1905. In it, he left all his possessions to his wife, Mary M. Meek. If Mary remarried after his death, all of his property was to go to his children, Idella and Ralph. He left $10.00 to his unknown “grandson” Spousler—the child of his estranged daughter, Armset L. Meek Spousler. His will was witnessed by Moses M. Baldwin and C. S. Davisson. Upon Meek’s death, Baldwin was called to testify that he had been Meek’s Woodland Park neighbor for about 32 years and that he had witnessed the 1905 Cripple Creek will. Baldwin related that Meek, in June 1905, “hadn’t had very good health for, I guess, ten or twelve years or more” but was of a sound mind and was a Teller County commissioner when he wrote and signed the will. It is unclear why Baldwin was called upon to testify on the authenticity of the 1905 document. The probate proceedings do, however, record that a Mr. Wing was someone’s “guardian ad litem” and cross examined Moses Baldwin. Meek’s real estate holdings at the time of his death were valued at about $1,000.142


Mary Meek outlived her husband by almost 26 years, and died June 7, 1937. She never remarried and was buried alongside her husband in the Woodland Park Cemetery.143 Emily Anderson & Susie Stepanek Merrill, William H. D. (1849–1910) Colorado Springs Patent: Cork Puller; No: 308,686 Filed: May 2, 1884; Issued: December 2, 1884 Born in Indiana in 1849, William H. D. Merrill was the quintessential “clubman.”144 His memberships in convivial trade, military and volunteer organizations offer insight into late 19th century masculine social life, with its parades, pageantry, rank and regalia. And perhaps his many public activities illuminate his interest in inventing a mechanism designed to split and pull corks from the necks of bottles and to cut the wire that holds the cork at the mouth of the bottle. Merrill served as a private in the Union Army’s 11th Indiana Infantry and in 1877, he helped organize the Indianapolis Light Infantry, a wing of the Indiana National Guard, “which in after years took many prizes in competitive drills.”145 Along with many other Civil War veterans, Merrill migrated west, with his wife Maggie V. Kerfoot, whom he married in 1873.146 In 1880, he resided in Denver, Colorado, first working as a plumber and later, briefly as a policeman.147 By 1881, Merrill had relocated to Colorado Springs where he was an official of the Pikes Peak Commandry of the Knights Templars.148 In 1883, he was listed among El Paso County veterans eligible to attend the G.A.R [Grand Army of the Republic] encampment in Denver, where “thousands” were anticipated for the military veterans’ reunion.149 According to John Conkie, “The Post [No. 22 of Colorado Springs] attended . . . in a body, headed by its fife and drum corps.”150 In 1886, “Commander W. H. D. Merrill” was appointed as representative to the G.A.R.’s annual meeting in Pueblo, Colorado.151 Merrill also was present in May 1891 when President Benjamin Harrison visited Colorado Springs, joining a throng of other prominent citizens who met the presidential train. The G.A.R. “comprised



the presidential guard of honor during the parade through the city.”152 A plumber by trade, Merrill was admitted into a select organization of Colorado’s master plumbers in March 1888. At a two day event in Denver, following the business and membership meetings, the “Masters” participated in a parade, and were provided theater tickets “to witness the panorama of the Battle of Gettysburg.” Additionally, “all the boxes in the opera house” were reserved for the group to “attend in a body to see Kate Castelton, a famous traveling burlesque actress.”153 By 1888, Merrill had joined the Colorado Springs Volunteer Fire Department, serving as foreman of the Jackson Hose Co. No. 2.154 Organized in December 1878, the Jackson was the second of five local volunteer fire companies, each composed of about thirty men. Membership in the fire companies was a mark of “social prestige and was eagerly sought.”155 Company rivalries and competitions offered training opportunities for the firemen, festive parties for the volunteers, and entertainment and pageantry for the community. The companies sponsored lively social events, including parades, picnics, dances and public drills. But the ‘Fireman’s Ball’ was the premier social gala of the year.156 So prestigious was fire company membership, that “the elections for officers often occasioned more interest than did those for the city officials.”157 Signifying his prominence, in April 1890, the volunteers elected Merrill their fire chief—a salaried job for which he earned $500 per year. Previous to Merrill’s election, local boosters recognized that the city’s future growth was directly related to implementing modernized fire protection. A larger water main and more fire hydrants were installed in the central business district. Nine electric fire alarm boxes were located throughout the city, with a central alarm system that sounded at City Hall, the headquarters of most volunteer hose companies. Demonstrating the efficacy of the new equipment, Merrill, the plumber by trade and fire chief by election, called out the department to test the new equipment. The results were impressive. It was reported that, “Three streams were thrown twenty-five feet above the Hagerman Building (southeast corner of Kiowa Street and Tejon Avenue)


and when five streams were operated simultaneously there was no lessening of pressure.”158 Merrill served as fire chief until April 1892. He later moved to Fort Bliss, Texas, working there as a civilian plumber.159 He died in September 1910, at a disabled veteran’s home in Los Angeles, California.160 Chris Nicholl Skinner, Thomas M. (1852–ca. 1920) Colorado Springs Patent: Steam Pile Driver; No.: 273,904 Filed: January 7, 1881; Issued: March 13, 1883 A civil and design engineer, an inventor, a mine owner, a land developer, and a financier, Thomas Miner Skinner’s life in turn-of-the-20th-century Colorado illuminates the vast opportunities awaiting industrious, entrepreneurial immigrants to the American West. Born in northern New York in 1852, the oldest child of a prosperous merchant family, by 18 Skinner was employed as a civil engineer.161 By his mid-twenties, Skinner had begun a westerly migration, receiving a patent for an improvement to steam pile drivers in Chicago in 1876.162 In 1880, Skinner appears in the Colorado record, working as a civil engineer in Ruby City, a Gunnison County mining camp.163 By January 1881, he was in Colorado Springs where he sought a patent for an improvement to his earlier steam pile driver. The patent was granted in 1883. Skinner’s improvements represented significant advancements in the evolution of steam-driven, pile-driving hammers, as they “reduced the number of parts and used a steam actuated valve.”164 Pile drivers are machines used to drive into the ground long, slender, reinforcing or load-bearing members (piles) made of timber, iron or concrete. While pile drivers have been used by engineers for bridge construction at least since Roman times, pile drivers that used steam to hoist the heavy pile hammer were invented during the early 19th century, a product of the Industrial Revolution.165 Steam pile drivers replaced arduous hand operated devices, vastly increasing productivity in construction projects.


Skinner’s patented design used steam pressure to lift the heavy hammer on an I-beam frame until the hammer tripped a vertically-adjustable lever, releasing the pressure and allowing the hammer to fall by its own weight. The falling hammer tripped another lever, which closed a valve and allowed the steam pressure to build again, lifting the hammer automatically. His design was manufactured by Vulcan Iron Works in Chicago beginning around 1880. An 1882 letter to Vulcan Iron Works praised Skinner’s design: “The Skinner Pile Driver Hammer, built by your Company, has been in use on our Pile Driver Car since last April, and we are much pleased with its work. It has always given entire satisfaction, doing the work effectively and economically.”166 In late 1881, along with several partners, Skinner filed articles of incorporation for the Cascade Mountain Mining Company.167 Additionally, he filed a mineral rights claim on land north of Idaho Springs in Clear Creek County, naming his claim the T. M. JR.168 By 1884, Skinner resided in Denver, with a business address at the Tabor Opera Block, where his occupation was mechanical engineer and contractor. He also advertised his industrial skills in Colorado Springs, publishing newspaper ads reading, “Thomas M. Skinner, Engineer and Contractor . . . Designs of machinery prepared for any special purpose.”169 By the time the 1885 Colorado state census was taken, Skinner, then married to Mary L. Cameron, began acquiring land.170 The Skinners resided in Weld County, where Thomas received a homestead patent for 160 acres in 1890.171 That same year, in partnership with several others, Skinner developed and marketed lots for a housing subdivision, North Berkely Gardens, in present day Arvada, Colorado.172 The Skinners had two children, Thomas M., Jr., and John C., both born in Colorado. Throughout the mid 1880s until 1919, the year his name last appears in the Denver directory, Skinner maintained residential and business addresses in Denver, engaging in various occupations, including engineering, gold mining, real estate and finance.173 Thomas M. Skinner died in late 1919 or early 1920.174 Chris Nicholl & Dennis Daily


Ward, Elmer E. (1862–1931) Colorado Springs Patent: Lid Holder for Pans or Vessels; No.: 483,408 Filed: February 17, 1892; Issued: September 27, 1892 Patent: Trousers Guard; No.: 633,674 Filed: January 6, 1899; Issued: September 26, 1899 Patent: Culinary Steamer and Boiler; No.: 639,473 Filed: August 10, 1898; Issued: December 19, 1899 Patent: Hook and Eye; No.: 643,700 Filed: December 20, 1898; Issued: February 20, 1900 Elmer E. Ward was born in Ohio around 1862.175 By the time he was 18, he had left home and was working as a teamster in Jackson County, Ohio.176 By 1890, he had moved west to Colorado Springs, where on June 24 of that year he married Barilla R. Ward.177 In Colorado Springs he began a long career as a solicitor, traveling agent, canvasser and inventor. The Wards’ first child, a daughter named Alta, was born in 1891. A son, Melvin, was born in 1894. By 1910, Barilla’s mother, Rebecca Ward, was living with the family.178 Ward, who declared his occupation “inventor” in 1910, was granted at least six patents between 1892 and 1911. His 1892 patent, a lid holder for pans or vessels, reflects a time when stove-top boiling was a mainstay of food preparation. The holder was a spring clamp that would hold a lid securely on a cooking pot and, when two spring arms were drawn together, would allow water to be drained from the pot without the lid falling off or the contents being spilled. Six years later, his patent for a culinary steamer and boiler incorporated a similar lid but focused more on the cooking method itself. It was a pot that could be used as a steamer, a boiler, or both at the same time. It had a lid that would permit the replenishment of water into, or the draining of water from, the vessel. The lid also was secured tightly enough to the pot to prevent the escape of steam, like a pressure cooker. Ward’s four-page description of the con-



struction and workings of the cooking pot, detailed in his patent application, demonstrates the complexity of what might seem a simple device. The trousers guard, patented in 1899, was a fix for what must have been a common transportation problem during the Victorian era—getting one’s pant leg caught in a bicycle chain. Ward claimed his solution was superior to “the common bandclamp in that it does not embrace the ankle and rub thereon and may be adjusted to hold trousers-legs tightly or loosely, as desired.” It consisted of a single length of bent wire which could be slipped over the pants leg. Ward’s other 19th-century invention was a hook and eye that served as a fastener for articles of clothing. The “improved” design featured “a flat appearance, so as to lie compactly to the garment and be scarcely noticeable when placed between two pieces of dress fabric; which will not be damaged or injured when washing the fabric, and especially when passing the same through a clotheswringer; which will be simple and easy of manipulation; which is not liable to become disengaged accidentally; which will not be caught in lace, trimmings, the fabric, or the hair in moving or donning the garment.” Ward was granted a patent for a doughmixing machine in 1905, while residing in Salt Lake City. His last patent, granted in 1911, while the family again was living in Colorado Springs, was for a mop wringer. Ward and his family do not appear in the city directories of Colorado Springs after 1912. In 1920, they were living in Salt Lake City, where he was working as a hardware salesman.179 Alta and Melvin were no longer living at home, but Barilla’s sister had moved in with them. Later, the Wards moved further west to California. On April 22, 1928, Barilla was struck by an automobile and killed in Santa Ana, California.180 After the traumatic event, Elmer went to live briefly with his daughter, Alta, in Long Beach.181 He moved back to Santa Ana when his daughter married and moved to San Francisco. On September 26, 1931, he died and was buried with Barilla in the Fairhaven Cemetery in Santa Ana.182 Sandy Fledderjohann


Wentz, George F. (1856–1934) Colorado Springs Patent: Pipe Coupling; No.: 581,050 Filed: February 4, 1896; Issued: April 20, 1897 Patent: Air Pump Governor; No.: 574,648 Filed: February 10, 1896; Issued: January 5, 1897 Patent: Combined Nozzle and Sprayer; No.: 623,057 Filed: November 4, 1897; Issued: April 11, 1899 George Franklin Wentz was born on January 28, 1856, in Richland County, Ohio, to Solomon Wentz and Catharine (Fireoved) Wentz.183 He married Ida May Kiner in Marsailles, Illinois, on October 15, 1879.184 In 1880, George and Ida lived in Fort Wayne, Indiana, where he worked as a railroad fireman.185 They had one child, Eva May Wentz, who was born February 1881 in Indiana.186 In 1888, George, Ida May and Eva May moved to Colorado Springs from Bloomington, Indiana.187 By 1890, Wentz was working in a small real estate business known as Hemenway & Wentz with an office at 115 S. Tejon Street.188 Two years later, in 1892, Wentz was in the insurance business.189 However, there seemed to be some difficulties for Wentz in this business as evidenced by a notice in the Rocky Mountain News reporting a lawsuit by William R. Wells against Wentz. Wells claimed that Wentz “as an insurance agent collected and converted to his own use” the sum of $72.98.190 The court eventually “set aside default and judgment” and “left the defendant to answer as per stipulation,” presumably to make good on the original contract.191 By 1894, Wentz had returned to railroad work holding a position as a yardmaster’s clerk with the Colorado Midland Railway.192 Two years later, in 1896, Wentz was working as an engineer with the Midland Terminal Railway.193 He remained in that position until 1900 or 1901. He was, reportedly, the engineer on the first Midland Terminal run out of Colorado Springs.194


It was during his time with the Midland Terminal Railway that Wentz filed his three patents. The first invention concerns improvements in couplings for air and steam pipes. Essentially, Wentz claimed his invention would create a stronger, more effective seal at the point where two pipes join. His second invention was an improvement in the functioning of air pump governors. Wentz claimed his idea embodied a simpler, less expensive, and more efficient construction and arrangement of parts for the governor. The purpose of the governor was to prevent air pressure used in connection with fluid pressure brake mechanisms from exceeding desired limits. Wentz’s third patent was not directly related to railroads and trains. Rather, his combined nozzle and sprayer was clearly intended for more general use. Simply put, this invention combined the functions of a nozzle that directed a single stream of water with that of a lawn sprinkler that sprayed water in a widely dispersed fashion. Wentz claimed that his device allowed the operator to adjust the fineness of the water spray independently of the cutoff valve, thus permitting its use in a wider variety of watering applications than was possible before. He also claimed his device would be simple to construct and inexpensive to produce. By 1901, George Wentz seems to have left Colorado Springs. The 1904–1905 Colorado Springs city directory lists Ida May Wentz, erroneously, as the widow of George F. Wentz.195 On June 2, 1904, their daughter, Eva May Wentz married Franklin Earl Heyse and took up residence with Ida May.196 Between 1911 and 1920, Ida May is not listed in the city directories suggesting she may have left Colorado Springs. Around 1921, it appears that George returned to Colorado Springs and was again living with Ida May in their old residence. That same year he started work as a station attendant with Continental Oil Company.197 He continued working for Continental Oil as an attendant for ten more years until his retirement at the age of 68 because of ill health.198 After George’s retirement, Ida May went to work with the Cottage Home Realty company. On October 15, 1929, according to an article in the Colorado Springs Sunday Gazette and Telegraph, “Mr. and Mrs. George


F. Wentz celebrated their golden wedding anniversary.”199 Interestingly, George F. Wentz and Ida M. Wentz are also listed in the Colorado State Archives Divorce Index for El Paso County. She is the plaintiff and he is the defendant.200 George Franklin Wentz passed away at the age of 78 on July 13, 1934, and Ida May Wentz died on June 27, 1940, at the age of 79.201 They are buried together at Evergreen Cemetery in Colorado Springs.202 William Thomas NOTES

1. The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) compiles reports on historic and current patent activity in the United States and worldwide. Many of these are freely available online at the USPTO website. See General Patents Statistics Reports Available for Viewing, http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/ac/ido/oeip/taf/ reports.htm (accessed September 20, 2010). For the specific historical information provided here, see the report U.S. Patent Activity, 1790 to the Present, http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/ac/ido/oeip/ taf/h_counts.htm (accessed September 20, 2010). 2. Information on the patents of El Paso County was taken directly from the U.S. patent applications. Patents can be accessed at the USPTO website http://patft.uspto.gov (accessed September 23, 2010) or at the Google Patent Search http://www.google.com/ patents (accessed September 23, 2010). Both sites contain facsimiles of the original patent applications and illustrations. The Google site was used to compile the El Paso County patents for this project. Patents and trademarks may also be researched at any USPTO designated Patent and Trademark Depository Library. Information about the PTDL program, as well as a list of designated libraries, is available at the USPTO website, http://www.uspto.gov/products/library/ptdl/ index.jsp (accessed September 23, 2010). The Denver Public Library is the only Patent and Trademark Depository Library in Colorado. 3. The First Half Century of Madison University (1819–1869) (New York: Sheldon & Co., 1872), 221. 4. The American Baptist Magazine, Vol. XIV (1834): 371. 5. The First Half Century of Madison University, 221. 6. Ken Stevens, Descendants of Henry Wilson of Dedham, Massachusetts (Walpole, N.H.: K. Stevens, 1996), 66. 7. “Necrology,” Granite State Monthly, A New Hampshire Magazine dedicated to History, Biography, Literature and State Progress Vol. XVIII (1895): 195.

54 • EL PASO COUNTY INVENTORS 8. Stevens, Descendants of Henry Wilson, 66; Jordan Dodd and Liahona Research, comp. Illinois Marriages, 1851–1900 [database online]. Provo, Utah: The Generations Network, Inc., 2005. Original data: Index compiled from county marriage records on microfilm located at the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, Utah, by Jordan Dodd of Liahona Research. 9. Colorado Springs Gazette and El Paso County News, January 18, 1873. 10. Ibid., May 10, 1873. 11. Ibid., August 16, 1873. 12. Ibid., May 31, 1873. 13. Albert Clayton Beckwith, History of Walworth Co., Wisconsin, Vol. I. (Indianapolis: B. F. Bowen & Co., 1912), 335. 14. First Baptist Church of La Grange, Illinois, History, http:// fbclagrange.com/?page_id=9 (accessed May 6, 2010). 15. Granite State Monthly, Vol. XVIII. 16. Woodbury Lowery, ed., Decisions on the Law of Patents for Inventions Rendered by the United States Supreme Court (Washington, D.C.: The Brodix Publishing Company, 1889), 303–340. 17. Frank Hall, History of the State of Colorado, vol. IV (Chicago: Blakely, 1895), 386–387. Friendsville College probably Friendsville Institute. 18. Ancestry.com. U.S. Civil War Soldier Records and Profiles [database on-line]. Provo, Utah: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2009. Original data: Data compiled by Historical Data Systems of Kingston, Mass. 19. National Park Service Civil War Soldiers and Sailors System, “Andersonville Prison Records,” http://www.itd.nps.gov/cwss/ prisoners.htm (accessed January 18, 2011). 20. C. L. Swords and W. C. Edwards, Sketches and Portraitures of the State Officers and Members of the Ninth General Assembly of Colorado (Denver: Carson, Hurst & Harper, 1893), no pagination. 21. Colorado State Census, 1885. El Paso County, Colorado; Enumeration District 3; Page 21. 22. Rocky Mountain News, June 6, 1890; Jan Pettit, Quick History of Ute Pass (Colorado Springs: Little London Press, 1979), 50. 23. Rocky Mountain News (Denver), January 31, 1891. 24. Colorado Springs Gazette, January 15, 1893. 25. Boulder Daily Camera, May 14, 1892; The Colorado City Iris, September 28, 1892. 26. Boulder Daily Camera, December 13, 1892; Castle Rock Journal, November 16, 1892. 27. Rocky Mountain News, October 6, 1893.

DAILY, ET AL. • 55 28. The Evening Post (Denver), December 29, 1894. 29. A minor ore of gold and tellurium occurring in the United States only in California and Colorado. In Colorado, it was mined as part of the Cripple Creek ore deposit. Paul W. Thrush, comp., A Dictionary of Mining, Mineral and Related Terms (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Mines, 1968), 1112. Rocky Mountain News, February 18, 1896. 30. The Denver Evening Post, May 11, 1896. 31. The Colorado City Iris Supplement, “Woodland Park; The Gateway to the West Creek Mining District,” March 14, 1896. 32. Colorado Springs Death Register, August 1907–August 1914, 173; Colorado Springs Gazette, July 30, 1912. Moses M. Baldwin entry, Woodland Park Cemetery, Teller County, Tombstone Inscriptions of El Paso and Teller Counties, Colorado, Version 2.0, CD-ROM (Colorado Springs: Pikes Peak Genealogical Society, 2007). 33. Colorado Springs Gazette, March 23, 1931. 34. Lewistown Democrat News (Lewistown, Mont.), May 5, 1938. 35. U.S. Federal Census, 1920. School District 14, Fergus, Montana; Enumeration District 96; Page 1B. 36. David W. Pearson and Ron Bommarito, Antique Mining Equipment and Collectibles (Atglen, Pa.: Schiffer Publishing Ltd., 2002), 37–52. 37. Mining Artifacts and History. “Miner’s_Candlestick_Patent_ List.xls.” http://miningartifacts.homestead.com/MineLampPatents. html (accessed December 20, 2010). 38. Cripple Creek District Directory, (Denver: The Gazetteer Publishing Co., 1900), 542. 39. Muriel Sibell Wolle, Montana Pay Dirt: A Guide to the Mining Camps of the Treasure State (Denver: Sage Books, 1963), 358–367. 40. U.S. Federal Census, 1910. Maiden, Fergus, Montana; Enumeration District 128; Page 14A. 41. Bureau of Land Management, “Land Patent Search,” database, General Land Office Records, entry for Amede Bernier, Montana, nos. 309433 and 535870, http://www.glorecords.blm.gov (accessed January 20, 2011). 42. U.S. Federal Census, 1920. School District 14, Fergus, Montana; Enumeration District 96; Page 1B. 43. U.S. Federal Census, 1930. Lewistown, Fergus, Montana; Enumeration District 2; Page 8A. 44. Lewistown Democrat News, May 5, 1938. 45. Henry Blake’s early life is a little difficult to untangle, as conflicting accounts of the year of his birth appeared throughout his life. The 1850, 1860 and 1910 federal censuses state he was born around

56 • EL PASO COUNTY INVENTORS 1841, the 1880 census states around 1845, and the 1900 census claims May 1840. His biography in History of the Arkansas Valley, Colorado (Chicago: O. L. Baskin & Co., Historical Publishers, 1881), 648, states his birthday as May 27, 1846. 46. U.S. Federal Census, 1850. Philadelphia New Market Ward, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Page 418B; U.S. Federal Census, 1860. Philadelphia Ward 5 Southern Division, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Page 389. 47. Official Roster of the Soldiers of the State of Ohio in the War of the Rebellion, 1861–1866 (Akron: Werner Ptg. & Litho Co., 1891), 187. 48. History of the Arkansas Valley, Colorado (Chicago: O. L. Baskin & Co., Historical Publishers, 1881), 648. 49. Ibid. 50. Colorado Springs Gazette and El Paso County News, May 24, 1873. 51. History of the Arkansas Valley, Colorado, 648. 52. Colorado Springs Gazette and El Paso County News, June 10, 1876; History of the Arkansas Valley, 648. 53. Daily Rocky Mountain News (Denver), March 27, 1877. 54. Colorado Springs Gazette and El Paso County News, March 17, 1877. 55. History of the Arkansas Valley, Colorado, 648. 56. Colorado Springs Gazette, April 9, 1879. 57. U.S. Federal Census, 1900. Manhattan, New York, New York; Enumeration District 734; Page 2A. 58. Colorado State Census, 1885. Colorado Springs, El Paso, Colorado; Enumeration District 1; Page 22. 59. Directory of Colorado Springs, Manitou Springs, and Colorado City (Colorado Springs: S.N. Francis, Publisher, 1886), 161. 60. Colorado Springs Gazette, April 1, 1887. 61. Ibid., May 22, 1887. 62. U.S. Federal Census, 1900. Manhattan, New York, New York; Enumeration District 734; Page 2A. 63. U.S. Federal Census, 1910. San Luis Rey, San Diego, California; Enumeration District 126; Page 4A. 64. General Index to Pension Files, 1861–1934. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration. 65. U.S. Federal Census, 1930. Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California; Enumeration District 524; Page 12B. 66. Ancestry.com. California Death Index, 1940–1997 [database online]. Provo, Utah: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2000. Original data: State of California. California Death Index, 1940-1997. Sacramento, Calif.: State of California Department of Health Services, Center for Health Statistics.

DAILY, ET AL. • 57 67. U.S. Federal Census, 1850. 12th Ward, Boston, Suffolk, Massachusetts; Page 334 A; U.S. Federal Census, 1860. Brooklyn, Kings, New York; Enumeration District 3; Page 131. 68. Boston Daily Advertiser, May 17, 1860. 69. U.S. Federal Census, 1870. Ward 12 District 3, New York; Enumeration District 2; Page 59. U.S. Patent Office. 70. Brown appears on an 1879 Colorado Springs tax role: http:// files.usgwarchives.net/co/elpaso/taxes/1879tax.txt (accessed December 20, 2010). 71. Colorado Springs Weekly Gazette, July 2, 1881. 72. Colorado Springs Daily Gazette, September 27, 1884. 73. Colorado Springs Daily Gazette, August 15, 1883. 74. Directory of Colorado Springs, Manitou Springs and Colorado City, 1886; Manly Dayton Ormes and Eleanor R. Ormes, The Book of Colorado Springs (Colorado Springs: The Dentan Printing Co. 1933), 106. 75. Colorado Springs Daily Gazette, December 23, 1880. 76. Ibid., October 24, 1882; July 28, 1880. 77. Ibid., February 14, 1884. 78. City of Colorado Springs, Annual Reports and Financial Statements 1901–02, 21–23. 79. Colorado Springs Gazette, August 22, 1880; Colorado Springs Weekly Gazette, April 2, 1881. 80. Colorado Springs Daily Gazette, October 10 and 14, 1885; the men were identified as Kansas teamsters, Julius Roenigk and Lewis Bagby. 81. Rocky Mountain News, January 29, 1882; September 16, 1883; January 12, 1887. 82. 1898 is the final listing for Ainsworth Brown in the Directory of Colorado Springs. 83. U.S. Federal Census, 1900. Omaha, Douglas, Nebraska; Enumeration District 2; Page 10. 84. U.S. Federal Census, 1910. Alemeda, Alemeda, California; Enumeration District 4; Page 4A. 85. Colorado Springs Gazette, June 28, 1917. 86. Ibid., October 5, 1913. 87. Directory of Colorado Springs, Manitou Springs and Colorado City, (Colorado Springs: S.N. Francis, 1886) 80. 88. U.S. Federal Census, 1910. Colorado Springs, El Paso, Colorado; Enumeration District: 35; Page 9A. 89. “Dr William Fowler,” Facts, Volume 9, New Year 1902, 61. 90. Ormes, 279. 91. Colorado Springs Gazette, October 5, 1913. 92. Ibid., October 16, 1895. 93. Ibid., April 13, 1912.

58 • EL PASO COUNTY INVENTORS 94. Ibid., October 5, 1913. 95. Directory of Colorado Springs, Colorado City and Manitou for 1892; U.S. Federal Census, 1900. Census, State Utah Salt Lake City, Salt Lake City, Utah; Enumeration District 2, Third Precinct, Page 9A. 96. Colorado Springs Gazette, December 9, 1892. 97. Ibid., February 2, 1895. 98. Hennefeld information compiled from: U.S. Federal Census, 1880. Missouri, City of St. Louis, St. Louis: Enumeration District 257; Page 2; Colorado Springs Death Register #1, 114, courtesy Pikes Peak Library District, which records Hennefeld’s age at his February 1895 death as 30, conflicting with his stated age of 24 upon his marriage on December 8, 1892; an Albert Harold Hennefeld, born Colorado Springs, November 1, 1893, appears in the World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917–1918 [database on-line]. Provo, Utah: Ancestry.com Operations Inc. 2005. Registration Location: Marshall County, Illinois: Roll 1614348; Draft Board: o. June 4, 1917; and the U.S. World War II Registration Cards, 1942 [database on-line]. Provo, Utah: ancestry.com Operations Inc. 2007. Roll WW2-2275460; Local board: Bergen, New Jersey. 99. For tuberculosis research and treatment, see, Helen Clapesattle, Dr. Webb of Colorado Springs (Boulder: Colorado Associated University Press, 1984). 100. Morris Cafky and John A. Haney, Pikes Peak Trolleys, (Colorado Springs: Century One Press, 1983), 3–10. 101. Ibid, quoted from Facts, Vol. IV. “Christmas Number,” 1898. 102. U.S. Federal Census, 1850. Greene Township, Beaver, Pennsylvania; Page 279B. 103. U.S. Federal Census, 1860. Smith Township, Dade, Missouri; Page 20. 104. U.S. Federal Census, 1870. Smith Township, Dade, Missouri; Page 5. 105. Athlyn Luzier, Evergreen Cemetery Records (Colorado Springs: Pikes Peak Genealogical Society, 1993), unpaginated, entries alphabetical. Nancy Laughlin, buried February 13, 1878. 106. U.S. Federal Census, 1880. Colorado Springs, El Paso, Colorado; Enumeration District 42; Page 33. 107. Bureau of Land Management, “Land Patent Search,” database, General Land Office Records, entry for Homer Laughlin, Colorado, no. 079263, http://www.glorecords.blm.gov (accessed January 19, 2011). 108. Luzier, Thomas Laughlin, buried November, 1881. 109. Lynn White, Jr. Medieval Technology and Social Change (London: Oxford University Press, 1964), 1–2. 110. Colorado Marriages 1858–1939 (Denver: Colorado Genealogical Society, Inc., 2004), 11, 796.

DAILY, ET AL. • 59 111. Colorado Springs Death Register. 112. Luzier, infant of Homer Laughlin, buried May 20, 1890. 113. U.S. Federal Census, 1910. Eastonville, El Paso, Colorado; Enumeration District 17; Page 7A. 114. El Paso County Democrat, May 15, 1915. 115. U.S. Federal Census, 1920. Colorado Springs, El Paso, Colorado; Enumeration District 85; Page 4B. 116. U.S. Federal Census, 1930. Colorado Springs, El Paso, Colorado; Enumeration District 13; Page 6A. 117. El Paso Pension Book, Vol II, #4243, 124. 118. Colorado Springs Gazette, December 27, 1940. 119. Luzier; Ashby McCreery family letter, August 3, 1901, in Colorado Springs Century Chest Collection, 1901, Ms0349, folder 132, Special Collections, Tutt Library, Colorado College, http://www. coloradocollege.edu/library/SpecialCollections/CenturyChest/ ch132am.html (accessed January 22, 2010). 120. Illinois Statewide Marriage Index, 1763–1900, Illinois State Archives http://www.cyberdriveillinois.com/departments/ archives/marriage.html (accessed January 22, 2010). 121. Bureau of Land Management, “Land Patent Search,” database, General Land Office Records, entries for Ashby McCreery, Illinois, nos. 10230, 12618, 18186, 20295, and 21411, http://www.glorecords.blm. gov (accessed January 19, 2011). 122. Colorado State Census, 1885. El Paso County; Enumeration District 2; Page 15. Directory of Colorado Springs, Manitou Springs and Colorado City (Colorado Springs: S.N. Francis, 1888), 107. 123. Weekly Gazette (Colorado Springs), October 25, 1894. 124. Luzier. 125. Denver Public Library, compiler, Colorado Marriages, 1858– 1939 (Denver: Colorado Genealogical Society, 2004) 13,551, CD-ROM. 126. Directory of Colorado Springs (Colorado Springs: The Out West Printing and Stationery Co., 1898), 202; U.S. Federal Census, 1900. Colorado Springs, El Paso, Colorado; Enumeration District 28; Page 18A. 127. Colorado Springs Gazette, July 5, 1914. 128. Emporia Gazette (Emporia, Kans.), October 8, 1913. 129. Colorado Springs Gazette, April 13, 1918. 130. Luzier; Colorado Springs Gazette, July 4, 1918. 131. Ancestry.com. Missouri Marriage Records, 1805–2002 [database on-line]. Provo, Utah: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2007. Original data: Missouri Marriage Records. Jefferson City, Mo.: Missouri State Archives Microfilm.

60 • EL PASO COUNTY INVENTORS 132. “William E. Meek” in Legislative, Historical and Biographical Compendium of Colorado (Denver: C. F. Coleman’s, 1887), 51. 133. Daily Gazette (Colorado Springs), October 8, 1880. 134. Rocky Mountain News, January 4, 1887; also, Legislative, Historical and Biographical Compendium of Colorado, 51; Daily Gazette, September 24, 1886. 135. Marriage Records, Colorado Springs, El Paso County, Colorado, Marriage Application and License Book 9, April 1891– December 1891, compiled by Clara E. Duer, Special Collections, Pikes Peak Library District, CA 17, Box 1, Folder 11; also, Denver Public Library, Colorado Marriages 1858–1939. (Denver: Colorado Genealogical Society, Inc., 2004), 13,974. 136. U.S. Federal Census, 1900. Precinct 4, Teller, Colorado; Enumeration District 123; Page 3A. 137. Legislative, Historical and Biographical Compendium of Colorado, 51. 138. Colorado Springs Weekly Gazette, June 6, 1900. 139. Ibid., March 6, 1902. 140. The Weekly Gazette (Colorado Springs), September 14, 1904; Colorado Springs Gazette, August 26, 1911. 141. Colorado Springs Gazette, August 26, 1911. 142. William E. Meek, Will, probated December 18, 1911, El Paso County Court; Executed June 19, 1905, Cripple Creek, Teller County, Colorado. 143. William E. Meek and Mary M. Meek entries, Tombstone Inscriptions of El Paso and Teller Counties, Colorado. 144. U.S. Federal Census, 1900. Fort Bliss, El Paso, Texas; Supervisor’s District 35; Page 1A. 145. Ancestry.com. U.S. National Homes for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers, 1866–1938 [database on-line]. Provo, Utah: The Generations Network, Inc., 2007. Original data: Historical Register of National Homes for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers, 186-1938; (National Archives Microfilm Publication M1749, 282 rolls; Records of the Department of Veterans Affairs, Record Group 15; National Archives, Washington, D.C.; Private Publisher, A History of the National Guard of Indiana (Indianapolis: W.D. Pratt, Printer and Binder, 1901), 182. 146. Ancestry.com. Indiana Marriage Collection, 1880–1941 [database on line]. Provo, Utah: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2005. Original data: Works Progress Administration, comp. Index to Marriage Records Indiana: Indiana Works Progress Administration, 1938–1940. 147. Denver City Directory, 1880, 1881; U.S. Federal Census, 1880. Denver, Arapahoe, Colorado; Enumeration District 6; Page 15. 148. Colorado Knights Templars. Grand Commandry, Pike’s Peak

DAILY, ET AL. • 61 Commandry No. 6, Colorado Springs, El Paso County, 72. The No. 6 Commandry was chartered in 1881. 149. Colorado Springs Gazette, July 22, 1883. 150. John Conkie, compiler, Official Roster of the G.A.R. Department of Colorado and Wyoming (August 1, 1931), 75. 151. Rocky Mountain News, January 24, 1886. 152. Charles Hedges, comp., (New York: United States Book Co., 1892), 451. 153. Rocky Mountain News, March 30, 1888. 154. Directory of Colorado Springs, Manitou Springs, and Colorado City (Colorado Springs: S.N. Francis, 1888), 40. 155. Lester L. Williams, Fighting Fire in Colorado Springs (Colorado Springs: Academy Printing, Inc., 1992), 16. 156. Colorado Springs Fire Department (Colorado Springs: Fire Department, 1983), 8. 157. City of Colorado Springs, Annual Reports and Financial Statements 1901–02, 235–236. 158. Frank Hall, History of the State of Colorado (Chicago: The Blakely Printing Company, 1891), Vol. 3, 362; Williams, Fighting Fire in Colorado Springs, 28–31. ”In a secret session on January 29, 1894, the city council voted to set up a paid [professional] fire department . . . Thus brought to a close these groups of the best young men of the city, with their social functions, their races, parades, and tournaments in variegated uniforms; their enthusiasms and rivalries had provided a most colorful feature in the life of the city” in Ormes, 67, 70. 159. U.S. Federal Census, 1900. Fort Bliss, El Paso, Texas; Supervisor’s District 35; Page 1A. 160. U.S. National Homes for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers, 1866–1938. 161. U.S. Federal Census, 1870. Oswegatchie, St. Lawrence, New York; Post Office: Ogdensburg; Page 110; Skinner’s father, Thomas D. Skinner relocated to Colorado, establishing a partnership in men’s fine clothing stores, Skinner Bros. & Wright, located in Denver and Leadville, see, Andrew A. Hensley, Denver: Pencil Sketches and Graver Strokes. A Reflex of its Importance, November, 1886 (Denver: Republican Publishing Company, 1886), 35. 162. U.S. Patent Office, No. 185,458. 163. U.S. Federal Census, 1880. Ruby City, Gunnison, Colorado; Enumeration District 17; Page 17A. 164. Vulcanhammer.info website, “The First Pile Hammers,” http://www.vulcanhammer.info/on/steam-hammers.php (accessed December 20, 2010). 165. William Smith, William Wayte and G. E. Marindin (eds.), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, Vol. II (London: John Murray,

62 • EL PASO COUNTY INVENTORS 1891), 459; Edward E. Hale, Stories of Invention: Told by Inventors and Their Friends (Boston: Roberts Brothers, 1893) 252–253. 166. Vulcanhammer.info website, “The First Pile Hammers.” http://www.vulcanhammer.info/on/steam-hammers.php (accessed December 20, 2010). 167. Rocky Mountain News, November 24, 1881, partners were Jacob Hoopes, Charles E. and Handley W. Bushness; one of two Cascade Mining Districts was located in Clear Creek County, see Lisa G. Dunn, Colorado Mining Districts: A Reference (Golden: Colorado School of Mines Library, 2003), 41, 351. 168. Denver Land Office Records, 1862–1908, application #1239.00, http://www.co.clear-creek.co.us/DEPTS/Mapping/1835. pdf (accessed December 20, 2010). 169. Colorado Springs Daily Gazette, March 11, 1884; Denver City Directory, 1884. Bushnell and Eugene H. Jefferson. 170. Susan A. Cameron, mother, appears in the Skinner Household in U.S. Federal Census, 1900. Denver, Arapahoe, Colorado; Enumeration District 44; Page 3B; see also, U.S. Federal Census, 1860. Ogdensburg, St. Lawrence, New York; Post Office Ogdensburgh; Page 54. 171. Colorado State Census, 1885. Weld, Colorado; Enumeration District 2; Page 13; Jacquelyn Gee Glavinick, comp., U.S. Patent Records from Weld County, Colorado (Greeley: Weld County Genealogical Society, 1996), 199–200; see also, accession #COCOAA 042404, http:// www/glorecords.blm.gov (accessed December 20, 2010). 172. Jefferson County, Colorado, “Historical Commission Place Name Search,” entry for North Berkely Gardens, http://www. co.jefferson.co.us/placenames (accessed December 20, 2010); Denver City Directory 1890 lists Thomas M. Skinner under the business name of “Skinner & Petrikin, real estate.” 173. U.S. Federal Census, 1900. Denver, Arapahoe, Colorado; Enumeration District 44; Page 3B; U.S. Federal Census, 1910. Denver, Arapahoe, Colorado; Enumeration District 18; Page 6A; Denver city directories, 1884–1918. 174. In 1920, Mary Skinner was enumerated as a widow, see U.S. Federal Census, 1920. Denver, Arapahoe, Colorado; Enumeration District 116; Page 3B. 175. U.S. Federal Census, 1870. Brush Creek, Highland, Ohio; Page 12. 176. U.S. Federal Census, 1880. Milton, Jackson, Ohio; Enumeration District 79; Page 2. 177. Colorado Marriages 1858–1939. (Denver: Colorado Genealogical Society, Inc., 2004), license number unknown.

DAILY, ET AL. • 63 178. U.S. Federal Census, 1910. Colorado Springs Ward 6, El Paso, Colorado; Enumeration District 53; Page 12B. 179. U.S. Federal Census, 1920. Salt Lake City Ward 5, Salt Lake, Utah; Enumeration District 161; Page 3A. 180. Colorado Springs Gazette, April 25, 1928. 181. U.S. Federal Census, 1930. Long Beach, Los Angeles, California; Enumeration District 1089; Page 2A. 182. The Orange County Register (Santa Ana, Calif.) , September 28, 1931. 183. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints [LDS], Family Search “George Franklin Wentz,” http://www.familysearch.org/ (accessed September 6, 2009). 184. Colorado Springs Sunday Gazette and Telegraph, October 20, 1929. 185. U.S. Federal Census, 1880. Fort Wayne, Allen, Indiana; Enumeration District 125; Page 38. 186. U.S. Federal Census, 1900. Colorado Springs, El Paso, Colorado; Enumeration District 26; Page 26A. 187. Colorado Springs Sunday Gazette and Telegraph, July 15, 1934. 188. Directory of Colorado Springs, Manitou Springs, and Colorado City (Colorado Springs: S.N. Francis, 1890), 92, 163. 189. Directory of Colorado Springs, Manitou Springs, and Colorado City (Colorado Springs: Republic, 1892), 257. 190. Rocky Mountain News, June 17, 1892. 191. Ibid., July 26, 1892. 192. Directory of Colorado Springs, Manitou Springs, and Colorado City (Colorado Springs: Gazette Printing Co., 1894), 187. 193. Ibid., (1896), 275. 194. Colorado Springs Sunday Gazette and Telegraph, July 15, 1934. 195. Directory of Colorado Springs, Manitou Springs, and Colorado City (Colorado Springs: R. L. Polk & Co., 1904–1905), 491. 196. Marriage Record Report, No. 2764, Colorado Division of Vital Records, June 2, 1904. 197. Directory of Colorado Springs, Manitou Springs, and Colorado City (Colorado Springs: R. L. Polk & Co., 1921), 383. 198. Colorado Springs Sunday Gazette and Telegraph, July 15, 1934. 199. Ibid., October 20, 1929. 200. El Paso County Divorce Records 1903–1941, Colorado State Archives, Ida M. Wentz, plaintiff, George F. Wentz, defendant, http:// www.colorado.gov/dpa/doit/archives/divorce/el_paso3.htm#-W(accessed January 19, 2011). 201. Colorado Springs Sunday Gazette and Telegraph, July 15, 1934; Colorado Springs Gazette, June 29, 1940. 202. Luzier.

David William Brunton with his Brunton Pocket Transit (undated). Brunton designed more than sixty inventions—eight by the age of 21. American Heritage Center Collections, University of Wyoming, (ah100220).

Transits, Timbers, & Tunnels: The Legacy of Colorado Inventor David W. Brunton Ginny Kilander In September 1894, a Canadian-born inventor and mining engineer living in Aspen, Colorado, patented a device that would revolutionize surveying and mining fieldwork. Having grown tired of hauling multiple measuring devices into the field, David William Brunton invented the vest-sized, handheld surveying instrument, the “Brunton Pocket Transit” or more simply “the Brunton.” Designed for preliminary surveying both above and below ground, this device, still in manufacture today, was one of over sixty inventions by Brunton, who was granted nearly twenty U.S. patents for surveying instruments and mining machinery, including innovations in timbers and tunnels for mining. A modern user stated, “The Brunton Pocket Transit is considered by some to have as many uses and be as useful as a Swiss Army Knife.”1 David Brunton focused his professional life in Colorado with mine surveying and examinations, ore sampling, and tunnel work, supplemented with worldwide mining and engineering consulting. His pioneering work as an engineer and supervisor of multiple Colorado mining tunnel projects resulted in the publication of books and articles on his innovative techniques. A respected member and leader of professional mining organizations, Brunton is described as “one of the most prominent consulting and mining engineers in the United States.”2 David Brunton’s role as a mining engineer was varied, but not atypical for this period of mining history. Clark C. Spence in his book, Mining Engineers & The American West: The Lace-Boot Brigade, 1849–1933, describes, The mining engineer of the latter part of the 19th century was a general practitioner—a jack-of-all trades. His task included locating, developing, exposing, measuring, • 65 •

66 • TRANSITS, TIMBERS, & TUNNELS

and removing ore from the ground; he was charged with reducing metal from the ore and often with marketing it. He devised intricate machinery, became an expert in mining litigation, and frequently engaged in corporate promotion and investment. Moreover, he carried his profession to the four corners of the world, becoming in the process an instrument for the diffusion of technological advance, ever borrowing, innovating, and adapting ideas and equipment to new environments.3 Brunton’s professional life included all of these experiences. Early Life, Schooling, & Inventions Born in Ayr, a small community in the province of Ontario, Canada West, in 1849, Brunton was the first of four children, and the only son. His parents, both Scottish, immigrated to Ontario and were married in 1844.4 He would later recall that his mother’s side of the family was involved with fire-clay and coal mining, and most of my father’s people have long been either engineers or army men . . . One of my cousins . . . J. Dickinson Brunton, was an inventor of stone-dressing machinery and of the tunneling machine, with which he made the preliminary borings for the proposed tunnel under the English Channel.5 Schooled in Canada, he was an innovator from an early age. Brunton’s first documented invention was an Automatic Feed Box, developed at age 14. He described the invention in his own words. When a boy on the farm my inseparable companion was a Scotch Collie called “Rover,” who was not admitted to the house, but had his meals regularly placed on the back porch where the cats would often grab them if he was not promptly on hand. To prevent this I designed a covered feed box, the lid of which was opened by a pedal which the dog soon learned to use.6

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Two years later, after witnessing a runaway horse team and wagon, he redesigned a wagon bolt so it could not work loose, and he said, I made a wooden model, took it to the village blacksmith, who immediately began making bolts for the neighboring farmers. The design was so good that it has never been superseded and is in use on the whippletrees of many agricultural machines today.7 Brunton documented his first eight inventions, all developed by age 21, while still in Canada, and all of these first efforts represented improvements in safety and efficiency in farming. These included a self-cleaning plow coulter and a self-emptying water bucket with a well cover to prevent dust and insects from entering the water supply.8 His design for a self-opening farm gate developed as a response to the need to take a team of horses through farm gates while alone. He designed a gate that opened and closed from the wagon, without the driver leaving his seat.9 His new wheel plow was described as follows, In order to expedite and cheapen plowing on the farm, I devised an arrangement with two guide wheels, which enabled one man to use two plows drawn by four horses. This invention was immediately taken up by some of the agricultural machinery firms and has come into general use, but as I was too young to know anything about patenting, I never received any remuneration for it.10 He also designed a hay unloader to replace the use of a pitchfork to unload a hay wagon. This “horse-operated harpoon . . . unloaded a quarter of a wagon load at a lift” and was manufactured by the village blacksmith for community use.11 Finally, he invented a bean puller, about which he said: Beans were one of our best farm crops, but the variety which proved most profitable on our soil had very short stems and had to be harvested by pulling up their roots. This was slow, tiresome, backbreaking work, and after


much experimenting I succeeded in building a machine which would pull two rows of beans as fast as a horse could walk with less waste than if they had been pulled by hand.12 Brunton’s father, James, passed away in 1865, when David was 16, and when his youngest sister was only an infant. Brunton continued his schooling, and then enrolled for 4 years of study of civil engineering but chose, instead, to focus on the field of mining engineering. By 1870 he began work for Toronto railroad firms, apprenticed under engineer Edmund Wragge (Toronto, Gray, and Bruce Railway), and later under the guidance of engineer J. C. Bailey (Toronto and Nipissing Railroad). Both men were members of the Institute of Civil Engineers. David, then a college student, and his widowed mother, Agnes, worked as farmers according to the 1871 Census of Canada. 13 Arrival in the U.S. & Postgraduate Work Brunton immigrated to the United States in November 1872 from Mt. Pleasant, Ontario, and began work as a construction engineer for bridge building firms in the Buffalo, New York, area.14 He cited one of his inventions during this time as an “Ornamental Railing for Bridge Drawings” and he said, In submitting bridge bids and drawings to corporations, an attractive railing was found to greatly improve the appearance of the bridge or viaduct. Drafting a pleasing design was slow, tedious and uninteresting work for an engineer, and I devised a railing of attractive design which could be made by the juniors who ordinarily were only able to make tracings. It was always known in the drafting rooms as “Brunton’s railing” and I have even seen it on finished structures, although it was never intended for actual use.15 He was enrolled at the University of Michigan from 1874— 1875 for course work in geology, metallurgy, and chemistry.16 The president of the newly formed Dakota & San Juan Mining

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Company, Major C. H. McIntyre, was seeking an engineer for the company and had asked instructors at the college for recommendations. The faculty recommended Brunton and he accepted the position. He arrived in Colorado in June 1875, and remained a life-long resident. The company’s mines were located at Mineral Point, Colorado, in the San Juan Mountains, and the group traveled on the narrow-gauge railroad from Denver to Pueblo, and then packed supplies by mule the remaining 230 miles to the mines. The team left Denver June 25 and arrived at their destination in August. Early snows closed the pass and prevented the arrival of winter supplies, so after the establishment of a basic camp, the team hiked out, passing through five feet of snow at the summit before reaching Pueblo in November. Brunton would later recall this trip in a published article in the Mining and Scientific Press.17 Metallurgist, Mining Engineer, Mine Manager, International Consultant, Inventor David Brunton secured work as a metallurgist in Georgetown, Colorado, during the winter of 1875, and in the next few years, he began his associations with multiple mining firms of the region including those in the mining districts in Colorado and Nevada. Just a few years after arriving in the West, he had secured additional positions as a mine manager and as a consulting mining engineer. He added, Engineers were scarce, examinations and investigations were offered freely, therefore I naturally fell into the work of making examinations and investigations in widely separated localities, which gave, not only a widened experience, but an acquaintanceship with the operators and mines of the different districts that has ever since proved extremely useful.18 Brunton’s consulting work would take him not only to the mining districts of the American West, but also to many other regions of the world.


In addition to world travel, Brunton focused much his professional life in Leadville and Aspen from the late 1870s through the 1890s before moving to Denver. He stated, Leadville was the Mecca for adventurers of all kinds, and everything was crude; ore was being shipped as rapidly as transportation facilities would permit, or as fast as it was treated by small local smelters. . . . Leadville continued to grow with mushroom-like rapidity. One of the first things I noticed was that the surface ore, especially on Carbonate and Fryer hills, carried little or no lead and could be treated readily by what was known as the Washoe process, a method for extracting silver developed on the Comstock. F. M. Taylor and I built a mill in California gulch for treating this material, which we operated successfully for a number of years. After the operations of the mill were so stabilized as to require little metallurgical attention, I began engineering work for different companies in Leadville . . . Later I was made manager of the Colonel Sellars mine, which at that time had the largest output of any mine in the district.19 His long-standing partnership with F. M. Taylor began in 1890 when they formed the Brunton and Taylor Milling Company. The firm constructed its first sampling plant at Leadville, and later plants in Cripple Creek, Colorado, and in Utah and Nevada.20 Brunton’s own recollections indicate that he designed and built eighteen successful mills in the course of his lifetime.21 Brunton was heavily involved in the locating, extracting, and processing of underground ores, and many of his inventions were related to these roles. In 1879, he received two patents for his innovations designed to increase the efficiency of roasting furnaces designed to heat ores (to assist in removing impurities) such as copper, silver and gold. He also invented a new balanced camshaft for stamp mills and patented his ideas for improving the treatment of roasted ores through a leaching process.22

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Brunton’s automatic ore sampler (implemented at the Taylor and Brunton Mill in Leadville by 1881) included a revolving pan that at regular intervals interrupted the flow of crushed ore and dumped the sample into a receiving bin.23 By 1884, Brunton patented his ore sampling machine (time sampler deflector).24 Ore sampling, for determining quantity or sizes of ores, was originally performed by hand shoveling, but was not as precise as later mechanical sampling. The varieties of ore sizes made accuracy of sampling difficult, so Brunton then implemented sampling though use of a timed interval in his new invention. He considered the ore time-sampling machine to be one of his most significant contributions to mining, and he later shared his research and development of the new methods in a presentation and publication titled, “Modern Practice of Ore-Sampling” for the American Institute of Mining Engineers.25 Family Brunton met his future wife, Miss Katherine Kemble, in New York City, in January 1883 and they were married 2 years later in Stoneridge, New York.26 Brunton combined their honeymoon cruise to Mexico with a business trip.27 The couple would have four children, three sons and a daughter. Their Denver home was described as elegant, with many beautiful works of art and every modern mechanical and electrical device for the comfort and pleasure of its inmates. Mrs. Brunton is a prominent member of Denver society, admired and loved for her refined accomplishment and the noble qualities of her mind and heart.28 During Brunton’s lifetime, there was a tendency in the mining field for multiple generations to follow the same line of work.29 In addition to Brunton’s own ancestral family links to engineering and mining, all three of Brunton’s sons attended engineering school. Only one, Jack, would initially focus on mining engineering, before changing that focus to raising livestock. He would go on to raise purebred Hereford cattle


in Colorado. Brunton’s son Fred graduated as a metallurgical engineer, and Harold as a mechanical engineer. Even Brunton’s son-in-law, married to his daughter Marion, worked as an electrical engineer.30 Mining Litigation & Inventions Another major area of Brunton’s contribution to the mining field was in the specialized area of mining litigation. The 1872 Mining Law introduced the apex law, which had great impact on the major mining districts, and due to the complexity of the veins and underground workings, litigation was common. This particular law, “allowed a miner to follow the located vein and intersecting veins wherever they led—even under the surface claim of another person.”31 Brunton notes his first lawsuit involvement was in Leadville in May 1886. In August of that year he began serving as a consulting engineer for company lawsuits in Aspen.32 Brunton would later recall some of his early work in litigation, related to the Aspen mining district. At this time the mines in Aspen had come into prominence and the dispute between the different owners had culminated in a number of import apexsideline lawsuits. As I had acted as an engineer for the law firm of Patterson & Thomas in a number of mining suits, they asked me to go over to Aspen and assist them with their litigation. The suits were tried in the Federal Court at Denver, and after I had been on the witness stand all day I was asked to come to the attorney’s office that night. When I entered the room in fear and trembling, expecting censure for sins of omission or commission on the stand, I found the sideline mine-owners of the district all there . . . [the] spokesman of the group said “We want you to come over to Aspen and take charge of our work;” I replied that I had a comfortable home and a good position at Leadville, and did not want to move. The spokesman for the owners then said, “How much money do you want to sell out at Leadville and move to Aspen?” I mentioned a sum that I thought was large

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enough to block proceedings, and the reply was “You can’t come too soon!”33 Brunton settled his Leadville affairs, and moved with his wife and young son to Aspen. Throughout the 1880s and 1890s, Brunton continued periodic work on mining lawsuits in Colorado and Montana, serving as the lead on many cases on behalf of the mining companies, as well as preparing witnesses, providing testimony, and developing specialized models to assist in the litigation.34 There were similarities in cases in both Aspen and Butte, Montana, so Brunton took charge of Butte litigation in hopes that it would also positively benefit the lawsuits in Aspen.35 By 1898, he began work as a consulting engineer for Marcus Daly and the Anaconda Copper Mining Company, in Butte, a location referred to as “The Richest Hill on Earth.” Daly, along with F. Augustus Heinze and William Andrews Clark—industrialists referred to as “The Copper Kings”—would battle in the courts for control of Butte’s natural resources. Brunton hired a geologist, Horace Winchell, who, along with Reno Sales, helped to develop the ground-breaking mine mapping techniques pioneered by the Anaconda Company and its full department of engineers and geologists—a model later adopted widely by the profession.36 Brunton remarked, “we devised a new system of mine-mapping that has been highly developed by the geological staff at the mines, so that today they have undoubtedly the best and most useful set of geological mine-maps in existence.”37 Brunton’s contributions and impact on the field during his employment with the Anaconda Company were significant, and one author stated, His participation in apex litigation at Butte included some of the earliest intensive underground geological mapping. His maps, made for litigation, also led to economical control of mining and the discovery of additional ore bodies. Through assembling a corps of expert geologists and engineers, Brunton not only helped make the Anaconda Copper Company one of the world’s


largest mining concerns but also firmly established the place of mining geologists in the industry.38 Brunton worked to develop a new instrument to better measure veins and faults.39 He also developed new mine and vein modeling techniques to present in the courts. Newspaper accounts of Brunton’s courtroom testimony described the models and their use in detail.40 He later stated in an interview, The best method of placing actual mine conditions before a judge or jury is by some graphic method of visualization. Verbal descriptions of mine-workings convey little or nothing to a man who has never been underground. In some suits, the attorneys deliberately challenge and reject from the jury a man who knows anything about mining, under the plea that he is probably already biased for or against the apex-sideline law, so that such juries are necessarily composed of men unacquainted with mining. As these men know nothing about mining law, and care less, they generally decide a suit in accordance with their sympathies, which are always with the side that they understand best; hence the necessity in a mining suit for introducing models, colored maps, and anything that will enable the jury to visualize conditions better than they can from verbal descriptions.41 One of Brunton’s 1916 inventions was a new mine model that he developed based on the Elm Orlu-Black Rock lawsuit. He said, In apex sideline lawsuits models generally form a most important part of the exhibits. The old stereotyped forms answered well enough for many purposes, but each new lawsuit generally brings up some novel point in law to illustrate which an entirely novel method of visualization is required. This was especially the case in the Black Rock vs. Elm Orlu suit at Butte, where it was necessary to show the relation of a maze of workings

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to the geology of that portion of the district. This was accomplished by means of a vertical sectioned block model, each section sliding in grooves on a smooth cast iron base, made with absolute accuracy and a total disregard of expense. When the case was tried the model was so useful in explaining every phase of the contest, that the judge insisted on having it directly before him continually, and, in fact, before the suit was over the model had become the storm center and winning feature of the contest.42 New Method of Framing Round Timbers Brunton became aware of the large quantities of timber needed to support the internal wooden framing of mines, and he later developed a more cost-effective method of framing. According to Brunton, round logs cost approximately half the cost of squared timber logs, and have double the strength. However, round logs are difficult to frame and therefore squared framing was common. Brunton developed a method of framing round logs with square tenons that could be adapted to timber of many sizes. Brunton first patented the new round timber method in 1902, developed his round timber framing machine, and later patented improvements to the method in 1904.43 In developing the specialized machine needed to produce the round timbers, Brunton took his drawings to the firm of Greenlee Brothers, in Rockford, Illinois, for review and construction. The original working machine, however, proved to have a few problems and required some adjustments to the original plans. Brunton described, We found on starting the mill that this device [a specialized part] was non-operative, and the block, under this impulse derived from saws having a peripheral speed of over two miles a minute, would go flying through the sides of the building, and, of course, nobody dared to go anywhere near the back of the machine.


After a few days, Brunton developed an alternative plan which was put into operation. The difficulties continued, however, and Brunton stated, Another trouble developed a few hours after the machine started. Two of the saws which were driven by bevel gears cut from solid steel forgings and highly tempered, hammered down as if they had been made of lead. We had expected them to wear rapidly and had quite a number of extra gears shipped with the machinery, but were not prepared for any such rapid destruction as this. On taking the matter up with some of the prominent gear manufacturers, one concern succeeded in making for us nickel chrome steel, heat tempered gears, which not only ran with great smoothness but would last for two or three months. This, of course, ended our troubles and the big framing plant . . . was such a success that it saved not less than $20,000 a month.44 Inventor of the Brunton Pocket Transit Brunton’s most widely known invention, the Brunton pocket transit, developed as a result of his own reaction to the mining profession and the multiple specialized tools required for accurate measurements in the field. When I first began the examining of mines an engineer was obliged to carry a small satchel full of instruments; I rebelled at carrying such a load and endeavored to devise a single instrument that would perform all the operations necessary in ordinary mine examinations and reconnaissance surveys . . . At that time I had no thought of selling or patenting it but simply had it made for my own personal convenience but I soon found every time I went into a mine that the superintendent or manager would say, “Where did you get that instrument? I want one.”45 After a half dozen experiments, Brunton applied for and received a basic patent on the vest-sized pocket transit in 1894.

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This single device measured both horizontal and vertical angles, and replaced the need to carry a separate Abney level, sighting compass, prismatic compass, and clinometer (a device used to measure angle of slope or inclination). It also allowed, for the first time, one person without a tripod to compile these needed measurements, instead of a team of two while in the field. His patent application described, The object of this invention is to provide an apparatus or instrument by means of which surveyors and others may take sights above and below the horizontal. In the ordinary surveying compass provided with sights, it is not possible to take the reading of the needle while looking through the sights at a The Brunton Pocket Transit (1902). Catdistant object, and here- alog B, page 3, William Ainsworth Papers, American Heritage Center, University of tofore in order to take Wyoming, (ah101203). compass bearings, it has been necessary to provide the instrument with a tripod . . . so that it could first be sighted upon the object and then the reading taken afterwards; and when used as a hand instrument two observers were required, one to sight the instrument on the object . . . and the other to take a simultaneous reading of the needle.46


Physically, the pocket transit is a mirrored compass with folding sights, and as originally designed weighed just 8 ounces, housed in an aluminum case measuring only 2 ¾ x 2 ¾ x 15/16 inches.47 The London firm of Negretti and Zambra manufactured Brunton’s first few transits, but delays in international mail made ongoing discussions regarding changes and improvements to the invention difficult. 48 Brunton then selected the Denver firm of William Ainsworth, which became the sole manufacturer of the device for many years to come.

William Ainsworth Business Card (undated). William Ainsworth Papers, American Heritage Center, University of Wyoming, (ah101200).

Like Brunton, William Ainsworth was also an inventor in Colorado with links to the mining field. Born in England in 1850, Ainsworth immigrated to the United States as a young child, with his mother and sister. Apprenticed as a watchmaker while in his teens, he worked at the Elgin, Illinois, watch factory, and as a steam engineer for an Illinois distillery.49 Ainsworth and his wife, Elma, moved to Central City, Colorado, in 1875 or 1876. He worked for various jewelers, utilizing his watch making and repair skills. Although not originally trained in the repair of assay balances, Ainsworth fell into this line of work because of his mechanical background. Assay balances were required to accurately weigh ores from the mines, and as the equipment needed repair, the balances were shipped

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back to the manufacturers in London or the eastern United States, either New York or Philadelphia. Ainsworth moved to Denver by 1880 and marketed his skills as watchmaker, locksmith and machinist. He also began making his own equipment in order to manufacture assay balances, and he was the very first manufacturer of assay balances in the western United States.50 Ainsworth balances were innovative in that he shortened the balance beam (making the assaying process faster). Begun in 1880, the William Illustrating and Describing Assay and Ainsworth Company chang- Analytical Balances of Precision, Made, ed to Ainsworth and Sons by Wm. Ainsworth & Sons, (undated). in 1899 when additional Cover, Bulletin A, William Ainsworth Pafamily members joined the pers, American Heritage Center, University of Wyoming, (ah101201). business.51 In the late 1890s, Brunton approached Ainsworth about constructing the Brunton transit, and they formed a longstanding manufacturing partnership. Brunton described his invention as a labor of love, and not an enterprise looking to commercial profit; and the same is, to a considerable degree, true of the manufacturers, who use the utmost care in the production of the instrument, and push its sale largely as an indirect advertisement of their chief business, namely, the manufacture of instruments of precision and high-class balances, in the latter line they have already surpassed nearly all competitors, and achieved the command of the American market.52


The William Ainsworth Company also manufactured surveying transits, assaying weights, and other precision instruments. Period Ainsworth Company catalogs document the growth of sales of the Brunton transit, both in terms of geographic area and quantity. In 1902, the transit sold for $25.00, and more than one thousand instruments were advertised as being in use. Nearly 100 of its users were named in one brochure and included customers in the United States, England, Spain, Canada, Australia, Mexico, Japan, Turkey, South Africa, Chile and Bolivia. Users included individuals, mining engineers, railroad companies, corporations, The Brunton Pocket Transit (1902). Cover, and colleges and univer- Catalog B, William Ainsworth Papers, sities.53 Ainsworth produc- American Heritage Center, University of ed a specialty catalog just Wyoming, (ah101203). for the Brunton transit, including a version in Spanish, and the company frequently included photos demonstrating the use of the invention.54 The transit was designed to “meet the needs of civil and mining engineers, mine managers and geologists.”55 By 1929, the Ainsworth firm advertised more than thirty thousand Brunton transits in use.56 Brunton continued to improve and develop his transit and received patents on new improvements in 1912, 1913, and 1914. Adaptations included use on a telescopic tripod, the addition of a second bubble tube, and improvements in the transit sights allowing a broader field of vision. Later improvements and patents for the transit included the addition of an alidade

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protractor and magnetometer.57 The popularity of the invention also lead to imitations of the transit, as early as 1913, based closely on the Ainsworth model, but manufactured in England, Germany, and Japan.58 One undated piece of Ainsworth advertising for the transit describes the many uses for this single instrument. If you have not actually used the Brunton Patent Pocket Transit, you cannot appreciate how your work may be expedited and valuable time saved through the use of the convenient little pocket device . . . On Highway Location for preliminary surveys and contractors estimates, and for ditches, pipe and pole lines. On Highway Construction and inspection, for slopes, grades, levels, courses, drainage, excavations, cuts and fills. In Geological Fieldwork for getting the dip and strike of beds or faults, mapping, etc. The mirror can be used for illuminating caverns and for signaling. For Orientation: getting bearings and direction on maps of roads or features: geological, topographical, cultural or military. Used on Alidade Protractor for plane table work, triangulation, pace and chain traverses, detailing maps, etc. Wilson Magnetometer Attachment: for measuring the absolute horizontal intensity of the earth’s magnetic field, detecting and defining intrusive dykes, sills, plugs and masses and magnetic ores. In Mining, the Brunton is used on the surface for surveying claims, locating corners, running claim lines and grades for pipe lines and ditches, locating roads, trails, and tramways. Underground the Brunton is used for taking dips strikes, pitches, slopes and grades, tying daily operations to permanent survey points maintaining sample and working maps, for making connections and as a level plumb and clinometer. Used on the Tripod: for tracing veins, faults, dykes and structures over irregular ground and under wash, dumps, etc., and for running long tangents by fore and back-sighting independently of the needle.59


Contributions to United States War Efforts Brunton was actively involved in the American war efforts during World War I. In December 1916, he was serving on the board of directors of the Organization for Industrial Preparedness, and qualified engineers were encouraged to apply for U.S. Army commissions. Although Brunton applied to serve his country (having become a naturalized U.S. citizen in 1904), he was declined since he already was beyond retirement age.60 Instead, he would contribute to the U.S. war effort as a civilian. He also served as a member of the National Research Council, and appointed member of the Advisory Board, Inventions Section, Plans Division, General Staff of the Army by Major General Peyton C. March. He was the chair of the War Committee of Technical Societies, and served on the Naval Consulting Board. His service to both the Navy and Army was apparently unique, and it was stated that he was the only man to serve in both positions.61 The War Committee of Technical Societies consisted of representatives of ten societies, and Brunton was one of two men to represent the American Institute of Mining Engineers. Noting that many civilian engineers were providing service, but few could go to Washington, he published a letter in Science magazine, which stated, some means of utilizing the patriotism and originative thought of our members had to be devised. For this purpose the War Committee of Technical Societies has been organized, and it hopes to give the members . . . who are obliged to stay at home, an opportunity to use their inventive talent and technical training in the study of the varied problems which arise in preparation for and prosecution of the war—thus making valuable contributions to the national cause.62 Due to his role as chair of the War Committee of Technical Societies, Josephus Daniels, Secretary of the Navy, appointed Brunton to a post on the Naval Consulting Board of the United States. The board consisted of twenty-four civilians attached to the Office of the Secretary of the Navy. Chaired

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by Thomas A. Edison, the board members were scientists, inventors and engineers. Eleven engineering societies selected two representatives each for the committee (some selected by appointment, some by votes of the membership). Although the board formed in October 1915, and generally met once a month, there was no financial support for the operations so the members volunteered their travel and other expenses incurred through this service until Congress formally approved the board in August 1916.63 The intensification of the board’s work after U.S. entry into World War I led to biweekly meetings and the establishment of an office in Washington, D.C. Brunton moved to D.C. and later noted he was away from Denver for a period of 16 months, not returning until December 1918.64 A government report stated, The work of the Naval Consulting Board has increased greatly in both importance and volume during the past years. In addition to work especially adapted to naval uses, the members have assisted in almost every field of research . . . More than 110,000 ideas, inventions, and devices have been considered by this board and the department.65 The United States manufactured four of Brunton’s inventions for use in the war effort. He created a removable protractor attachment for the transit for topographic mapping and surveying. He said, In military operations long range guns and indirect firing have greatly increased the necessity for accurate and detailed maps, in the making of which many new and interesting methods have been devised. The increased use of my pocket transit led me to invent an attachment for it which made the combination into an excellent alidade for reconnaissance work, and specially for filling in details from established control prints. Separated from the transit, the attachment became an exceedingly excellent protractor. The usefulness of this alidade attachment was so evident to the military


authorities that after testing it thoroughly in the field, they gave many different orders for it aggregating in all 14,800.66 Brunton made more adaptations to his pocket transit, at the request of the Ordnance Department, for use as a fire control instrument. He removed features such as the vertical angle measuring element and bubble tubes, and added graduations to the degree circle. The government ordered 1,500 instruments, manufactured by Denver’s William Ainsworth & Sons.67 He engineered a new device designed to help locate snipers in trench warfare. He said, The activity and marksmanship of the German snipers, especially during the trench warfare period of the world’s war, caused so many casualties that inventors generally began studying methods for their suppression. After considerable experimenting and testing of various methods with a high power rifle out on the plains, I devised and patented an instrument for locating snipers, on which I applied for Letters Patent, which were granted but the issuance withheld during the war. On offering this invention to the Ordnance Department it was promptly accepted and two instruments were immediately ordered, which, after considerable delay, due to the difficulty in obtaining the necessary optical glass prisms, were completed and sent to the front. This instrument may be briefly described by quoting from the patent as follows: “In an apparatus for locating snipers and for other purposes, a decoy or target having pair of spaced-apart perforable plates adapted to be penetrated by a flying object and so penetrated the relation of the holes made therein serving to indicate the direction from which the object came and affording a basis for determining the location of the origin of flight, and adjustable support therefore, and means for maintaining the device against indeterminate movement.”68

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Another significant invention developed for the war effort was Brunton’s Luminous Dial for Military Transits. He worked with military personnel in Ft. Logan, Colorado, to test his ideas and early versions of the radium dial transit, which permitted use both day and night.69 His notes indicate this invention included: Two-degree circles, one with fine black graduation on a white ground for day use, and the other with coarser lines and large figures in luminous paint for night service. To accomplish these results without enlarging or changing my pocket transit, I hit on the plan of cutting the night graduations and numbers into the under side of the cover glass and then filling these depressions with luminous radium paint. At first the results were extremely disappointing because the radium paint illuminated the interior of the instrument to such a degree that the luminous graduations and figures could not be read against a brilliantly illuminated background. Much time and experimentation was spent before the remedy was discovered, which consisted in covering the under side of the luminous graduations and figures with a black opaque paint, thereby shutting off all the luminosity which did not pass outwardly through the glass. This made the instrument perfectly serviceable for day or night work, and as the illuminated circle was smaller than the underneath opaque one, the two circles in no way interfered with each other.70 Anecdotal evidence about the use of the invention during the war appeared as follows, One interesting event involving the pocket transit occurred during World War I. During conflicts between the Italians and Austrians, one particular 9,000-foot peak in the Dolomite Alps became an important vantage point from which the Austrians could overlook the line of the Italians and attack both men and artillery. The Italians planned to destroy the top of the peak, but

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before this could be accomplished, a tunnel had to be precisely surveyed and dug and charges set. Any error in measurements would mean a failure. The surveys were made by crawling through the Austrian lines at night, using the Brunton pocket transit whose dials were illuminated with radium. On the night of April 17, 1916 the peak was blown off right on target. This event was an important turning point in the conflict between Italians and Austrians.71 The Brunton transit would continue to be used by the United States military in future conflicts. Mining Tunnels Brunton was involved in several major transportation and drainage tunnel projects during his lifetime, and his research and expertise resulted in the publication of books and articles on the subject.72 In 1889, he began surveying Smuggler Mountain, Aspen, and developing plans for the Cowenhoven Tunnel, named for the president of the Cowenhoven Mining, Tunnel, and Drainage Company. Brunton served as the company manager. The tunnel project resulted in a two-and-a-half-milelength, double-rail tunnel, which facilitated the transportation of ores.73 Brunton described the need for the project. On the Smuggler Mountain side of the district the difficulty of hauling the ore down the mountain and the depth from which water had to be raised made a more economical method of mining necessary, and the Cowenhoven adit was started and driven to afford cheap drainage, transportation, and ventilations for the mines of Smuggler Mountain and beyond.74 This noted project not only progressed rapidly, but also recorded no accidents and no loss of life during construction. Brunton presented a paper on the project in London, 1897, at the meeting of the Institution of Civil Engineers, and later received the Telford Prize for his paper titled, “The Cowenhoven Adit Level.”75


In 1911, Brunton presented a paper, “Notes on the Laramie Tunnel,” at the San Francisco meeting of the American Institute of Mining Engineers, based on his experience with this Colorado tunnel constructed by the Laramie-Poudre Reservoirs & Irrigation Company.76 This rapidly constructed tunnel, begun in 1909, was built to divert water from the Laramie River to the Cache la Poudre near a spur of the Continental Divide, to better meet water demands for the irrigation district. The Bureau of Mines circular, Safety in Tunneling, first published in 1913, was co-authored by Brunton and John A. Davis.77 Brunton and Davis also co-authored the 262-page book, Safety and Efficiency in Mine Tunneling, published the following year. The duo also collaborated on the book, Modern Tunneling, first published in 1914. The first edition specialized in mine tunnels and water supply tunnels, and the second edition, published in 1922, expanded to include a chapter on railroad tunneling, authored by John Vipond Davies.78 Brunton served as the Chairman of Board of Consulting Engineers to the Moffat Tunnel Commission. Upon completion, the Moffat tunnel was the longest railway tunnel in North America. This project developed from the need for a more direct railroad route west to Salt Lake City, essentially through the Continental Divide rather than around it. The tunnel, named for the president of the Denver and Rio Grande Railroad, David Moffat, who proposed the idea as early as 1902, was located about fifty miles west of Denver. When completed in 1928 the tunnel covered a distance of 6.21 miles, and the new rail route shortened the travel distance by 150 miles and 4 hours.79 Composed of both a railway tunnel and a tunnel for bringing water to the Denver area, the construction included the building of both tunnels concurrently. Brunton presented many details about the construction in a talk to the Colorado Scientific Society, October 1923, titled “Engineering Features of the Moffat Tunnel,” which later was published in the society’s proceedings.80 Brunton adapted a four-wheeled velocipede car for use in mining tunnels. Early bicycles and tricycles were first adapted for railroad use, and Brunton further modified velocipede for

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use in mining. He said, “This car was specially designed for use in long tunnels to give superintendent and foreman a light, speedy machine which could be carried around the trains of cars or shifted from one track to another with one hand. This car fulfilled its purpose admirably, was patented and has come into general use.”81 Professional Life Brunton was a frequent contributor to professional organizations and a well-recognized speaker and author. His international presentations and articles ranged in subject matter from the ores of Aspen and the veins of Butte, to ore-sampling, water drainage, and mine tunneling, among others. Locally, he was a member (including a term as president) of the Colorado Scientific Society, and served on the Board of Trustees for both the Colorado School of Mines in Golden, and the Natural History Museum in Denver. As part of the Museum Board, he invented a special exhibition safe designed to house a valuable collection of gold. He said, The John Campion collection of crystallized gold from Breckenridge, loaned to the Colorado Museum of Natural History, proved so attractive to some the visitors or employees that despite the care taken in handling and guarding it, valuable specimens frequently disappeared. As these specimens could not be replaced, Mr. Campion notified the Board that unless further losses could be prevented he would be obliged to lock the collection up in the bank vaults. To retain this valuable and unique collection of crystallized gold at the Museum it became necessary to design some form of container which would be both fire and burglar proof, and at the same time permit the advantageous exhibit of the specimens. This was successfully accomplished by designing a safe with double doors that folded back against the side of the vault like the wings of a bird, and an inner door of one inch plate glass which could not be broken without attracting the attention of the guards. The interior of the safe is illuminated by Johns-Manville lights, the whole


effect being extremely attractive, while at the same time insuring absolute safety of the valuable contents. Mr. Campion was so well pleased with the attractiveness and permanency of the exhibit that he immediately donated it to the museum.82 Brunton was a member of the American Society for the Advancement of Science, the Royal Geographic Society, and England’s Institution of Civil Engineers, among others. In the mining field, he served terms as president of the American Institute of Mining and Metallurgical Engineers, and as president of the American Mining Congress, among other professional memberships in Colorado, the United States and abroad.83 Pioneering Automobilist Recreationally, Brunton was an avid automobile enthusiast and supposedly the first person in Denver to own an automobile.84 In October 1898, while in Boston, he test-drove assorted motor cars at the Mechanics Institute automobile show, and his own “Columbia electric” or Pope electric arrived in Denver in May 1899. After spending a day assembling his car he noted on May 10, “Ran electric carriage on the streets in Denver.”85 In a later letter he would recall, Considerable difficulty and delay was encountered in getting the machine because only a limited number of them were made and Colonel Pope had it in his mind, even at that early date, the idea of forming a big automotive company and for this purpose wanted all of the motor cars he could build disposed of in the eastern cities where they could be seen and appreciated, and it was only through my acquaintance with his engineer . . . that I was able to get the machine at all.86 He was one of the incorporators and the first president of the Colorado Automobile Club, organized in 1902 with over forty members and incorporated in 1904. Goals of the club

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included work towards “securing rational legislation,” forming rules for use of the automobile, protecting motorists’ interests, encouraging “prudence and care in driving” and promoting the good roads movement.87 Brunton said in an interview, “Mrs. Brunton is the real auto enthusiast of the family” and newspaper research has revealed that wife Katherine was apparently the first woman to own an automobile in Denver.88 The article “Women Automobilists of Denver” from the 1902 Sunday Denver Post indicated that Brunton had purchased two cars in about 1898, one for himself and one for his wife. She commented, “Yes, it is easier than taming a husband,” laughed Mrs. Brunton, in answer to a query, “because no matter when you begin, a little level-headedness will conquer the whole thing, and upon this one quality rests all future success. Besides, age doesn’t matter, and nobody else has had the spoiling of your auto, but you do not always know that your husband has not been spoiled. I love my Victoria, now, of course, not as I would love my saddle horse, but almost as much, and couldn’t be without it for every sort of use.”89 David Brunton admitted that “experimenting and tinkering with automobiles” was a hobby and he corresponded with automobile manufactures about his high-altitude carburetor test results and operation notes. He recalled his history of buying and selling automobiles, and his first rides in various makes and models, when he reflected upon his life. He also noted his many “auto tours” of the region and the country, including a 64-day round-trip tour from Denver to New York in 1911.90 In March 1910, Brunton was involved in a car accident that involved fatalities approximately fifty miles northwest of Fort Collins. The Stanley Steamer in which he was riding, accompanied by fellow engineer A. I. Akin, Judge Wellington Hibbard, and driven by chauffeur Dalton Davis, crashed on the way down a three mile hill.91 Brunton’s own recollections stated:


Left Fort Collins for eastern portal of the Laramie Tunnel at 8:00 a.m. The Stanley automobile in which we were making the trip had insufficient braking capacity, was badly handled and ran away on Pingree Hill at 11:00 A.M., killing Judge Hibbard, breaking both of Mr. Akins’ arms. Brunton suffered a broken arm and leg in the accident, and he spent 4 weeks in a Denver hospital, followed by several more weeks of recovery at the Boulder Sanitarium. Perhaps not unexpectedly, given Brunton’s great passion for this type of recreation and his background as an engineer, he also applied his skills to improvements for cars. In 1908 he patented the “Safety Lock for Autos.” He stated, The frequency of auto thefts and the desire to retain my machine led me to design and use a safety device which locked the change gear lever in a neutral position. This device complied fully with police and fire insurance regulations, as the car could be pushed freely in every direction, but it prevented the application of power from the engine. It has come into general use and is now standard on many makes of automobiles.92 Later Years Brunton was quoted as saying, “’Idleness . . . is not compatible with longevity, and I hope to live many more years.”93 He continued to improve his pocket transit, eventually holding six patents on the device, with the final one awarded in 1926, a year before his death.94 The American Institute of Mining and Metallurgical Engineers awarded Brunton the very first William Laurence Saunders mining medal in February 1927. Brunton received the award, presented for “outstanding contributions to the advancement of science” for his “development and exposition of the principle and practices of ore sampling; for systematic daily mapping of mine geology, for the Brunton mining compass and for engineering achievements in connection with great tunnels.”95 Although Brunton was in New York to accept

KILANDER • 93

the award, he underwent emergency surgery and received the award in absentia. His health problems returned later that year and he passed away at age 78, December 20, 1927, at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, New York.96 Brunton’s Legacies David Brunton’s long-term impact in the geologic and mining fields has been particularly significant. Many of his innovations and patents are still in use today, or served as building blocks for later innovators to improve and modify as the technology advanced. During World War II, improvements were made to the existing transit and again produced for U.S. military use. The Ainsworth firm continued the Brunton Transit line into the 1960s, including new improvements, and new patents. A 1959 Ainsworth company advertisement cited over sixty thousand Brunton transits sold since 1896.97 The full line of Ainsworth products brought international recognition to the firm and by the late 1960s clients included the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Atomic Energy Commission, and Argonne Laboratories. Ainsworth & Sons was the holder of the U.S. government contract for manufacturing of Brunton transits for use in the Vietnam War.98 Astronauts for the Apollo moon missions learned the use of the Brunton transit in their geology field training. In 1972, a Riverton, Wyoming, company purchased the exclusive compass manufacturing rights and the Brunton name.99 In 2004, David Brunton was one of five mining industry pioneers inducted into the National Mining Hall of Fame in Leadville, Colorado.100 In 2009, modern audiences watching the History Channel program, “Expedition Africa: Stanley and Livingstone,” were introduced to the Brunton transit. Equipped with period maps and a Brunton transit, the show followed four modern survivalists as they recreated the journey of American journalist Henry Morton Stanley on his 1871 expedition to locate the missing British explorer Dr. David Livingstone in Africa. Although not actually invented until after Stanley’s trip, the Brunton transit was the preferred tool of the navigator on the show and introduced audiences to the invention.101


David Brunton’s namesake, the Brunton Company, is still producing today a variety of compasses, transits, camping equipment, and other specialized instruments. Just as Brunton did, the Brunton Company continues to improve on the transit design and has been granted multiple patents in recent years. Purchased by the Silva Corporation in the late 1990s, the company then was acquired by Finnish manufacturer Fiskars, and in December 2009, purchased by Sweden’s Fenix Company.102 While Brunton’s original transit sold for $25, today the Brunton Company’s top of the line model, the “GEO Pocket Transit” retails for more than $800.103 Among Brunton’s many lasting legacies in the fields of geology and mining—including ore sampling technology, mining timber improvements, and mining tunnel innovations— the 1894 pocket transit invention remains his most well-known. Today, more than 115 years after the original invention of the pocket transit, countless worldwide geologists, surveyors, archaeologists, spelunkers, students, and outdoor enthusiasts, among many others, still use the device. The Brunton Pocket Transit is one of Colorado mining engineer David Brunton’s lasting contributions. Ginny Kilander has been a faculty reference archivist at the American Heritage Center (AHC) at the University of Wyoming for over a decade. Currently the head of reference services, her work at the AHC also includes the acquisition of mining and economic geology collections, and she served as the manager of the Center’s Anaconda Copper Mining Company Geology Records for many years. Her work on David W. Brunton was first inspired by her research in the William Ainsworth papers. She holds an M.A. in American Studies from the University of Wyoming.

KILANDER • 95

NOTES

1. Daniel Danowski, “Brunton Pocket Transit Introduction,” http://www.ikswonad.com/c/img/portfolio/brunton.swf (accessed December 23, 2010). 2. ”David W. Brunton,” in Encyclopedia of Biography of Colorado, volume 1, 1901 (Chicago: Century Publishing and Engraving Company), 453. 3. Clark C. Spence, Mining Engineers & The American West: The LaceBoot Brigade, 1949–1933 (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1970), 1–2. 4. 1871 Census of Canada, Brantford West, Brant South, Ontario, Roll: C-9914, family 78, Ancestry.com and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, [database online]. Provo, Utah: Ancestry.com Operations Inc., 2009; James Brunton, Agnes Dickie, November 14, 1844. Archives of Ontario Microfilm, MS248_01, Ancestry.com and Genealogical Research Library (Brampton, Ontario, Canada). Ontario, Canada Marriage, 1801–1926 [database on-line], Provo, Utah: Ancestry. com Operations, Inc., 2010; “David William Brunton,” 221. Sketches of Colorado, Volume 1 (Denver: Western Press Bureau Company, 1911). 5. T. A. Rickard, “David W. Brunton, An Interview,” in Interviews with Mining Engineers (San Francisco: Mining and Scientific Press, 1922), 69–95, 69. 6. No. 1, 1863, Automatic Feed Box, 126, David William Brunton, Collection Number WH51-Brunton, Denver Public Library, Western History Collection. Hereafter Brunton Collection. 7. No. 2, 1865, Safety Clevise Bolt, 126, Brunton Collection. 8. No. 3, 1867, Self-Cleaning Coulter, 126, Brunton Collection; No. 4, 1867, Self-Emptying Well Bucket, 127, Brunton Collection. 9. No. 5, 1868, Self-Opening Farm Gate, 127, Brunton Collection. 10. No. 6, 1868, Wheel Plow, 127, Brunton Collection. 11. No. 7, 1869, Hay Unloader, 127–128, Brunton Collection. 12. No. 8, 1870, Bean Puller, 128, Brunton Collection. 13. T. A. Rickard, Interviews with Mining Engineers (San Francisco: Mining and Scientific Press, 1922), 70; 1870–1871 entries, 69, Brunton Collection; “David William Brunton” in Sketches of Colorado, Volume 1 (Denver: Western Press Bureau Company, 1911), 221; 1871 Census, Brantford West, Brant South, Ontario, Roll: C-9914, family 78, Ancestry.com and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. 1871 Census of Canada [database online]. Provo, Utah: Ancestry.com Operations Inc., 2009. 14. “David William Brunton,” 1917, 1921, 1922, 1924, Passport Applications, Ancestry.com. U.S. Passport Applications, 1795–1925 [database online]. Provo, Utah: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc. 2007.

96 • TRANSITS, TIMBERS, & TUNNELS 15. No. 9, 1872, Ornamental Railing for Bridge Drawings, 128, Brunton Collection. 16. 1874–1875 entry, 1, Brunton Collection; Rickard, Interviews with Mining Engineers, 69. 17. 1875 entry, 1, Brunton Collection; Rickard, Interviews with Mining Engineers, 70; See also D. W. Brunton, “Technical Reminiscences,” reprinted from the Mining and Scientific Press, November 27, 1915, 3–7. 18. D. W. Brunton, Technical Reminiscences (Reprinted from Mining and Scientific Press, November 27, 1915), 8. 19. Rickard, Interviews with Mining Engineers, 73–74. 20. 1880s entries, 3, 8; 1895 entry, 20; 1899 entry, 29; 1906 entry, 50; 1914 entry, 80, Brunton Collection. 21. Brunton Collection, 122. 22. 1879 entries, 2; No. 15, 1877, Improvement in Revolving Ore Roasting Furnaces, 130–131; No. 17, 1879, Revolving Ore Roaster, 131– 132, Brunton Collection. 23. No. 19, 1881, Automatic Ore Sampler (Taylor & Brunton Mill, Leadville), 132, Brunton Collection. 24. No. 22, 1884, Patent No. 304,259, Ore Sampling Machine (Time Sampler Deflector Type), 134, Brunton Collection. 25. Irwin Harrison, “Builder of Cowenhaven Roosevelt and Moffat Tunnels wont [sic] quit,” Rocky Mountain News (Denver), January 23, 1927, 1–4, 4; David W. Brunton, “Modern Practice of Ore-Sampling,” Spokane Meeting, September, 1909 and published in Transactions of the American Institute of Mining Engineers, vol. XL, New York: The Institute, 1910. 26. 1883 entry, 5, Brunton Collection. 27. 1885 entry, 7, Brunton Collection. 28. “David W. Brunton” in Encyclopedia of Biography of Colorado, Volume 1 (Chicago: The Century Publishing and Engraving Company, 1901), 454. 29. Spence, Mining Engineers & The American West, 8. 30. Rickard, Interviews with Mining Engineers, 88. 31. Carl J. Mayer, “The 1872 Mining Law: Historical Origins of the Discovery Rule,” in The University of Chicago Law Review, Volume 53, Number 2 (Spring 1986): 264–653, 643. 32. 1886 entries, 8–9, Brunton Collection. 33. Rickard, Interviews with Mining Engineers, 75–76. 34. Brunton Collection, 11–13. 35. Rickard, Interviews with Mining Engineers, 78. 36. Ibid., 79–80. 37. Ibid., 80.

KILANDER • 97 38. R. L. Langenheim, Jr., “David William Brunton” in American National Biography (New York: Oxford University Press, 1999), 800. 39. No. 54 1915. Instrument for Solving Fault Problem, 157–158, Brunton Collection. 40. Anaconda Standard, “Last Expert Witness, David Brunton on Colorado testifies for the Anaconda,” April 4, 1900. 41. Rickard, Interviews with Mining Engineers, 81. 42. No. 55, 1916, Mine Model (Elm Orlu-Black Rock), 158–159, Brunton Collection. 43. No. 42, Patent No. 692,111, New Method of Framing Round Timbers, 148–150; No. 43, 1902, Round Timber Framing Machine, 150–151; No. 46, 1904, Patent No. 759,418, Improvements in Round Timber Framing, 153–154, Brunton Collection. 44. No. 43, 1902, Round Timber Framing machine, 150–151, Brunton Collection. 45. Rickard, Interviews with Mining Engineers, 84–85. 46. No. 35, 1894, Patent No. 526,021, Pocket-Transit, 143; 1894 entry, 20, Brunton Collection; D. W. Brunton. 1894. Pocket Transit. U.S. Patent 526,021, filed March 10, 1894, and issued September 18, 1894. 47. D. W. Brunton, 952–955 in “The Evolution of Mine-Surveying Instruments. Discussion of Paper of Dunbar D. Scott, presented at the Buffalo Meeting, October, 1898.” Transactions of the American Institute of Mining Engineers, vol. XXIX, February 1899 to September 1899 (New York City: American Institute of Mining Engineers, 1900), 954. 48. Rickard, Interviews with Mining Engineers, 85. 49. Letter of reference for William Ainsworth by W. B. Woolsey, September 14, 1874, folder: Letters of Recommendation, Box 1, William Ainsworth Papers, collection number 2284, American Heritage Center, University of Wyoming, hereafter Ainsworth Papers; John Meeks and Geraldine Collins Shannon, The Assay Balance: Its Evolution and the Histories of the Companies That Made Them (Englewood, Colo.: The Pressworks, 1999), 119. 50. Shannon, The Assay Balance, 119–120. 51. Ibid., 119–125; “William Ainsworth” biographical file, American Heritage Center, University of Wyoming. 52. D. W. Brunton, “The Evolution of Mine-Surveying Instruments. Discussion,” 954. 53. Wm. Ainsworth & Sons, Catalog B, The Brunton Patent Pocket Transit, 1902, folder: pamphlets, box 1, Ainsworth Papers. 54. Assorted pamphlets, including “Boletín C El Nuevo Tránsito Brunton de Bolsillo” folder: pamphlets, box 1, Ainsworth Papers.

98 • TRANSITS, TIMBERS, & TUNNELS 55. Wm. Ainsworth & Sons, Catalog B, The Brunton Patent Pocket Transit, 1902, folder: pamphlets, box 1, Ainsworth Papers. 56. “The Improved Brunton Pocket Transit,” 1929, folder: pamphlets, box 1, Ainsworth Papers. 57. No. 50, 1912, Patent No. 1,042,079, Improvements in Pocket Transit, 156; No. 51, 1913, Patent No. 1,056,775, Circular Rule, 156–157; No. 52, 1913, Patent No. 1,062,582, Improvements in Pocket Transits, 157; No. 53, 1914, Patent No. 1,092,822, Sights for Pocket Transits And Other Instruments, 157; Brunton Collection. 58. Peter H. von Bitter, “The Brunton Transit, A One Hundred Year Old North American Invention,” Earth Sciences History, Journal of the History of the Earth Sciences Society, vol. 14, no. 1, 1995, 98–102, 101. 59. “The Brunton Patent Pocket Transit,” [undated], folder: pamphlets, box 1, Ainsworth Papers. 60. “David William Brunton,” 1917, 1921, 1922, 1924, Passport Applications, Ancestry.com. U.S. Passport Applications, 1795–1925 [database online]. Provo, Utah: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc. 2007; December 1910 entry, 93, and March 1917 entry, 96, Brunton Collection. 61. March–April entries, 1918, 104–105, Brunton Collection; Rocky Mountain News, “D. W. Brunton, Noted Denver Civil Engineer, Dies at Mayo’s,” December 21, 1927, 5. 62. “War Committee of Technical Societies,” Science, September 6, 1918, N.S. vol. XLVIII, no. 1236, 242. 63. Scott, Lloyd N., Naval Consulting Board of the United States (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1920), 10–18, 23; 124, Brunton Collection; Rutgers, “Naval Consulting Board Minutes, X018G,” The Edison Papers, Charles Edison Fund Collection, Newark, N.J., http://edison.rutgers.edu/NamesSearch/glocpage. php3?gloc=X018G& (accessed March 24, 2010). 64. 1918 entry, 112, Brunton Collection. 65. Typescript by Brunton from the Annual Report of the Secretary of the Navy to The President of the U.S.A., 1918, 139, Brunton Collection. 66. No. 57, 1916, Alidade, 160, Brunton Collection. 67. No. 58, 1917, Fire Control Instrument, 160, Brunton Collection. 68. No. 59, 1917, Patent No. 1,308,474, Apparatus for Locating Sniper, 161, Brunton Collection. 69. 1917 entry, 100, Brunton Collection. 70. No. 60, 1917, Patent No. 1,399,019, Luminous Dial for Military Transits, 161–162, Brunton Collection. 71. Pat Jablonsky, “David William Brunton Museum Trustee 1914–1926,” Bear Pause [newsletter of the National Association of

KILANDER • 99 the Denver Museum of Natural History], Volume 17, Number 12, December 1988, 21. 72. Brunton Collection, 122. 73. 1889 entry, 12, Brunton Collection; loose page inserted into bound volume 1, between 123–124, Brunton Collection; John G. Canfield, Mines and Mining Men of Colorado, (Denver: Col. J. G. Canfield, 1893), 38–39. 74. Rickard, Interviews with Mining Engineers, 76–77. 75. Loose page inserted into bound volume 1, between 123–124, Brunton Collection. 76. David W. Brunton, “Notes on the Laramie Tunnel,” in Transactions of the American Institute of Mining Engineers, Volume XLIII (New York: American Institute of Mining Engineers, 1913), 99–118, discussion of paper, 707–713. 77. David W. Brunton and John A. Davis, Safety in Tunneling. Miner’s Circular No. 13, U.S. Bureau of Mines. 78. David W. Brunton and John A. Davis, Modern Tunneling (New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 1914); David W. Brunton and John A. Davis and J. Vipond Davies, Modern Tunneling, (New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 1922). 79. Collection Guide, Moffat Tunnel Commission Collection, Colorado State Archives, http://www.colorado.gov/dpa/doit/ archives/moffat (accessed December 23, 2010). 80. D. W. Brunton, “Engineering Features of the Moffat Tunnel” in Proceedings of the Colorado Scientific Society, vol. XI (Denver: Colorado Scientific Society, 1923), 381–398. 81. No. 32, 1893, Patent No. 508,500, Velocipede Car (For Tunnel Use), 141, Brunton Collection; D. W. Brunton. 1893. Velocipede Car, U.S. Patent 508,500, filed February 16, 1893, and issued November 14, 1893. 82. No. 56, 1916, Exhibition Safe For Valuable Objects, 159–160, Brunton Collection. 83. Partial list of presentations/publications of D. W. Brunton (in addition to those listed elsewhere in paper): “Copper Mines of Butte City, Montana, with an estimate of the amount and cost of production,” Institution of Civil Engineers Minutes of the Proceedings, vol. 82, no. 1885, 271–280; “Aspen, Its Ores and Mode of Occurrence.” Engineering and Mining Journal, vol. XLVI, July 14, 1888, 22; Correspondence, Smelting Processes (with H. A. Keller, W. McDermott, F. J. Warner, A. Wingham), Institution of Civil Engineers Minutes of the Proceedings, vol. 112, no. 1893, 199–206; “An Experiment in Cooperative Mining” Engineering and Mining Journal, August 3, 1895; “The Cowenhoven Adit-Level,” Institution of Civil Engineers Institution of Civil Engineers

100 • TRANSITS, TIMBERS, & TUNNELS Minutes of the Proceedings, vol. 131, no. 1898, 289–306; “Notes on the Origin and Classification of Veins: With Special Reference to the Copper Mines of Butte, Montana, 1899” in Mining History Archive, Arthur Lakes Library, Colorado School of Mines; “Report on the Drainage of Cripple Creek District,” 1905; ”Engineering Features of the Moffat Tunnel” Proceedings of the Colorado Scientific Society, October 1923; vol. XI, 381–398. 84. Leroy R. Hafen, “The Coming of the Automobile and Improved Roads to Colorado,” in The Colorado Magazine, Volume VIII, Number 1 (January 1931), 2; Denver Post, “David Brunton Had State’s 1st Electric Buggy,” January 1, 1940, 38. 85. October 1898 entry, 26; May entries, 1899, 27, Brunton Collection. 86. Letter of July 25, 1916, 40, volume 17, box 2, David W. Brunton Collection, Arthur Lakes Library, Colorado School of Mines, Special Collections. 87. “Denver Has a Club,” Motor Age, vol. V, no. 22 (June 2, 1904), 19; Hafen, The Colorado Magazine, 8. 88. Irwin Harrison, “Builder of Cowenhoven Roosevelt and Moffat Tunnels wont [sic] Quit,” Rocky Mountain News, January 23, 1927, 1–4, 4. 89. Roberta Balfour, “Women Automobilists of Denver,” Denver Post, November 16, 1902. 90. Rocky Mountain News, “D. W. Brunton, Noted Denver Civil Engineer, Dies at Mayo’s,” December 21, 1927, 5; July 1912–January 1913, volume 14 letterpress book. July–August 1914, volume 16 letterpress book. July–September 1916 letterpress book. Box 2, David W. Brunton Collection, Arthur Lakes Library, Colorado School of Mines, Special Collections; August 1902, January 1904, May 1906, September–December 1910, August 1915 entries, 35, 38, 42, 61–70, 85, Brunton Collection. 91. Fort Collins Weekly Courier, “Wellington Hibbard Killed in Automobile Accident,” March 31, 1910, 1; Fort Collins Weekly Courier, “How Distressing Accident Occurred on Pingree Hill,” March 31, 1910, 1. 92. No. 48, 1908, Safety Lock For Autos, 155, Brunton Collection. 93. Irwin Harrison, “Builder of Cowenhaven Roosevelt and Moffat Tunnels wont [sic] quit,” Rocky Mountain News, January 23, 1927, 1–4, 1. 94. D. W. Brunton. 1924, Pocket Transit. U.S. Patent 1,593,429, filed June 21, 1925, and issued July 20, 1926. 95. Leonard Hall, “Engineers Honor D. W. Brunton,” Rocky Mountain News (Denver), January 29, 1927, 20; Irwin Harrison,

KILANDER • 101 “Builder of Cowenhoven Roosevelt and Moffat Tunnels wont [sic] Quit,” Rocky Mountain News, January 23, 1927, 1–4, 4; Langenheim, American National Biography, 800. 96. Rocky Mountain News, “D. W. Brunton, Noted Denver Civil Engineer, Dies at Mayo’s,” December 21, 1927, 5; “David William Brunton” Mining and Metallurgy, January 1928, 37. 97. Wm. Ainsworth & Sons advertisements for the Brunton Transit in Geotimes (published by the American Geological Institute): May–June 1959, vol. 3, no. 8, 29; May–June 1964, vol. 8, no. 8, 40; July– August 1964, vol. 9, no. 1, 21; July–August 1967, vol. 12 no. 6, 27; von Bitter, 101. 98. Willard Haselbush, “Denver Firm Tops In Scientific Balancing,” Denver Post, July 3, 1967, 40. 99. “National Mining Hall of Fame to Honor Five Mining Greats,” Mining Engineering, 56 no. 7, July 2004, 36–39, 36. 100. Ibid. 101. Jason Kintzler, “Brunton Transit Leads ‘Expedition Africa,’” June 8, 2009, 9:02 a.m., http://basecampbrunton.blogspot.com (accessed April 18, 2010); Bill Carter, “Exploring Africa to Find Riches in Ratings,” New York Times, May 24, 2009, http://www.nytimes. com/2009/05/24/arts/television/24cart.html (accessed December 23, 2010). 102. Martin D. Iden (The Brunton Company, Riverton, Wyo.), 2000. Pocket Transit, U.S. Patent 6,516,523, filed October 10, 2000, and issued February 11, 2003. Patent cites earlier Brunton company patents including U.S. Patent Nos. 4,700,490, 4,175,333, and D290,093; Bill Sniffin, “CEO hopes to rebuild Brunton,” Star-Tribune (Casper, Wyo.), March 29, 2010, http://m.trib.com/mobile/article_dfa2206763a8-5553-a4d4-ff7a1a8ca4d0.html (accessed December 23, 2010). 103. The Brunton Company online catalog, price quoted April 2010, http://www.brunton.com (accessed December 23, 2010).


“List and Description of Inventions D. W. Brunton”

D. W. B., July 1, 1920, 126–163, Brunton Collection.

No. 1 No. 2 No. 3 No. 4 No. 5 No. 6 No. 7 No. 8 No. 9 No. 10 No. 11 No. 12 No. 13 No. 14 No. 15

1863 1865 1867 1867 1868 1868 1869 1870 1872 1873 1874 1874 1875 1876 1877

No. 16 No. 17 No. 18 No. 19

1878 1879 1880 1881

No. 20 1881 No. 21 1882 No. 22 1884 No. 23 No. 24 No. 25 No. 26 No. 27 No. 28 No. 29

1885 1890 1890 1890 1891 1891 1891

No. 30 1891 No. 31 1892 No. 32 1893 No. 33 1893

Automatic Feed Box Safety Clevise Bolt Self-Cleaning Coulter Self-Emptying Well Bucket Self-Opening Farm Gate Wheel Plow Hay Unloader Bean Puller Ornamental Railing For Bridge Drawings Dowel Extractor Blow-Pipe Balance Rotating Fusion Stand App. For Manufacturing Calcium Hyposulphite Acid Pump Patent No. 215,877 Improvement in Revolving Ore Roasting Furnaces Balanced Cam Shaft for Stamp Mills Patent No. 216,148 Revolving Ore Roaster Patent No. 228,032 Improvements in Leaching Ore Automatic Ore Sampler (Taylor & Brunton Mill, Leadville) Method of Increasing Fineness of Bullion from Pan Amalgamation Patent No. 255,928 Mining Pumps Patent No 304,259 Ore Sampling Machine (Time Sampler Deflector Type Dewatering Tank For Use In Ore Concentration Ore Bin Gate Ore Tunnel Car Mining and Tunnel Car Wheel Car Dumping Device Ore Loading Chute Patent 454,120. Device for Sampling Ore (Quartering Shovel) Improved Method of Driving Long Upraises in Mines Tunnel Switch Patent No. 508,500 Velocipede Car (For Tunnel Use) Swinging False Set for Tunnel Driving

KILANDER • 103 No. 34 1894 No. 35 No. 36 No. 37 No. 38

1894 1894 1895 1896

No. 39 1899 No. 40 1901 No. 41 1901 No. 42 No. 43 No. 44 No. 45 No. 46

1902 1903 1903 1904

No. 47 No. 48 No. 49 No. 50

1906 1908 1910 1912

No. 51 1913 No. 52 1913 No. 53 1914 No. 54 No. 55 No. 56 No. 57 No. 58 No. 59 No. 60

1915 1916 1916 1916 1917 1917 1917

No. 61 1919 No. 62 1920

Patent No. 515,419. Automatic Car Coupler (Link and Pin Coupling) Patent No 526,021 Pocket Transit Overbalanced Hoisting Safety Friction Gear Patent 553,508 Ore Sampling Machine (Oscillator Type) Man Elevator For Mill Use Patent No. 665,821 Level Indicator For Mine Hoists Double Eccentric Gear for Time Samplers Patent 692,111. New Method of Framing Round Timbers Round Timber Framing Machine Sample Splitter Skip Changing Device for Deep Shafts Patent 759,418. Improvements in Round Timber Framing Joint Over Patent 692111 of 1902 Universal Transit Instruments Safety Lock For Autos (Copyright) Slope Chart Patent 1,042,079. Improvements In Pocket Transit Over Patent No. 526021 of 1894 Patent No 1,056,775 Circular Rule Patent 1,062,582. Improvements In Pocket Transits Over Patent 526,021 of 1894 And Patent No 1,042,079 of 1912 Patent No. 1,092, 822. Sights for Pocket Transits And Other Instruments Instrument for Solving Fault Problem Mine Model (Elm Orlu-Black Rock) Exhibition Safe For Valuable Objects Alidade Fire Control Instrument Patent No. 1,308,474. Apparatus for Locating Snipers Luminous Dial for Military Transits. Patent No. 1, 399,019 Aeroplane Compass Tunnel Ventilation Improvement

Note: Additional Patent (received after Brunton’s July 1, 1920 recollections above): D. W. Brunton. Pocket Transit. 1926. U.S. Patent 1,593,429, filed June 21, 1924 and issued July 20, 1926.

Electrical scientist, inventor and visionary, Nikola Tesla came to Colorado Springs in May 1899 to perfect a method for the wireless transmission of electrical energy. Tesla’s observation of great electrical storms in Colorado’s “dry and rarefied atmosphere” inspired him to conclude that the earth itself could be a conductor of electrical energy capable of transmitting power “in unlimited amounts, to any terrestrial distance and almost without any loss.” Tesla created massive electrical discharges of his own inside his Colorado Springs laboratory with the apparent ease of reading a book. Courtesy Nikola Tesla Museum, Belgrade, Serbia, (006-02-142).

The Transmission of Electric Energy Without Wires Nikola Tesla NOTE: This chapter is a reprint of an article originally published in 1906 by Robert Marion La Follette, William Matthews Hardy, Charles Higgins, The Making of America, vol. VII (Chicago: The Making of America Co., 1906), 163–170. This chapter is reprinted with only minor format and spelling revisions to the original version. Corrections are represented with square brackets [ ]. Towards the close of 1898 a systematic research, carried on for a number of years with the object of perfecting a method of transmission of electrical energy through the natural medium, led me to recognize three important necessities: First, to develop a transmitter of great power; second, to perfect means for individualizing and isolating the energy transmitted; and, third, to ascertain the laws of propagation of currents through the earth and the atmosphere. Various reasons, not the least of which was the help proffered by my friend Leonard E. Curtis and the Colorado Springs Electric company, determined me to select for my experimental investigations the large plateau, two thousand meters above sea level, in the vicinity of that delightful resort, which I reached late in May, 1899. I had not been there but a few days when I congratulated myself on the happy choice and I began the task, for which I had long trained myself, with a grateful sense and full of inspiring hope. The perfect purity of the air, the unequaled beauty of the sky, the imposing sight of a high mountain range, the quiet and restfulness of the place— all around contributed to make the conditions for scientific observation ideal. To this was added the exhilarating influence of a glorious climate and a singular sharpening of the senses. In those regions the organs undergo perceptible physical changes. The eyes assume an extraordinary limpidity, improving vision; the ears dry out and become more susceptible to sound. Objects can be clearly distinguished there at distances such that I prefer to have them told by someone else, and I have heard—this I • 105 •

106 • TRANSMISSION OF ELECTRIC ENERGY

can venture to vouch for—the claps of thunder seven and eight hundred kilometers away. I might have done better still, had it not been tedious to wait for the sounds to arrive, in definite intervals, as heralded precisely by an electrical indicating apparatus—nearly an hour before. In the middle of June, while preparations for other work were going on, I arranged one of my receiving transformers with the view of determining in a novel manner, experimentally, the electric potential of the globe and studying its periodic and casual fluctuations. This formed part of a plan carefully mapped out in advance. A highly sensitive, self restorative device, controlling a recording instrument, was included in the secondary circuit, while the primary was connected to the ground and an elevated terminal of adjustable capacity. The variations of potential gave rise to electric surgings in the primary; these generated secondary currents, which in turn affected the sensitive device and recorder in proportion to their intensity. The earth was found to be literally alive with electrical vibrations, and soon I was deeply absorbed in this interesting investigation. No better opportunities for such observations as I intended to make could be found anywhere. Colorado is a country famous for the natural displays of electric force. In that dry and rarefied atmosphere the sun’s rays beat the objects with fierce intensity. I raised steam, to a dangerous pressure, in barrels filled with concentrated salt solution, and the tinfoil coatings of some of my elevated terminals shriveled up in the fiery blaze. An experimental high tension transformer, carelessly exposed to the rays of the setting sun, had most of its insulating compound melted out and was rendered useless. Aided by the dryness and rarefaction of the air, the water evaporates as in a boiler, and static electricity is developed in abundance. Lightning discharges are, accordingly, very frequent and sometimes of inconceivable violence. On one occasion approximately twelve thousand discharges occurred in two hours, and all in a radius of certainly less than fifty kilometers from the laboratory. Many of them resembled gigantic trees of fire with the trunks up or down. I never saw fire balls, but as a compensation for my disappointment I succeeded later in determining the mode of their formation and producing them artificially.

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In the latter part of the same month I noticed several times that my instruments were affected stronger by discharges taking place at great distances than by those near by. This puzzled me very much. What was the cause? A number of observations proved that it could not be due to the differences in the intensity of the individual discharges, and I readily ascertained that the phenomenon was not the result of a varying relation between the periods of my receiving circuits and those of the terrestrial disturbances. One night, as I was walking home with an assistant, meditating over these experiences, I was suddenly staggered by a thought. Years ago, when I wrote a chapter of my lecture before the Franklin institute and the National Electric Light association, it had presented itself to me, but I had dismissed it as absurd and impossible. I banished it again. Nevertheless, my instinct was aroused and somehow I felt that I was nearing a great revelation. It was on the third of July—the date I shall never forget— when I obtained the first decisive experimental evidence of a truth of overwhelming importance for the advancement of humanity. A dense mass of strongly charged clouds gathered in the west and towards the evening a violent storm broke loose which, after spending much of its fury in the mountains, was driven away with great velocity over the plains. Heavy and long persisting arcs formed almost in regular tune intervals. My observations were now greatly facilitated and rendered more accurate by the experiences already gained. I was able to handle my instruments quickly and I was prepared. The recording apparatus being properly adjusted, its indications became fainter and fainter with the increasing distance of the storm, until they ceased altogether. I was watching in eager expectation. Surely enough, in a little while the indications again began, grew stronger and stronger and, after passing through a maximum gradually decreased and ceased once more. Many times, in regularly recurring intervals, the same actions were repeated until the storm which, as evident from simple computations, was moving with nearly constant speed, had retreated to a distance of about three hundred kilometers. Nor did these strange actions stop then, but continued to manifest themselves with undiminished force. Subsequently,


similar observations were also made by my assistant, Mr. Fritz Lowenstein, and shortly afterward several admirable opportunities presented themselves which brought out, still more forcibly, and unmistakably, the true nature of the wonderful phenomenon. No doubt whatever remained: I was observing stationary waves. As the source of disturbances moved away the receiving circuit came successively upon their nodes and loops. Impossible as it seemed, this planet, despite its vast extent, behaved like a conductor of limited dimensions. The tremendous significance of this fact in the transmission of energy by my system had already become quite clear to me. Not only was it practicable to send telegraphic messages to any distance without wires, as I recognized long ago, but also to impress upon the entire globe the faint modulations of the human voice, far more still, to transmit power, in unlimited amounts, to any terrestrial distance and almost without any loss. With these stupendous possibilities in sight, with the experimental evidence before me that their realization was henceforth merely a question of expert knowledge, patience and skill, I attacked vigorously the development of my magnifying transmitter, now, however, not so much with the original intention of producing one of great power, as with the object of learning how to construct the best one. This is, essentially, a circuit of very high self induction and small resistance which in its arrangement, mode of excitation and action, may be said to be the diametrically opposite of a transmitting circuit typical of telegraphy by Hertzian or electromagnetic radiations. It is difficult to form an adequate idea of the marvelous power of this unique appliance, by the aid of which the globe will be transformed. The electromagnetic radiations being reduced to an insignificant quantity, and proper conditions of resonance maintained, the circuit acts like an immense pendulum, storing indefinitely the energy of the primary exciting impulses and impressing upon the earth and its conducting atmosphere uniform harmonic oscillations of intensities which, as actual tests have shown, may be pushed so far as to surpass those attained in the natural displays of static electricity.

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Simultaneously with these endeavors, the means of individualization and isolation were gradually improved. Great importance was attached to this, for it was found that simple tuning was not sufficient to meet the vigorous practical requirements. The fundamental idea of employing a number of distinctive elements, co-operatively associated, for the purpose of isolating energy transmitted, I trace directly to my perusal of Spencer’s clear and suggestive exposition of the human nerve mechanism. The influence of this principle on the transmission of intelligence, and electrical energy in general, cannot as yet be estimated, for the art is still in the embryonic stage; but many thousands of simultaneous telegraphic and telephonic messages, through one single conducting channel, natural or artificial, and without serious mutual interference, are certainly practicable, while millions are possible. On the other hand, any desired degree of individualization may be secured by the use of a great number of cooperative elements and arbitrary variation of their distinctive features and order of succession. For obvious reasons, the principle will also be valuable in the extension of the distance of transmission. Progress though of necessity slow was steady and sure, for the objects aimed at were in a direction of my constant study and exercise. It is, therefore, not astonishing that before the end of 1899 I completed the task undertaken and reached the results which I announced in my article in the Century magazine of June, 1900, every word of which was carefully weighed. Much has already been done towards making my system commercially available, in the transmission of energy in small amounts for specific purposes, as well as on an industrial scale. The results attained by me have made my scheme of intelligence transmission, for which the name of World Telegraphy has been suggested, easily realizable. It constitutes, I believe, in its principle of operation, means employed and capacities of application, a radical and fruitful departure from what has been done heretofore. I have no doubt that it will prove very efficient in enlightening the masses, particularly in still uncivilized countries and less accessible regions, and that it will add materially to general safety, comfort and convenience, and


maintenance of peaceful relations. It involves the employment of a number of plants, all of which are capable of transmitting individualized signals to the uttermost confines of the earth. Each of them will be preferably located near some important center of civilization and the news it receives through any channel will be flashed to all points of the globe. A cheap and simple device, which might be carried in one’s pocket, may then be set up somewhere on sea or land, and it will record the world’s news or such special messages as may be intended for it. Thus the entire earth will be converted into a huge brain, as it were, capable of response in every one of its parts. Since a single plant of but one hundred horsepower can operate hundreds of millions of instruments, the system will have a virtually infinite working capacity, and it must needs immensely facilitate and cheapen the transmission of intelligence. The first of these central plants would have been already completed had it not been for unforeseen delays which, fortunately, have nothing to do with its purely technical features. But this loss of time, while vexatious, may, after all, prove to be a blessing in disguise. The best design of which I knew has been adopted, and the transmitter will emit a wave complex of a total maximum activity of ten million horsepower, one per cent of which is amply sufficient to “girdle the globe.” This enormous rate of energy delivery, approximately twice that of the combined falls of Niagara, is obtainable only by the use of certain artifices, which I shall make known in due course. For a large part of the work which I have done so far I am indebted to the noble generosity of Mr. J. Pierpont Morgan, which was all the more welcome and stimulating, as it was extended at a time when those, who have since promised most, were the greatest of doubters. I have also to thank my friend, Stanford White, for much unselfish and valuable assistance. This work is now far advanced, and though the results may be tardy, they are sure to come. Meanwhile, the transmission of energy on an industrial scale is not being neglected. The Canadian Niagara Power company have offered me a splendid inducement, and next to achieving success for the sake of the art, it will give me

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the greatest satisfaction to make their concession financially profitable to them. In this first power plant, which I have been designing since a long time, I propose to distribute ten thousand horsepower under a tension of one hundred million volts, which I am now able to produce and handle with safety. This energy will be collected all over the globe preferably in small amounts, ranging from a fraction of one to a few horsepower. One of its chief uses will be the illumination of isolated homes. It takes very little power to light a dwelling with vacuum tubes operated by high frequency currents, and in each instance a terminal a little above the roof will be sufficient. Another valuable application will be the driving of clocks and other such apparatus. These clocks will be exceedingly simple, will require absolutely no attention and will indicate rigorously correct time. The idea of impressing upon the earth American time is fascinating and very likely to become popular. There are innumerable devices of all kinds which are either now employed or can be supplied, and by operating them in this manner I may be able to offer a great convenience to the whole world with a plant of no more than ten thousand horsepower. The introduction of this system will give opportunities for invention and manufacture such as have never presented themselves before. Knowing the far reaching importance of this first attempt and its effect upon future development, I shall proceed slowly and carefully. Experience has taught me not to assign a term to enterprises the consummation of which is not wholly dependent on my own abilities and exertions. But I am hopeful that these great realizations are not far off, and I know that when this first work is completed they will follow with mathematical certitude. When the great truth accidentally revealed and experimentally confirmed is fully recognized, that this planet, with all its appalling immensity, is to electric currents virtually no more than a small metal ball and that by virtue of this fact many possibilities, each baffling imagination and of incalculable consequence, are rendered absolutely sure of accomplishment; when the first plant is inaugurated and it is shown that a telegraphic message, almost as secret and non-


interferable as a thought, can be transmitted to any terrestrial distance, the sound of the human voice, with all its intonations and inflections faithfully and instantly reproduced at any other point of the globe, the energy of a waterfall made available for supplying light, heat or motive power, anywhere—on sea, land, or high in the air—humanity will be like an ant heap stirred up with a stick. See the excitement coming! Nikola Tesla, electrician; born Smiljan, Lika, 1857 [1856]; educated in the public schools of Gospich; graduated from Real Schule, Karlstadt, 1873; studied at Polytechnic school, in Gratz, to become a professor of mathematics, but later changed and completed the engineering course; studied languages and philosophy at Prague [and Buda-Pesth]; was for a time assistant in government telegraph engineering department [in BudaPesth], where he invented several improvements; afterwards became engineer for a lighting company in Paris; afterwards came to the United States and was employed by Edison company; later became electrician for the Tesla Electric Light company and established the principle of the rotary magnetic field embodied in the apparatus used in transmission of power from Niagara Falls; inventor of various forms of dynamos, induction coils, transformers, etc. Copyright 1904 by McGraw Publishing Company

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The planned route for the Sociability Tour of 1914. Tour members bragged that the entire length of the Colorado-to-the-Gulf Highway would be covered for the first time since it opened. Map appeared in the Raton Range, May 8, 1914.

Bumps in the Road: The Spirit of Enterprise & the Sociability Tour of 1914 Katie Rudolph “Wholly unclassable, almost impassable, scarcely jackassable.”1 This catchy phrase more than adequately described the state of American roads in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Since most interstate travel was done by rail, highways largely were unpaved at the turn of the century. When it rained, roadways quickly turned to mud. When it was dry, they became dust. A cry for improved road conditions, called the Good Roads Movement, began in the 1890s with bicyclists and extended to automobilists in the early 20th century.2 In the summer of 1913, a group of Good Roads enthusiasts from northern Texas met and suggested that a road be built from the Gulf coast of Texas to Colorado’s Front Range. The road would be “of equal benefit to both Texans and Coloradoans: to the former when they wished to escape from the heat of summer, to the latter when they desired to spend several months on the coast and out of the high altitude.”3 The Colorado-to-the-Gulf Highway Association soon was formed with Southern, Panhandle, Western, and Mountain divisions. With the later addition of the Western division, a second route through Texas on the highway was secured. “The Texas branch of the association is urging the tourist to enter Texas by one road and leave by the other. And neither branch says, ‘But be sure and come my way, then to the other if you wish.’” Instead of creating a general fund to build the highway, a sub-organization was created in each county. Each county was accountable for the cost of the road in its territory. Generally, money was raised with public bonds. In addition, each county was responsible for the construction of the road and for making sure that motorists were directed to accommodations such as hotels and garages in each town along the route.4 The Colorado-to-the-Gulf Highway connected Colorado to New Mexico and Texas. The Colorado Springs Gazette described • 115 •

116 • BUMPS IN THE ROAD

the route in 1914: “The route was started at Denver, traversing Colorado Springs and Pueblo to Trinidad, thence across the northeast corner of New Mexico and the Panhandle of Texas to Amarillo. From this point it passes across Texas and through Vernon to Fort Worth, thence south through Waco and Temple and Houston to Galveston. A branch connects Fort Worth and Dallas.”5 With the highway nearing completion, the article hinted at plans for an automobile sociability tour to commence later that year. Sociability runs at the time typically were leisurely day or weekend trips to nearby towns hosted by local automobile clubs. This tour, however, was different as it was not organized in the spirit of recreation and leisure. Rather, it was an enterprising journey. The Sociability Tour of 1914 sought to promote the Pikes Peak region as an exciting tourist destination that was easily reachable by automobile using the Colorado-to-the Gulf Highway. The tour looked to capitalize on the excitement surrounding the automobile and demonstrate the ease of car travel on a newly-completed highway. Given that the road conditions at the time still generally were poor, highway services scant, and automobile reliability shoddy, it was nearly guaranteed that there would be some bumps in the road for the Sociability Tour of 1914.

View of a muddy road next to a farm. Photograph probably taken by official tour photographer, G. B. Merrick. In the early 20th century, Colorado turned to convict labor to build its public highways. Thomas J. Tynan, warden of the Colorado State Penitentiary from 1909 until 1917, built a successful prisoner labor program that allowed convicts to work, under unarmed supervisors, on highways as far away as 200 miles from the penitentiary. For every 30 days a prisoner worked, their sentence could be reduced by 10 days. Virginia J. Church 1914 Sociability Tour Collection, Special Collections, Pikes Peak Library District, (262-6686).

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The Tour Plans In January 1914, plans for the tour were modest, involving a one-way drive from Galveston to Colorado. By February 1914, the once low-key tour was gaining momentum and increasing in scale. A newspaper in Amarillo, Texas, declared that the “longest sociability auto run ever undertaken by so large a number of tourists will start from Pueblo on May 1, when 100 Coloradoans will start on a 2,500-mile journey in compliment to the Texans who visit this state annually.”7 And the March 14, 1914, Colorado Springs Gazette announced, The proposal of staging a sociability run over the Colorado-to-the-Gulf Highway from Colorado Springs to Galveston is daily growing in favor with the business men all along the route, and several of the prominent business and professional men of this city have already promised to make the trip. . . . Letters from Texas arrive at the local Chamber of Commerce rooms daily, stating that the people of the various towns along the highway are anxiously awaiting the arrival of the Colorado men.8 By March, the objective of the tour seemed clear: The run is to be made for the purpose of advertising to motorists in all parts of the United States the splendid highways which connect Colorado and Texas, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Kansas, and to promote auto travel between the states. Details were still sketchy about the route, however. On March 23, the Pueblo Star-Journal reported that the trip will go south out of this city over the Colorado-to-Gulf Highway through Trinidad and Clayton, N.M. across the Texas Panhandle through Wichita Falls to Fort Worth and thence south to Galveston of the Gulf coast. The return trip from Galveston will follow closely the line of the H. T. & C. railway into Dallas, thence north to Denison, Texas, at which point the route will lead across


the Red River into Oklahoma, and on to Lawton and Oklahoma City. From Oklahoma City, the route will be direct to Wichita, Kan. And thence west over the Santa Fe trail to Pueblo.” The article described the tour: “Each city along the route will send out a pilot car to meet the runners. Wherever the autoists will make a night stop they will be royally entertained and almost every city on the proposed route has asked the travelers to spend the night.9 In a letter from Alva W. Henderson, secretary of the Colorado Springs Chamber of Commerce, to the managing editor of the Amarillo News on March 28, Henderson spoke of the tour’s itinerary: “Our general idea is to follow the Colorado-to-theGulf Highway from Colorado Springs to Dallas or Galveston, returning through Oklahoma and Kansas. It will of course be impossible to visit all the towns in Oklahoma which we would like to include in one trip and I cannot say at this time just what our route will be.”10 Many towns along the route hoped to be part of the tour’s itinerary. Texas’s Gillespie County tried, unsuccessfully, to get the Sociability Tour’s route changed southward from San Angelo, through Mason, Fredericksburg, and Waring. By April, newspapers in Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas were publishing more information about the tour. Headlines in newspapers boasted “Colorado Autoists will Visit Waco”and Wedding portrait, Albert and Zoe “Colorado Autoists Coming (Cunningham) Marksheffel, 1917. to Cleburne.”11 Excitement Albert was involved in a 1907 autosurrounding the tour certainly mobile accident, killing three passengers. He was acquitted of involunwas building. tary manslaughter on a technicality. Special Collections, Pikes Peak Library District, (001-6126).

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Members of the Tour The roster of those who participated in the Sociability Tour differs in the various newspapers that covered the event, which sought to traverse more than 2,500 miles and five states. What is known is that the tour included only men, mostly prominent, from Colorado Springs, Manitou Springs, Pueblo, and possibly Ramona. They were representatives of hotels, railways, and tourists spots. They were also attorneys, bankers, physicians, and politicians. In all, the tour consisted of between thirty-four and thirty-six men.12 They made the trip at their own expense.13 Members of the 1914 Sociability Tour included: James W. Atkinson Buford A. Banta Dr. George A. Boyd Benjamin B. Brown Dr. Newton N. Brumback William H. Cundey Everett H. Day Charles H. Dudley William S. Dunning Edwin J. Eaton William Fowden George L. L. Gann George F. G[r?]eiger Ray Haigler Dr. Peter H. Heller14 Alva W. Henderson Harry L. Hollister John H. Jenkins, captain of the tour15 Thomas C. Kirkwood Andrew J. Lawton

Chester A. Letts Albert W. Marksheffel, marshal of the tour Gordon B. Merrick, photographer of the tour John D. Moore, Executive Committee16 Wilbur Newton Joseph J. Pierce Lewis A. Puffer, Executive Committee Bert F. Scribner Oliver H. Shoup Robert D. Sims H. Hoyt Stevens Frank H. Stevens Senator Alexander T. Stewart Alexander T. Stewart, Jr. James K. Sweeney Jay L. Warren


And They’re Off! Although numerous newspapers around the country, from the Hoboken Observer to the Deadwood Daily Telegram, reported that the Colorado-to-the-Gulf Sociability Tour began on May 4, 1914, it did not. These newspapers were running stories distributed by the Associated Press and United Press. Delays pushed back the start of the tour to May 6, 1914.17 There were two causes of the tour’s delay. The first was the Ludlow Massacre. There had been unrest in the coal fields of southern Colorado, which lay on part of the tour’s route. On April 20, 1914, a striking coal miners’ tent colony in Ludlow, Colorado, was attacked by militia made up of mine guards and some Colorado national guardsmen. Twenty-five people were killed in the violence.18 The bloodshed made traveling through southern Colorado seem risky. Secondly, poor weather and road conditions delayed the start. In April, precipitation in Texas was quite heavy, ranging in totals from six to eight inches in some areas.19 The Red River, west of Denison, Texas, had reached a high level, although not flood stage.20 Torrential rains in northeastern New Mexico occurred from April 29 to May 1, 1914. Clayton, New Mexico, reported 9.55 inches of rainfall during the 3 days. At the Canadian River weather station at Logan, New Mexico, near the Texas border, the river stood at three feet on April 30. The rise was rapid. By May 1, the river measured eighteen feet at 10:00 a.m. and rose to its crest at thirty feet by 3:15 p.m.21 During the first week of May, destructive floods also occurred on the south fork of the Canadian River in Oklahoma and Texas.22 Reports of grim weather throughout Texas and Oklahoma poured into Colorado Springs. Amarillo’s bridge over the Canadian River on its main road into the city had washed away, although the Chamber of Commerce of that city assured everyone that it would be reconstructed in time for the tour’s Friday arrival.23 Despite such dreadful news, it was reported that “the opinion among the local men seems to be that such conditions may be expected all during May and that the run might just as well be made now as later.” There was even some feeling that the poor conditions would only add more publicity for the run, garnering a wider audience.24 Tour participants from Pueblo

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were less enthusiastic to make the tour with such gloomy road predictions. On May 5, the board of directors of the Pueblo Commerce Club met for several hours to discuss the question of calling off the run. They were seriously considering waiting a week to make the run. However, telegrams from Colorado Springs and Manitou Springs stated that the two cities would have six autos ready for the journey in the morning. Pueblo could not wait another week.25 In preparation for the next day’s departure, six automobiles posed for moving picture cameras in the Garden of the Gods. The reels were promptly sent to a moving picture firm in Cañon City and were quickly developed so that they could be sent with the Colorado Springs men to show to the towns they visited on the tour.26 At 7:00 in the morning, Wednesday, May 6, 1914, the Colorado-to-the-Gulf Sociability Tour began in front of the Burns Theatre, where the Chamber of Commerce offices stood, in downtown Colorado Springs. The run was made up of twenty-two men from Manitou and Colorado Springs riding in six automobiles—mostly identified as Cadillacs decorated with pennants and paint on their hoods reading, “Colorado Springs.” Colorado Springs Mayor Charles McKesson presented the group with a banner, to be delivered to Mayor Lewis Fisher of Galveston, Texas, with the slogan “Colorado to the Gulf.”27 From Colorado Springs, the party headed south to Pueblo, where twelve men and three more cars, sporting banners from their radiators and posts erected at their sterns, joined the party at 8:00 a.m. Motion picture cameras filmed the departure from Pueblo and one of the cameras was taken on the trip, along with a “liberal supply of literature descriptive of business and social life in Colorado.”28 The party planned to reach Walsenburg, Colorado, by noon and Trinidad, Colorado, by evening, where three more cars would join the tour—approximately fourteen more men would join the group.29 Plans for Governor Elias M. Ammons of Colorado to shake hands with Governor William Calhoun McDonald of New Mexico at the summit of Raton Pass were scrapped and the party encountered road conditions so poor


that they did not arrive in Raton until after midnight—almost 14 hours after leaving Pueblo.30 Heavy rainfall from the week prior had made for a difficult ascent up the pass. Just the day before, a mud slide had occurred at Eight Mile Hill, although it had been removed and the road re-conditioned by a maintenance team on hand.31 The party stayed the night at Raton.

Identified in the Sociability Tour Album, 1914, from the Starsmore Center for Local History as “Fording the creek above Trinidad.” Photograph taken on May 6, 1914, probably by G. B. Merrick. Courtesy of Starsmore Center for Local History at the Colorado Springs Pioneers Museum.

The following morning, the party left Raton at 10:30 with the intent of reaching Clayton, New Mexico, for the night. They ate lunch on the prairie, but soon encountered firsthand the damage of the recent rains. Bridges were washed out, and the party had to build two makeshift bridges, and pull the cars through mud. At Des Moines, New Mexico, a steering knuckle broke on the car of H. Hoyt Stevens of Colorado Springs, when his son, who was driving, tried to avoid an unexpected ditch. The steering failed and the car was thrown to one side. Backseat passenger Joseph J. Pierce was thrown ten feet and fell on his back, but escaped serious injury. It was the first accident of the trip. The Stevens party stayed at Des Moines, with the intent of rejoining the tour at Wichita Falls, Texas. Dr. John D. Moore of Pueblo was the first to get a punctured tire on the route, from running over a jagged rock. The party arrived in Clayton at 8:00 p.m., where they stayed overnight.32 Ten inches of rain had fallen in 30 hours.33

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“Building a bridge.” Photograph taken on May 7, 1914, in New Mexico, probably by G. B. Merrick. Urged a January 1911 Good Roads article: “It is more important that all the bridges and culverts be in good condition than that all roads be kept in first class repair, for if the road is to be used at all, the culverts and bridges must be kept up.” Virginia J. Church 1914 Sociability Tour Collection, Special Collections, Pikes Peak Library District, (262-6944).

On Friday, May 8, the party left Clayton at 10:30 a.m., crossed into Texas at Texline, and “at once tasted that much-desired and always manifested southern hospitality.”34 Throughout the run, the sociability tourists were treated like royalty. They usually were welcomed into towns by fleets of local automobilists and were given receptions that included brass bands, parades, and crowds. They were feted at banquets, luncheons, and barbecues and often shown the best sites of the city—lakes, engineering marvels, impressive factories. Leaving town, they often received commemorative pennants to place on their cars. In return, the sociability tourists handed out literature and showed films of the Pikes Peak region, made publicity deals with newspapermen, and gave numerous speeches. From Texline, they were escorted to Dalhart by Mayor Reese Tatum and six automobiles filled with citizens who “showed them the way to a good place to eat.”35 The Canadian River had washed out the bridge to Amarillo, and so the Amarillo Chamber of Commerce shipped the party’s cars by rail from Dalhart to Amarillo. In Amarillo, the city’s Chamber of Commerce and Motor Club threw a banquet at the Hotel Amarillo that was also attended by representatives from Claude and Memphis, Texas.3


On Saturday, the party left Amarillo, escorted by several cars from nearby Memphis.37 E. E. Edwards, secretary of the Fort Worth Automobile Club, also joined the tour at Amarillo, traveling as an official representative for the Texas Automobile Association and the American Automobile Association.38 He arrived on the train in Amarillo, intending to pick up his car at Wichita Falls.39 Following a brief visit to Claude, the party stopped in Goodnight to film a herd of 150 buffalo. At Clarendon, “a grapevine arbor was erected in the middle of the street, and deliciously cool grape juice served by the young ladies.”40 At Memphis, the party was welcomed at 3:00 p.m. by thirtytwo decorated automobiles parading down Main Street. They proceeded to the barbecue grounds, making a large circle around the chuck wagon, and were given a feast in regular ranch style of “fine meat, vegetables, and other good eatables” during which a moving picture film was made.41 Later, they watched a demonstration of bull riding, which was also filmed.42 Finally, the party toured the town center while their cars were at the garages being serviced. The Hall County Herald commented that “Many Hall County autoists go to Colorado every year, and they will feel more at home as the result of mixing with this jolly bunch of live wires from that state.”43 By nightfall, the party arrived in Childress with an escort of thirty automobiles at the Red River at Estelline. Following a gathering at the Elks Club there was an exhibition of the films of Colorado scenery.44 Roads had been excellent the entire day.45 The following morning, Sunday, the party motored through the Texas towns of Quanah and Chillicothe, stopping at Vernon, where they were treated to a luncheon given by the Young Men’s Business Association.46 This was followed by a trip to the Electra oil fields where photographs were taken and a large party from Wichita Falls escorted the Sociability Tour autos to their city. The Wichita Weekly Times boasted, “Real joy shone on the faces of the tourists when the cars struck the road between Iowa Park and this city; the highway as smooth as a floor and the big cars hummed down it at express train speed.” After reaching Wichita Falls, a quick run was made to Lake Wichita.

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An informal supper was given at the Westland Hotel—the party had requested that no formal entertainment be planned as it was a Sunday. On the river bridge that evening, a four-car pileup occurred, including two of the cars from the Sociability Tour. No injuries resulted from the accident.47

Grapejuice well in Clarendon, Texas, May 9, 1914. Known to once grow abundantly in Donley County in the area west of Clarendon, the grape species Vitis Doaniana was nicknamed “Doan’s Grape” after Judge J. Doan of Wilbarger County, Texas, who produced fine wines with the fruit. Virginia J. Church 1914 Sociability Tour Collection, Special Collections, Pikes Peak Library District, (262-6953).

On Monday, May 11, three cars from Henrietta escorted the tour from Wichita Falls.48 The tourists passed the scene of a serious automobile accident six miles west of Henrietta that occurred the night before when a driver lost control of the vehicle which overturned and burst into flames. Five men suffered injuries, the most serious being a broken rib and what was feared to be internal bleeding for L. S. Williams of Petrolia, Texas. The Colorado-to-the-Gulf tourists photographed the accident scene.49 The party arrived in Henrietta at about 9:30 a.m., when a procession of twenty-four cars presented a “lively spectacle” as they “went a-hellin’ along the road.” As the People’s Review reported, “During a few minutes stop here, the tourists made many hasty acquaintances, and Henrietta did the best she could with some disguised sweetened water and ice.”50


Continuing on to Bowie and then Decatur, the party’s intended final stop of the day was Fort Worth.51 In the afternoon, at Decatur, a committee from Fort Worth met the party to escort them to that city, where Texas Governor Oscar Branch Colquitt had intended to meet the party, but sent his regrets at the last moment.52 There was a barbecue luncheon served at 6:00 at the Marion Sansom place, on the road into Fort Worth.53 Later, there was a large banquet for 100 given by the Texas Automobile Association and the Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce.54 As reported by the Colorado Springs Gazette, “Speeches were made by many of the Colorado tourists and a vast enthusiasm was manifested by both Coloradoans and Texans.”55

School children watch as the automobiles of the Sociability Tour pass through the streets of Decatur, Texas, May 11, 1914. The building in the left background is the Wise County Courthouse. Completed in 1896, it is still in use today. Photograph probably taken by G. B. Merrick. Virginia J. Church 1914 Sociability Tour Collection, Special Collections, Pikes Peak Library District, (262-6943).

At noon on Tuesday, the Sociability Tour left Fort Worth, on its way to Dallas. Reports had circulated that the highway to Dallas was impassable due to rains, but autoists from Dallas drove to Fort Worth, just to prove these stories untrue.56 There were also grim predictions on road conditions for the tour’s journey southwest to Austin and San Antonio. On May 12, Alva Henderson sent a telegram to the Austin Chamber of Commerce: “Decided tonight, account road conditions, to reverse itinerary Colorado to Gulf Run. Leave Dallas tomorrow

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afternoon for Galveston via Waco, Bryan and Houston. Arrive Galveston Saturday morning. Return via San Antonio and Austin if roads make this possible. Let me have all road data and suggestions.”57 The party arrived in Dallas shortly before midnight.58 The following morning, the group was entertained with a ride through the city of Dallas.59 They visited the Dallas News newspaper plant, stopped at the Automobile Country Club for a short reception followed by a luncheon at the Oriental Hotel attended by three hundred boosters. John H. Jenkins, captain of the party, recovering from an illness that left him in Fort Worth for the night, attended the luncheon and spoke briefly, expressing his gratitude for the hospitality in Dallas. Dressed in khaki suits, the tour members left their Dallas headquarters, the Adolphus Hotel, at 2:05 p.m.60 The Dallas Automobile Club sent a pilot, Jess Illingsworth, to lead the tour to the gulf coast. Additionally, the club furnished weather reports and secured pilots at various towns en route who could also test road conditions prior to the party’s arrival. Henderson wired the Dallas Automobile Club in thanks, “Where are all these bad roads? We are still looking for them. All of us again thank [the] Dallas Automobile Club for its courtesies.”61 After visiting the Texas towns of Waxahachie, Italy, and Milford, the group reached Hillsboro by 7:00 p.m.62 The travelers were guests of the Hillsboro Young Men’s Business League at the Hotel Wear. Among the several addresses made, Dr. Newton Brumback, president of the Manitou Incline Railway, referred to a pennant distributed by the local business league advising all to “get acquainted with your neighbor.” That’s exactly what the tour was looking to do, explained Brumback. Improvement of roads would make this easier. The party declined an invitation from Best Theatre’s manager to attend the evening performance, and by 8:00 p.m., was back on the road and being piloted to Waco.63 The group arrived in Waco at 10:30 p.m. and was given its third reception of the day, by the Business League of Waco. The city recently had taken an interest in the good road movement and had voted $1,075,000 in bonds for work on roads connecting with the Colorado-tothe-Gulf Highway.64


On Thursday, May 14, the tour left Waco, escorted along the way by local good roads enthusiasts. They stopped in Marlin for a reception, dinner, and a two- hour visit to an open-air, hot springs pavilion built by the Marlin Chamber of Commerce.65 The road between Waco and Bryan was being worked at the time of the Sociability Tour and $300,000 had recently been raised to improve thirty miles of the Colorado-to-the-Gulf Highway. The party drove ninety-eight miles that day, stopping for the night at Bryan.66 The men ate dinner and stayed the night at the Hotel Bryan. A “smoker,” an informal social gathering for men, was held at the Carnegie Hall following dinner.67 On Friday, the tour left Bryan, passing through Navasota and Hempstead en-route to Houston.68 They experienced difficulty crossing the Navasota River. The Houston and Texas Central Railroad offered use of its tracks across the water, but a detour was found around the flooded area instead.69 At the dinner given by the Houston Chamber of Commerce at the New Rice Hotel, an unidentified member of the party said, “Today the Houston & Texas Central train [offered] over part of its line, and we would have traveled on the ties for a few miles, but it was not necessary. It showed, however, that the people of Texas will go the limit for a stranger.”70 Reaching Galveston On Saturday, the party left Houston for the terminus of its southbound trip—Galveston. One of the highlights of the morning was driving more than thirty-five miles on a shell road.71 The shells were dredged from the gulf, laid in the roadways, and pounded down by traffic until the road was smooth. The roads were so smooth, that the tourists sped up. Along the way, they noticed a motorcyclist fixing his machine on the side of the road, but continued on, not noticing that he was a police officer who then mounted his machine and began following them. The officer eventually gained enough speed to pass the party and ordered them to stop. Scolding the party members, the office explained that he had to reach sixty-seven miles per hour in order to stop the vehicles. The state law of Texas at the time ordered that no motorist should exceed eighteen miles per hour at any time or place. The tour members avoided a speeding ticket by promising future good behavior.72

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“On shell road between Houston and Galveston--stopped by an officer for ‘speeding.’” Probably photographed by G. B. Merrick, May 16, 1914. The dredging of road shell from Galveston Bay was one of the largest industries in Galveston County at the time. Virginia J. Church 1914 Sociability Tour Collection, Special Collections, Pikes Peak Library District (262-6989).

At Dickinson, seven Galveston cars accompanied the tour. Here were seen the gaily decked cars of the tourists filled with khaki-clad drivers who shouted greetings to the citizens of their destination . . . After a short sojourn in Dickinson the cars were started once more to the south, and within a short time the sea breeze was blowing the tanned faces of the mountaineers.73 The party reached the causeway drawbridge and the tour’s own moving picture man was positioned on the engine house to film the passing cars. The chief of police William H. Perrett and other officers halted the men briefly, allowing them to catch sight of the “Galveston Welcomes You” sign. They proceeded to the sea wall in front of the Hotel Galvez where a second film was made of the autos arriving at “the terminus of their long journey” and then of the tour members who “shouted exclamations to each other like happy boys.”74 After lunch at the Hotel Galvez, the cars were moved to the boulevard and Twenty First Street where four moving picture men filmed and a crowd of several hundred curious onlookers were kept at bay by two officers. Mayor Lewis Fisher presented the party with a key to the City of Galveston, which was inscribed, “Galveston—


to the Colorado-to-the-Gulf Tourists—No Speed Limit Here.” Thomas C. Kirkwood presented the mayor with a banner reading “Colorado to the Gulf.” The dust-covered cars were then driven to the beach west of Fort Crockett and “baptized” in the Gulf of Mexico. Then, members of the party “donned bathing suits and with a dash that might have reminded some of the ‘old swimmin’ hole’ plunged into the surf.”75

The tourists arrive at the beach west of Fort Crockett on May 16, 1914. In early August 1915, a hurricane hit the Galveston area. Although more powerful than the Galveston hurricane of 1900—considered the worst national disaster in U.S. history—the hurricane of 1915 did less damage to Galveston thanks to a seawall that had been finished in 1904. Mayall Collection, Special Collections, Pikes Peak Library District, (102-10209).

The party visited Rogers’ oyster farm as the guests of honor at their first crab supper where the mayor and other Galvestonians demonstrated how to shell and eat crabs. In his address, Mayor Fisher emphasized that close business relations between Colorado and Texas should be created and good roads were the most vital means of doing this. He stressed Galveston as Colorado’s only close port and urged that the party stay in Galveston another day, good-naturedly threatening, “I have the police and militia behind me and if necessary the draw bridge will be raised.” Genuine crab shell medals were presented to John H. Jenkins, secretary of the Pueblo Chamber of Commerce and Alva Henderson, secretary of the Colorado Springs Chamber of Commerce, for eating the largest number of crabs. Henderson spoke saying, “We made the trip after hundreds had advised against making the attempt. We are here to cooperate in the building of such a road and in blazing the

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way we feel we have accomplished something worthwhile.” The speeches also called attention to convict labor for road building—a method successfully used in Colorado. As Tango music from an adjoining dining room interfered with speeches, the mayor shortened his talk, allowing the army officers and ladies to dance. The following morning, the delegation was awakened at 6:00 by Harvey H. Haines, traffic manager of the Galveston Commercial Association, enjoining the group to enjoy a swim in the gulf followed by a boat ride at Pier 22, with sandwiches and refreshments on board. Leaving Galveston at 3:00 p.m., the party headed northwest to visit Texas City and the army camp there, with plans to return to Houston for the night, then to spend Monday night in Victoria.76

Army camp at Texas City, May 17, 1914. Probably photographed by G. B. Merrick. Stationed at Texas City during the hurricane of 1915, the Fifth Brigade, made up of 8,000 men, lost all of its horses, supplies, equipment, and records, due to the storm. The camp was never rebuilt. Virginia J. Church 1914 Sociability Tour Collection, Special Collections, Pikes Peak Library District, (262-6946).

Thwarted by the Rains On May 18, the group left Wharton in the early morning heading to El Campo, a distance of sixty miles. Due to rain, mud, and floods, the journey lasted until midnight. The automobiles stalled in the high water outside El Campo and were left there for the night.77 The next day, Alva Henderson sent a telegram to the Colorado Springs Evening Telegraph stating that the party was well, but thoroughly tired out. They were heading for San Antonio, which they intended to reach by the evening. He


added that information received at El Campo stated that the roads to San Antonio should be much better.78 However, due to the floods, the party remained at El Campo for another day, wiring the Austin Chamber of Commerce on Wednesday, May 20, that they were leaving El Campo that morning to go west.79 Due to torrential rains followed by massive flooding in the area, the trip west to San Antonio did not go well. The Navidad River, in Wharton County, was high and many bridges were washed out.80 The party made ten miles in 3 hours through mud and water that ranged in depth from two to three feet.81 Henderson said, Our cars did not have boat attachments and we had to abandon them at Louise, some 160 miles from here [San Antonio]. The mud didn’t bother us except to check the speed slightly, but when it comes to fording mile-wide creeks—well, automobiles were not built for that kind of work, at least the 1914 models.82 According to the May 1914 Monthly Weather Review, All streams of Texas from the Rio Grande to the Sabine were more or less flooded during May. . . May was an exceptionally wet month; in fact the total precipitation for the month exceeded that of the previously wettest month of record (June, 1899) by 0.61 inch. Due to the heavy, frequent showers, there were large fluctuations in the volume of water barreling downstream and many river stations reported flood stage levels two or three times during the month. Roads were damaged and bridges were washed away. Train service was interrupted by washout and softened roadbeds. Farmers also suffered as fields were water soaked. Cultivation was impossible and much of the corn and cotton crop was damaged and had to be replanted. The total loss incurred by the floods in Texas that year totaled $1,716,000. Additionally, eleven people drowned in Texas as a result of the floods.83

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The severe conditions doomed the rest of the trip for the Sociability Tour. At Louise, on May 20, the autoists had their cars shipped by train back to Colorado.84 A few members of the party stayed back in Louise to see the autos off while the rest of the tour boarded a Southern Pacific car to San Antonio, arriving in the city at 10:00 p.m. Alva Henderson reported to the San Antonio Express that, “Someone told me it didn’t rain in this part of the country. Well, all I have to say is I would hate to be down here when it does rain. No, seriously, we had wonderfully good luck coming down, but just happened to strike it wrong coming back.” The Sociability Tour of 1914 now was officially a railroad tour.85

An automobile is pulled through high water by a horse-drawn cart. In 1910, 14,276 automobiles were in service in the state of Texas. By 1915, the number quintupled to 72,433 vehicles. Probably photographed by G. B. Merrick. Virginia J. Church 1914 Sociability Tour Collection, Special Collections, Pikes Peak Library District, (262-6946).

The party stayed overnight in San Antonio and met with the San Antonio Automobile Club the following day, Thursday, May 21. In four large touring cars, the men saw the city, visiting the missions—including the famous Alamo—the army post, and the residential neighborhoods, despite steady rain. The Automobile Club had plans to entertain the tourists in their North Loop clubhouse, but the road was underwater.86 It was clear that road improvements were needed in San Antonio.


The group, now numbering twenty-one men, left San Antonio the following morning, taking the 6:40 Missouri, Kansas, & Texas railroad to Austin. Arriving around 10:00 a.m., they were greeted with a reception at the station by members of the Austin Chamber of Commerce. The Sociability Tour members each were given an Austin pennant, a Texas pennant, and two Texas flags by the Chamber of Commerce. Then the party was taken by car to the state capitol where it was welcomed by Governor Oscar Branch Colquitt in his private office. In a short address, the governor welcomed the Coloradoans to Texas. A reception was held on the capitol grounds and moving pictures were made of the group, with focus on Governor Colquitt shaking hands with Edwin J. Eaton, president of the Colorado Savings Bank and personal representative for Colorado Governor Elias M. Ammons. The tourists enjoyed a ride around Austin, including a trip over the river bridge and visits to the city’s institutions. The party left Austin on a noon train for Katy and Waco.87 At train stations in Temple, Waco, and other cities en route to Dallas, large delegations greeted the members of the Sociability Tour.88 The party stayed in Dallas overnight. Alva Henderson spoke to the Dallas News, saying,

Sociability tourists gather near a train towards the end of the tour. Courtesy of Starsmore Center for Local History at the Colorado Springs Pioneers Museum.

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Interior view of the Harvey House in the Bisonte Hotel, Hutchinson, Kansas, where the Sociability tourists ate in 1914. Fred Harvey developed a chain of restaurants along the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway lines that catered to on-the-go railroad passengers, boasting quality food, good service, and impeccable cleanliness. Courtesy of Kansas State Historical Society, (00055309a).

While we are disappointed in having to leave the automobiles, there was no alternative. We did make the trip to the Gulf and we feel that something has been accomplished toward making the possibility of an automobile route between Texas and Colorado. We found some bad roads between Dallas and Galveston, but it was encouraging to note that in the counties where bad roads exist they are either being improved or bonds have been voted for improving them. The party left Dallas for Sherman on the Electric Urban Railway on the morning of Saturday, May 23.89 At Sherman, following a reception, a party of autoists from Denison drove the Colorado tourists in cars to their city. During the ride, the automobile of Dr. Francis M. Teas flipped near Iron Ore Creek and Dr. Teas was badly injured.90 As reported in the Colorado Springs Gazette, “During this run, several members of the Colorado party narrowly escaped injury in an overturned machine, but came out without a scratch.”91 The delegation continued across the Texas-Oklahoma state line on the St.


Louis–San Francisco Railway, with stops in the Oklahoma cities of Durant and Ardmore.92 In Ardmore, El Paso County Highway Commissioner Buford A. Banta told the crowd, “We have been pleased to learn that in Oklahoma you have a state highway commissioner who is doing a great deal of work to spread good roads enthusiasm and create a state-wide spirit in favor of the development of the public highways.”93 The party stayed Saturday night in Ardmore before leaving for Oklahoma City at 11:55 the next morning, with stops in Purcell, Pauls Valley, and Norman along the way.94 They spent the remainder of the day in Oklahoma City, continuing on to Guthrie Monday evening. On Tuesday, the party was taken by auto from Arkansas City to Winfield, Kansas. They reached Wichita at noon and continued on to Newton and their final stop, Hutchinson.95 The party briefly stayed in Hutchinson, having a meal at the Harvey House. Oliver H. Shoup, manager of the Manitou Springs Mineral Water Company, commented, “I really believe that [this] is the first meal I have enjoyed since I left home three weeks ago.” Home wasn’t far away now as the party left on the 5:20 p.m. Santa Fe line to Colorado Springs.96 Homecoming Back in Colorado, a homecoming celebration was planned for the party’s arrival on the No. 7 Santa Fe train, due in Colorado Springs at 11:25 a.m., Wednesday, May 27. President Cotton and Mayor McKesson issued a formal request that all residents of Colorado Springs be in attendance to greet the party at the Santa Fe Depot, and a crowd of five thousand was expected.97 McKesson planned to give a short address upon the party’s arrival at the depot. Then, one of Crystal Park Auto Company’s big touring cars would be not driven, but rather pulled with rope by one thousand men. Filmmaker Romaine Fielding, who was establishing a motion picture studio in Colorado Springs at the time,98 promised to have his motion picture cameras on hand to film the reception.99 An enthusiastic crowd at the Santa Fe Depot awaited the arrival of the Sociability tourists on the sunny morning of May 27. Upon the arrival of the group, Mayor McKesson addressed the party and the crowd, calling the Sociability Tour members

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“benefactors and heroes” for their public relations work in New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas, and for their bravery in passing through storms, floods, mud, and other hardships. He also commended them on arriving home on the train, demonstrating that there are two ways to reach Colorado. He went on to compare them to Theodore Roosevelt for his 1913 exploration of a Brazilian river, named the Rio Roosevelt (subsequently the Rio Teodoro). “He spent many months in discovering a river that existed since the Almighty separated the dry land from the sea, while you, in a few short weeks, discovered a multitude of streams that never existed prior to your advent into Texas.” He went on that Roosevelt had lost fifty-five pounds on his expedition, while the Sociability Tour members returned “fat, bronzed, and handsome.” He concluded by thanking the party for their work in improving the ties of fellowship with New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas, hoping that in the future they will all “become one great, big, happy, sociable family.”100

Crowds gather in Colorado Springs to welcome the tour members, May 27, 1914. Probably photographed by G. B. Merrick. Courtesy of Starsmore Center for Local History at the Colorado Springs Pioneers Museum.

Alva Henderson spoke, declaring the Sociability Tour a success. He emphasized the three accomplished objectives of the tour: “To encourage the building of good roads from Colorado to Texas to Kansas and Oklahoma; to become better


acquainted with our friends in these states . . .; and to advertise our region.” He commented on the “world of publicity” they had received, saying “practically every newspaper in Texas ran a cut of the map of the Colorado-to-the-Gulf Highway. . . Furthermore, the Associated Press and also the United Press carried many columns of matter concerning the tour and those articles, of course, went all over the United States.” He voiced his belief that the tour would greatly stimulate the building of highways; create reciprocity in tourist business between Colorado and Texas; and focus more national attention on the Pikes Peak region.101 Other members of the party also spoke, mostly declaring their thanks for the hospitality they had encountered. Lewis Puffer said, “Never had such a time in my life. We met with the most cordial receptions at every point and Texas fell in love with the spirit of our enterprise right away.” Andrew J. Lawton declared, “Hurrah for Texas and its people. We want more of their splendid spirit of optimism and boost in our own city.” Buford Banta added, “The Texans are the finest entertainers in the world.”102 A parade followed. The parade was headed by a banner reading, “Welcome Home: We are all One for the Best State in the World,” followed by the Elks marching band and a platoon of police. The parade route went east on Pikes Peak Avenue to Tejon Street, north to the Acacia Hotel, west to Cascade Avenue, south past the Antlers Hotel, east on Cucharras Street past the Spaulding and Alamo hotels, then north on Tejon Street and back to the Chamber of Commerce headquarters in the Burns Building.103 While the Sociability Tour accomplished the goal of promoting auto tourism and the Pikes Peak region, it also produced other effects. First, there was the incredible amount of press that was given the tour, even after it was completed, in prominent publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Automobile Journal.104 It appeared that the media had Colorado Springs on its radar. Awareness of the tour and the Coloradoto-the-Gulf Highway surely contributed to the establishment of the American Association of State Highway Officials in

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December 1914. The creation of this association gave states an effective voice for advocating a national road improvement plan. On May 17, 1914, Texans from Galveston, Fort Worth, and Dallas made plans for their own sociability tour to Pikes Peak during the summer.105 By July, details were in place for a 1,600mile combination sociability and endurance run, which would commence in Colorado Springs, covering the newly opened Colorado and Utah section of the Pikes Peak Ocean-to-Ocean Highway.106 Sociability tours associated with the Colorado Springs Chamber of Commerce continued into the 1930s.107 The spirit of ingenuity and enterprise that created the tour lives on in the Pikes Peak region today. Katie Rudolph is the Special Collections Photo Archivist for the Pikes Peak Library District. Katie earned an undergraduate degree in journalism from the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities. She later earned a Masters in Library and Information Studies, with a focus on archives and visual material collections, from the University of Wisconsin at Madison. Katie has held positions at Wisconsin Public Television, the Wisconsin Historical Society, and the University of Wisconsin’s Helen Louise Allen Textile Collection. Katie processed the Virginia C. Church 1914 Sociability Tour Collection in 2010.

A banner welcomes the Sociability Tour of 1914 at Galveston city limits, May 16, 1914. Probably photographed by G. B. Merrick. Virginia J. Church 1914 Sociability Tour Collection, Special Collections, Pikes Peak Library District (2627005).

140 • BUMPS IN THE ROAD Members of the 1914 Sociability Tour •

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James W. Atkinson (1867–1932), manager of the Acacia Hotel, Colorado Springs. Atkinson was an early contractor with his father, George W. Atkinson and the father-son firm built many prominent buildings in Colorado. In 1911, Atkinson was accidentally shot in the leg at the Brown Palace Hotel when Harold Henwood opened fire on Sylvester Von Puhl and a stray bullet struck the bystander. He walked with difficulty after the incident and thus began a career in the hotel business. Buford A. Banta, County Commission of El Paso County, Colorado Springs. Dr. George A. Boyd, physician, Colorado Springs. Benjamin B. Brown, president of Western National Bank, exmayor of Pueblo. Dr. Newton N. Brumback (1854–1923), president Manitou Incline Railway, manager Manitou Incline Railway, manager of the Manitou Attractions association. Dr. Brumback came to Colorado Springs in 1898 from Beatrice, Nebraska, where he was practicing medicine. He remained in Colorado Springs 5 years before moving to Denver. He conceived of the scenic possibilities of an incline railway up Mount Manitou and financed and constructed the railway, reportedly with some of his own labor, in 1907. He sold the railway in 1914. He returned to Colorado Springs late in life, but never practiced medicine in the city. He did have interests in Giffith oil on the east side of Colorado Springs. He died a few days before his 69th birthday in 1923. 108 William H. Cundey, passenger agent for the Denver & Rio Grande railway, Colorado Springs. Everett H. Day, manager Pueblo Stores Company. President Retail Merchants Bureau of the Commerce Club, Pueblo. Charles H. Dudley (1862–1938), attorney, Colorado Springs. Dudley was born on November 11, 1862, in Lyndon, Whiteside County, Illinois. He was a surveyor after graduating from Cornell College and then took a law course at Ann Arbor, Michigan, graduating with an L.L.B. degree. He came to Rocky Ford, Colorado in 1888, where he practiced law and surveyed until he moved to Colorado Springs the following year. Dudley was an El Paso County judge and thirty-third degree Mason. He died at the age of 75 in 1938.109 William S. Dunning, vice president Colorado Springs Chamber of Commerce. Manager of the Antlers Hotel, Colorado Springs.

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Edwin J. Eaton (1847–1932), president Colorado Springs Savings Bank, Colorado Springs. Eaton was born in Tonica, Illinois, on September 3, 1847, and moved west to Lincoln, Nebraska, where he became postmaster in 1868. He came to Colorado Springs in 1872, working in the sheep business and later as a bookkeeper for the Sloan Lumber Company. He was deputy county assessor from 1874 through 1879 and later became county clerk and recorder. He served as the secretary of state in 1891 for Governor John A. Routt while having an abstract and title business. He was an owner of the Colorado Springs street railway system before it came under the control of Winfield Scott Stratton. In 1901, Mr. Eaton became president of the Colorado Savings Bank, a spot he held until January 1932, when he was elected chairman of the board of directors.110 William Fowden, manager of U.S. Concrete Company, Pueblo. George L. L. Gann, president of Pueblo Stores Company. President of the Pueblo Commerce Club. George F. G[r?]eiger, mayor of Ramona, near Colorado Springs. Ray Haigler, the Acacia Hotel, Colorado Springs. Dr. Peter H. Heller, physician and surgeon, Pueblo.111 Alva W. Henderson, publicity officer of the tour. Secretary of the Colorado Springs Chamber of Commerce. Secretary of the Mountain division of the Colorado-to-Gulf Association. Harry L. Hollister, secretary-treasurer of the Pueblo Bridge Company, Pueblo. John H. Jenkins, captain of the tour. Secretary of the Pueblo Commerce Club, Pueblo.112 Thomas C. Kirkwood (1872–1961), manager of the GiddingsKirkwood Dry Goods company. Director of the Chamber of Commerce, Colorado Springs.113 Andrew J. Lawton (1873–1918), commissioner of Public Works, Colorado Springs. Chester A. Letts, the Congress Hotel, Pueblo. Albert W. Marksheffel (1881–1938), marshal of the tour. President of the Marksheffel Motor Company, Colorado Springs.114 Gordon B. Merrick, official photographer of the tour. John D. Moore, part of the Executive Committee. Dentist, Pueblo.115 Wilbur Newton, president of the Newton Lumber Company, Pueblo. Joseph J. Pierce, manager of the Alamo Hotel, Colorado Springs. Lewis A. Puffer (1855–1928), part of the Executive Committee. President of the Puffer-Tucker Wholesale Grocery Company. Member of the All-Colorado Committee.116

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Bert F. Scribner, president Franklin Press, vice president Commerce Club, Pueblo. Oliver H. Shoup, manager of the Manitou Springs Mineral Water Company, Manitou Springs. Robert D. Sims (1886–1942), Credit Reporting Company, Colorado Springs.117 H. Hoyt Stevens (1850–1944), president Alta Vista Hotel Company, Colorado Springs. Stevens was born in Dunham, Quebec, Canada, in 1850. He lived in Chicago during the great fire of 1871 and moved to the Colorado Springs area October 15, 1871.118 Stevens first had a cattle ranch near Eleven Mile Cañon and then entered the livery business in Colorado Springs with Frank Rouse, forming the livery firm Rouse & Stevens. The business later changed to an automobile business and bus service around Colorado Springs and to Colorado City. Stevens built the twenty-six-unit Alta Vista Hotel in 1891. Stevens claimed to be “the first hotel man in the state to adopt electricity for cooking, the first to have an electric elevator and an electric sign.”119 In 1934, at the age of 84 and after nearly 15 years in retirement (Stevens had leased the hotel to the Conway brothers), Stevens remodeled and reopened the 122-room Alta Vista Hotel at a cost exceeding $25,000. Stevens died at the hotel just a few days shy of his 94th birthday.120 Frank H. Stevens, manager of the Alta Vista Hotel Company, Colorado Springs. Senator Alexander T. Stewart, president of the board of trustees of the Colorado Hospital Association, Pueblo. Alexander T. Stewart, Jr., attorney-at-law, Pueblo. James K. Sweeney, treasurer , treasurer Andrew McClelland Mercantile, Industrial & Realty Company, Pueblo. Jay L. Warren, Manitou Springs Mineral Water Company, Manitou Springs.

NOTES

1. John J. McLaurin, Sketches in Crude-Oil; Some Accidents and Incidents of Petroleum Development in All Parts of the Globe (Franklin, Pa.: Published by the author, 1902). 2. Richard F. Weingroff, “Federal Aid Road Act of 1916: Building the Foundation,” Public Roads 60, no. 1 (Summer 1996), http://www. fhwa.dot.gov/publications/publicroads/96summer/p96su2.cfm (accessed on January 7, 2011). 3. Colorado Springs Gazette, “Colorado-to-Gulf Highway Best of Auto Roads From Viewpoint of Springs People,” January 18, 1914.

RUDOLPH • 143 4. Ibid. 5. Ibid. 6. Ibid. 7. Unidentified newspaper (Amarillo, Tex.), February 4, 1914 [?], (article came from a clipping file at the Colorado Springs Pioneers Museum). 8. Colorado Springs Gazette, “Sociability Run Sure to Boom Entire Region,” March 14, 1914. 9. Pueblo Star-Journal, “Welcome for Motorists On 2500 Mile Run,” March 23, 1914. 10. Amarillo News, “Colorado Auto Party Planning Texas Trip,” March 31, 1914. 11. Waco Herald, “Colorado Autoists Will Visit Waco,” April 3, 1914. 12. Colorado Springs Gazette, “Start Sociability Run Tomorrow Sure,” May 5, 1914. 13. Colorado Springs Evening Telegraph, “Enthusiastic Welcome for Sociability Tourists,” May 25, 1914. 14. Pueblo City Directory, (Kansas City, Mo.: R. L. Polk & Co., 1914). 15. Ibid. 16. Ibid. 17. Hoboken Observer, “Long Auto Run,” May 4, 1914; Deadwood Daily Telegram, “Long Auto Tour Was Started Today,” May 4, 1914; Colorado Springs Gazette, “Sociability Men Who Blazed Their Way Through Floods Given Rousing Reception Upon Arrival Home,” May 28, 1914. 18. University of Denver, “A History of the Colorado Coal Field War.” Colorado Coal Field War Project, http://www.du.edu/ludlow/ index.html (accessed November 30, 2010). 19. P. C. Day, “The Weather of the Month,” Monthly Weather Review, April 1914. 20. Alfred J. Henry, “River and Floods, May, 1914.” Monthly Weather Review, May 1914. 21. Frederick H. Brandenburg, “Floods in the Denver District, May, 1914,” Monthly Weather Review, May 1914. 22. Alfred J. Henry, “River and Floods, May, 1914.” Monthly Weather Review, May 1914. 23. Colorado Springs Gazette, “Start Sociability Run Tomorrow Sure,” May 5, 1914. 24. Ibid., May 5, 1914. 25. Pueblo Chieftain, “Puebloans Leave This Morning on Sociability Run,” May 6, 1914. 26. Colorado Springs Gazette, May 5, 1914. 27. Ibid., “Pikes Peak Region Boosters Off on 2,500-Mile Auto Trip to Gulf,” May 6, 1914.

144 • BUMPS IN THE ROAD 28. Rocky Mountain News (Denver), “Seven Autos Representing Four Commercial Clubs of State Start on 2,500-Mile Journey,” May 7, 1914. 29. Pueblo Chieftain, “Puebloans Leave This Morning on Sociability Run,” May 6, 1914. 30. Beloit Call (Beloit, Kans.), “The Colorado Sociability Run,” April 25, 1914; Raton Range (Raton, N.Mex), “The Sociability Tourists Passed Through Thursday,” May 8, 1914. 31. Raton Range, “The Sociability Tourists Passed Through Thursday,” May 8, 1914. 32. Waco Herald (Waco, Tex.), “Auto Party at Clayton,” May 8, 1914. 33. Dallas Herald, “Colorado-Gulf Auto Tourists at Clayton,” May 8, 1914. 34. Colorado Springs Evening Telegraph, “Texas Extends the Glad Hand to Auto Party From Colo.,” May 10, 1914. 35. Colorado Springs Evening Telegraph, May 10, 1914. 36. Amarillo Daily News, “Colorado Crew Reaches City,” May 9, 1914. 37. Colorado Springs Evening Telegraph, “Texas Extends the Glad Hand to Auto Party From Colo.,” May 10, 1914. 38. Dallas News, “Colorado Party Comes Monday,” May 10, 1914. 39. Fort Worth Record, “Colorado Autoists Decide on the Trip,” May 7, 1914. 40. Jacksboro Gazette (Jacksboro, Tex.), “Colorado-to-Gulf Party in Texas,” May 14, 1914. 41. Hall County Herald (Memphis, Tex.), “The Colorado Tourists Here,” May 16, 1914. 42. Colorado Springs Evening Telegraph, “Dallas Motorists Kidnap Colorado Sociability Party, May 13, 1914; Hall County Herald, May 16, 1914. 43. Hall County Herald, May 16, 1914. 44. Jacksboro Gazette, May 14, 1914. 45. Colorado Springs Gazette, “Texans Turn Out in Force for Autoists,” May 10, 1914. 46. Jacksboro Gazette, May 14, 1914. 47. Wichita Weekly Times (Wichita Falls, Tex.), “Colorado Party Reaches This City,” May 15, 1914. 48. Peoples Review (Henrietta, Tex.), “Visitors,” May 15, 1914. 49. Wichita Weekly Times, “Automobile Overturns, and Several are Hurt,” May 15, 1914. 50. Peoples Review, May 15, 1914. 51. Fort Worth Record, May 7, 1914.

RUDOLPH • 145 52. Houston Post, “Colorado Auto Tourists,” May 12, 1914. 53. Dallas News, “Colorado Party Comes Monday,” May 10, 1914. 54. The Colorado Tourist (Denver and Colorado Springs), “Colorado Auto Tourists At Fort Worth,” May 16, 1914. 55. Colorado Springs Gazette, “Texans Getting Ready to Spend Summer in Springs,” May 12, 1914. 56. Colorado Springs Evening Telegraph, “Dallas Motorists Kidnap Colorado Sociability Party,” May 13, 1914. 57. Austin Statesman, “Colorado Autoists are Late,” May 14, 1914. 58. Colorado Springs Gazette, “Autoists Change Route Due to Road Conditions,” May 13, 1914. 59. Colorado Springs Gazette, May 13, 1914. 60. Dallas News, “Colorado-to-Gulf Tourists Leave City,” May 14, 1914; Colorado Springs Gazette, “Three Hundred Dine Sociability Party,” May 14, 1914. 61. Dallas Daily Times, “Dallas Auto Club Furnishes Pilot,” May 14, 1914. 62. Colorado Springs Gazette, “Three Hundred Dine Sociability Party,” May 14, 1914; Hillsboro Mirror (Hillsboro, Tex.), “Colorado-toGulf Tourists Entertained by Young Men’s Business League While in City,” May 14, 1914. 63. Hillsboro Mirror, “Colorado-to-Gulf Tourists Entertained by Young Men’s Business League While in City,” May 14, 1914. 64. Colorado Springs Gazette, May 14, 1914. 65. Marlin Chamber of Commerce and Historic Downtown Marlin Association, “A Walking Tour of Historic Downtown Marlin,” http://www.marlintexas.com/tour.htm (accessed November 30, 2010). 66. Colorado Springs Evening Telegraph, “Sociability Party Nearing the Gulf,” May 15, 1914. 67. Bryan Eagle[?] (Bryan, Tex.), “Business Men Entertain Tonight,” May 14, 1914. 68. Daily Ardmoreite (Ardmore, Okla.), “Colo’ Boosters are in Texas,” May 15, 1914. 69. Colorado Springs Gazette, “Colorado Party to Gulf City Tonight,” May 16, 1914. 70. Houston News, “Colorado-to-Gulf Party Due in Galveston Today,” May 16, 1914. 71. Colorado Springs Evening Telegraph, “Colorado Sociability Tourist Reach Gulf; Mayor Fisher of Galveston Given Banner,” May 16, 1914. 72. Manitou Springs Journal (Manitou Springs, Colo.), “Sociability Run was Eminently Successful Advertising Scheme,” May 29, 1914.

146 • BUMPS IN THE ROAD 73. Galveston Tribune, “Colorado-to-the-Gulf Tourists Reach Goal in Galveston Today,” May 16, 1914. 74. Ibid. 75. Galveston Daily News, “From Colorado to the Gulf by Auto,” May 17, 1914. 76. Ibid., May 17, 1914. 77. Colorado Springs Evening Telegraph, “Colorado Sociability Tourists Lose Fight with Rain and Mud and Ship Their Machines Home,” May 21, 1914. 78. Ibid., “Sociability Tourists Fight Rain and Mud to Reach El Campo,” May 19, 1914. 79. Austin Statesman, “Floods Cause More Delay,” May 21, 1914. 80. Dallas Journal, “Auto Tourists Abandon Cars for Rail Route,” May 22, 1914. 81. Colorado Springs Evening Telegraph, May 21, 1914. 82. San Antonio Express, “Coloradoans will Return by Train from Texas Tour,” May 21, 1914. 83. Alfred J Henry, “Rivers and Floods, May, 1914,” Monthly Weather Review, May, 1914. 84. Dallas Journal, “Autoists Reach Austin, But Not in Autos,” May 22, 1914. 85. San Antonio Express, “Coloradoans Will Return by Train From Texas Tour,” May 21, 1914; San Antonio Express, “Tourists are Entertained,” May 22, 1914. 86. San Antonio Express, May 22, 1914. 87. Austin Statesman, “Colorado Visitors Arrive Sans Car,” May 23, 1914; San Antonio Express, May 22, 1914. 88. Colorado Springs Gazette, “Coloradoan Tourists Abandon Automobiles,” May 23, 1914. 89. Dallas News, “Leave Automobiles at Louise,” May 23, 1914. 90. Denison Herald, “Dr, Teas Received Letter of Sympathy,” June 6, 1914. 91. Colorado Springs Gazette, “Colorado Auto Party Crosses to Oklahoma,” May 24, 1914. 92. Daily Ardmoreite, “Colorado Boosters Here Yesterday,” May 25, 1914; Dallas News, May 23, 1914. 93. Ibid., “Good Roads Are State Builders,” May 25, 1914. 94. Dallas News, May 23, 1914. 95. Colorado Springs Evening Telegraph, “Sociability Tourists Delayed; Will Arrive Tomorrow A.M.” May 26, 1914. 96. Hutchinson Gazette (Hutchinson, Kans.), “Coloradoans Wore ‘Homey’ Smile,” May 27, 1914. 97. Colorado Springs Evening Telegraph, “Enthusiastic Welcome for Sociability Tourists,” May 25, 1914.

RUDOLPH • 147 98. Colorado Springs Gazette, “Big ‘Movie’ Company Comes to Springs; Will be Busy Here for Next Six Months,” May 6, 1914. 99. Ibid., “Sociability Tourists Delayed; Will Arrive Tomorrow A. M.” May 26, 1914. 100. Ibid., “Sociability Tourists in Enthusiastic Welcome,” May 27, 1914. 101. Ibid., “All Members of Party Declare Trip to South Great Success,” May 27, 1914; Colorado Springs Gazette, “Sociability Men Who Blazed Their Way Through Floods Given Rousing Reception Upon Arrival Home,” May 28, 1914; Ibid., “Sociability Tourists Delighted with Reception Accorded Them in Southland,” May 28, 1914. 102. Colorado Springs Gazette, May 28, 1914. 103. Colorado Springs Evening Telegraph, May 25, 1914; Ibid., May 27, 1914. 104. Christian Science Monitor (Boston, Mass.), “Colorado Springs Plans Automobile Reliability Run,” July 3, 1914; Automobile Journal, “Colorado-Texas Good Roads Tour,” June 10, 1914. 105. Colorado Springs Gazette, “Texans Plan Big Sociability Run to Colorado As Result of Trip to Gulf,” May 18, 1914. 106. Ibid., “Rushing Details for 1,600-Miles Auto Event Over Pikes Peak-Ocean Highway,” July 4, 1914; Christian Science Monitor, July 3, 1914. 107. Indian Journal (Muskogee, Creek Nation, Indian Territory [Okla.]), “Colorado C of C, Goodwill Group Stops in Eufaula,” May 9, 1935. 108. Evergreen Cemetery Records; Colorado Springs Gazette, “Dr. Brumback Dies at Home at Age of 69,” March 20, 1923. 109. Evergreen Cemetery Records; Colorado Springs Gazette, “Charles H. Dudley is Stricken at Age 75,” September 7, 1938. 110. Evergreen Cemetery Records; Colorado Springs Gazette, “Edwin Eaton, Head of Bank, Dies at Home,” June 14, 1932. 111. Pueblo City Directory, 1914. 112. Ibid. 113. Evergreen Cemetery Records. 114. Ibid. 115. Pueblo City Directory, 1914. 116. Ibid, Evergreen Cemetery Records. 117. Ibid. 118. Colorado Springs Gazette, “H. H. Stevens, Pioneer, Dies,” May 29, 1944. 119. Ibid., “Hoyt Stevens, at 84, Gets Back into Hotel Business,” December 30, 1934. 120. Ibid., “H. H. Stevens, Pioneer, Dies,” May 29, 1944.

Dorothy Palmer teaches her father, General William Jackson Palmer, to ride a bicycle near Echo Rocks, north of Glen Eyrie Castle. In his essay Taming the Bicycle, Mark Twain wrote of the terrors of learning to ride: “suddenly the nickel-clad horse takes the bit in its mouth and goes slanting for the curbstone, defying all prayers and all your powers to change its mind—your heart stands still, your breath hangs fire, your legs forget to work, straight on you go . . .” During 1895, horsemen and wheelmen (bicyclists) joined together to raise funding for a combined-use track in Colorado Springs. Rhoda Wilcox Collection, MSS0214, Special Collections, Pikes Peak Library District.

The Quest for the Best: William Jackson Palmer 1836–1909 Donald McGilchrist It takes a thousand men to invent a telegraph, or a steam engine, or a phonograph, or a photograph, or a telephone, or any other important thing—and the last man gets the credit and we forget the others. He added his little mite—that is all he did.1 Mark Twain In their celebrated Book of Colorado Springs, Manly and Eleanor Ormes concluded that, General [William Jackson] Palmer . . . was the originator, and one of the most potent factors during four decades in the up-building of this city, and not only the town, but the state, and the entire West. He touched and inspired in almost every line of activity the growth and development of the region.2 While William Jackson Palmer is not known as an inventor, per se, and he acquired no patents during his lifetime, he was an innovative and enterprising pioneer who had an enduring ability to secure the best counsel and employ the best people to flesh out his vision. In the realm of invention and innovation, Palmer could perhaps best be described as a collaborative instigator. Palmer’s seminal experience as a young engineer and, after the Civil War, the outworking of this in Colorado during his 30s, influenced much of his early formation and marked his period of maximum creativity. Contributing to Palmer’s genius was his skill at recruiting three kinds of men: leaders from among his Civil War officers, engineers from his early railroad days, and investors from his many Eastern and European relationships. All were friends. To these, in his final years, he • 149 •

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added a stream of social and cultural leaders who came to enjoy his conversation and his home. Given that Palmer was able to deploy large financial resources toward the end of his life, the question arises, to what extent did he merely purchase innovation rather than stimulate it?3 Was he more of what we would call a venture capitalist? Certainly this was not how he started. His family was neither wealthy nor among the social elite. Indeed, his father declared bankruptcy in the 1840s. What Palmer did receive was a splendid education: 4 years at the Central Philadelphia High School which placed a firm emphasis on science and technology. It even had a school observatory! Palmer grew up in a ferment of innovation.4 The wharves and railroads and canals around Philadelphia throbbed with new products and better means of bringing them to market. Philadelphia was then the second largest city in the country, immersed in the tumult of the Industrial Revolution. Palmer had that enterprising cast of mind that marked many Quakers in the early 19th century. In Britain, for example, Quakers numbered less than a fifth of one percent of the population, yet they were prominent in banking, clothing, food, engineering, chemicals, brewing . . . and this in spite of residual prejudice against them.5 Quakers were often entrepreneurial. Their minority status, socially and spiritually, disposed them to try harder. Furthermore, Palmer chose to align with the more open and progressive Hicksite branch of the American Quakers. At 16, Palmer left his excellent school and signed on briefly under Charles Ellet (1810–1862) of the Hempfield Railroad (Wheeling to Greensburg) in western Pennsylvania. Ellet was a skilled engineer and hydrologist who had built the first wirecable suspension bridge in America in 1842. Palmer worked energetically on Ellet’s track-laying team. He wrote, I am in the field nearly all the time, from early in the morning ’til late in the evening, tramping over hills and across valleys, through woods and through fields. Nothing stops us—for a railroad line must be a straight one—a locomotive is not proficient in turning corners.6 Later, he solved this cornering problem!

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“Alignment of the D. & R.G. Railroad Over Marshall Pass, Colorado. The above cut shows the marvelous railroading over Marshall Pass. The Pass is entered almost imperceptibly from Poncha Pass . . . The summit is almost eleven thousand feet above the sea, and the tortuous method by which the daring engineers of the Denver and Rio Grande Railroad have achieved this summit can best be understood by studying this cut, which illustrates the alignment of the track,” undated. Special Collections, Pikes Peak Library District, (257-6561).

In the summer of 1855, aged 18, Palmer borrowed the fare from his uncle and sailed for Liverpool, eager to become conversant with the latest technologies in mining, milling and railroading. He was inquisitive, observant, and analytical, filling notebooks with his comments and sketches and writing articles for the Miners’ Journal, an important Pennsylvania periodical. In November, Palmer continued on to Paris, where he kept a detailed journal of his observations for his sister Ellen. He eagerly examined the displays at the 1855 Exposition Universelle and was fascinated by “the perfection of Continental machinery,” especially, “locomotives made in an absolute monarchy that would not have disgraced a Republic, steam engines and pumps and spinning machinery invented under a despotic Emperor that might put to the blush a free representative Government.”7 Palmer then talked his way into the company of various French railroad engineers. He reported, “We conversed about coal and coke . . . and coke ovens and locomotives and fire boxes


and smoke burning and coalfields and single track railways and signals and American engineers and engineering.”8 In his youth, he much preferred Paris to London and he was scathing about the public presentations of the British engineers, although he admired their work. He also paid attention to clerical innovations. He was especially impressed by a most ingenious Dutch invention, whose object was to set type by machinery. The alphabet in regular order was set before the composer, as it would be in a spelling book. These letters were depressible like piano-stops . . . often and often has the idea of some such contrivance entered my head.9 This intense investigation of almost a year, immersed in the industrial technologies of England and France, left an indelible mark on Palmer. Indeed, he already embodied what de Tocqueville had described 20 years earlier. The typical American lives in a land of wonders; everything around him is in constant movement, and every movement seems an advance. Consequently, in his mind the idea of newness is closely linked with that of improvement. Nowhere does he see any limit placed by nature to human endeavor . . . choose any American at random, and he should be a man with burning desires, enterprising, adventurous and, above all, an innovator.10 Returning from Europe in 1856, aged 20, Palmer successfully experimented in converting locomotives from wood to coal. He served for several formative years as private secretary to J. Edgar Thomson, president of the Pennsylvania Railroad. In this capacity, Palmer worked closely with the young Andrew Carnegie (1835–1919) and others who would have bright futures. Following the Civil War, in which the young Palmer offered distinguished and daring service, the atmosphere of

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the late 1860s was one of much optimism. Westward expansion and the idea of planting colonies were in the air. Why? Partly because young men had learned, during the War, to work and act together for a large cause and they were eager to continue to adventure. The new railroads aggressively recruited groups of settlers. The Homestead Act of 1862 helped. Agricultural prices were high. Cooperative migration offered a quicker path to establishing a township and more protection from the indigenous peoples. Palmer’s unifying mindset was that of an engineer. He exercised this in the coming years in fields as varied as surveyor; geologist; developer of mines, railroads, and industries; urban designer; environmentalist; benefactor. As Surveyor for Thomson’s Kansas Pacific Railroad in 1867, Palmer led a party that explored how best to reach the Pacific, taking care to probe and assess the coal strata on the way—as well as to fend off attacks from Indians. His published report of 1868 describes almost 4,500 miles of accurately surveyed routes to San Francisco.11 His Survey photographer, Dr. William Bell, became a lifelong friend. Palmer then led the actual construction of the Kansas Pacific line coming into Denver, while resolving to form his own company. At the beginning of 1870, he wrote to his fiancée, Mary Lincoln “Queen” Mellen— I had a dream last evening . . . how fine it would be to have a little railroad a few hundred miles in length, all under one’s own control with one’s friends . . . to be able to carry out unimpeded and harmoniously one’s views in regard to what ought and ought not to be done.12 His correspondence and his actions reveal that he discerned the unique advantages of a north-south railroad along the edge of the Rockies and that he determined it should be a narrow gauge to access and colonize the mountainous region (going around “corners”!). He also envisioned how the coal deposits could be harnessed and the wilderness made hospitable to improvements. He declined to seek government or state aid, either in bonds or lands, for his enterprise. None of these elements was featured in the plans of other railroads as they competed for the best routes to California.


As an entrepreneur, Palmer knew that he had to capitalize his project. Therefore, he first established The Mountain Base Investment Fund which held title to tracts of land at points along the route of his railroad which were likely to become townships. This fund was the parent of the Colorado Springs Company (1871), which, incidentally, still exists and is the oldest company in Colorado.13 Capital would largely come from Palmer’s friends in the East and from Dr. Bell’s friends in Europe.14 A list of some of the principal companies that Palmer launched and led gives some impression of his institutional creativity: National Land & Improvement Company Central Colorado Improvement Company Colorado Springs Company Denver & Rio Grande Railway Company Colorado Coal and Steel Works Company Southern Colorado Coal and Town Company Colorado Fuel & Iron Company Mexican National Railroad Company Rio Grande Western Railway Company In the first chapter of his recent book, Killing for Coal, Thomas Andrews documents Palmer’s comprehensive vision for the lands that he was acquiring throughout Colorado, on which he projected “the building of lumber operations, irrigated farms, cattle ranches, tourist resorts, town site developments and other enterprises.”15 Andrews argues that “all Palmer’s imaginings rested upon the coal outcrops of southern Colorado” and so it was that his railroad and his mining interests advanced in tandem. The D&RG “depended upon coal not simply for fuel but also for freight.” He opened his first collieries in Fremont County in 1872, expansion continuing until his Colorado Coal and Iron Company became the largest coal mine operator in the Mountain West. Indeed, the CC&I later built what was for years the only integrated steel mill west of the Missouri River.16 As an entrepreneurial engineer, Palmer relished the possibilities of laying out towns. He wrote evocatively to

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Queen in June 1869, “There is some music in the inception of large material enterprise which can be recognized by the mind, though not perceptible through the medium of the ear.”17 Neither was it easily perceptible to the eye! Indeed, as regards the site of Colorado Springs, the only point of potential interest east of Colorado City was the confluence of Fountain and Monument creeks.

The Colorado Fuel & Iron Company steel mill with cars of the D&RG railroad in foreground, Pueblo, Colorado, 1915. Special Collections, Pikes Peak Library District, (001-3337).

Thus, Palmer knew that he had to persuade his future bride of the joys of cultivating a wilderness. So, he painted a lyrical picture, There should be fountains and lakes and lovely drives and horseback trails through the groves—all planned and planted by ourselves—so that [our home] would grow up under our own eyes, the child of our fancy and creation. How much better this would be than to find it made to our hand . . . Can you imagine anything more delightful than to form and gradually to carry out such a plan? . . . Life would be poetry . . . that gives wing to the imagination and allows no foothold for it to halt upon, short of infinity.18


Palmer was taking space and creating place, taking nature and forming culture. Indeed, he was an engineer, but with the heart of a poet. Again, he wrote to Queen in October 1869, How I seem to vibrate between a life of savagery and civilization. I think a certain amount of the former is good for a man; it is like a little spice in his rations, it gives a bouquet to his everyday life, which might otherwise become humdrum.19 In what he himself was honest enough to call “the general vacancy,” Palmer mobilized to create rapidly an unusual and attractive city. He saw beyond the arid and featureless expanse. His vision was a foretaste of a nice distinction later made by Gilbert Keith Chesterton, “The whole difference between construction and creation is exactly this: that a thing constructed can only be loved after it is constructed; but a thing created is loved before it exists.”20 This was a Created City! It may help us realize how creative Palmer and his team were, how visionary, to juxtapose his enthusiasm with the 1873 impression that the infant town made on Helen Hunt, I shall never forget my sudden sense of hopeless disappointment at the moment when I first looked on the town. It was a gray day in November . . . there stretched before me, to the east, a bleak, bare, unrelieved, desolate plain. There rose behind me, to the west, a dark range of mountains, snow-topped, rocky-walled, stern, cruel, relentless. Between lay the town—small, straight, new, treeless.21 In late 1871, the diminutive trains of Palmer’s Denver & Rio Grande Railway, building south from Denver, had reached Colorado Springs, where a fine depot was soon erected. Palmer then set up a promotional organization for his Colony, led by General Robert Alexander Cameron and managed by Major Henry McAllister. The first 160 structures were erected between August and December 1871. The energy that drove the infant

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settlement was quite remarkable. Palmer’s company soon had: platted 70 blocks, each 400 x 400 feet; built the El Paso Canal, eleven miles long, to irrigate the anticipated gardens with lateral ditches beside the main streets; planted thousands of cottonwoods; laid out the principal streets at a width of 140 feet, a feature which allowed carriages to turn around comfortably and, incidentally, prevented the 1898 conflagration from jumping Cascade Avenue from the Antlers Hotel to the central business district; set aside free lots for churches of almost every denomination; founded Colorado College and what is now the Colorado School for the Deaf and Blind; and launched the Out West newspaper, which became The Gazette, owned by Palmer until 1896.

A line of workers, some holding tools, pose in front of the stone Denver & Rio Grande Railway depot. The depot was constructed in 1887 by Fredrik J. Sterner at a cost of $25,000. Special Collections, Pikes Peak Library District, (0015588).


In 1872, Palmer even found time to sail south from California to Manzanillo, Mexico, meeting the future Mexican President Porfirio Diaz on the voyage and reaching Mexico City, where he began negotiations to build a railroad. These negotiations were protracted, Mexico being politically unstable, so that his narrow gauge construction did not begin until 10 years later.22 Meanwhile, Palmer was founding and nurturing new towns in Colorado, such as Sedalia, Castle Rock, Palmer Lake, South Pueblo and, with Governor Alexander Cameron Hunt, Durango. Places such as Leadville, Montrose, Glenwood Springs all grew rapidly when connected to his railroads and challenged by his energy. Having looked at Palmer’s entrepreneurial launch of the first of his three railroads and of the remarkable city of Colorado Springs, with a glance at his mining and industrial interests, three other aspects of this fascinating man come readily to mind.23 First was his environmentalism. Palmer was president of the International Society of Arboriculture, 24 founder of our park system, donor of 10,000 acres of Manitou Park to Colorado College, opponent of overhead electric wires and the smoky chlorination mills.25 Secondly, Palmer’s social philosophy was racially inclusive. He had African-Americans on his staff and warm relationships with Mexicans and Ute Indians. His cultural sensitivity was evident in the instructions he gave his workers constructing the Mexican National Railway—“You are building a railroad for the use of the Mexican people. They have their own ways which it is not for you to criticize. Try to adapt yourselves to these ways in a spirit of sympathy.”26 Finally, he possessed a keen sense of responsibility to the individual in all his industrial relations, this in an age of rapacious financiers. He never forgot the wretched conditions that he saw in the English coal mines.27 Indeed, he scrupulously followed his assurance to Queen that the D&RG would be— quite a little family, and everybody should be looked after to see that there was no distress among the workmen and their families . . . schools should be put

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up for them, and bath-houses, and there should be libraries and lectures, and there would never be any strikes or hard feelings among the labourers towards the capitalists, for they would all be capitalists themselves in a small way.28

The Mexican National Railway station in San Luis Potosi, Mexico. The Mexican Congress of September 13, 1880, granted to the Mexican National Construction Co. the Palmer-Sullivan Concession to build a narrow-gauge route between Mexico City and Nuevo Laredo, Mexico. William Henry Jackson, Detroit Publishing Co. photograph, Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division, Washington, D.C., (LC-D401-3973).

Palmer had been fortunate in his choice of mentors, such as Ellet and Thomson, and in the caliber of the men who were glad to be his colleagues. Though he frequently was short of money for his enterprises until he sold the Rio Grande Western Railroad in 1901, he never failed his staff. Then, in the last decade of his life, he introduced innovations in almost every aspect of his beloved estate at Glen Eyrie. For example, he and his agent, Edmond van Diest, constantly pressed for more advanced, reliable turbines and generators for his power plant, sustaining an intricate correspondence with Dr. Cyprien Odilon Mailloux who was to become president of the Institute of Electrical Engineers.29 His water engineer, Herbert Reid, built a dozen reservoirs holding 200 million gallons, supplied from the underground flows in Queens Canyon. Finally, he purchased five impressive greenhouses,


installed by Lord and Burnham of New York, from which his gardeners later won more than fifty awards. In each of these improvements again is discernible his Quest for the Best. He launched and stimulated and purchased innovation. In summary, General Palmer exemplifies the famous thesis that Frederick Jackson Turner put forward in the 1890s, as he reflected on the ways in which pioneers such as Palmer had shaped and been shaped by participating in the advance of the frontier. Turner argued perceptively that the frontier formed, that practical, inventive turn of mind, quick to find expedients; that masterful grasp of material things . . . powerful to effect great ends; that restless, nervous energy; that dominant individualism . . . that buoyancy and exuberance which comes with freedom.30 That’s Palmer! Donald McGilchrist is a U.K. citizen, born in London. He has an M.A. in Philosophy, Politics and Economics from the University of Oxford. With his wife Jeanie and their two daughters, he emigrated in 1976 from England to Colorado Springs where he served until recently as an International Vice President of The Navigators. He is now their International Consultant. His interest in history has focused locally on the ownership and development of the Glen Eyrie estate. NOTES

1. Letter to Anne Macy. Reprinted in Anne Sullivan Macy, The Story Behind Helen Keller (Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, Doran, and Co., 1933), 162. 2. Manly Dayton Ormes and Eleanor P. Ormes, The Book of Colorado Springs (Colorado Springs: The Dentan Printing Company, 1933), 55. 3. In spite of the complete rebuilding of his Castle in 1904-05 and a decade of lavish generosity, his estate was appraised by W. S. Jackson at his death in 1909 at $3,171,000. He then held 5,024 acres at Glen Eyrie.

MCGILCHRIST • 161 4. Leah Davis Witherow, “What Was He Thinking? General William J. Palmer in His Own Words.”Lecture at Colorado Springs Pioneers Museum, Saturday, March 21, 2009. 5. Sir Adrian Cadbury, “Beliefs and Business: the Experience of Quaker Companies,” (lecture at St. Mary’s Church, Temple Balsall, Solihull, May 2003). See http://www.leveson.org.uk/stmarys/ resources/cadbury0503.htm (accessed January 27, 2010). 6. Palmer, Letter to Isaac Clothier, 1853, quoted in The Engineers Bulletin, September-October 1929. 7. Palmer’s Journal of a Visit to Paris, November-December 1855, transcribed, Colorado Historical Society MSS477, box 9 FF698, 23. 8. Ibid., 61. 9. Ibid.8, 24. 10. Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America, ed. J. P. Mayer, trans. G. Lawrence (New York: Doubleday, 1969), 404. 11. William Jackson Palmer, Report of Surveys Across the Continent, in 1867–’68 (Philadelphia: W. B. Selheimer, printer, 1869); see also, William Abraham Bell, New Tracks in North America: A Journal of Travel and Adventure Whilst Engaged in the Survey for a Southern Railroad to the Pacific Ocean During 1867–8 (New York: Scribner, 1870). 12. John S. Fisher, A Builder of the West: The Life of General William Jackson Palmer (Caldwell, Idaho: The Caxton Printers, Ltd., 1939), 177. 13. The records of the Colorado Springs Company, MSS 0073, consist largely of 25 bound volumes of minute books, deed books, stock books, ledgers, and journals, 1866–1977, housed in the Special Collections of the Pikes Peak Library District. The current owner of the Company is Dwight A. Harrison. 14. Manly Dayton Ormes and Eleanor P. Ormes, The Book of Colorado Springs (The Dentan Printing Company, Colorado Springs, 1933), 30. 15. Thomas G. Andrews, Killing for Coal: America’s Deadliest Labor War (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 2008), 48. 16. Andrews, 49, 61. See also, Ralph C. Taylor, History of Colorado Fuel & Iron Corporation (Pueblo, Colo.: CF&I, 1957). 17. Fisher, 157. 18. Ibid., 164. 19. Ibid., 170. 20. G. K. Chesterton, Appreciation and Criticisms of the Works of Charles Dickens (London: J. M. Dent & Sons Ltd., 1911), 14. 21. Helen Hunt Jackson, Bits of Travel at Home, (Boston: Roberts Brothers, 1880), 224.

162 • THE QUEST FOR THE BEST 22. Palmer procured from President Porfirio Diaz and the Mexican Congress the William J. Palmer-James Sullivan concession, whereby he was permitted to build a railroad from Mexico City to Ciudad Juarez and another from Mexico City to Nuevo Laredo. Later, on the basis of this concession, Palmer and his associates organized the Mexican National Railway. 23. A broader summary of Palmer’s legacy is inscribed on the Memorial Tablets in Denver, Salt Lake City, Mexico City, Virginia and Colorado College. Thus: William Jackson Palmer: 1836–1909. “Union Cavalry General, Pioneer Railroad Builder, Prophet of Colorado’s greatness. He mapped the routes of three transcontinental railways; Supervised the building of the first road to Denver; Organized and constructed the Denver and Rio Grande Railroad; Stimulated the State’s industries; Cherished its Beauties; Founded Colorado Springs; Fostered Colorado College; And served our Sister Republic of Mexico with sympathy and wisdom in developing its National Railways.” 24. Palmer was the second president of this society. Upon his death, their journal recorded that “Through the liberality and counsel of General Palmer this society has been enabled to distribute several tons of forest tree seeds and several million trees throughout all portions of the world.” 25. William J. Palmer, letter dated August 1, 1901. Century Chest, Special Collections, Tutt Library, Colorado College, Colorado Springs. 26. Louise Ware, George Foster Peabody: Banker, Philanthropist, Publicist, (The University of Georgia Press Athens, 1951), 53. 27. In the U.K., the 1842 Mines Act had prohibited children less than 9 years and women from working under ground. However, many abuses continued. 28. Fisher, 177. 29. Edmond van Diest became Palmer’s consulting engineer for Monument Valley Park and the new castle at Glen Eyrie. He met Palmer in 1903 and they became a dynamic team. As David D. Finley writes, “The range and authority of van Diest’s decisions display a growing trust in their relationship which became more that of partners than employer-employee.” 30. Frederick J. Turner, The Significance of the Frontier in American History, paper presented at the American Historical Association, Chicago World’s Fair, 1893. Reprinted in the Annual Report of the American Historical Association for the Year 1893, 227.

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The first Antlers Hotel opened on June 1, 1883. The following day, The Daily Gazette described the Antlers as, “the most elegant hostelry in the west,” with “rich furniture and luxurious conveniences. . . . It may be added that there is an iron fire escape ladder at each end of the building, with stand-pipe and fire-hose connection at each story. . . . These insure perfect protection against fire.” The hotel was destroyed by fire on October 1, 1898. Special Collections, Pikes Peak Library District, (001-335).

Top: William B. Felts ready for flight at the summit of Pikes Peak, August 8, 1897. From the Colorado Springs Gazette. Middle: Pikes Peak welcomes the “intrepid bird-men” J. Clifford Turpin and Philip O. Parmalee, and their “fraillooking machines,” August 3, 1911. From the Colorado Springs Gazette. Bottom: Drawing of the Alexander Bullet low-wing monoplane, ca. 1928. The radical aerodynamic design made a fast aircraft, but it suffered from a horizontal spin problem. Special Collections, Pikes Peak Library District, (056-10255).

Aeronautics & Astronautics: Pioneering Air & Space Business in the Pikes Peak Region Rick W. Sturdevant When thousands of newcomers confronted the trans-Mississippi West in the 19th century, they traveled initially on foot, horseback, or in slow-moving wagons, following trails that quickly became well-worn pathways. Individuals and whole settlements faced the significant challenge of staying in touch with neighbors, not to mention loved ones, friends, and communities more than a thousand miles distant. By the beginning of the 20th century, a combination of government programs and private enterprise had created networks of copper, iron, and steel spanning what many still called the “Great American Desert,” connecting it with centers of civilization on the East and West Coasts. Telegraph lines, and later telephone, provided ever better means of communication within and beyond the region. Railroads and, later, paved highways for automobiles enabled travelers to cover seemingly endless miles faster. People marveled at all this and called it progress. At the dawn of the last century, however, a growing number of visionaries looked skyward and pondered how contraptions riding on air currents might transport passengers over mountains, plains, and deserts. Venturesome daredevils contemplated going higher, farther, and faster to get their names in the record book. Pikes Peak itself attracted many of the early aeronauts and aviators, who welcomed the challenge of flying from, around, or over it. At an accelerating clip, “aeroplanes” rivaled railroads and highways as connective tissue across the West and to regions beyond. Initially a dangerous undertaking, flight became safer, profitable, and commonplace in the hands of farsighted entrepreneurs. Within another 2 decades, chemical rockets powerful enough to send satellites into Earth orbit also had the potential to deliver thermonuclear weapons halfway around the globe with devastating consequences. As “aerospace” entered the lexicon, a longstanding military • 165 •

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presence in the American West became substantially larger. Like the airplane, that presence significantly affected the region’s economy, politics, and social character. For more than a century now, the Pikes Peak region—a distinctive part of the American West—has been at the forefront of air and space innovation. From building aircraft, large rockets, and earth-circling satellites to improving flight safety, supporting aerospace operations, and devising space-based applications, men and women of the Pikes Peak region have contributed mightily to collapsing the geographical distances and cultural differences that have long tended to isolate people. Although the full extent of this amazing story is far too complex to tell in a few pages, one can emphasize some major turning points that outline persistent themes. Thereby, the global impact of the Pikes Peak region’s aerospace inventors, entrepreneurs, scientists, engineers, and military organizations should become clearer. Gliders Even as railways and highways continued to expand across the American West at the end of the 19th century, a few daring adventurers in the Pikes Peak region pioneered the airways. In 1897, inventor and world traveler William Felts designed a series of rigid “aeroplanes” modeled after a South American condor’s wings. The wings consisted of a bamboo framework covered with 225 square feet of silk fabric. The New York Times reported in July that Felts intended to leap from the 14,000-foot summit and, hanging “from an easy harness” that would allow him to steer the apparatus via a “movable vane,” navigate to a point somewhere in Colorado Springs—a linear distance of 10 miles and an 8,000-foot drop in altitude. When the eventful day came in mid-August, the aspiring flier strapped himself into the harness and took a running leap from the roof of the U.S. Army Signal Corps station atop the peak. Dropping vertically only about 12 feet, Felts crashed onto the rocks near the building’s foundation, demolishing both the hang glider and his pride.1 Despite this inauspicious beginning for heavier-thanair, unpowered flight in the region, Alexander Industries of

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Colorado Springs, less than 4 decades later, would build and sell a “primary glider of high capabilities” for pilot training or pleasure flying. Several decades after that, residents of the city could watch U.S. Air Force Academy cadets soaring on thermal updrafts north of Colorado Springs. Civilian enthusiasts could join the Black Forest Soaring Society, founded in the spring of 1986 and originally located northeast of Colorado Springs near the intersection of Woodmen and Black Forest Roads, site of the Wave Flights commercial operation that had become legendary for its numerous high-altitude glider or sailplane flights.2

“Felts’ jump will attempt the most daring feat in history,” claimed the Rocky Mountain News on August 7, 1897. William B. Felts intended to glide to Cameron’s Cone, land and re-launch from there to Colorado Springs.


Aero-cycles Even before William Felts attempted his bird-like glide from atop Pikes Peak in 1897, others in the region dreamed of flying in heavier-than-air, bicycle-like contraptions. On August 1, 1891, Jerome B. Blanchard of Highlands, Colorado, applied for a U.S. patent on an “aerial vessel.” Blanchard proposed to start his flying machine “along an elevated tramway until a lifting speed was acquired and then depend on the muscular exertion of the occupant” to pedal and, thereby, keep the “screw” or propeller turning. Once a prospector and patent medicine peddler, Blanchard apparently had multiple solutions to “the flying machine problem,” because in 1898, he announced his impending test of an apparatus that had “a sliding seat and aerial cars, a rudder, [and] four wings.”3 Competition in the bicycle-flying machine category arose in 1904–1905, when inventor and erstwhile bicycle repairer Joseph Hirschenfeld, who lived in Colorado Springs, completed a model of an “aero-cycle” and envisioned a trip to Chicago to have the machine constructed from aluminum. The Colorado Springs Gazette described Hirschenfeld’s invention as “a bicycle with steering screw in front, parachute wings on the side, and a lifting fan propelled with gasoline on top.” Weighing 90–100 pounds, with a body that strongly resembled an “ordinary bicycle frame” except for 6-foot-diameter collapsible wings, the machine would have a 7-horsepower engine to turn the 10-footdiameter horizontal lifting fan 1,500 revolutions per minute, thereby producing a lifting power of 350 pounds. A 3-footdiameter, four-paddled screw on a movable shaft extending in front of the machine would rotate at 1,200 revolutions per minute to allow the pilot to move the craft in the desired direction. As the newspaper explained, The driver rides along on the bicycle until he comes to an open space, then turns over the motor machinery and ascends into the heavens. When he wishes to come back to earth he loosens the parachute wings, shuts off his power and descends. When he reaches the ground, he starts peddling and rides along on the bicycle.

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The Gazette reporter quoted Hirschenfeld as saying, “Within a few months I shall ride from the campus of Colorado college [sic] to the top of Pikes Peak. And not on a burro either, but through the air.”4 Balloons In the years before the region witnessed any successful heavier-than-air, powered flights, professional aeronauts sought to conquer Pikes Peak in lighter-than-air balloons. More than a thousand horrified people at the Broadmoor Hotel in July 1901 watched aeronaut Frank LeVan plunge 100 feet from an ascending balloon before his partially opened parachute broke his fall enough to prevent his death or serious injury. On August 31, 1902, experienced aeronauts Thomas S. Baldwin and Percy Hudson, accompanied by a Denver Post artist, ascended from Denver in a gas-filled balloon for what was supposed to be a transcontinental voyage. Between 9:30 that night and daylight, an intense storm carried the terrified trio over Pikes Peak three times, forcing them ultimately “to throw out all water, provisions and instruments in order to clear the rocky summit of the mountains.” After landing their wrecked balloon 27 miles north of Florence, Colorado, the severely bruised and somewhat frostbitten aeronauts hiked to Florence. On the evening of September 1, they telegraphed their harrowing tale to reporters in Denver. 5 The illustrious aeronaut William Ivy had worked for Thomas Baldwin in the 1880s and, in 1889, even changed his name to Ivy Baldwin. He moved to Denver in 1893 and performed on Sunday afternoons for crowds at Elitch Gardens. The U.S. Army Signal Corps at Fort Logan, near Denver, recruited him in 1894 to pilot and maintain a balloon for combat observation, and Baldwin served in that capacity over Cuba during the Spanish American War. Credited with developing both hot-air and hydrogen inflation techniques, Baldwin affixed a gasoline engine and propeller to his balloon in 1905 to achieve more control over the craft’s lateral movement. During an epic flight, publicized as a trans-America attempt, Baldwin and two passengers ascended from Denver on November 8, 1907, only to encounter a series of


severe storms, which forced them to land 11 hours later on the west side of Pikes Peak. Ivy Baldwin went on to develop and fly airplanes during 1909–1913, ending that phase of his career by crashing spectacularly into Sloan’s Lake at the controls of a Wright-type General Aviation Company hydroplane, the first such craft in Colorado.6 Meanwhile, in conjunction with the Pikes Peak region’s annual Shan Kive summer carnival on August 28, 1912, three “big gas-filled bags” rose from Washburn Field in Colorado Springs on minimal wind currents. Aeronautics magazine labeled it the first balloon race ever held in the Rocky Mountain region, and news reports prior to the event speculated that at least one of these Aero Club of America crews might break the world distance record of 1,200 miles. The Kansas City II, piloted by John Watts and assisted by Frank P. Blair, both from Kansas City, left the ground at 5:45 p.m. Veteran pilot Captain Harry Eugene Honeywell of St. Louis, aided by Colorado Springs newspaper man Bruce A. Gustin, rose 13 minutes later in Uncle Sam, followed by pilot Paul J. McCullough of St. Louis and Ralph A. D. Preston of Akron, Ohio, in the rubber balloon X—formerly the Goodyear—at 6:01 p.m. Not long thereafter, passengers on a Denver & Rio Grande train reported the aeronauts were following the railroad tracks northward toward Denver. Unfortunately, none of the balloons came anywhere close to breaking the distance record. The X landed first, coming down at Palmer Lake, about 23 miles north of Colorado Springs. Uncle Sam managed to travel slightly farther before landing six miles west of Larkspur, and Kansas City II won the race by reaching a hillside 6 miles south of Castle Rock at 7:45 p.m., 2 hours after leaving Colorado Springs. 7 Nearly a century later, ballooning in the Pikes Peak region still attracted large crowds and gained media attention. Colorado Springs hosted the annual Colorado Balloon Classic, which was organized in 1977 and, by 2010, had become the largest and longest continuously running hot-air balloon festival in the Rocky Mountain region, featuring more than 100 balloons. During the 1990s and into the 21st century, Gary “Burner” Born’s High But Dry Balloons Company in Colorado

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Springs lofted paying customers from a field, one block east of Academy Boulevard on Austin Bluffs Parkway, for hour-long excursions over the city.

Gas-filled ballons Kansas City II, Uncle Sam and the Goodyear X raced on August 28, 1912, in Colorado Springs as part of the Shan Kive carnival. The “big silken and rubber bags” ascended from Washburn Field on the Colorado College campus. Stewarts Commercial Photographers photograph, Special Collections, Pikes Peak Library District, (013-10460).

As reflected by The Gazette coverage in August 2008, however, not all balloon business in the region focused on human passengers. Near Space Systems, based in the Briargate subdivision of Colorado Springs, tested a giant, helium-filled, aerostat prototype that had been under development for 2 years. Tethered by fiber-optic cables that powered a payload box capable of carrying 250 pounds, the 57-foot-long by 47-foot-wide balloon, filled with more than 20,000 cubic feet of helium, rose at least 2,000 feet above eastern Black Forest. From that vantage point, the automated payload could perform surveillance on 9,400 square miles of territory. John Hawley, the company’s chief executive officer (CEO), sought to manufacture various types of aerostats capable of achieving altitudes higher than


80,000 feet—a realm dubbed “near space.” By 2009, Hawley’s company faced competition from Charlie Lambert’s SkySentry, also based in Colorado Springs. Both CEOs optimistically foresaw numerous military and commercial uses for their unpiloted balloons.8 Aeroplane Inventors & Pilots During the decade preceding America’s entry into World War I, numerous inventors or experimenters in the Pikes Peak region designed and built powered airplanes, and their activity led to the formation of aircraft companies. Scotsman George L. O. Davidson, who had studied the flight of soaring birds and, in October 1898, published an article describing his design of a gigantic flying machine “modeled broadly on the shape of a bird,” came to Denver in 1900. He formed the Davidson Flying Machine Company in January 1907 and began constructing a steam-powered “air car” that combined fixed-wing and helicopter concepts. Once he finished the airliner, he intended to transport passengers from Denver to other major American cities at speeds of at least 200 miles per hour. After 18 months of arduous labor, Davidson decided to test the craft’s lift on May 6, 1908. When he powered up its 10-horsepower Stanley steam engine and amassed 800 pounds per square inch of pressure, the boiler blew up and destroyed the whole 10-ton contraption. Deep in debt, Davidson abandoned his misdirected project.9 Other Colorado airplane inventors, perhaps inspired by a Denver Post contest that offered a $10,000 prize in the summer of 1909, soon had greater success. Although the contest came and went without anyone claiming the money, French pilot Louis Paulhan made Colorado’s first successful airplane flight on February 2, 1910, from the infield of Overland Park racetrack in South Denver. He failed in six attempts, however, to achieve his goal of flying to Colorado Springs.10 Meanwhile, Samuel S. Pierce, a wealthy Colorado Springs “automobilist,” planned to organize an “aero” club and, once its members became familiar with elementary aeronautics, to raise the question of purchasing an airplane. He noted that the Denver Aero Club already had bought one of six airplanes being built by

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P. J. Fischer’s Denver-based Aero Craft Construction Company. Within days of Paulhan’s visit to Colorado, newspapers as far east as Washington, D.C., announced that Pierce was supervising the manufacture in Charles G. Strang’s garage in Colorado Springs of “a monoplane with several features resembling the Antoinette Bleriot aeroplanes.” According to reporters, Pierce contemplated using his airplane for a flight from the summit of Pikes Peak. In August 1910, after conducting a series of tests on the engine and other components, Pierce told a Colorado Springs Gazette reporter: When I built this monoplane, I did not believe seriously that I would be able to make a successful flight, especially in the high altitude. I have been using the model simply for experimental purposes and practice work in order to become familiar with flying machine construction and manipulation. My monoplane is fitted with an old automobile engine, weighing 350 pounds, and having a capacity of only 18-horsepower, when regular aeroplane motors weigh but 185 pounds and have a 50-horsepower capacity. Pierce, who already had traveled to France and Italy to study airplane construction, returned to Europe in the autumn of 1910 and earned his pilot’s license from the Bleriot School at Pau, France, in February 1911. He subsequently became an “ordinary workman” in the Bleriot factory and Gnome engine factory for 8 months to learn construction methods. 11 Several dozen other Colorado aviation inventors, experimenters, and enthusiasts surfaced during 1910–1914. They included Denver’s Peter Robert Torbrand, who applied for a “flying-machine” patent in February 1910. Two years later, France secured patent rights to an airplane designed and built by osteopath Dr. W. H. Easter in Longmont. In May 1912, T. W. Pinkerton of Victor, Colorado, built an improved monoplane in “Blake’s garage” at Colorado Springs. Thirteenyear-old Will D. “Billy” Parker of Fort Collins completed his first solo flight on March 15, 1912, in his own “Parker Pusher”


biplane. Physician Frederick W. Buck of Flagler worked 5 years to perfect a pilotless, “aerial torpedo,” which he successfully tested in April 1916; he incorporated the Buck Aircraft and Munitions Company of Pueblo, Colorado, in January 1917 “for the purpose of manufacturing and selling aircraft, aeroplanes, torpedoes and explosive carriers and for the further purpose of maintaining an aerial passenger, mail and express service and an aviation school.” The Vandersal brothers, Frank and Jules, built and flew a Bleriot-type monoplane north of Denver’s present-day Fitzsimons Hospital in 1911. Even Nikola Tesla, who had lived briefly in Colorado Springs, conceived an “aerial machine” in 1911–1912 that would be gyroscopically controlled and powered by a 36,000-revolutions-per-minute turbine to transport him from New York to the Pikes Peak region at “a speed now unimagined.”12 Colorado’s early airplane inventors also included Denver’s George Thompson who, with E. M. Marr, built a biplane in mid–1910 that Thompson himself attempted to fly before selling it to F. A. Pine of Colorado Springs. Thompson and his friend George Van Arsdale soon formed an airplane manufacturing business at 1640 Broadway in Denver. In November 1910, the famous race-car driver and Denver automobile dealer E. Linn Mathewson contracted with the Thompson-Van Arsdale Company for delivery of a Curtiss-like biplane. After clearing the snow for takeoff and landing, Thompson took to the air with the newly christened Mathewson Flyer on January 4, 1911, becoming Colorado’s first successful resident pilot. Aviator Thompson survived a potentially fatal crash just a week later and, employed by the Mathewson Aeroplane Company, went on to perform exhibition flights at Pueblo, Trinidad, and Albuquerque during January and February 1911. Thompson’s flying career ended abruptly, however, on August 21, 1912, in Lamar, Colorado, when his Mathewson Flyer turned upside down 200 feet above the horrified crowd. The 24-year-old pilot tried to save himself by jumping, but the heavy machine fell on top of him and crushed him to death.13

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The Big Meet Despite the obvious hazards associated with it, especially in Colorado’s rarefied atmosphere, the “sport” of heavier-than-air, powered flight steadily drew more participants and spectators. Perhaps the most spectacular event was the “aviation meet” on August 2–3, 1911, in Colorado Springs. The meet, which planners scheduled as part of the community’s annual Shan Kive carnival celebration, featured veteran aviators Philip O. Parmalee and J. Clifford Turpin, who had engaged with the Wright brothers to develop biplanes, dubbed “The Skylark” and “The Pike,” capable of flying around or over the summit of Pikes Peak. Unable to resist increasing the drama as August approached, local reporters intrigued readers by connecting the scheduled flights to love, marriage, and women’s fascination with flying. One article claimed that Parmalee had been deeply in love for 2 years with a young lady named Miss “Sweets” May of Dayton, Ohio, and she pledged to marry him immediately if he conquered Pikes Peak in his biplane. Another article quoted a letter purportedly written by a Mrs. Mabel Johnson of Omaha, who had been staying at the Cliff House in Manitou and always had desired to “experience the sensations of a flight in an aeroplane.” If given the opportunity by either Parmalee or Turpin, she declared, “I am not the “Philip O. Parmalee, aviator of Wright least bit nervous and am sure camp,” conjured fear in an observing Colorado Springs crowd when that if I undertake the trip his plane disappeared from view. I will behave splendidly.” Photographed in 1910. Bain News Service Mrs. Johnson quickly added, photograph, Library of Congress Prints and “I have no close relatives to Photographs Division, Washington, D.C., be interested in any risks (LC-USZ62-16884).


I may choose to assume.” In due course, however, neither a marriage to Miss May nor an airplane ride for Mrs. Johnson would result from the Colorado Springs aviation meet.14 At 2:30 p.m. on August 2, 1911, a large crowd watched with anticipation as Parmalee’s Skylark and Turpin’s Pike were trundled out from the hangar onto the racetrack at Roswell Park north of downtown Colorado Springs. A strong, gusty wind already had propelled dark thunderclouds in from the mountains for a half-hour. Although some in the throng that numbered several thousand thought the weather might prevent an aerial spectacular, Parmalee took off from the racetrack infield a few minutes before 3:00 p.m. The breathless, wideeyed audience at the north end of the track watched James Clifford Turpin learned to as Skylark climbed 200–300 fly with the instruction of Orville Wright. After Parmalee’s 1912 death feet into the air. The crowd in a plane crash, Turpin, having turned momentarily to watch just survived a crash that killed two Turpin’s preparations for spectators, was quoted, “It’s the takeoff, but when they again way of the game.” Turpin decided looked northward, Parmalee’s to give up flying later that year— he died in 1966. Bain News Service airship was nowhere in sight. photograph, Library of Congress Prints A reporter described what and Photographs Division, Washington, happened next: D.C., (LC-DIG-ggbain-08634).

Turpin looked, too, and with a startled cry, “My God, where’s that boy,” started on a run across the field. In another moment there was a general rush of officers, newspaper men and spectators toward the spot where it was feared Parmalee had come to grief. Hundreds rushed to the scene, only to find the intrepid aviator standing smilingly beside his machine, and both unharmed. Among the first to arrive was Turpin, who

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rushed up breathlessly, fearful of the worst. He took one long look at his teammate, then sat down on the ground and lighted a cigarette, while Parmalee said jestingly, “Now do you think it is hot air about trying to get up in the altitude.” To avoid power lines, Parmalee had landed on a knoll a mile north of the park. After waiting more than an hour for the wind to subside, the two aviators again ascended and, as the throng on the ground cheered wildly, Turpin and Parmalee flew northeast toward Palmer Park at a rate of a mile a minute. For 25 to 30 minutes, the flying machines made “gigantic circles miles in diameter,” going “[r]ound and round, like huge eagles, now climbing higher into the blue sky, now dipping in long sweeping curves toward the earth.” When they landed, Parmalee promised to deliver an equally exciting aerial show the next day. 15 On the afternoon of August 3, he was true to his word. Parmalee, “perhaps the premier bird-man in the United States” at that time, took off from the aviation field at Roswell Park and flew the Skylark spectacularly through the scenic gateway to the Garden of the Gods. He startled and disappointed some spectators, however, when he landed without having flown over Pikes Peak. The highly experienced pilot declared, “Give me 25 more horsepower and I can circle Pikes Peak. What’s more, I hope to come back here some time and do it.” The 35-horsepower engines in the Skylark and the Pike simply lacked the “motive power” to reach the Peak’s summit, Parmalee explained, but he felt confident a 60-horsepower engine would enable either of those aircraft to achieve the elevation needed to circle the Peak.16 Conquering Pikes Peak The number of home-grown aviators grew in the wake of exhibitions like the one in Colorado Springs. Winfield E. Bowersox, an auto mechanic who lived at 1717 North Wahsatch Avenue in Colorado Springs, had witnessed the flights of Parmalee and Turpin in 1911 and had determined to become the first to circle Pikes Peak in an aircraft. In 1913, Bowersox earned


his pilot’s license at Simms Station, home of the Wright School of Aviation, near Dayton, Ohio. Before returning to Colorado, he consulted with Orville Wright about the feasibility of circling Pikes Peak. Bowersox located a used Curtiss headless-pusher biplane that he purchased, sight unseen, from Wilbert L. Hunt of Indianapolis, Indiana. When the crated machine arrived in Colorado Springs in mid-May 1914, it lacked a magneto and the wings were full of holes. After making the necessary repairs, he made a short flight near Prospect Lake. A local reporter claimed it was the first plane flight in Colorado Springs since the great aviation meet of August 1911.17

Winfield E. Bowersox is pictured behind the wheel of a biplane, ca. 1914. Shortly after earning his pilot’s license from the Wright School of Aviation about 1913, Colorado Springs resident Bowersox expressed his desire to circle Pikes Peak in a plane, “where air currents far from the ordinary are to be experienced.” He planned to practice his flight skills over the plains east of the city before attempting mountain flights. Horace S. Poley photograph, Denver Public Library, Western History Collection, (P-552).

Bowersox built a hangar and airstrip on 320 acres north of Colorado Springs and west of Papeton, approximately four blocks from the end of the streetcar line. The Colorado Springs Company owned the land but allowed him to use it gratis. Finding the plane’s 40-horsepower Elbridge engine insufficient for Colorado’s thin air, he installed a more powerful Maxie engine. The additional power proved to be too much for the flimsy wheels and frame, which compelled Bowersox to replace the wings and rebuild the entire frame after a crash landing.

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Over the next few years, he performed exhibition flights in eastern Colorado, the Dakotas, and elsewhere, crashed more than a half-dozen times, but never achieved his dream of circling Pikes Peak.18 During World War I, that grand landmark provided a suitable testing ground for General Electric Company engineer Dr. Sanford Moss’s newly developed turbo-supercharger. On June 19, 1918, Moss and his associates hauled a Liberty engine up Pikes Peak to test his turbo-supercharger in a rarefied atmosphere. The results indicated a significant boost from 251 horsepower to 367 horsepower running at 1,800 revolutions per minute. The Moss turbo-supercharger landed GE its first aviation-related government contract, provided a strategic advantage for U.S. military aircraft during the final months of the war, and opened the path for GE to become a world leader in jet engines.19 The honor of being the first person to pilot an aircraft over the summit of Pikes Peak went to recently discharged army aviator Alexander M. Lendrum of Colorado Springs. A New York Times article in July 1919 reported that Lendrum left Roosevelt Field, Mineola, Long Island, accompanied by his college friend Carl Melzer, in a three-passenger Curtiss Oriole biplane owned by the Curtiss-Humphreys Airplane Company of Denver, Colorado. The men, who carried letters from New York Governor Alfred E. Smith to Colorado Governor Oliver H. Shoup and from New York City Mayor John Hylan to Denver Mayor Dewey Bailey, hoped to set a record flying the 1,800 miles to Denver. After reaching Denver but apparently not setting a record, pilot Lendrum, company president Ira Boyd Humphreys, and a motion-picture photographer named Sipple ensconced themselves in the Curtiss Oriole on the morning of August 3, 1919, and successfully crossed the summit of Pikes Peak at an altitude of 14,200 feet. Less than a week later, on August 8, Lendrum and Humphreys achieved another first by flying the Oriole from Denver over Rocky Mountain National Park and landing near the Stanley Hotel in Estes Park to deliver copies of the Denver Post newspaper.20


Civil Aviation: From Alexander to Maytag Commercial aviation advanced rapidly along Colorado’s Front Range during the 1920s. Julian and Don Alexander, producers of screen advertising for movie theaters, sought a more geographically centralized location for their Spokanebased enterprise and moved it in 1923 to Englewood, Colorado, south of downtown Denver. Having established “the largest and finest playlet and commercial motion picture studio in the United States” at 3385 South Broadway, the brothers contemplated ways to attract merchants across the country to the benefits of screen advertising. In 1924, Julian proposed buying several dozen airplanes to allow Alexander Film Company salesmen to travel rapidly and conspicuously between widespread appointments. When nobody could supply that number of aircraft, the brothers purchased the Longren Aircraft Company of Topeka, Kansas, and moved the operation to Denver. They also bought the Hampden Avenue airfield a few miles from their film studio.21 The newly formed Alexander Aircraft Company became a division of Alexander Industries in May 1925. Using one of the film company’s sound stages, workers immediately began fabricating the company’s first biplane, powered by a 90-horsepower Curtiss OX5 engine. When it rolled down the runway in September, an extremely unfavorable weight-to-lift ratio prevented it from becoming airborne in Denver’s milehigh atmosphere. Al Mooney, a recent high school graduate who worked for the company, already had recognized the problem and quickly presented a new, distinctive design to improve lift. On the morning of January 7, 1926, Mooney’s longwing Eaglerock lifted off from the snowy Hampden Avenue airfield. Over the next 6 years, Alexander Aircraft Company manufactured more than 850 long-wing Eaglerock biplanes. For a brief period, the company was the nation’s leading, and the world’s second largest, producer of “commercial” or civil airplanes, with 40 distributors and 140 dealers.22 In December 1926, a young aviator named Charles A. Lindbergh approached the company about building a specially designed Eaglerock. Lindbergh, who had appeared in air

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shows at Pueblo and Rocky Ford, Colorado, the previous year, asked if the Alexander Aircraft Company would equip this long-wing Eaglerock with a Wright J5 engine and extra fuel tanks. He envisioned eliminating the front cockpit, including the instrument panel, and using all the space from behind the firewall to the front of the rear cockpit for fuel storage. He also wanted the company to strengthen the wings and landing gear of this unique airplane to handle the weight of the extra fuel. Furthermore, Lindbergh expected delivery of this special aircraft in only 2 months. Since Alexander Aircraft did not have an engineering department at the time, and its Englewood factory faced a rapidly growing backlog of orders for standard Eaglerock biplanes, the Alexander brothers decided they could not accommodate the young aviator. Two months later, after arriving in San Diego, California, to oversee construction of his Spirit of St. Louis by the tiny Ryan airplane company, Lindbergh wrote to the Alexander brothers with an enthusiastic endorsement of the standard Eaglerock’s performance. Within days of the “Lone Eagle” completing his record-setting flight across the Atlantic, the Alexander Aircraft Company posted advertisements nationwide featuring his letter and photograph.23

Wingless Alexander Eaglerock aircraft in front of the Colorado Springs factory, 1929. During this time, the Alexander Aircraft Company was the largest plane manufacturer in the world with a capacity of eight aircraft a day. This biplane was manufactured for a non-military market and was capable of a maximum speed of 100 mph and a range of 395 miles. Special Collections, Pikes Peak Library District, (001-747).


Needing more land for expansion of their biplane assembly line, a new “transport” monoplane production line, and an engine manufacturing plant, the brothers announced in December 1927 that Alexander Industries would move 60 miles south to Colorado Springs in approximately 6 months. A tragic explosion and fire at the Denver plant in April 1928 hastened the planned move into what was then the world’s most modern, efficient aircraft plant. It had sufficient capacity to build eight biplanes in a single day. Alexander Aircraft introduced its Bullet—the first retractable-geared, cantilever monoplane developed for mass production and capable of transporting 600 pounds of cargo over Pikes Peak at an altitude of at least 19,000 feet—in April 1929. Airplane sales plummeted during the Great Depression, however, and in August 1932, Alexander Aircraft Company declared bankruptcy, leaving the film company as Alexander Industries’ sole survivor. Some attributed the aircraft company’s collapse to the Alexander brothers’ adamant refusal to build planes for the U.S. military.24

Drawing of Alexander Industries buildings, N. Nevada Ave. in Colorado Springs, ca. 1928. Buildings are: 1. Administration (center); 2. Airplane factory (largest); 3. Paint (top, center); 4. Dope (top, center); 5. Lionoil (top, center); 6. Drying and storage (top, right-center); 7. Maintenance (top, right-center); 8. Power plant (top right); 9. Hanger for commercial (Eaglerock) airplanes (bottom, right); 10. Hanger for cruisers (bottom, right); 11. Art, paint and storage (left); 12. Service (top, left); 13. Laboratory (center, left); 14. Recreation (bottom, left). Special Collections, Pikes Peak Library District, (001-4516).

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Alexander Aircraft’s legacy endured when several of that company’s last employees formed a new enterprise called Aircraft Mechanics to repair or rebuild damaged Eaglerocks and other airplanes. In April 1937, they bought the Alexander buildings and airfield in Colorado Springs and, as Aircraft Mechanics, Incorporated (AMI), built engine mounts and exhaust manifolds for Douglas Aircraft Company during World War II. From 1945 through the 1950s and beyond, AMI designed and produced increasingly complex ejection seats for U.S. Air Force fighters and bombers. In the 1980s, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) contracted with AMI to manufacture Space Shuttle crew seats. Following a declaration of bankruptcy, reorganization, and a series of acquisitions and mergers during 1987–2000, AMI revived as part of Aircraft Interior Products (AIP). Its workers on North Newport Road in Colorado Springs manufactured more than fifty-eight hundred seats for commercial airlines’ cabin attendants and cockpit crew members in 2001, which made AIP the world’s leading producer of aircraft attendant seating.25 The rapid rise of civil and commercial aviation during the 1920s encouraged both the growth of passenger and freight service and a new form of wireless communication— airmail. Isolated from transcontinental airmail service that began in 1920, a group of Front Range aviators and interested businessmen campaigned for a feeder line southward from the transcontinental hub at Cheyenne, Wyoming. On March 30, 1926, Colorado Airways, Inc., received the award for Contract Airmail Route 12 from Cheyenne to Denver, Colorado Springs, and Pueblo. Regular airmail service on Route 12 commenced on May 31, 1926. A postal representative from Washington, D.C., joined thousands of Denver residents assembled to witness the event and declared enthusiastically, “This is a new epoch in the nation’s air-mail program, and is a further proof that the West is up on its toes.” Now, Front Range residents could send letters via airmail to New York or San Francisco in a single day. Finally, on May 15, 1937, twin-engine Douglas “Sky Lounges” belonging to United Air Lines gave Denver its first direct airmail link with major East and West Coast cities. Given the difficulties associated with flying directly across the Rocky


Mountains, it would be another decade before many towns in central and western Colorado received daily airmail service from Denver, Colorado Springs, or Pueblo.26 During the late 1920s through the 1930s, flying schools and commercial air services proliferated in the region. At the Alexander Airport north of downtown Colorado Springs, the Pikes Peak Flying School appeared in 1928 with Henry Chase Stone as its director. Although Stone sold the business to Pikes Peak Air Commerce in 1929, he remained with that company as an employee until 1931. Around the same time, nine miles north of downtown Colorado Springs, activity increased at the Pine Valley Airport; Valley Air Service advertised tours from there to the Royal Gorge and back in a seven-seat passenger plane. Local industrialist Robert Donner purchased the airport in 1942–1943, expanded the aircraft and engine shop, and ensured that Pine Valley Airport became the headquarters for the Colorado Springs Civil Air Patrol in World War II.27 Even larger enterprises sprang up in Denver during the 1930s. For $90,000, Robert Six bought into the cash-strapped Southwest Division of Varney Speed Lines, based in El Paso, Texas; after becoming its general manager in 1936, he renamed the carrier Continental Air Lines and relocated its headquarters to Denver in October 1937. At 46th Avenue and Colorado Boulevard in Denver, Raymond Wilson opened a flying school and, in 1939, filed for authority to operate Monarch Air Lines through the Rocky Mountain area. Harry Combs worked as a flight instructor for the Ray Wilson Flying School before incorporating his own Mountain States Aviation in 1938 and establishing Combs Aircraft Corporation in 1939 to design and build a low-wing, retractable-gear monoplane called the Combscraft. The onset of World War II led Combs to abandon the latter project and deferred for 7 years the approval of Wilson’s Monarch Air Lines.28 Meanwhile, a daredevil barnstormer, airmail and commercial pilot flying for United Airlines turned a small, black-cover, ring-binder notebook that he purchased for ten cents into aerial navigation charts that made flying safer worldwide. The pilot, Elrey Jeppesen, moved his family and “little black book” in October 1941 to Denver, Colorado, where

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he rented a storefront on East Colfax Avenue and opened a small business under the name Airway Manual. The little company flourished by producing “Jeppcharts” for the navy and army during World War II and grew thereafter into an unrivaled, multi-billion-dollar, international enterprise. But, as Jeppesen himself humbly explained, “I didn’t start out to chart the skies; I did it to keep myself from getting killed.” Before the 20th century ended, at least 90 percent of the world’s airlines and pilots depended on Jeppesen Navigation Charts for safe flights, airport approaches, and landings.29 The war years also encouraged development of a fullfledged aeronautical engineering curriculum at the University of Colorado, Boulder. Professor Norman Parker and his students built the first wind tunnel in the Rocky Mountain region during the summer of 1939. It was expanded during World War II into one of the largest, most modern wind tunnels in the United States. For cold-weather gasoline testing of aircraft engines during 1944–1946, Parker oversaw the Army Air Force’s secret Tabernash campus research facility, which operated 60 hours a week at temperatures below -30 degrees Fahrenheit. He also directed the State of Colorado Aviation Development Survey.30 One of Parker’s students, Franklin Durham, became a nationally recognized authority on jet engines and rockets. He joined the University of Colorado aeronautical engineering faculty in 1947 and built a mobile jet-engine test stand for collecting data on turbojet performance atop Colorado’s 14,264foot Mt. Evans. Durham also brought rocket research to the university from the U.S. Naval Test Station at China Lake. Before leaving the school in 1957, he significantly reinforced the training of topnotch engineers for the aircraft and missile industries. Over the next 50 years, the professors who followed in Parker’s and Durham’s footsteps transformed the Department of Aeronautical Engineering into the internationally renowned Department of Aerospace Engineering Sciences.31 Front Range leadership in manufacturing small airplanes for general aviation purposes rejuvenated in 1950, the same year that a new company emerged in Colorado Springs to provide global support services to airlines and airports. Engineering and Research Corporation’s (ERCO’s) low-wing


Ercoupe monoplane had been around since 1937, but the bottom dropped out of the civil aircraft market in late 1946. Universal Aircraft Industries (UNIVAIR) of Aurora, Colorado, purchased the Ercoupe design from ERCO in 1950 and began supplying spare parts and customer support to owners of existing models. In April 1955, UNIVAIR sold its Ercoupe rights to the Forney Aircraft Company (later Fornaire Aircraft Company) of Fort Collins, Colorado. During 1958–1959, Fornaire built a total of 138 F-1 Aircoupes before selling its Aircoupe rights to a New Mexico company.32 Meanwhile, appliance heir Lewis Maytag, who also owned Frontier and National airlines, started Maytag Aircraft Corporation in Colorado Springs in 1950. Over the next 5 decades, the company became very successful by refueling U.S. government aircraft, handling air terminal and ground services, observing and forecasting weather, and maintaining public facilities. By 2009, Maytag Aircraft was the largest provider worldwide of air terminal and ground handling services for the U.S. Air Force’s Air Mobility Command. Through its Maytag Support Services (MSS) division, it offered the private sector capabilities and experience gained from serving the U.S. government. From maintaining or managing national and international facilities to assisting with engineering and information technology problems, or meeting the needs of commercial airlines and airports desirous of outsourcing various operations, MSS pledged to its customers “very good to exceptional” performance in the early 21st century.33 From Solar Science to Satellites If those along Colorado’s Front Range who dreamed of flying defined one group that improved wireless connections across the western United States and the world, scientists who studied solar activity and its potential effects on Earth spawned a second. This scientific group’s work in terrestrial observatories led directly to a quest for observatories “flying” in outer space. Much of the effort originated with solar astronomer Donald Menzel, a professor and researcher at Harvard College Observatory who hailed from Florence, Colorado. Menzel arranged in 1939 to build the world’s highest permanent

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astronomical observatory and the nation’s first coronagraph station near Climax, Colorado. He and his colleagues wanted to better understand how sunspots and solar flares affected environmental conditions on Earth. Graduate student Walter O. Roberts, who was earning a doctorate under Menzel’s tutelage, arrived at Climax in the summer of 1940 to set up the observatory and begin collecting data on solar activity. Roberts intended to study the Sun’s potentially cyclical effect on drought conditions, but U.S. involvement in World War II redirected his attention toward the effect of sunspots on the transmission of radio signals through the upper atmosphere. He sent coded coronal data to the newly formed Interservice Radio Propagation Laboratory (IRPL) that the War Department had established within the National Bureau of Standards. The IRPL, in turn, issued predictions of interference, and this helped maximize the effectiveness of military shortwave radio communication and navigation systems during the war. That practical demonstration of the value of solar physics to national defense brought increased military funding for an expansion of solar observatories in the immediate postwar period. The possibility of radar blanking by solar noise, along with other potentially adverse effects from solar storms, alarmed government officials. Menzel reorganized Harvard’s Climax Observatory as the High Altitude Observatory (HAO) and, in 1946, successfully negotiated with the physics department at the University of Colorado, Boulder, to manage it. Thus was born a significant new center for solar research.34 Menzel and Roberts were among the first to encourage University of Colorado physicists to form a rocket research group for studying the upper atmosphere and Sun. Apparently at Menzel’s suggestion, Marcus O’Day, who represented the U.S. Air Force on the V-2 Upper Air Research Panel, opened discussions with university physicists at Boulder in late November 1947 and proposed the university accept a government contract to design, build, and operate a coronagraph on an Aerobee rocket. A substantial portion of that work involved development and demonstration of reliable pointing controls for rocket payloads. To accomplish this, the university


formed an Upper Air Laboratory (UAL) in 1948 under the direction of physics department chairman William Pietenpol, who remained UAL director until he retired in 1954.35 Around the same time, Ball Brothers Glass Manufacturing Company, which had manufactured home canning jars in Muncie, Indiana, since the 1880s, sought to diversify its operations and scanned the western horizon for opportunities. The company bought Colorado-based Control Cells in 1956, renamed it Ball Brothers Research Corporation, and hired a handful of UAL employees to begin manufacturing pointing controls for sounding rockets. Ball Brothers Research Corporation’s reputation as a supplier of pointing controls, infrared equipment, and ultraviolet instruments for spacerelated scientific research literally skyrocketed. NASA contracted with the company in 1959 to build the first Orbiting Solar Observatory (OSO) satellite, which launched on March 7, 1962, to study whether solar radiation posed a threat to human spaceflight. During the 1970s and 1980s, as Ball expanded operations on hundreds of acres in Broomfield northeast of Boulder, its instruments went on numerous Earth-orbiting satellites and interplanetary spacecraft. In 1991, the company received a sole-source contract to produce the Corrective Optics Space Telescope Axial Replacement (COSTAR) that astronauts installed on the orbiting Hubble Space Telescope in December 1993 to correct widely publicized flaws in that spacecraft’s primary mirror. By 1995, when the company name changed to Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corporation, it had become an international leader in spacecraft design and construction.36 From Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles to Space Launch Vehicles The production of powerful ballistic missiles that doubled as space launch vehicles for military, civil, and commercial payloads spurred even more social and economic growth in the Pikes Peak region. This activity began in the 1950s and continued into the early years of the 21st century. For a brief period in the 1990s, literally all medium and heavy U.S. space launch vehicles—Delta, Titan, and Atlas—were produced along the Front Range.37

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The Glenn L. Martin Company received a U.S. Air Force contract in 1955 to build Titan, the nation’s second intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM). Although the Martin Company intended to manufacture the new missile at its aircraft plant in Baltimore, Maryland, Air Force guidance in May 1955 stipulated that design, development, and construction had to occur somewhere in the central United States, away from either coast. Intense lobbying by the Denver Chamber of Commerce convinced Martin officials to build their new Titan plant on 7,000 acres near Littleton, a small community roughly a dozen miles southwest of downtown Denver. Ground breaking occurred on February 6, 1956, for what one Air Force leader described as “the first completely integrated factory/hot test facility available to the ballistic missile program.” In addition, a significant amount of subcontracting work came to the Denver area. Machine shops proliferated along Santa Fe Avenue to handle the Martin Company’s tool-anddie requirements. Because Martin engineers lacked knowledge about how cryogenic propellants might affect the Titan’s aluminum-alloy tanks, University of Denver scientists ran a series of tests to determine the integrity of welds under extreme temperatures. Concrete and construction businesses flourished, both from Martin’s demand for production and test facilities and from a decision to base the first squadron of operational Titan ICBMs in massive underground silos on the old Lowry Air Force Base bombing range east of Denver. The first fully operational Titan I rolled off the assembly line in Denver on September 16, 1960.38 Eighteen months later, on March 16, 1962, technicians launched the first Titan II. More powerful but less complicated than the Titan I ICBM, Titan II served as both an ICBM (1962– 1987) and a space launcher (1964–1966 for NASA Gemini flights and 1988–2003 for defense-related payloads). Having merged with American-Marietta Company in 1961, the renamed Martin Marietta Company subsequently used its Denver facilities to build a variety of larger Titan space launchers—IIIA and C, 23B, 23D, 24B, 33B, 34B, 34D, IIIE, and IV—between the early 1960s and the mid-1990s. The Denver plant also developed


a Transtage that served as a “maneuverable space truck” to transport multiple satellites and place them precisely in very high orbits.39 Colorado’s Front Range became the locus for production of space launch vehicles. In 1986, McDonnell Douglas Corporation brought its Delta II rocket assembly operations to Pueblo, Colorado. In May 1994, Martin Marietta acquired Atlas rocket builder General Dynamics Space Systems Division, and Lockheed and Martin Marietta corporations merged to form Lockheed Martin. Thus, Denver also became the location for production of medium-payload Atlas expendable boosters (Atlas II and III) and Centaur upper stages as well as the new “Lockheed Martin Launch Vehicle” that later became known as Atlas V.40 The status of the Front Range as America’s capitol for space launcher production began to unravel, however, in March 2003 when Boeing Company, which had acquired Delta rocket production from McDonnell Douglas, announced plans to transfer Delta II assembly operations to a new facility in Decatur, Alabama, by July 2004. With the number of space launches diminishing and demand for large rockets dwindling, Boeing and Lockheed Martin delivered a further blow in May 2005 by revealing plans to create a joint venture named United Launch Alliance (ULA) and combine their production, engineering, test, and launch operations. After finalizing the merger, ULA began operations on December 1, 2006. Production of all space launchers—Delta II, Delta IV, and Atlas V—would move eventually to Decatur, but ULA headquartered its program management, engineering, test, and mission support functions in Denver.41 From Rockets to Spacecraft When it came to space-related products, Martin Marietta and its successor Lockheed Martin manufactured more than rockets in Denver. In 1964, company officials began contemplating diversification of the Denver facility’s income base through satellite or other kinds of space contracts. They had quickly gained a favorable reputation for designing and building interplanetary spacecraft. It won a NASA contract in 1969 for

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a pair of Viking-Mars landers, which Martin Marietta Titan IIIE rockets launched from Cape Canaveral in 1975. Viking 1 transmitted the first picture ever taken from the Martian surface on July 20, 1976. Another Denverbuilt spacecraft, Magellan, conceived in 1979 but not launched until May 1989, traveled 788 million miles to intercept Venus and radar-map its entire surface. Lockheed Martin A technician checks the soil sampler of Astronautics also built the NASA’s Viking Lander, May 20, 1971. attitude and articulation The Lander was designed, fabricated, and control system electronics tested by the Martin Marietta Corp. of for Galileo, launched in Denver, Colorado. NASA photograph, (74October 1989 for a 6-year H-856). mission to Jupiter; it also designed and built three of the six instruments on the Jovian probe that Galileo released as it orbited Jupiter.42 During the 1990s, Denver built or contributed to several spacecraft for further Martian exploration: Mars Global Surveyor, which began extensively mapping the surface in January 1998; the protective aeroshell for Mars Pathfinder, which carried the first autonomous rover to the surface of another planet on July 4, 1997; an orbiter and lander for Mars Surveyor ’98, later renamed Mars Climate Orbiter and Mars Polar Lander, which ended with two separate mission failures in 1999; Mars Odyssey, which began mapping the amount and distribution of chemical elements and minerals on the Martian surface in February 2002; the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, which arrived at the “Red Planet” in March 2006 carrying a HiRISE (High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment) camera built by Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corporation in Boulder, Colorado, and revealing large quantities of subsurface water ice; and Phoenix, which


landed in the Martian north polar region on May 25, 2008, to search for water ice.43 Aiming even farther into the solar system, Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company of Denver designed and built the Stardust spacecraft and sample-return capsule that launched in February 1999. Lockheed Martin provided operational support to NASA for the payload’s 2.88-billion-mile journey to In the Vertical Processing Facility (VPF), capture and return comet and the spacecraft Galileo is prepared for mating with the Inertial Upper Stage interstellar dust particles. In booster, August 3, 1989. Galileo was 2004, the spacecraft flew by launched on a Space Shuttle mission comet Wild 2 and, using a and sent to the planet Jupiter. NASA substance called aerogel, photograph, (89PC-0732). collected material only 150 miles from the comet’s nucleus for scientific analysis. On January 15, 2006, Lockheed Martin technicians helped NASA recover the Stardust sample-return capsule on the Utah Test and Training Range, marking the first time material from a comet had been brought back to Earth. Scientists hoped the cosmic dust would yield clues to how the Sun and planets formed.44 In addition to its work on robotic spacecraft, the Denver plant made noteworthy contributions to human spaceflight. It won NASA contracts during the late 1960s for the Multiple Docking Adapter portion of Skylab, America’s first space station, plus development of as much as one-fourth of all experiments integral to the station. The Denver facility also designed and manufactured the M509 maneuvering unit that astronauts tested inside the orbiting Skylab during 1973–1974 and that served as a prototype for the Manned Maneuvering Unit astronaut Bruce McCandless would use in February 1984 to complete the first untethered extra-vehicular activity in space.45

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Lockheed Martin engineers in Denver contributed directly and indirectly to piloted spacecraft technology from the 1970s into the 21st century. They redesigned the rocket-powered X-24 “lifting body” in 1972, thereby enabling the collection of technical information for use in designing the Space Shuttle. In the 1990s, Lockheed Martin Astronautics in Denver contributed to designing the propulsion system for the X-33, a half-scale prototype of the proposed VentureStar space plane. On August 31, 2006, NASA announced that Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company in Denver had won the contract for design and construction of Orion, the next-generation crew vehicle that would replace the Space Shuttle and carry humans back to the Moon and outward to Mars.46 The Denver plant’s prospects suffered, however, in 2010. The proposed U.S. federal budget, announced at the beginning of February, slashed all funding for Orion. A subsequent White House statement suggested that a drastically scaled back project, making Orion a “crew rescue vehicle” instead of a “crew exploration vehicle,” would sustain Lockheed Martin’s development work. In early March 2010, the Orion team in Denver completed fabrication of the world’s largest heat-shield structure. Measuring 16.4 feet in diameter, the shield would protect astronauts from the searing heat of reentry to Earth’s atmosphere. Three months later, with NASA managers having effectively resigned themselves to cancellation of the entire Constellation program, of which Orion was a key component, senior officials at Lockheed Martin Space Systems, anticipating termination of Orion, cancelled key procurements and began pulling several hundred engineers off the project.47 Commercial, High-Resolution Imagery from Space Other Front Range communities hosted high-resolution imagery enterprises. In the early 1990s, the U.S. Department of Commerce granted WorldView Imaging Corporation of Livermore, California, the first license allowing a private enterprise to build and operate a satellite system to collect high-resolution, digital imagery of Earth for commercial sale. A merger of WorldView and Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corporation (BATC) commercial remote sensing efforts in


January 1995 created EarthWatch Incorporated, an independent company in Longmont, Colorado. On October 18, 2001, EarthWatch’s QuickBird-2 launched successfully to supply 1-meter panchromatic resolution. To more accurately reflect the company’s orientation, EarthWatch changed its name to DigitalGlobe in 2002 and began designing its next generation of high-resolution remote sensing satellites—WorldView-1 and WorldView-2—to provide high-capacity, high-resolution remote sensing services directly to government and private customers around the world.48 With a growing market for high-resolution imagery from space, Raytheon and Lockheed Martin founded Space Imaging Corporation in Thornton, Colorado. When Space Imaging launched its IKONOS satellite in September 1999 to provide 1-meter panchromatic and 4-meter multispectral images, the New York Times called it “one of the most significant developments in the history of the space age.” In 2006, Space Imaging merged with Orbital Imaging Corporation of Virginia to form GeoEye, the world’s largest commercial provider of high-resolution imagery from space. The primary customer for GeoEye’s Thornton division was the federal government, but products from Front Range space-imaging providers benefited users ranging from farmers and ranchers to oil, gas, and other natural-resource explorers.49 Military Space Operations & the Global Positioning System Military space activities on Colorado’s Front Range had increasingly greater day-to-day effects, directly or indirectly, on people worldwide. Many of those activities centered on ensuring national security through satellites and groundsupport systems. In the early 1960s, U.S. and Canadian forces at Colorado Springs operated centers for early warning of a long-range missile attack on North America and for detecting, identifying, tracking, and cataloging man-made objects orbiting Earth. When those functions moved into a hardened North American Air Defense Command (NORAD) combat operations center deep inside Cheyenne Mountain, microwave links ensured the operators could communicate with the outside

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world. Lockheed Martin’s acquisition of Loral Command & Control Systems of Colorado Springs in April 1996 gave the aerospace giant responsibility for surveillance and warning systems in Cheyenne Mountain.50

Control panels in the NORAD underground combat operations center, March 1967. Excavation beneath Cheyenne Mountain provided the operation center protection from missile attack. The multi-million dollar construction project was considered a major benefit to the Pikes Peak region’s economy during the early 1960s. Photograph by Myron Wood, © Special Collections, Pikes Peak Library District, (002-3300).

By the late 1970s, the increasing maturation of military space systems for reconnaissance, early warning, meteorology, communications, and other purposes, led to a drumbeat for establishment of an Air Force “space operations” command in Colorado Springs. The Air Force activated Space Command at Peterson Air Force Base on September 1, 1982, and shortly thereafter, began constructing a Consolidated Space Operations Center (CSOC) on the plains several miles east of the city to oversee telemetry, tracking, and control of dedicated military satellites. At the time, the Department of Defense envisioned dozens of military missions on the Space Shuttle and a Shuttle Operations and Planning Complex (SOPC) within the CSOC to conduct those missions. Although the Challenger disaster in January 1986 squelched completion of the SOPC, Air Force


Space Command (AFSPC) responsibilities continued to grow. It inherited the worldwide Air Force Satellite Control Network in 1987, space launch operations in 1990, Air Force Satellite Communication System management in 1992, ICBMs in 1993, and space weather forecasting in 1994. A virtual web of invisible communication links radiated from military centers in Colorado Springs to the far corners of the globe.51 From the 1990s onward, one particular military satellite system operated by the 50th Space Wing at Schriever Air Force Base east of Colorado Springs gained recognition as a “critical infrastructure” or “global utility.” Beyond its numerous military applications, this Global Positioning System (GPS) benefited private individuals, civil entities, and commercial users worldwide. Conceived in the 1960s and developed during the 1970s and 1980s, GPS became fully operational with twentyfour satellites in 1995. Several years before that, however, the number of non-military users already had surpassed military users by an order of magnitude. Anyone with a suitable receiver anywhere in the world could freely use the GPS system to determine very precisely their position, direction of movement, and speed in three dimensions, plus time and frequency within nanoseconds. The Global Positioning System gave the Pikes Peak region its most pervasive role yet in aerospace technology. At the beginning of the 21st century, people around the world came to rely in countless ways, knowingly or unwittingly, on wireless links—radio signals from GPS satellites, space-based remote sensing, and satellite or microwave communications. Ranchers tracked their livestock with GPS. Farmers plowed their fields and applied water, fertilizer, or insecticide based on GPS integrated with other space-related technologies. Surveys based on GPS data provided landowners with far more precise plats, and geographers benefited from using GPS to create globally consistent continental reference systems. Miners and developers alike equipped giant earth-moving equipment with GPS for precise excavation and worker safety. The applications for extremely precise positioning, navigation, and timing supplied by GPS seemed limitless. Scientists studying volcanic or tectonic activity relied on GPS,

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and engineers at dam sites in earthquake-prone areas used it to measure any structural effects from seismic activity. Ecologists performed GPS-dependent surveys to help indigenous populations maintain traditional lifestyles, and wildlife specialists tracked endangered species via GPS. Medical professionals equipped patients living in remote places with GPS devices to enable telemedicine, and disaster response teams relied on GPS for more efficient, effective application of limited resources. Backcountry travelers were less likely to get lost and more likely to be rescued quickly if they had GPS equipment. Whether flying small, private planes or large, commercial jets, pilots praised GPS navigation. International banking establishments and the New York Stock Exchange timed their transactions using GPS. Regional power grids like the Bonneville Power Administration in the Pacific Northwest relied on GPS timing for effective power distribution and prevention of costly blackouts. By 2009, the U.S. Census Bureau applied GPS to locate residences, and social networking applications were proliferating due to GPS chips in cell phones and other portable electronic devices.52 In addition to the GPS operational control center being on Colorado’s Front Range, a number of GPS equipment manufacturers and commercial firms seeking GPS-related government contracts soon appeared there. Scottish-born engineer Alison Brown founded Colorado Springs-based NAVSYS Corporation in 1986, 3 years before the launch of the first fully operational Block II GPS satellite, to participate in the “design and development of GPS-related product lines.” NAVSYS created the technology for GPS to track emergency 911 calls. It also developed the Wide Area Augmentation System to provide GPS signal corrections, thereby achieving five times greater accuracy than GPS alone and advancing significantly the prospects for commercial airlines to rely primarily on GPS for in-flight navigation. Among dozens of other innovative GPS applications, NAVSYS scientists and engineers devised a technology to tell military GPS users in Iraq, Afghanistan, and other war zones if they were being jammed and how it was being done. By 2009, the company’s product lines included GPS receivers, GPS/Inertial systems and software, and GPS simulator technology.53


At least two other GPS equipment manufacturers opened their doors on the Front Range in the early 21st century. Trimble Navigation, a leading innovator of augmenting GPS laser and optical positioning technology with wireless communications for precise operation of everything from farm tractors to bulldozers, first opened a Colorado office in 2000. In August 2006, Trimble cut the ribbon on a new 77,000-square-foot plant in Westminster to better serve customers in 100 countries worldwide. Meanwhile, Rocky Mountain Tracking (RMT) was founded in 2003 and located its headquarters in Fort Collins. By 2008, RMT had become the largest provider of GPS tracking devices in the United States. The RMT WatchDog system enabled equipment owners worldwide who faced the possibility of theft to track their property from any computer with an Internet connection.54 Planning for future GPS operations, Raytheon unveiled a 400,000-squarefoot facility built on 45 acres in Aurora, Colorado, in August 2001. Raytheon’s Aurora campus developed information and data management systems for commanding and controlling satellites. Its customers included NASA, the Department of Defense, and other federal agencies, plus satellite manufacturers and international The first GPS Block II-F satellite was operators of commercial launched on May 27, 2010, and provided two times greater signal accuracy than its communications satellites. predecessors, a new L5 signal for more During 2007–2009, Rayrobust civil and commercial aviation theon won a lucrative Air usage, and features to enable better Force contract to develop resistance to signal jamming. U.S. Air the GPS Advanced Control Force illustration. Segment to improve the

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system’s “accuracy, integrity, availability, and continuity for military and civilian users around the world, as well as providing more efficient functionality to GPS operators, maintainers, and analysts” when operational in 2013.55 Connecting Space & Cyberspace on the Front Range The emergence of the Internet and applications like the World Wide Web in the 1990s, not to mention the reliance of billions of people on radio signals from GPS and other satellites in outer space, added a significant new dimension to the world of wireless connections. On December 7, 2005, activity in that dimension, which had come to be defined as “cyberspace,” prompted Secretary of the Air Force Michael Wynne and Air Force Chief of Staff General T. Michael Moseley to release a new mission statement for the service. It read, “The mission of the USAF is to deliver sovereign options for the defense of the United States of America and its global interests—to fly and flight in air, space, and cyberspace.” The service’s senior generals met at the Air Force Academy near Colorado Springs in October 2008 and decided that responsibility for the virtual domain of cyberspace throughout the Air Force ought to reside within Air Force Space Command (AFSPC). While some skeptically viewed outer space and cyberspace as unconnected realms, others perceived an increasingly close interconnection. The latter realized that cyber capabilities are what make space systems useful. As John Perry Barlow, a former student at the Fountain Valley School in Colorado Springs, had explained nearly 2 decades earlier, cyberspace is a wireless realm that “extends across that immense region of electron states, microwaves, magnetic fields, light pulses and thought.” He added, “Cyberspace, in its present condition, has a lot in common with the 19th–century West . . . It is, of course, a perfect breeding ground for both outlaws and new ideas about liberty . . . Like open range, the property boundaries of cyberspace are hard to stake and harder still to defend.” Yet, like the U.S. Army’s cavalry troops of yore, Air Force men and women of the early 21st century, along with


private enterprise, were being asked to protect those staking the boundaries, to defend them against hostile intruders.56 Even as AFSPC prepared to defend and exploit portions of cyberspace, and continued to defend and exploit the nation’s presence in outer space, researchers at the University of Colorado in Boulder were working with NASA to develop a new communications technology that would extend Earth’s Internet into outer space and across the solar system. Disruption Tolerant Networking data communication protocols for installation on a Commercial Generic Bioprocessing Apparatus payload, all developed by the university’s BioServe Space Technologies, would soon be tested on the International Space Station. Payload operators fully expected the technology would lead to an “Interplanetary Internet” not too far in the future.57 Conclusion From hot-air balloons and condor wings to space shuttles and interplanetary spacecraft, farsighted dreamers and skillful builders in the Pikes Peak region frequently stood on the cutting edge of aerospace activity. Being there meant they led the way in creating and expanding aerial connections across the American West, the world, and even into outer space. By 2006, only California and Arizona surpassed Colorado in numbers of private-sector aerospace workers. In addition to its 24,600 private workers, Colorado counted 32,900 military members assigned to aerospace installations within sight of Pikes Peak. Between 2003 and 2008, the state’s aerospace employment grew more than twice as fast as the national average, 25.7 percent compared to 12 percent. In March 2008, Colorado boasted more than 130 aerospace companies, mostly along the Front Range, plus another 200 that had some space-related business. The state ranked first in the nation for private aerospace employment, with 83 percent producing search and navigation equipment and 11 percent building rockets or space vehicles.58 In January 2009, Mark Sirangelo, chief executive for SpaceDev, Inc., realized his vision of a partnership among business, academic, and military interests to spur creation of new space firms and commercialize the technologies they generate.

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The state of Colorado, the University of Colorado at Boulder, the Air Force Research Laboratory’s Phillips Technology Institute, and SpaceDev agreed to become stakeholders in a new Center for Space Entrepreneurship (eSpace) with SpaceDev’s manufacturing plant in Louisville, Colorado, providing floorspace for the start-up companies. As Scott Tibbitts, founder of SpaceDev’s Starsys Research element in Louisville explained, “The companies we are supporting are perfect for helping this millennium’s work force realize that aerospace is not always Boeing or Lockheed . . . it can be Google-esque space companies that are exciting and nimble.” Private entrepreneurs, community boosters, military installations, universities, large aerospace corporations, and other entities were generating “cluster relationships” that drove aerospace revenues in the Pikes Peak region toward $7 billion by 2010.59 Given all the attention on outer space and cyberspace in recent decades, readers wondering what became of the region’s enthusiasm for the flying machines of yesteryear should take heart knowing that WestPac Restorations, Incorporated relocated from Rialto, California, to Colorado Springs in May 2008. James Fry, a Minneapolis businessman and aviation buff who had selected Colorado Springs in 2005 as the site for a National Museum of World War II Aviation, had convinced WestPac Restorations to take that step. The company opened a hangar facility with 65,000 square feet of floor space at 765 Aviation Way in March 2009. A year later, WestPac Restorations touted its repair of numerous World War II-era fighters and bombers, and the museum board of directors pursued funds to open a 20-acre complex with 40,000 square feet of exhibit space adjacent to WestPac’s hangar. Clearly, even as the Pikes Peak region played a key role in the advancement of spaceflight and cyberspace defense, some of its residents had not forgotten its enduring contributions to early aviation.60


Rick W. Sturdevant earned B.A. and M.A. degrees in history at the University of Northern Iowa and a Ph.D. from the University of California, Santa Barbara. He joined the U.S. Air Force History & Museums Program in 1984 and has been Air Force Space Command deputy director of history since 1999. A nationally recognized authority on U.S. military space history, Dr. Sturdevant appears frequently as a guest lecturer on aerospace history topics and, in addition to writing classified official histories, has published numerous book chapters, essays, articles, and reviews. He serves on the editorial board of Quest: The History of Spaceflight Quarterly and is editor of the International Academy of Astronautics history series. NOTES

1. New York Times, July 16, August 4, August 9, and August 16, 1897; James McChristal, Pikes Peak: Legends of America’s Mountain (Raton, N.Mex.: Sierra Grande Press, 1999), 84–90. Two cog railway employees, engineer Davy Jones and brakeman S. W. Milward, subsequently claimed they had removed Felts’s contraption from Pikes Peak, repaired it, and both completed short flights from Mount Manitou without serious injury. See “Mysterious Felts,” Colorado Springs Gazette, August 25, 1897. 2. John A. deVries, Alexander Eaglerock: A History of the Alexander Aircraft Company (Colorado Springs: Century One Press, 1985), 81– 83; “Aviators to Introduce Gliding Here,” The Bee (Danville, Va.), February 6, 1930, 1; “Glider Sport Planned Here,” Billings Gazette (Billings, Mont.), February 9, 1930, 10. The Wave Flights airport closed in late 1986, and in 1988, the first flights occurred farther north at Black Forest Glider Park, six miles west of Elbert, Colorado. The latter subsequently was renamed Kelly Airpark to honor its owner and developer. See Black Forest Soaring Society, http://www.soarbfss. org/about.php (accessed June 1, 2010). 3. Jerome B. Blanchard, “Aerial Vessel,” U.S. Patent No. 514,408, February 6, 1894; “Flies in the Air,” Lima News (Lima, Ohio), September 20, 1898, 6; “An Early Aeroplane,” Washington Post, July 24, 1910, 4. 4. “To Ride the Air Like a Bicycle,” Colorado Springs Gazette, December 1, 1904, 5; “Expects to Get a . . . from Sale of Inventions,” Colorado Springs Gazette, August 30, 1905, 3. 5. “Awful Balloon Experience,” Decatur Herald (Decatur, Ill.), September 2, 1902, 1; “Aeronauts Wrecked North of Florence,”

STURDEVANT • 203 Colorado Springs Weekly Gazette, September 4, 1902, 3; “Three Times Over Peak,” Democrat and Standard (Coshocton, Ohio), September 5, 1902, 2. On February 21, 1977, David N. Levin became the first to fly a hot-air balloon over the summit of Pikes Peak. See “Who’s Who of Ballooning,” http://www.ballooninghistory.com/whoswho/ (accessed December 31, 2010). 6. “Who’s Who of Ballooning,” http://www.ballooninghistory. com/whoswho/ (accessed December 31, 2010); Ken Gaunt, “Daredevil Ivy Baldwin,” Airport Journals, April 2003, http: //www. airportjournals.com/display.cfm/Centennial/0304022 (accessed June 1, 2010). 7. “After World’s Record,” New York Times, August 29, 1912; “Balloon Ascensions,” Aeronautics 11, no. 4 (October 1912), 126. 8. Andrea Brown, “Identified Flying Object,” The Gazette (Colorado Springs), August 27, 2008, METRO 1 and 4; Andrew Wineke, “Region Aims to Become a Leader in Near-Space,” The Gazette, October 16, 2009; Andrew Wineke, “High Tech at High Altitude,” The Gazette, October 18, 2009, BUS 1 and 3. 9. G. L. O. Davidson, “Flight, and how Birds get a Rise out of the Wind when Soaring,” Aeronautical Journal (January 1898), 15–20; “The Modern Icarus: The Newest of Flying Machines,” English Illustrated Magazine 20 (October 1898), 39–42; “From New York to Chicago in Three Hours,” School Journal 75, no. 7 (August 31, 1907), 161; Charles Cyril Turner, The Old Flying Days (London: Sampson Low, Marston, and Company, ca. 1925), 135–136. Davidson returned to England after his “air-car” failure. By late 1910, his new company, Davidson’s Gyropter Flying Machine, Ltd., was building “a huge machine of the helicopter species” and publicizing for new investors. See “The Davidson Gyropter,” Flight 2, no. 45 (November 5, 1910), 910–911; “The Davidson Gyropter,” Flight 3, no. 8 (February 25, 1911), 169. 10. Howard L. Scamehorn, “The First Fifty Years of Flight in Colorado,” University of Colorado Studies. Series in History, No. 2 (Boulder: University of Colorado Press, 1961), 102–121; Lee Scamehorn, “The Heroic Age of Aviation in Colorado, 1910–1916,” Denver Westerners Roundup 20, no. 3 (March 1964), 3–14 and 19–20; Jeff Miller, “Birdmen of 1910: Early Aviation in the Mile High City,” EnCompass (March/ April 2010), http://www.encompassmag.com/2010/03/birdmen. html (accessed 1 June 2010). 11. “Aero Club Planned for Colo. Springs,” Colorado Springs Gazette, December 25, 1909, 5; “May Fly to Top of Pike’s Peak Soon,” Evening Telegram (Elyria, Ohio), February 16, 1910, 5; “News in General,” Aircraft (April 1910), 71; “S. S. Pierce, Local Aviator, Going to Paris to Study Airship Construction under the Best French Experts,”

204 • AERONAUTICS & ASTRONAUTICS Colorado Springs Gazette, August 13, 1910, 9. In his capacity as a Bleriot instructor pilot, Samuel Pierce led the flying corps of the Serbian army during the 1912–1913 Balkan war; ran the aviation school in Cairo, Egypt, in February–March 1914; and taught English officers to fly in August 1914. Shortly thereafter, he joined the Curtiss Aeroplane Company and became a senior instructor at the Curtiss Aeroplane School in Toronto, Canada. See Samuel S. Pierce, “The Use of the Compass in Aviation,” Aerial Age Weekly 1, no. 5 (April 19, 1915), 111 and 116; “The Toronto Aviation School,” Aerial Age Weekly 1, no. 21 (August 9, 1915), 500–501. 12. Peter Robert Torbrand, “Flying-Machine,” U.S. Patent No. 970,974, September 20, 1910; “France Secures Patent Rights for Aeroplane Invented by Coloradoan,” Colorado Springs Gazette, January 25, 1912, 2; “Victor Inventor Shows Aeroplane,” Colorado Springs Gazette, May 29, 1912, 9; “The Buck Automatic Aerial Torpedo,” Aerial Age Weekly 3, no. 15 (June 26, 1916), 445; “Frederick W. Buck, M. D., M. E.,” in Wilbur Fisk Stone, History of Colorado (Chicago: S. J. Clarke, 1918), 2:382–383; Fredrick [sic] W. Buck, “Automatic GravityStabilizer for Aerial Torpedoes and Aeroplanes,” U.S. Patent No. 1,207,492, December 5, 1916; Frances Melrose, “Grandson Fills in Story of Pioneer Fliers,” Rocky Mountain News (Denver), February 8, 1998; Albin Wagner, “Adams County an Early Part of Air Age,” http://www.co.adams.co.us/documents/page/history/air_age. pdf (accessed June 1, 2010); “Will Tesla’s New Monarch of Machines Revolutionize the World?” New York Herald Tribune, October 15, 1911. On Will D. Parker, who subsequently became manager of Phillips Petroleum Company’s aviation department, see Will D. Parker to Bob Taylor, December 11, 1962, http://www.dmairfield.org/people/ parker_bi/index.htm (accessed June 1, 2010); “Will D. Parker,” Early Aviators, http://earlyaviators.com/eparker.htm (accessed June 1 2010); Kim Jones, Images of Aviation: Aviation in Tulsa and Northeast Oklahoma (Charleston, S.C.: Arcadia Publishing, 2009). News was even fabricated about a young, fictitious Colorado aviator named Walter Archer who supposedly died in the crash of his electrically powered experimental aircraft in Salida, Colorado. The story subsequently was exposed as a “Most unscrupulous canard.” See “Electrically Driven Airship Drops 700 Feet, Killing Youth,” Colorado Springs Gazette, December 5, 1910, 1; Victor Lougheed, “The Fatalities of Flight,” Popular Mechanics 16, no. 2 (August 1911), 171–177. 13. Robert A. Donaldson, “First Colorado Plane Flies,” Aeronautics 8, no. 2 (February 1911), 57–58; “Lamar Crowd Sees Aviator Killed,” Colorado Springs Gazette, August 22, 1912, 1; Scamehorn, 102–121. 14. “To Reach Pike’s Peak in Aeroplane,” New York Times, June 14,

STURDEVANT • 205 1911; “P. O. Parmalee,” Colorado Springs Gazette, July 19, 1911, 6; “Single Belle from Omaha Wants to Make a Flight in Aeroplane,” Colorado Springs Gazette, July 28, 1911, 5. Although it would have been a poor substitute for actually taking to the air in August 1911, Mrs. Mabel Johnson might have visited the Von Lackum Aeroplane on Manitou’s Ruxton Avenue, where she could have had her “photo taken on the Aeroplane, flying over any of the local scenes.” See “Tourist Section— Season 1911,” Colorado Springs Gazette, August 12, 1991. 15. “Thousands and Tens of Thousands Thrilled by Spectacular Flights of Aviators Turpin and Parmalee, the First Witnessed in this Region,” Colorado Springs Gazette, August 3, 1911. 16. “Flies Over Garden of Gods—Says He Can Circle the Peak,” Colorado Springs Gazette, August 4, 1911, 1, 3 and 4; John Norberg, Wings of Their Dreams: Purdue in Flight (West Lafayette, Ind.: Purdue University, 2003), 51–53. 17. “Would Circle Peak,” Colorado Springs Gazette, August 24, 1913; “W. E. Bowersox Buys Big Aeroplane and Will Make Flights Here in Few Days,” Colorado Springs Gazette, May 14, 1914, 1 and 3; Lois E. Walker and Shelby E. Wickam, From Huffman Prairie to the Moon: The History of Wright-Patterson Air Force Base Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio: Air Force Logistics Command, 1986), 14. 18. “Flew First Plane Here 20 Years Ago; Bowersox Tells of His Seven Crashes,” Colorado Springs Gazette, February 10, 1929, Sec. 1, 16. 19. Lionel S. Marks, The Airplane Engine (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1922), 411–413; Richard A. Leyes II and William A. Fleming, The History of North American Small Gas Turbine Aircraft Engines (Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution, 1999), 231–234. 20. “Off on Denver Flight,” New York Times, July 3, 1919; “Aviator Lendrum Circles Pikes Peak,” Nevada State Journal (Reno, Nev.), August 4, 1919, 1; “Plane Used to Deliver Denver Newspaper,” Oakland Tribune (Oakland, California), August 9, 1919, 3; Department of the Interior, Report of the Director of the National Park Service to the Secretary of the Interior for the Fiscal Year Ended June 30, 1919 (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1919), 28. 21. John A. deVries, Alexander Eaglerock: A History of the Alexander Aircraft Company (Colorado Springs: Century One Press, 1985), 9–12. 22. Ibid., 12–22; H. H. Hartman, “Alexander Planes Came Three Ways: For High, Medium and Low Altitudes,” Gazette Telegraph (Colorado Springs), July 2, 1972. Al Mooney decided to form his own aircraft manufacturing company at Wichita, Kansas, in 1929. The Mooney Aircraft Company moved to Kerrville, Texas, in 1953 and had manufactured more than 11,000 airplanes by 2010. See Kathy Stahlberg, “An Interview with the Mooneys,” http://www.

206 • AERONAUTICS & ASTRONAUTICS mooneymite.com/articles-history/stahlberg.interview.htm (accessed June 1, 2010); Al Mooney and Gordon Baxter, The Al Mooney Story: They All Fly Through the Same Air (Fredericksburg, Tex.: Shearer Publishing, 1985); “Mooney History,” Mooney Airplane Company, http://www. mooney.com/about-us/mooney-history.html (accessed June 1, 2010). 23. deVries, 26–27. 24. Ibid., 37–88; “20 Miles on Gallon Is Claimed for New Plane,” The Register (Sandusky, Ohio), April 28, 1929, 2. 25. deVries, 89–91; “Aircraft Mechanics Inc.,” The Ejection Site, http://www.ejectionsite.com/ami.htm (accessed June 1, 2010); “Aircraft Mechanics Ushers in New Era of Expansion,” Gazette Telegraph, February 20, 1966, 8-BB; “AMI Sees More Growth in Coming Year,” Gazette Telegraph, February 23, 1975, 3CC; Jeanne Davant, “Innovation Takes Front Seat—Airplane Seat Manufacturer Bounces Back,” The Gazette (Colorado Springs), March 26, 2002; Becky Hurley, “Millions in Govt. Contracts Awarded,” Colorado Springs Business Journal, November 9, 2009. Edwin Aro, who had been AMI vice president and director for 15 years, decided to organize his own company in Colorado Springs. The Edwin Aro Company competed with AMI and reported a “highly successful volume” of aircraftand electronics-related business in its first year. In June 1969, the company reorganized and broadened its span of activities under the name Aro Industries, Inc. See “Edwin Aro Company Is Organized in the Springs,” Gazette Telegraph, February 25, 1968, 2-C; “Edwin Aro Co. Reports Top Volume in First Year,” Gazette Telegraph, February 16, 1969, 10-AA; “Aro Industries Form New Corporation,” Gazette Telegraph, June 29, 1969, 1-F. 26. Nolie Mumey, Epitome of the Semi-Centennial: History of Colorado’s Airmail (Denver: The Range Press, 1977), 49–67. 27. “H. Chase Stone (1900–1966),” Pikes Peak Library District, Special Collections, http://rmoa.unm.edu/docviewer.php?docId =cocppmss0051.xml (accessed December 31, 2010); “Orval ‘Red’ Mosier,” Colorado Aviation Historical Society, http://www. coloradoaviationhistoricalsociety.org/bio_popup.asp?id=185 (accessed June 1, 2010); Ann Patton, “Academy’s Airfield: Not Your Father’s Airplane Patch,” Academy Spirit (United States Air Force Academy, Colorado), September 14, 2007, 15. 28. Di Freeze, “Harry Combs: The Early Years,” Airport Journals (March 2001), http://airportjournals.com/Display.cfm? varID=0103003 (accessed June 1, 2010). In 1958, Combs Aircraft Corporation became the leading U.S. distributor for Beechcraft airplanes; in 1971, he became president of Gates Learjet Corporation. See Di Freeze, “Harry Combs Enters the Jet Age,” Airport Journals

STURDEVANT • 207 (April 2001), http://www.airportjournals.com/display.cfm/Dallas/ 0104003 (accessed June 1, 2010). For background on Robert Six, see “Continental Airlines,” Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Continental_Airlines (accessed June 1, 2010). On Ray Wilson’s career and roles in Monarch and Frontier Airlines, see “Raymond Wilson,” Wikibin, http://wikibin.org/articles/raymond-wilson.html (accessed June 1, 2010); “Monarch Airlines (1946–1950),” Wikipedia, http:// en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monarch_Airlines_(1946%E2%80%931950) (accessed June 1, 2010); “Frontier Airlines (1950–1986),” Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frontier_Airlines_(1950-1986) (accessed June 1, 2010). 29. Flint Whitlock and Terry L. Barnhart, Capt. Jepp and the Little Black Book: How Barnstormer and Aviation Pioneer Elrey B. Jeppesen Made the Skie Safer for Everyone (Brule, Wis.: Cable Publishing, 2007); Jeppesen, http://www.jeppesen.com/ (accessed June 1, 2010). 30. “Norman A. Parker,” Regents of the University of Colorado, 2003, http://www.colorado.edu/engineering/deaa/cgi-bin/display. pl?id=35 (accessed June 1, 2010). 31. Robert D. Culp, “The Department of Aerospace Engineering Sciences: A Brief History,” University of Colorado, Boulder, ca. January 2009. 32. “ERCO Ercoupe,” Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ ERCO_Ercoupe (accessed June 1, 2010). 33. “Airlines: Flying to Success Upside Down,” Time, July 26, 1963; Glenn Fowler, “Lewis Maytag, Airline Official, Is Dead at 64,” New York Times, September 25, 1990; Tara Cuslidge, “Modern History,” The Gazette, June 17, 2006, LIFE 1 and 5; Wayne Heilman, “Contractor Want to See Double,” The Gazette, December 31, 2008, METRO 8 and 11; Mercury Air Group, http://www.mercuryairgroup.com/pages/ maytag.htm (accessed June 1, 2010). 34. Harriet Barker Crow, et al., eds., Remembering Walt Roberts (Boulder: University Corporation for Atmospheric Research, 1991); Rick W. Sturdevant and David N. Spires, “Mile-High Ventures: Highlights from Colorado Aerospace History,” Journal of the West 36, no. 3 (July 1997): 67–77; David N. Spires, “Walter Orr Roberts and the Development of Boulder’s Aerospace Community,” Quest: The History of Spaceflight Quarterly 6, no. 4 (Winter 1998): 5–14. 35. W. B. Pientenpol, Airborne Coronagraph for Rocket Installation Progress Report No. 1, April 1, 1948–July 1, 1948 (Boulder: University of Colorado, 1948); “Experiments Conducted by the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics in the Development of Pointing Controls,” LASP Archives, University of Colorado, Boulder, n.d. After Pientenpol retired as UAL director, university officials created

208 • AERONAUTICS & ASTRONAUTICS a separate Research Services Laboratory (RSL) to build pointing controls for sounding rockets. The RSL continued to build pointing controls, in competition with Ball Brothers Research Corporation, until 1965. Under a new designation, the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP), that organization focused on predicting space weather and mitigating its potentially damaging effects on satellites, terrestrial power grids, and airline or space travelers. See Press Release, University of Colorado at Boulder, “CU Selected to Build Instruments, Control Cloud-Monitoring NASA Satellite from Boulder Campus,” July 3, 2002; Press Release, University of Colorado at Boulder, “Space Weather Bouts Growing Concern to Space, Communications Industries,” August 29, 2002; Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics, http://lasp.colorado.edu (accessed June1, 2010); UCAR, http://www.ucar.edu/communications/ ucar25/ (accessed June 1, 2010). 36. Rick W. Sturdevant and David N. Spires, “Mile-High Ventures: Highlights from Colorado Aerospace History,” Journal of the West 36, no. 3 (July 1997): 67–77; Ball Aerospace Systems Division, 25 Years of Achievement, 1957–1982 (Boulder, Colo.: Ball Corporation, Aerospace Systems Division, 1982); Dennis Baumgarten, ed., Ball Aerospace: The First Forty Years (Boulder: Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corporation, n.d.); Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corporation, Explore, Issue no. 1, ca. January 1997; Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corporation, http:// www.ballaerospace.com/page.jsp?page=1 (accessed 1 June 2010). 37. Rebecca Cantwell and Joseph B. Verrengia, “Rockets in the Rockies,” Rocky Mountain News, May 26–29, 1996. 38. John Rublowsky, “Missiletown, U.S.A.,” Space World 1, no. 7 (April 1961): 25–25, 58–60, and 62; Jacob Neufeld, Ballistic Missiles in the United States Air Force, 1945–1960 Washington, D.C.: Office of Air Force History, 1989; John F. Lauber and Jeffrey A. Hess, “Glenn L. Martin Company, Titan Missile Test Facilities, Denver, Colorado” (Historic American Engineering Record No. CO-75), December 1993; Rick W. Sturdevant and David N. Spires, interview with George W. Morgenthaler, Professor Emeritus, University of Colorado at Boulder, June 27, 1996. 39. William B. Harwood, Raise Heaven and Earth: The Story of Martin Marietta People and Their Pioneering Achievements (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1993), 299–326; Evan D. McCollum, ed., Titan: America’s Silent Hero (Denver: Lockheed Martin Astronautics, 1996). 40. Press Release, Boeing Company, “Boeing Pueblo Plant to Expand to Accommodate Delta IV Program,” August 5, 1999; Press Release, Boeing Company, “Boeing Consolidates Delta Rocket

STURDEVANT • 209 Production,” June 26, 2000; Greg Griffin, “Lockheed Looks for Lift,” Denver Post, April 15, 2001, 1K, 4K. 41. Associated Press, “Rocket Building May End in State,” The Gazette, May 6, 2005, 1 and 4; United Launch Alliance, http://www. ulalaunch.com/site/ (accessed June 1, 2010). 42. National Space Science Data Center (NSSDC), “Viking Mission to Mars,” http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/viking. html (accessed June 1, 2010); NSSDC, “Magellan Mission to Venus,” http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/magellan.html (accessed June 1, 2010); National Aeronautics and Space Administration, “Galileo Journey to Jupiter,” http://www2.jpl.nasa.gov/galileo/ (accessed June 1, 2010). 43. Fact Sheet, Lockheed Martin Astronautics, “Mars Surveyor ‘98,” 1995; Fact Sheet, Lockheed Martin Astronautics, “Mars Global Surveyor,” 1996; Lockheed Martin Astronautics, “Revealing Mars,” n.d.; Lockheed Martin, http://www.lockheedmartin.com/ (accessed June 1, 2010). 44. Lockheed Martin, “Stardust,” http://www.lockheedmartin. com/products/Stardust/index.html (accessed June 1, 2010); Jet Propulsion Laboratory, “Stardust,” http://stardust.jpl.nasa.gov/ home/index.html (accessed June 1, 2010). 45. Harwood, 408–429. 46. R. Dale Reed with Darlene Lister, Wingless Flight: The Lifting Body Story (Washington, D.C.: NASA History Office, 1997), 166–177 and 182–185; Rick W. Sturdevant and David N. Spires, “Mile-High Ventures: Highlights from Colorado Aerospace History,” Journal of the West 36, no. 3 (July 1997): 67–77; Brian Berger, “Lockheed Martin to Build NASA’s Orion Spaceship,” Space News, August 31, 2006. 47. Greg Avery, “Funds Cut for Lockheed Martin’s Orion Spacecraft for NASA,” Denver Business Journal, February 2, 2010, http:// www.bizjournals.com/denver/stories/2010/02/01/daily9.html (accessed June 7, 2010); Chris Bergen, “Orion Becomes a Liability as Lockheed Martin Pull 600 Engineers off the Contract,” NASA Spaceflight, June 6, 2010, http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2010/06/orionliability-lockheed-pull-600-engineers-off-contract/ (accessed June 6, 2010); Lockheed Martin, “Orion,” http://www.lockheedmartin.com/ products/Orion/ (accessed June 1, 2010). 48. Greg Avery, “DigitalGlobe Lines Up Funds to Finance Its Newest Satellite,” Denver Business Journal, April 10, 2009, http://www. bizjournals.com/denver/stories/2009/04/13/story9.html (accessed August 28, 2009); “WorldView-2 Satellite Readies Commercial Imagery,” Geospatial Intelligence Forum 7, no. 6 (December 2009): 4; DigitalGlobe, http://www.digitalglobe.com/ (accessed June 1, 2010).

210 • AERONAUTICS & ASTRONAUTICS 49. Press Release, GeoEye Corporation, “ORBIMAGE Completes Acquisition of Space Imaging: Changes Brand Name to GeoEye,” January 12, 2006; Michael Sirak, “OrbImage’s Acquisition of Space Imaging Takes Effect Under New Entity Called GeoEye,” Defense Daily, January 13, 2006, 7–8; “GeoEye-1 Launches Successfully, Achieves Orbit,” GPS World, September 8, 2008, http://www.gpsworld.com/ gis/earth-imaging-and-remote-sensing/news/geoeye-1-launchessuccessfully-achieves-orbit-5255 (accessed June 1, 2010); GeoEye, http://www.geoeye.com/CorpSite/ (accessed June 1, 2010). 50. Joanna Bean, “Lockheed Martin Spreads Wings,” Gazette Telegraph, May 5, 1996, E1, 3; Chris Walsh, “Lockheed Wins Huge Defense Contract,” The Gazette, September 20, 2000, A1, 3; John Diedrich, “Upgrading the Mountain,” The Gazette, April 8, 2001, A1, 20–21. 51. David N. Spires, Beyond Horizons: A History of the Air Force in Space, 1947–2007 (Peterson AFB, Colo.: Air Force Space Command, 2007); Ann Markusen, Peter Hall, Scott Campbell, and Sabina Deitrick, The Rise of the Gunbelt: The Military Remapping of Industrial America (New York: Oxford University Press, 1991), 174–210. 52. Rick W. Sturdevant, “The Socioeconomic Impact of the NAVSTAR Global Positioning System, 1989–2009,” AIAA 20096537, Proceedings for the AIAA SPACE 2009 Conference & Exposition, 14–17 September 2009, Pasadena Convention Center, Pasadena, California (Reston, Va.: American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, 2009); Rick W. Sturdevant, “NAVSTAR, the Global Positioning System: A Sampling of Its Military, Commercial, and Civil Impact,” in Societal Impact of Spaceflight, Steven J. Dick and Roger D. Launius, eds. (Washington, D.C.: NASA, 2007), 331–352. 53. Paul Beebe, “Colorado Springs-based GPS Maker Plans Expansion,” The Gazette, November 4, 2004, 1, 4; Jim Bainbridge, “Alison Brown: GPS Engineer Guides NAVSYS to Success,” The Gazette, December 26, 2005, 1–2; NAVSYS Corporation, http://www. navsys.com/ (accessed June 1, 2010). 54. News Release, Trimble, “Trimble to Open New Colorado Facility,” March 30, 2000; Colleen Miller, “U.S. Representative Mark Udall to Attend Ribbon-Cutting Event, Demonstrations of Trimble Technology,” Directions Magazine, July 26, 2006; Trimble, http:// www.trimble.com/ (accessed June 1, 2010); Press Release, Rocky Mountain Tracking, “GPS Tracking Is Saving Businesses Money,” May 18, 2006; Rocky Mountain Tracking, http://www.rmtracking. com/ (accessed June 1, 2010). 55. John Rebchook, “Raytheon Set to Unveil Aurora Campus Today,” Rocky Mountain News, August 25, 2001; News Release,

STURDEVANT • 211 Raytheon, “Raytheon Company Expands Aurora Business Campus,” January 12, 2005; News Release, Raytheon, “Raytheon Team Completes Final Major Milestones on Next-Generation GPS Control Segment,” June 8, 2009. Raytheon was by no means the sole aerospace-related enterprise in Aurora, Colorado. See Amy Bryer, “Aerospace Industry Roots Run Deep Through Aurora,” Denver Business Journal, July 26, 2002, http://www.bizjournals.com/denver/stories/2002/07/29/ focus3.html (accessed June 6, 2010). 56. Rick W. Sturdevant, “Cyberspace: An Etymological and Historical Odyssey,” High Frontier: The Journal for Space & Missile Pioneers 5, no. 3 (May 2009): 47–49; Wayne Heilman, “A New Frontier for Contractors,” The Gazette, January 31, 2010, 1, 3; “Lockheed Martin Opens Denver Cyber-Security Center,” Denver Business Journal, March 17, 2010, http://www.bizjournals.com/denver/stories/2010/03/15/ daily30.html (accessed June 6, 2010); Amy Gillentine, “Venture into Cyberspace Could Create Springs Job Boom,” Colorado Springs Business Journal, April 10, 2010, http://csbj.com/2010/04/10/ space-symposium-venture-into-cyberspace-could-create-springs-jobboom/ (accessed June 6, 2010). 57. Chuck Paone, “Space Command Boss Talks of Space, Cyber Connection,” Air Force News, September 29, 2009; News Release, University of Colorado at Boulder, “CU-Boulder, NASA Test New ‘Space Internet’ Protocols on International Space Station,” July 6, 2009. 58. Bill Bradford, “Peak of Aviation—Colorado Economy Linked to Aviation from the Start,” The Gazette, December 16, 2003; Roger Fillion, “Growing Aerospace Work Force Lifts State Past Florida to No. 3,” Rocky Mountain News, April 5, 2009; Metro Denver Economic Development Corporation, “Aerospace—Colorado Industry Cluster Profile,” February 2010, http://www.spacecolorado.org/files/ colorado-space/industry-overview/Colorado%20Aerospace%20 Industry%20Cluster%20Profile%202009.pdf (accessed June 1, 2010). 59. Leonard David, “Colorado-Based Center for Space Entrepreneurship Established,” Space News 20, no. 4 (January 26, 2009): 14; SpaceDev, http://www.spacedev.com (accessed June 1, 2010); The Center for Space Entrepreneurship, http://www.espacecenter. org/ (accessed June 1, 2010). 60. Lance Benzel, “Museum Dreams Take Flight in City,” The Gazette, October 12, 2008; Wayne Heilman, “Where Rivets Meet Resolve,” The Gazette, March 14, 2010, 1, 6; Westpac Restorations, http://westpacrestorations.com/ (accessed June 1, 2010).

Top: William B. Felker Jr., left, and Charles A. Yont, both of Denver, drove their steam-powered Locomobile to the summit of Pikes Peak on August 12, 1901, the first automobile ascent of the mountain. The steam engine Locomobile, manufactured between 1899 and 1903, was originally designed by twins Francis and Freelan Stanley, who later built the famed Stanley Steamer. Special Collections, Pikes Peak Library District, (001-733). Bottom: Tourists take in the view on the Pikes Peak Auto Highway, ca. 1920. Courtesy Judith R. Finley.

Hustling the Tourists: Early Automobile Sightseeing in the Pikes Peak Region Judith R. Finley Entrepreneurs are often visionaries. They see existing patterns and opportunities and exploit these with innovative technologies. This chapter will explore how entrepreneurs Spencer Penrose and others took advantage of the innovation of the automobile to expand greatly the existing opportunities for sightseeing in the Pikes Peak region. The opportunities were here from the very beginnings of Colorado Springs—gaining early prominence as a tourist resort because of its sunny climate, its genteel beginnings, and above all its many scenic wonders accessible within a short distance of the community. In the 1880s, Victorian travelers could arrive by train and settle in for several weeks to enjoy the comforts of the elegant new Antlers Hotel or the romantic spas of Manitou. They explored the nearby lovely waterfalls of Cheyenne Canyon and the majestic red rocks of the Garden of the Gods. They especially marveled at the sublime beauty of majestic Pikes Peak towering to the west. Who could ignore the challenge of that imposing summit? Even before the advent of the automobile, early tourists were willing to endure the strenuous trip to the top of Pikes Peak along a carriage road, completed in 1887. The tourists would ride the new Colorado Midland Railway to Cascade, where the road to the Peak began, then board John Hundley’s horsedrawn carriages as far as the Halfway House (below present day Glen Cove). There they would have lunch and rest before going onward, now pulled by longer-winded mules. The lure of the mountain established a pattern for sightseeing in the region that soon resulted in better and faster ways to get to the top. The idea of a cog railroad up Pikes Peak came to fruition in 1891, when trains began crawling up the Ruxton Creek drainage, a total of 7,158 feet in nine miles to the summit, with an average grade of 16 percent and a maximum grade of 25 percent in • 213 •

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spots. This innovation made the carriage road outmoded, and it gradually fell into disuse.1 Then along came the biggest innovation of all—the automobile. When the first automobiles appeared in Colorado Springs at the turn of the 20th century, transportation methods really began to change. These newfangled horseless carriages brought a boom in the enterprise of showing tourists around the Pikes Peak region and exploiting them for profit. With Pikes Peak as the focus for tourism, it was inevitable that this 14,110-foot mountain would be conquered by automobiles. A promotional stunt by John Brisben Walker, one of the owners of the Locomobile Company, to drive to the top along the old carriage road failed in September 1900.2 But another pair of adventurers, William B. Felker Jr. and Charles A. Yont, actually reached the summit in a steam-powered Locomobile nearly a year later, on August 12, 1901. They spent 3 hours going up the first two miles on a deeply gully-washed road, which threatened to hang them high and dry on their compensation gear and front axle. On the way down, Felker recorded, “Once in a while a bunch of rocks would throw us up into the air and we would come down with the brake jammed hard and the engine reversed, not altogether certain whether we could stop her or not.”3 Not until 12 years later was Pikes Peak conquered again along the treacherous old carriage road. After one failed attempt, H. Brown and J. F. Bradley reached the summit driving a twenty horsepower Buick Bearcat on July 17, 1913. They made it in 5 ½ hours.4 Better Roads With the advent of the automobile, the public demand for better roads grew rapidly, and “good roads” associations were formed throughout the country. As early as 1905, the El Paso County Good Roads Association and the City of Colorado Springs hired prominent landscape architect Charles Mulford Robinson to come out from New York and make recommendations on the development of the streets. His 1905 report focused mostly on the aesthetic advantages of establishing landscaped center parkways on many of General Palmer’s original wide avenues.

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He emphasized that the principal function of the streets in this favored tourist and health resort should be as “an outdoors room, inviting people to loiter there, to sit in the sunshine and enjoy the view.”5 The word “automobile” was not mentioned at all. But the automobile was here to stay. Automobile registrations in El Paso County grew from three in 1903 to 811 in 1910 to 4,859 in 1918 and to 10,891 by 1924.6 And automobiles needed highways, not the muddy, rutted tracks that had sufficed for the horse-and-buggy era. Such practical considerations resulted in the establishment of a state highway department in 1910 with a budget of $40,352. The 1911 delegates to the statewide Good Roads conference in Denver regarded the “construction and maintenance of public highways as of transcendent importance” and recommended bond issues for additional funding.7 El Paso County began to use convict labor to improve roads, as evidenced in a 1910 photo along the Cañon City road. During 1911, an estimated six thousand autos from other states Guidebooks, like this example from visited Colorado, and there 1911, have promoted automobile were eighteen thousand cars tourism in the Pikes Peak region for a registered in the state.8 One century. Courtesy Judith R. Finley. adventurous family took 11 days to drive from Iowa to Boulder, Colorado, following farm roads along section lines, stopping to open and close many gates and buying gas in hardware stores.9 A 1911 guidebook published by the Colorado Springs Chamber of Commerce could be considered an early version of a global positioning


system. Its detailed milepost logs contain such statements as “sand draw around corner; turn to right, follow telephone line to railroad station and turn to left; go down long hill, cross bridge,” etc.10 Road markers in those early days of cross country automobile travel consisted of rudimentary signs stuck on trees and poles along the roads. For example, the so-called Pikes Peak Oceanto-Ocean Highway was marked by red and white striped posts and the letters “PP.” Colorado did not adopt standard road signs until 1923.11 Obviously, the need for paved roads grew as automobile ownership increased. But in Colorado Springs it took pressure from wealthy businessman Spencer Penrose to get much action. In 1919, he offered to pay a third of the cost for paving a road from south Nevada Avenue to the Broadmoor Hotel. A Gazette editorial stated, “The City and County simply cannot fail now to execute a comprehensive paving plan, if for no other reason than because of offers of assistance, such as these, which are being received.”12 This road had the distinction of being the longest stretch of pavement in southern Colorado in 1920. By 1926, Colorado had a grand total of 191 miles of paved roads.13 The road to Denver was not completely paved until 1928. Spencer Penrose, Entrepreneur What can one deduce about the reasons for Spencer Penrose’s generous offer to pave a road? Penrose was a dynamic capitalist, who had made millions from investments in the Cripple Creek Mining District. And the fact is that Penrose loved automobiles. As early as 1902, he had paid $12,500 to acquire a fancy French Rochet-Schneider vehicle. He paid $5,000 each for four bright yellow Lozier cars in 1906, and he later bought a fancy Cadillac touring car as a gift to his wife Julie. It was undoubtedly this fascination with cars that shaped many of his subsequent business ventures. An astute entrepreneur and innovator, he quickly saw the potential of the automobile for sightseeing in the Pikes Peak region. Noting that the 1891 Cog Railway had made the old carriage road to the top of the Peak obsolete, Penrose in 1915 obtained a 20-year lease from the Department of Agriculture to construct a new auto toll

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road to the summit of the mountain along the right of way of the former carriage road. Penrose gained national publicity for the new road by sponsoring the first auto “Race to the Clouds” in September 1916. Some 650 newspapers around the U.S. headlined this first Pikes Peak Hill Climb. Penrose immediately capitalized on the publicity for his new road. Private machines ascending the mountain paid a toll of $2.00 per passenger, with a $4.00 minimum, quite a lot of money in those days. Penrose also established the Pikes Peak Summit Motor Club, which awarded much-prized certificates of membership to drivers who made it to the top of the mountain.14

The Pikes Peak Auto Highway was built in 1915 and 1916 with primary funding from Spencer Penrose. The road was dedicated in August 1916 with the first Pikes Peak Hill Climb. The toll highway was open to “all gas, electric or steam self-propelled vehicles” at a charge of $2 per person or $4 per car, ca. 1920. Special Collections, Pikes Peak Library District, (208-9862).

After failing in an attempt to acquire the Antlers Hotel, Penrose turned his attention to building a hotel of his own.15 By 1917, his plans for the elegant new Broadmoor Hotel were underway, including a fancy garage and a fleet of touring cars to carry guests on sightseeing trips around the area— particularly along his new toll road. His Pikes Peak Automobile Company published glossy brochures touting “the grandest scenic highway in the world.” He later used motion pictures to highlight all the sightseeing opportunities in the region. In


1920, he brought hotel owners from all over the United States to show off the wonders of his world-class Broadmoor. His hotel, his highway, his auto races, and the publicity for his sightseeing business really put Colorado Springs on the map, and tourism, along with the business of curing tuberculars, became the principal base of the local economy after World War I. To augment his original fleet of White touring cars, Penrose ordered new White Motor Company vehicles in 1918, after playing that company off against the Walden Shaw Livery Company of Chicago to get the best deal and design improvements for the cars.16 Later, in 1922, he switched to PierceArrows, and by 1926 he could boast a fleet of sixty sightseeing vehicles owned and operated by the Broadmoor Hotel.17

A portion of the fleet of Pierce-Arrow sightseeing cars parked in front of the Broadmoor Hotel, 1925. Courtesy of The Broadmoor.

It is important to remember that well into the 1920s most tourists still arrived in Colorado Springs by train. Although the automobile was gaining acceptance as a conveyance, only a few adventurers dared to tour the West’s scenic spots by car. Motorists coming to Colorado were advised to equip themselves with crowbar, hatchet, shovel, pulleys, rope, cans of oil, gas, water, and chicken wire to spread over mud holes.18 With such admonitions, it is no wonder tourists preferred train travel to driving! Better to come to town by rail, stay in a nice hotel, and tour the area with a guide. The sightseeing buses that met visitors at the railroad stations offered experienced drivers with

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a knowledge of the Pikes Peak region. Both officially sanctioned entrepreneurs and independent operators met the trains to sell hotel rooms and tours. In 1918, Penrose was exasperated that the station master of the Denver and Rio Grande Railroad depot in Colorado Springs only allowed access to the buses of the Wandell and Lowe Transfer Company, so he asked permission that his six White vehicles be allowed to pick up passengers there.19 Evidently the permission was granted. When the Wandell and Lowe people objected to buses with the Broadmoor name on them standing in the station, Penrose threatened to cut off their existing contract for baggage transport to the hotel. He drew up a new contract for Wandell and Lowe to take over the passenger transport as well, paying the Broadmoor 90 percent of the take.20 This resulted in the establishment of a Yellow Taxicab service by Wandell and Lowe in 1922. Penrose had a stake in the cab company also, to the tune of 32,500 shares by 1932.21 Such actions are good examples of how he took advantage of every opportunity to expand his influence in the sightseeing and hotel business. The ongoing, intense competition between Penrose’s new Broadmoor Hotel and the Antlers Hotel, managed by George Krause, resulted in cutthroat efforts to grab the tourists as they stepped off the trains. So called “checkmen” were employed by the hotels to ride trains, ostensibly to arrange for baggage transfer—but also to advertise the advantages of staying in their hotel and booking their hotel’s sightseeing tours. In May 1923, the owners of eleven Colorado Springs hotels petitioned the railroad companies to abolish checkmen, whom they felt were trying to monopolize the hotel transfers, allegedly in favor of the Broadmoor.22 Penrose followed up with a blistering letter to the railroads accusing George Krause of instigating the petition because he was upset that Wandell and Lowe, in the guise of its new Yellow Taxicab Company, had undercut the passenger rates of the Antlers own livery and taxi company.23 It seems that the practice of train riding by checkmen continued, in spite of railroad efforts to curtail them. This author’s own father was employed by the Alta Vista Hotel in 1928 as a train rider. He would disembark from a westbound


D&RG train, which stopped at the Royal Gorge Hanging Bridge, and after waiting for several hours, would reboard an eastbound train to solicit the business of incoming tourists. Another route was to hop on and off trains coming south from Denver through Castle Rock and Palmer Lake, working surreptitiously behind the conductor to pass out brochures extolling the virtues of the AltaVista Hotel.24 Always intensely competitive in his efforts to Tourists at Balanced Rock, ca. 1920. Balanced Rock, near the Garden of the monopolize the tourist Gods, has been one of the leading spots trade, Spencer Penrose ac- for tourist photographs in the Pikes Peak quired the Mount Manitou region since the 1870s. People have posed Incline in 1915 and the at the base of the sandstone formation on foot, on burro, in horse-drawn carriages Pikes Peak Cog Railway in and in automobiles. Courtesy Judith R. 1925. He gained control of Finley. the Crystal Park Mountain Auto Road at the same time.25 That road had such tight hairpin curves that a large turntable had to be constructed at Inspiration Point for the big Packard touring cars. In 1935, Penrose also obtained the Colorado Springs franchise to operate the Gray Line motor tours. When his contract with the U.S. government for management of the Pikes Peak toll road expired in December 1935, he tried hard to convince the government to extend his lease. He even asked the Forest Service to grant his Pikes Peak Automobile Company the exclusive right to haul tourists to the summit of the mountain.26 Nevertheless, the U.S. Forest Service took over the operation of the Pikes Peak auto highway in 1936. After the war it became the responsibility of the city of Colorado Springs.

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Hackmen & Touring Cars Though he detested competition, Spencer Penrose never did have the sole right to the sightseeing business.27 In true American style, competition thrived anyway. Tourists who arrived by train in Colorado Springs during the 1920s had to run a gauntlet of twenty or thirty fast-talking, aggressive tour car operators, many of them seasoned independents who owned their own vehicles. They were known as hackmen, and chaos reigned as they jockeyed for position at the railway hack stands at the Denver and Rio Grande and Santa Fe stations. The successful old-time operators were glib con men and smooth salesmen, who boasted, untruthfully, of special tires, special gears, and special carburetors on their seven-passenger touring cars. The most notorious person among them was Nora “Ma” Gaines, the only woman in the hack business. She was a throwback to the days of the horse and buggy. She drove a team of well-groomed horses and a fringed surrey and practically snatched flatlanders as they got off the train. As she transported them slowly to a nearby rooming house, she would sell them an auto tour trip in one of the Lincoln or Studebaker sightseeing cars she owned. She usually wore masculine appearing clothes and “she could swear like a trooper and drive like the devil.”28 She was a master at stealing business from her competitors. Though raucous and uncouth, Ma Gaines was scrupulously honest with her clients and secretly admired by the other tour drivers—though they liked to heckle her. She kept her buggy whip at the ready. In addition to the tour cars, hotel buses also competed for the attention of the arriving visitors. One of the first rules in this cutthroat atmosphere was “Grab his luggage, the tourist will follow.”29 At one time during the 1920s, eight Colorado Springs hotels operated free buses during the summer months. Old timers especially remember downtown hotels with names beginning with A—the Acacia, Alamo, Albany, Alta Vista and Antlers. Rates in 1921 for single rooms without bath ranged from $1.50 to $5.00 per day.30 Not as elegant as the Broadmoor, but certainly more affordable!


Colorado Springs ordinances reflected the stiff competition among the enterprising drivers. The 1922 code, for example, established yearly license fees for tour companies and allowed drivers to solicit business only at designated hack stands, supervised by the police. Hackmen faced fines for failure to conduct themselves in an orderly and gentlemanly manner or for interfering with rights of ingress and egress of other drivers. By law, a tour car driver could not stray more than ten feet from his vehicle when a train was in the station, and he was prohibited from calling out in a loud voice. Two burly policemen, George Swanson and Bill Hall, were assigned as enforcers. Nevertheless, these city ordinances were openly and constantly violated.31 Hotels in the Pikes Peak reThe city also set up specific gion, like the Elk Hotel, ran their own automobile sight- maximum fees for different sightseeing tours, to capitalize on seeing trips around the region— the lucrative tourism busilisting thirty-four different tours. For ness. Brochure ca. 1910–1915. Colorado Tourist Brochure example, an auto tour to the summit Collection, Special Collections, of Pikes Peak, through the Garden Colorado College. of Gods and the Cave of the Winds, would cost $8.50 per passenger for a capacity load. This did not include toll or admission fees.32 Private enterprise relished the many opportunities for making money off the booming tourist trade. All the scenic attractions around the region published glossy brochures touting the thrilling vistas and exciting drives along their routes. After Penrose built a controversial road to the top of Cheyenne Mountain, his tour maps highlighted that road at the expense of the Corley Mountain Highway, whose right of way along the old Short Line route he had failed to obtain in 1923.

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Inevitably, there was the photo opportunity. The flatlanders loved having their pictures taken at the summit of Pikes Peak in big Packard touring cars, obviously a source of income for enterprising photographers. Harry Standley and his partner Charles Auld of the Photo-Craft Shop were the official photographers for the Pikes Peak Auto Highway during its first few years of operation.

A group of tourists have their photo taken in a touring car at the summit of Pikes Peak, 1920. Courtesy Judith R. Finley.

Sightseeing in the Family Car Of course, not all visitors to the Pikes Peak region booked sightseeing tours at the train depots or stayed in hotels or boarding houses. When Henry Ford developed an assembly line and lowered the price on his model T, cars finally became affordable for the masses, and tourists no longer had to go only where the railroads wanted to take them. In El Paso County alone, there was a 500 percent increase in automobile registrations in the 10-year period between 1915 and 1925. As more Americans acquired automobiles and highways gradually improved, many travelers set out to see the sights in the family car. By 1925, 75 percent of the traffic going up the Pikes Peak Auto Highway was by private car. Camping became a popular vacation choice for motorists, and it is estimated that nine million Americans went autocamping in 1921, inspired by a sense of adventure and freedom.33 Some


nomads slept anywhere along roadsides. Others were grateful that municipalities throughout the nation began to offer free auto camps, such as one established at Prospect Lake in Colorado Springs. In 1923, Colorado had nearly 250 auto camps under public and private ownership.34 But by 1924, as concerns about sanitation increased, the local Chamber of Commerce urged the city to start charging fees for camping, in line with other Colorado communities.35 Throughout the nation, paid camps, cabins or “cottage courts” as they were known, soon came into vogue. A survey of Colorado Springs city directories reflects the trend locally: 1920 1921 1923 1925 1927 1930

no listings 5 auto camps 7 auto camps 17 auto camps 28 auto camps, plus first listing under “tourist camps” 4 auto camps plus 36 “tourist camps”

The Mountain View Cottage Camp at 1703 S. Nevada Avenue “on the main north-south highway” was a good example of this trend. It was established in 1928 to meet the automobile tourist’s increasing demand for creature comforts. Gradually, such places evolved into the modern motel. The Penrose Automobile Tourism Legacy The 1920s were the heyday of early automobile tourism for enterprising promoters in the sightseeing business. Spencer Penrose led the way and others followed. Tourism mushroomed in Colorado Springs with the advent of better roads, elaborate tours to visit Pikes Peak and other natural attractions, creative advertising, and gradual innovations in camping and hotel facilities. We all know the results of the expanding automobile culture in the United States. But who, in those early days from 1900— 1930, could have predicted the growth of a national network of four, six and eight lane freeways after World War II? Who could have imagined the evolution of “mom and pop” cottage courts

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into the large chains of elegant motels available to travelers of the 21st century? In spite of all the changes since then, it is notable that the sightseeing business, hauling tourist groups around the Pikes Peak region, never really has died out. Entrepreneurs have not forgotten how to show off our beautiful natural scenery. The Gray Line tour company—now international in scope—still continues to operate in Colorado Springs under the management of Chuck Murphy. Its tours to the summit of Pikes Peak and around the region are advertised widely on the Internet and lure visitors from many countries. The Broadmoor Hotel remained proud of its own fleet of touring cars through the years, as evidenced in a photograph taken in 1953. At the end of the 20th century, the hotel still operated thirty to forty vehicles and employed about thirty drivers. In 2001, however, the Broadmoor decided to get out of the transportation business when it leased its state license to Ramblin’ Express.36 Nevertheless, even today, the influence of Spencer Penrose, entrepreneur extraordinaire, lives on. He was the man who started it all when he saw the potential of expanding automobile tourism in the Pikes Peak region. Judith R. Finley is a second generation Colorado Springs native with a special interest in local history and government, particularly parks and city planning. Finley is a graduate of Colorado College and was the coordinator of Oral History and Photographs in the Special Collections Department of Colorado College’s Tutt Library. She has authored several articles and two books of historical vignettes of daily life in the Pikes Peak region: Time Capsule 1900: Colorado Springs a Century Ago and Coming of Age in Colorado Springs, 1945–1955. She also edited The Century Chest Letters of 1901: A Colorado Springs Legacy. NOTES

1. Burro trips up Pikes Peak became quite popular in the early 1900s. See John Fetler, The Pikes Peak People (Caldwell, Idaho: Caxton Printers, 1966), 234–240.

226 • HUSTLING THE TOURISTS 2. Rocky Mountain News, September 9, 1900. 3.. Fetler, 245. 4. Colorado Springs Gazette, July 18, 1913. 5. Charles Mulford Robinson, A Report for the City of Colorado Springs, Colorado, and El Paso Good Roads Association on the Development of the Streets (Colorado Springs: The Association, 1905), 5. 6. Colorado Springs Gazette, July 4, 1926. 7. Proceedings of the Colorado Good Roads Conference, (Denver, 1911), 88–89. 8. Jack Morison, “Early Colorado Auto Trails,” Denver Westerners Golden Anniversary Brand Book 1945–1995 (Denver: Denver Posse of the Westerners, 1995), 435. 9. Morison, 435. 10. Automobile Roads and Drives in and around Colorado Springs, (Colorado Springs: Chamber of Commerce, 1911), 35 et passim. 11. “Colorado Adopts Standard Road Signs,” Colorado Highways, Vol. 2, no. 3, March 1923. 12. Colorado Springs Gazette, September 11, 1919. 13. Morison, 445. 14. Colorado Springs Gazette, February 22, 1925. By 1925, the club boasted more than five thousand members and was reported in this article as the largest in the world. 15. “My associates and I did everything possible to acquire the Antlers, but . . . we have given that up entirely and have now plans for building the best hotel in Colorado at Broadmoor.” Letter to W. A. Bell, May 23, 1916, Spencer Penrose papers, Microfiche, Tutt Library, Colorado College, folder 302. 16. The Walden Shaw Livery Company expressed disappointment that Penrose decided to continue to purchase new White cars in a letter dated December 4, 1917. Even so, Penrose was not happy with the design of the White taxicab bodies, though he had previously bought twenty-five autos and trucks from them. See his letter to the White Motor Company, June 6, 1918. Penrose papers, folder 428. 17. Colorado Springs Gazette, March 23, 1972. 18. Carl Abbott, Stephen Leonard and David McComb, Colorado: A History of the Centennial State (Boulder: Colorado Associated University Press, 1982), 228. 19. “Our busses and taxis are painted a very attractive color, and it will really be an asset to have them seen standing at the station.” Penrose letter to passenger manager Wadleigh, May 18, 1918. Penrose Papers, folder 428. 20. Penrose Papers, folder 428.

FINLEY • 227 21. For detailed accounts of Yellow Cab receipts and expenditures for 1936–1939 see Penrose Papers, folder 496. 22. “We do not believe that [they] continue for any length of time to represent the transfer company to the handling of baggage solely. While we do not impute wrong matters to the managers of the transfer business, we understand human nature well enough to know that in time some influence, not necessarily dishonest, will bring about a condition in which the checkmen come to represent particular interests, not the community and not even the ostensible employers. It is our firm belief that the principal purpose of having checkmen on trains is for the good that can come from it for certain specific hotels, sightseeing concerns and the like. In other words, the checkmen, if needed at all, are on the trains in the capacity of dispensers of information or for purposes of soliciting—the last, of course, more or less secretly.” Penrose letter of May 29, 1923, Penrose Papers, folder 428. 23. Penrose letter of June 14, 1923, Penrose papers, folder 428. 24. J. Juan Reid, Growing Up in Colorado Springs: The 1920’s Remembered (Colorado Springs: Century One Press, 1981), 70–71. 25. Colorado Springs Gazette Telegraph, November 2, 1985. 26. Penrose letter of October 25, 1935, Penrose Papers, folder 278. 27. His attitude showed clearly in this October 25, 1935, letter: “Most of the tourist drivers are very irresponsible people, and it is easy for them to chisel in and cut the established rates without being detected.” Penrose Papers, folder 278. 28. Inez Hunt and Wanetta W. Draper, To Colorado’s Restless Ghosts (Denver: Sage Books, 1960), 58–64. In the early days, Gaines often drove her victims over High Drive in her horse-drawn surrey past the curio stand operated by her friend “Captain” Ellen Jack. 29. Reid, 58. Reid first drove the Kennebeck Hotel bus at the age of 17 and the Alta Vista bus for 3 years afterward. 30. Accommodations in the Pikes Peak Region (Colorado Springs: Chamber of Commerce Information Bureau, 1921). 31. Reid, 55. 32. Code of the City of Colorado Springs, 1922. Chapter V, Article 2, Sec. 201–232. 33. Erin Barnes, “The Invention of the American Vacation: The Automobile 1914–1932,” http://xroads.virginia.edu/~ug02/barnes/ autocamping.html (accessed December 30, 2010). 34. Charles A. Harbert, Colorado History: Insights and Views through Postcards (Wellington, Colo.: Vestige Press, 2006), 165. 35. Colorado Springs Gazette, May 24, 1924. 36. Ibid., November 28, 2001.

William W. Hassell, 1885. Special Collections, Pikes Peak Library District, (0018870).

The Hassell Iron Works Elaine Freed By the late 1880s, on the eve of gold discovery in nearby Cripple Creek, Colorado Springs was expanding rapidly as a railroad center, health resort, and supplier to new mining camps to the west. The newly constructed Midland Railroad linked the Pikes Peak region to mountain mining camps in Leadville and Aspen. As the area population neared ten thousand, the city took on a look of stability, its business and residential construction booming.1 Contrasting the city’s new look with that of the early 1870s, a local newspaper boasted: “A dozen little shanties occupied the space which is now devoted to twelve hundred elegant homes and expensive business houses.”2 Industrial development and population booms required modern methods, and frontier residents, eager for signs of civility, sought out symbols of a more settled world. They no doubt shared the views of the famous landscape architect, A. J. Downing who said, in 1850, “When smiling lawns and tasteful cottages begin to embellish a country, we know that order and culture are established.”3 Nineteenth-century architectural fashions called for extensive ornamental iron work, including fences, cresting, and railings.4 In Colorado Springs these popular iron trimmings came from the iron works of William W. Hassell. The iron industry, in the form of forges, foundries, and machine shops, was an important part of this era’s manufacture. The Hassell works, after several faulty starts, proved an enterprising match for its demands. By the turn of the 20th century, Hassell was an established iron master running a prosperous business linked to the gold fields of Cripple Creek. But, during the early years, beginning in 1888, his income relied in large part on the decorative iron fences and railings that remained as functional monuments in the region long after his death in 1922. Arriving in Colorado from the east in 1885, Hassell soon exemplified the optimistic, expansive, adaptable, hard-driving entrepreneur of the American frontier. Although an inveterate • 229 •

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tinkerer and incipient industrialist, Hassell was not to see his manufacturing achievements match his dreams, but he gained recognition as a significant force in the commercial development of Colorado Springs. Notably, it was neither the romantic lure of the West nor the expectation of frontier fortune that drew Hassell to the Rockies. He ventured west as part of a strange migration singular to the American Southwest. Suffering from tuberculosis, he came seeking health, joining thousands more whose respiratory ailments required sunshine and fresh air.5 Observers in the 1880s estimated that from one-third to onehalf of new Colorado residents came for reasons of health, their own or a family member’s.6 Like a plague in reverse, pulmonary illnesses in the 19th century served to populate and enhance the southwestern states, which were blessed with a dry and sunny climate. With the additional advantages of mineral waters and a spectacular scenic context, Colorado Springs deliberately and self-consciously built its reputation and resources as a spa, a health resort vying in prestige and facilities with the fashionable retreats of Europe.7 Who really knew why these ailing newcomers recovered? Treatment for tuberculosis was still something of a guessing game in the late 19th century, but the perceived benefits of the sunshine cure sent anxious consumptives streaming west.8 Leaving a small book business in New York in 1885, the 24 -year-old Hassell came by train to Colorado Springs, then went west up Ute Pass to the small settlement of Florissant, where he built a log cabin. He spent at least one winter there, perhaps two, and then set about finding a livelihood. Somewhere in the Ute Pass area he found a man with a machine that produced picket fences by threading wooden stakes with wire. Hassell bought it, moved into Colorado Springs, hired a man to run the new machine, and went about town taking orders for picketwire fences.9 Hassell soon added other products to his line of picketwire fencing. During his entire career he ran a diversified shop, hoping that through multiple services and manufacture he would have a steady income, accumulate capital, and perhaps chance upon an invention that could be manufactured on a large scale.10

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In the spring of 1889, in addition to picket-wire fences, Hassell was advertising posts, paint, roofing, and iron and oak fencing in the Colorado Springs Gazette.11 Later that year he formed a partnership with J. E. Jeanne and added electrical work to the shop.12 Hassell and Jeanne marketed electric bells, burglar alarms, short-line telephones, and annunicators, which were signaling devices used on switchboards.13 Hassell advertised as an agent for Hartman woven-steel picket fences and for wrought iron and steel fencing from the Chicago firm of W. T. Barbee.14 Advertisements during the early years offered oak posts and roof paint for sale, along with iron fencing.15 Hassell formed a brief business alliance with a man named Ward in 1890, but during the same year settled on a partnership with A. B. Talcott, which lasted until 1896.16

Hassell & Talcott Wire Iron Works was next door to a machine shop on Huerfano Street, across from Antlers Park. Huerfano Street is now Colorado Avenue. These buildings burned on October 1, 1898, during the fire that also consumed the Antlers Hotel. Gift of Mrs. John Lipsey, Special Collections, Pikes Peak Library District, (001-528).

During the early 1890s, Hassell and his various partners sold a wide range of iron and wire products in addition to fencing: netting, lawn and cemetery ornaments, window guards, stable fixtures, fountains, monuments, hitching posts, and cresting for balconies and roofs.17 These items were largely ornamental and proved popular in the late 19th century. Hassell’s fences, a combination of manufactured steel rods and cast iron, imitated fence and railing styles that appeared centuries earlier in England and on the European continent.


Medieval and Renaissance churches used ornamental iron in elaborate door hinges and interior grilles and gates, all wrought of iron. By the 14th century decorative iron work moved away from an exclusively church function. Secular uses of iron increased as the architectural profession flourished in the 17th century and iron railings and balconies gained popularity. Iron work pattern books disseminated designs in the 17th and 18th centuries, drawing attention to the iron creations of designers such as Jean Tijou, who did important work in both France and England. But these elegant productions were handcrafted and therefore expensive. Iron fencing did not reach the middle classes in Europe and America until cast iron technology was perfected, a process in which molten iron is poured into prepared molds and left to harden.18 The typical Hassell iron fence was three feet in height, with corner and gate posts rising slightly higher. Vertical rods were separated by several inches. Altogether, these short, see-through fences offered neither privacy nor security. They served as boundaries, they framed a house and garden, and they discouraged passersby from cutting across lawns. Other than these limited functions, they remained largely decorative. However ornamental or superfluous the fences may have looked, contemporary advertisements reminded customers that the Hassell fence casting. Catherine Taylor fences were durable and photograph, Special Collections, Pikes Peak economical.19 Hassell ran an Library District, (316-10373). ad in 1890, as an agent for the Barbee Iron Works, in which

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he extolled the construction of the Barbee product: The only perfect fence sold in the city. No flimsy attachments constantly working loss [sic]. No unsightly braces every few feet to prop fence up. No gate always standing open. Be sure to examine and get figures before contracting for fence, and be convinced it is the BEST and CHEAPEST!”20 The fences must have been recognized by the public as a good buy, because they clearly appealed to a diversified income group. Expensive homes in Manitou Springs, the central city, and the North End had Hassell iron fences, but so did the modest cottages east of downtown and in Colorado City. Newspaper ads for fencing frequently stressed economy. In the first issue of The Western Architect and Building News in 1889, the Denver iron firm of Woodward and Ray ran this ad for a steel and iron picket fence of the Hartman Manufacturing Company: Hassell fence casting. Catherine Taylor “This Fence is Cheaper than photograph, Special Collections, Pikes Peak Wood, and Twice as Cheap as Library District, (316-10374). the Commonest Iron Fence. It is the only Fence that protects a Lawn without concealing it. This is just the Fence for city lawns or country Residences.”21 Hassell, who also represented Hartman, advertised one of their steel picket fences in 1890: a line drawing shows a heavy steel wire fashioned as an outline of a wooden picket and woven together with horizontal twisted wire.22 Several residents of


the 1100 block of North Weber Street, below Uintah, installed such fences. Of all the iron or steel fencing Hassell offered, this version was probably the cheapest. There is no evidence of casting work; these woven fences were rolled in steel mills and assembled in shops with no foundry work whatsoever. Hassell put his marker on fences that his firm assembled and installed, as well as those he manufactured in his own foundry. He sold fencing for the Barbee Iron Works and the Hartman Company, and he used fence parts manufactured in Indiana for the Cleaveland Fence Company, which left its name imprint on connecting or corner posts. Hassell had a near monopoly in ornamental iron. Exceptions existed. A halfdozen iron and wire firms in Denver supplied that area and one of them tried to make inroads in Hassell’s Colorado Springs trade by Hassell fence casting. Catherine Taylor advertising briefly in the photograph, Special Collections, Pikes Peak Library District, (316-10375). Gazette.23 The Denver Wire and Iron Works, formed in 1892 from a merger of several Denver iron companies, constructed an iron fence on a pedestal of stonework on the corner of Uintah and Nevada streets in Colorado Springs.24 It is likely to have sold others in the Pikes Peak region. Certainly, contemporary lumber companies and hardware suppliers, acting as general materials agents for builders, had access to the work of foundries throughout the country. The Stewart Iron Works of Cincinnati, Ohio, manufactured many of the iron railings used in the cemetery at nearby Cripple Creek.25

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Nor did Hassell limit himself to Colorado Springs. His daughter reported seeing iron fences made by Hassell-Talcott around the courthouse in Aspen and on a residential street nearby, two blocks west of the Hotel Jerome. Both bore the Hassell Iron Works marker.26 The Aspen fences probably traveled up Ute Pass and across South Park on the Midland Railroad. The diffusion of ornamental iron work, produced in many parts of the country, was possible only because of rail transport. For the most part, Hassell designs were simple and Hassell fence casting. Catherine Taylor modest. A frequently used photograph, Special Collections, Pikes Peak Library District, (316-10376). rounded arch nicely reflected the fashionable Romanesque Revival architectural styles of the period. Another popular style used the same plain rod, but as a steel picket with a decorative cast-iron cap shaped like a spearhead. Homeowners sometimes chose a floral or plant motif in keeping with late Victorian design. The same patterns appeared again and again. A fence would sometimes stretch the length of a whole block, cutting across a half-dozen different residential lots with only a slight variation in the design of the upright castings. Las Animas Street between Cascade Avenue and Tejon Street sports such a communal fence that was installed in front of late 19th century cottages. This extended fence is surely original but today, in the early 21st century, one must assume that many iron fences have been removed and sometimes relocated. In the 1890s homeowners wanted what their neighbors had: a neat and substantial iron fence to stand in front of a “sensible house.”27


Iron fences were only part of Hassell’s foundry business, but unlike his other wares that eventually landed in the trash heap, many of the fences are still with us, as practical and appealing as they were in the late 1800s. They have taken on an importance over the years that other products, industrial items sold to commercial clients, did not. In a very modern way Hassell reached out directly to the customer, the consumer, through advertising. His distribution remained within the region, but his marketing model is one that we see today on a national and global scale. With greater capital he might have increased distribution and acquired other companies, which could have significantly altered the scale of his operations.

Hassell Iron Works, ca. 1900, located on the northeast corner of Sierra Madre and Moreno Avenue. The May 1900 Giles Directory of Colorado Springs, Colorado City and Manitou indicates that Hassell Iron Works employed more than fifty workers. Special Collections, Pikes Peak Library District, (316-10370).

From scattered, incomplete records, such as newspaper advertisements, we can understand the scope and nature of William Hassell’s involvements in industry, but we know very little about his business aspirations. His daughter, Julia Lipsey, however, brings light to that subject in a 1957 paper she gave before the Pikes Peak Historical Society. Julia was an observant daughter but also a longtime bookkeeper at the iron works,

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beginning in 1917. She learned the business firsthand and watched her father and brother guide the enterprise through tumultuous financial times that included the Cripple Creek gold rush, the sugar beet boom, World War I, and, finally, the Great Depression.28 Hassell, his daughter points out, had always hoped to manufacture patented, standardized products on a national level and for worldwide distribution. The iron works for the most part remained essentially a “job” shop, making specialized items to meet a specific need, such as the cast-iron sugar presses that Hassell produced in the early 20th century for the Great Western Sugar Company, the Holly Sugar Company, and the American Beet Sugar Company, all operating in Colorado and throughout the West. The Hassell works earlier serviced the Cripple Creek gold companies with mining machines, such as the El Paso automatic whim, or hoist, and the El Paso doublejaw rock breaker.29 Pursuing his dream of the industrial big time, Hassell kept an open door to a myriad of inventors who came round to promote their schemes. Again, daughter Julia is the source. “Inventors were always bringing in their ideas, wanting help in making models and saying, of course, that soon they would be placing orders for thousands.” Many of them worked on new drills, pumps, and other machinery used in the reduction of gold ore. But they also had other irons in the fire. One inventor designed a dandelion killer, another a potato planter, and another a valveless pump. Hassell supported them all, letting employees use company tools after hours to create models. He sometimes capitalized on the production and sales of new items. “He loved new gadgets,” Julia remembered. His eagerness always to acquire the latest thing in household appliances resulted in an array of mechanisms in their home that were somewhat less than fully tested—a twin-horned phonograph, a foot-pedaled piano player, a hand-operated vacuum sweeper. She implies that nothing ever worked quite the way it should.30 It is no surprise that Hassell was enchanted with the automobile and owned one of the early models, a 1904 singlecylinder Oldsmobile runabout. Julia describes her father and uncle driving the car to Pueblo, a trip that took 2 days with an


overnight stop in Piñon for repairs. One imagines a scene from The Wind in the Willows, with Mr. Toad racing along—the wind in his hair and endless adventures waiting around the next curve. In another time and place Hassell could easily have been part of the emerging automobile industry. He did for a short time enter the auto repair business as a sideline after his second foundry burned in 1911.31 Hassell ran his iron business for more than 30 years, operating out of several locations as he did so. Remarkably, in a space of 17 years his iron works burned to the ground three times, but each time he either relocated or rebuilt. From the start, his offices and various machine shops were located at 24 West Huerfano, later renamed Colorado Avenue. These facilities burned in the great Antlers Hotel fire of 1898. Hassell’s first foundry, located on the city’s west side in the 500 block of 25th street, burned in January 1896. “The western sky was ablaze of light,” the Evening Telegraph reported. An overheated stove was blamed for the fire.32 He built a new foundry near the center of Colorado Springs in the block bounded by Cimarron, Moreno, Sahwatch, and Sierra Madre. In 1911, this foundry burned, too. Hassell immediately rented nearby space for his company until new brick buildings were ready on the old site.33 None of the Hassell Iron Works buildings exist today. During World War I, the iron works joined with several Denver firms to secure a contract from the federal government. The Hassell Iron Works made hoisting machines for ships, employing up to 125 men, a record number for the company. War profits enabled Hassell to pay off reconstruction debts remaining from the 1911 fire.34 William Hassell died in 1922. By that time the iron works was prospering and it continued to do so through the 1920s under the management of Hassell’s son, Bradford. Financial fallout from the Great Depression forced the foundry to shut down in 1932. Remaining operations kept going until the late 1930s when Bradford and Julia sold the business to their best customer, A. C. Damon of the Denver Equipment Company.35 In a career that lasted more than 30 years, William Hassell demonstrated again and again that he was entrepreneurial, inventive, and tenacious. His company rose from the ashes on

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three occasions after devastating fires. He recognized the value of diversification and, particularly in the iron fence business, he knew the value of promotion and advertising. When gold mining, sugar beet production, and the making of war materials came his way, he was quick to adapt to changing circumstances, making the most of opportunities in the American West at the turn of the century. Elaine Freed has a long-standing interest in historic preservation. She held administrative posts at Colorado College, the Frank Lloyd Wright Home and Studio Foundation, and the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation. She is the author of Preserving the Great Plains and Rocky Mountains (University of New Mexico Press, 1992) and Modern at Mid-Century: The Early Fifties Houses of Ingraham and Ingraham (The Hulbert Center for Southwestern Studies, Colorado College, 2003). NOTES

1. Colorado Springs Gazette, January 1, 1888. 2. Ibid. 3. A. J. Downing. The Architecture of Country Houses (New York: Dover Publications, 1969), Preface. Originally published by D. Appleton & Company in 1850. 4. Manufactured ornamental iron work should not be confused with hand-crafted wrought iron which is worked with heat and hammer by an individual, traditionally a blacksmith. Cast iron is made by pouring molten iron into molds, much as one might make an object of wax or plaster. Both processes use pig iron (cast iron can also be made from scrap iron) made from iron ore heated in a blast furnace. Hassell did not run a complete iron works; he operated a foundry and machine shops, but did not process iron ore. 5. Julia Hassell Lipsey, “The Hassell Iron Works,” a paper read before the Historical Society of the Pikes Peak region, in Colorado Springs, June 18, 1957. Copy in Special Collections, Pikes Peak Library District, and Special Collections, Tutt Library, Colorado College. 6. Billy M. Jones, Health Seekers in the Southwest 1817–1900 (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1967), 96. 7. “At the Foot of Pikes Peak,” American Climates and Resorts Illustrated, April 1895, 62–69.

240 • HASSELL IRON WORKS 8. E. R. Axtell, M. C., “What Colorado and Creosote Have Done for Four Tubercular Cases and How It Has Been Done,” The Colorado Climatologist, January 15, 1895. 9. Julia Hassell Lipsey. 10. Ibid. 11. Hassell advertisement, Colorado Springs Gazette, March 17 to 22, 1889 and March 23 to April 30, 1889. 12. Hassell and Jeanne advertisement, Colorado Springs Gazette, August 18 to October 31, 1889. 13. Hassell and Jeanne advertisement, Colorado Springs Republic, January 15, 1890. 14. Hassell advertisement, Colorado Springs Republic, March 3, 1890. 15. Hassell advertisement, Colorado Springs Gazette, March 23 to April 30, 1889. 16. Julia Hassell Lipsey. See also Directory of Colorado Springs, Manitou Springs and Colorado City for 1890 (Colorado Springs: S. N. Francis, 1890). The listing reads, “Hassell and Talcott, architectural iron goods, 24 W. Huerfano.” 17. Hassell and Talcott advertisement, Colorado Springs Republic, June 8, 1890. 18. John Harris, English Decorative Ironwork (Chicago: Quadrangle, 1960), 1–13. 19. Hassell advertisement, Colorado Springs Gazette, March 23 to April 30, 1889. 20. Hassell advertisement, Colorado Springs Republic, March 3, 1890. 21. Woodward and Ray advertisement, Western Architect and Building News, Vol. 1, No. 1, 1889. 22. Hassell and Talcott advertisement, Colorado Springs Republic, June 8, 1890. 23. M. L. Dickey advertisement, Colorado Springs Gazette, May 5 and 12, 1895. 24. Architects’, Contractors’ and Materials Dealers’ Directory for the State of Colorado (Denver,: Commercial Publishing Company, 1892), 8. 25. W. M. Stewart in a letter to Elaine Freed, September 26, 1974, confirming that the Stewart-Decatur Security System, Inc., was formerly the Stewart Iron Works Company, “and at one time we reputed to be the largest Iron Fence Manufacturer in the World.” Stewart notes, “The Company originated in 1886 in Covington, Kentucky as a Blacksmith Shop, then moved to Cincinnati, Ohio

FREED • 241 and then returned to Covington in 1906, and has been established in Covington, Kentucky since then.” 26. Julia Hassell Lipsey. 27. Colorado Springs Gazette, December 8, 1888. 28. Julia Hassell Lipsey. 29. Ibid. 30. Ibid. 31. Ibid. 32. Colorado Springs Evening Telegraph, January 14, 1896. 33. Julia Hassell Lipsey. 34. Ibid. 35. Ibid.

Hassell gate marker, Old North End, Colorado Springs. Elaine Freed photograph, Special Collections, Pikes Peak Library District, (316-10371).

Waterfall in Monument Valley Park, October 1, 1949. The 25-foot Geological Section, sometimes referred to as the Geologic Column, is on the left of the photograph. The man-made Section was constructed to represent 1.1 billion years of geological formations and includes stone quarried from Queens Canyon, Manitou limestone, Lyons sandstone and Pikes Peak granite. Stan Payne photograph, Special Collections, Pikes Peak Library District, (004-10522).

Science as Enterprise & Industry: The Monument Valley Park “Geological Section” in Context Steve Ruskin “A Unique and Most Instructive Feature” On March 29, 1907, Colorado Springs’ founder General William Jackson Palmer bestowed one of his many public gifts to his city. The Monument Valley Park, a 165-acre, two-mile-long stretch of pathways, grassy spaces, trees, lakes, bridges and pavilions became one of Colorado Springs’ most popular recreation areas. On January 25, 2007, almost 100 years after Palmer made his donation, the park was added to the National Register of Historic Places. Toward the north end of the park there is one feature that has, over the past century, faded into obscurity. Although this feature—once a symbol of Colorado’s economic prosperity— still exists in nearly the condition it did in 1907, today most visitors to the park pass by without giving it a second glance. This forgotten attraction was a man-made “geological section,” to use its creator’s term: a representation of the geological strata, or rock layers, that underlie the Pikes Peak region. When first completed, the approximately twenty-five-foot-high wall of quarried, multi-colored stone was many things: a unique sculpture, a teaching tool for students of geology, and, perhaps most significantly, a reminder of the mineral and metal wealth that was the foundation of much of 19th–century Colorado’s economy. Reconstructing the historical context of this geological section sheds some light on the Pikes Peak region’s economic fortunes a century ago. The donation of Monument Valley Park to Colorado Springs is but one example of Palmer’s famous munificence. Perhaps by association or some sort of halo effect, many local citizens have therefore assumed that the geological section was also Palmer’s idea. It is a reasonable assumption. Palmer was well educated in scientific matters. He was one of the few lifetime members of the geologically-oriented Colorado Scientific • 243 •

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Society, and as founder of the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad, he was aware of the difficulties of laying track through rocky terrain.1 Building railways in Colorado required blasting and tunneling through rock, and that sort of endeavor required at least a basic understanding of local geology, even for an executive. Furthermore, like almost everyone else in the Pikes Peak region at the turn of the 20th century, he understood that a basic knowledge of geology was a mandatory component of one’s education in order to access the region’s mineral wealth. In short, Palmer knew as well as anyone that in the Pikes Peak region, geology was queen of the sciences. The idea of the geological section did not originate with Palmer, however, but instead with his friend and consultant Edmond C. van Diest. The notion that the geological section was Palmer’s idea is largely due to the recent, though probably unwitting, fault of local newspapers and guidebooks. Although the historical record shows that the geological section was van Diest’s idea, with the passage of time the press, no doubt swayed by Palmer’s towering historical presence, has assumed Palmer’s provenance in the matter, leaving van Diest in a supporting role. For example the July 18, 1965, Colorado Springs Gazette Telegraph reported that the geological section “was ordered constructed by Gen. William Jackson Palmer . . . under the supervision of Edmund [sic] Van Diest.”2 The thrust of this statement is clear: the section was Palmer’s idea and van Diest was only responsible for building it. And who could blame the casual tourist for believing that the geological section was Palmer’s idea when they read in the guidebook Walking Colorado Springs that “Edmund [sic] C. Van Diest built the column between 1904 and 1907 at the request of General Palmer, who then gave it to the city.”3 In October 1965, the Springs Area Beautiful Association (SpABA) held a ceremony at which a plaque was affixed to the geological section—the plaque is still there today. SpABA had three aims during this ceremony: “to mark an historic, beautiful and useful creation in this park [Monument Valley]; to show our appreciation for the gift of a beautiful park system to the City of Colorado Springs by General Palmer; and to aid in preserving and extending public knowledge of this unique

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and significant place [the geological section].”4 The program included a printed guide to the section’s various geological strata, and noted that Alice van Diest, one of Edmond’s three daughters, was in attendance. The program also relayed the following information about the geological section, referred to by SpABA and others in attendance as the “column”: “The construction of this column was specifically ordered by Gen. William Jackson Palmer, founder of Colorado Springs and its public park system, and was carried out under the supervision of Edmund [sic] C. van Diest in the years 1904–1907.”5 Again, the credit for the section is given to the General rather than his engineer: the use of the term “specifically ordered” implies that the idea for the geological section was Palmer’s, with van Diest merely executing his employer’s order. The Colorado Springs Park and Recreation Department, also present at this ceremony, contributed a short paper on the historical aspects of the geological “column,” in which van Diest was at least given equal credit with Palmer: “the idea of this geologic column was first conceived by General William J. Palmer and his consulting engineer, Mr. Edmont [sic] C. Van Diest.”6 Going back a few decades further, however, we find van Diest receiving proper credit for his creation. The Colorado Springs Gazette and Telegraph of October 8, 1939, ran a story titled “Region’s Geology Shown in Stone in Upper M. V. Park; General Palmer’s Idea Seldom Seen by Region Residents.” Despite the confusing title (“Palmer’s Idea” really has but one interpretation), the body of the article does acknowledge that the geological section was van Diest’s idea: “In 1904 when E. C. van Diest . . . was laying out that part of the park extending north from Mesa road, he suggested this arrangement of rocks, thinking it would be particularly useful to Colorado colege [sic] students. General Palmer approved the plan and the work was done at that time.”7 It is the historical record, however, that definitely proves the geological section was solely van Diest’s idea. The evidence is found in van Diest’s letters to Palmer as he was overseeing construction of Monument Valley Park. Left to manage much


of the construction of the park himself, van Diest prepared the groundwork for the section by harnessing the expertise of Colorado College geology professor George Irving Finlay.

Above the Geological Section, overlooking Reservoir No. 4. The water for the four reservoirs and the waterfall at the Section in the then 165-acre Monument Valley Park was supplied by the El Paso Canal until it stopped flowing in 1956. From Report of the Park Commission of Colorado Springs, 1908.

Van Diest knew the plan for the park included a decorative waterfall that would be a focal point for perambulating visitors. A trained geologist, van Diest saw in this waterfall the opportunity to create a more elaborate scientific display. But before presenting his idea to Palmer, he first marshaled his resources. On November 12, 1905, he wrote a note to Finlay, asking for a sketch or outline that would enable him to recreate, adjacent to the waterfall, the many layers of the Pikes Peak region’s geological strata: 12 November 1905 Dear Prof. Finlay, (Colorado College.) In the North end of the Park there will be constructed a waterfall, with a height of 24 feet. I would like to

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make of the walls a sample Geological Section of our foothills beginning with the Granites & through the old Red Sandstone upwards. Will you as you can within that vertical limit give me a section of the widths to be devoted to rock from each layer? Perhaps this idea may appeal to you; by decreasing the granite or allowing it to merely show well at the bottom more space can be allowed for the subsequent strata. Sincerely, Edmond C. van Diest8 Finlay’s reply came quickly and likely with enthusiasm. The proximity of the proposed feature—just a few blocks from Colorado College—meant his students would not have to go far to study the region’s geological strata. Armed with the professor’s response, van Diest made his proposal to Palmer. On November 22, he wrote to his employer with an update of the progress of the park. He began diplomatically, with a positive message about the good work being done, and then he got to the point: 22 November 1905 Dear General Palmer, The work is progressing satisfactorily. We now have 50 teams and 100 men at work. I have from Prof Finlay, a geological section of all the strata from the Granite eastward to the Monument Creek or Pierce Shales. Leaving out these last the rest of the strata are of considerable firmness. You know where the little Park waterfall is to be. The drop is 30 feet. Within this height there is room, to place on both sides of the little waterfall Cañon gorge, for a length of about 20 feet, this Complete Geological Section, if you approve. It would be a unique and most instructive feature.9


By asking Palmer if he could place the geological section in the same location as the waterfall, van Diest wanted to combine two features, the section and the falling water, into one dynamic representation of natural power: the finished product would clearly convey the concept of erosion, representing eons of water cutting through earth and revealing the ancient layers of rock underneath. It was a The Geological Section is accessible from brilliant idea, and once the west end of Fontanero Street, east of completed the geological Monument Creek, near the north end of section, with its waterfall, Monument Valley Park. The waterfall no looked remarkably similar longer flows, however the Section is as beautiful as ever. Steve Ruskin photograph. to an image of Rainbow Falls on Ute Pass that Finlay himself used as the frontispiece to his 1906 book, Colorado Springs: A Guide Book Describing the Rock Formations in the Vicinity of Colorado Springs. Van Diest’s “unique and most instructive feature” was perhaps the most comprehensive and permanent geological section ever constructed by human hands. Additionally, we know from his letter to Palmer that van Diest intended the representation of geological strata to be on both sides of the waterfall, but for whatever reason this did not happen; the geological section appears to have been constructed on only the north side. At least that is the way we find it today. Geology Education, Mineral Wealth, and Local Industry What was van Diest’s reason for constructing the geological section? To answer this question, we need to consider van Diest’s education in geology and the larger context of geology education in Colorado in the final decades of the 19th century. Otherwise we may be tempted to view the geological section as

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an isolated scientific curiosity; a brief, marginally informative stop on a stroll through Monument Valley Park. Without understanding van Diest’s background, we might miss the fact that he was building more than a scientific sculpture: this geological training tool was also a monument to local enterprise and industry. Van Diest was trained at the Colorado School of Mines, then generally referred to as the “State School of Mines.” In fact, he was among one of its first graduating classes. As the name implies, School of Mines’ students were trained to study the earth and extract its mineral resources. The connection between van Diest’s education, the geological section, and the enterprise and industry of the Pikes Peak region becomes clearer when we consider the sort of geological instruction then being taught at the School of Mines. In particular, we need to recollect the absolute fervor among Colorado’s many citizens and visitors for prospecting, mining and the potential for “striking it rich” (a term with obvious mining origins), and that the School of Mines was a primary source for instruction in these matters. So much so, in fact, that its professors found quite a large audience outside of their classrooms for instruction on the basics of mining, assaying, and other skills applicable to Colorado’s mining and ore milling industries. And underlying all of those more practical skills was the need for basic training in the science of geology. Consider the book Prospecting for Gold and Silver in North America by Arthur Lakes, a professor at the School of Mines. Offering advice to the would-be prospector, Lakes wrote: One of the first things for a prospector for gold and silver to acquaint himself with is the elements of geology. He can read this up theoretically in many excellent treatises and manuals . . . and become learned in the names of eras and epochs . . . but let him not imagine at the end of this process that he “knows geology.” Geology can no more be learned by means of a book, without fieldwork and the actual personal contact with nature and rocks, than chemistry or assaying can be acquired without ever using a test-tube or a cupel.10


Instead, Lakes suggests, “If he is near some mountain region, where, as in Colorado, the whole strata of the earth’s crust is upheaved and exposed . . . Let him take this book in hand and go to the very place described and pictured as a geological section, and with his hammer study each member of the section closely.”11 Note that Lakes uses the term “geological section,” just as van Diest later would. But why would such “A vertical section of the Earth’s crust in Colorado.” From Prospecting for Gold and an extensive knowledge Silver in North America, 1896. of geology be important to a prospector? Would it not be quicker to just head into the hills and start digging? Not so fast, wrote Lakes: minerals and metals of economic value, such as gold and silver, are more frequently found in the rocks of certain geological periods than in others . . . For instance, nearly all the silver-lead deposits of Colorado are found in a certain bed of limestone not over two hundred feet thick, to be found only in one geological period out of many others . . . It would naturally then be advisable for a Colorado prospector to be able surely to identity this limestone.12 In other words, a solid knowledge of local geology makes the prospector more likely to locate the valuable metals he seeks. Lakes concluded that Colorado offers some of the best training for the would-be prospector:

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After the Memorial Day Flood of 1935, the Geological Section was “almost buried in obscurity” until 1965, when dirt, silt and brush were removed from around the Section. A bronze landmark tablet was installed during October 1965. Steve Ruskin photograph.

It is very rare to find at one locality anywhere in the world a complete section of the earth’s crust exposed. The nearest approach to this in Colorado is the remarkable section between Colorado Springs and Manitou, which shows along the wagon road the succession of strata from Archæan to Quaternary.13 The significance of these passages from a School of Mines’ geology professor are made salient by the fact that this book was first published in 1895, and Edmond van Diest graduated from the School of Mines in 1886. Lakes, who has been called the “father of Colorado geology,” taught at the School of Mines as early as 1874, and became head of the Geology Department in 1880.14 We do not know for sure if van Diest received any in-class instruction directly from Lakes, although it would be safe to assume he did given the small size of the school at the time. We can at least be confident that the sort of information Lakes wrote about in his book would have been very similar


to that which was presented in School of Mines’ lecture classes and discussed on the field hikes that van Diest must have experienced as a student. And while the day-to-day mission of the school was to educate its students, the state-funded institution’s economic purpose was of course to provide the training necessary to enable Colorado’s citizens and visitors to extract the state’s mineral and metal resources. In fact, many of the School of Mines’ first students were not at all interested in receiving a degree. Instead, they attended only long enough to learn assaying: the testing of ore to determine its mineralogical content and quality. Once this skill was obtained they often left to seek employment at mines or mills around Colorado. This was such a problem that the School of Mines was often called “the School of Assaying,” and one 1878 report of the Board of Trustees noted with some disgust that “the first question asked by students upon entering the school is, ‘how long shall I be required to study before I can assay or be of use in a smelting or milling establishment?’”15 Although discouraging from the faculty’s perspective, the tension between learning for learning’s sake, and learning for practical and economic reasons, is as old as formal education itself. Nevertheless, the desire of Colorado’s students to learn profitable assaying skills in the latter part of the 19th century reminds us of the importance of practical geological knowledge at the time. Some students wanted just enough theoretical knowledge to enable them to engage in the more practical purpose of making a living. Thus was Edmond van Diest educated in a milieu of tension between theoretical and practical knowledge of geology.16 Although he was one of those who did in fact complete his Engineer of Mines (E.M.) degree, he was also acutely aware of the strong demand for non-degree oriented training in practical geology—the first step towards knowledge of Colorado’s mineralogical wealth and the skills required to be of service to the industries that extracted, processed, and sold it. The School of Mines, in this regard, followed in the tradition of Europe’s great mining universities, such as the University of Freiberg, Freiburg im Breisgau, Baden-Württemberg, Germany, where theoretical courses were long taught alongside practical ones. European mining universities provided practical training

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for students going into industry, and in return the mining industry supported the universities. As historian Rachel Laudan wrote of European mining schools’ curricula a century before the Colorado School of Mines was founded, industrial development stimulated theoretical mineralogy by providing jobs in mining schools and mining services. Although the pursuit of systematic mineralogy was not the primary focus of mining school training, it steadily gained in importance. An increasing proportion of instruction in mineralogy and geology accompanied the more practical aspects of the curriculum.17 As it was in Europe in the 18th century, so it was in Colorado in the 19th. Given this background, van Diest’s intended purpose for the Monument Valley Park geological section can finally be seen in its proper, and now much broader, context. The 19th century had seen tremendous growth in the science of geology, a body of knowledge brought from considerable ignorance to world-class science in less than 100 years. As Martin J. S. Rudwick has remarked, “In the early nineteenth century, geology was a new, exciting, and fashionable science.”18 And by the end of that century, in large part because of massive, steamdriven industrial development that required the extraction of a tremendous amount of subterranean resources (coal in particular), geology had become a very mature science indeed. Returning our focus to the local level, we can see that van Diest believed a large-scale representation of local geology in a public space could provide a useful instructional tool for anyone interested in mining, prospecting, and geology, be their motivation theoretical, practical, or both. The Monument Valley Park geological section is the clear result of van Diest’s geological training and his awareness from his time at the School of Mines that theoretical and practical knowledge of geology went hand-in-hand, and together both supported the local mining industry.19 It should also come as no surprise that, among other professional interests in the mining industry, van


Diest was, at different times, president of both the Plomo Mining and Rio Seco Gold Mines companies, and had varying degrees of involvement in many other mining-related enterprises.20 His was a career built in large part on the Colorado mining industry. It is interesting to note that the geological section lacked, as far as can be determined, any accompanying information that explained exactly what it was, and which layers of strata or ages of the earth were which. The section therefore required that those who came to visit it already possessed some rudimentary knowledge of geology, or at least visited the geological section in the company of a knowledgeable guide who would help interpret it for them. It is very likely that many residents of Colorado Springs at the beginning of the 20th century had at least a passing familiarity with the basics of local geology, which could then be honed with a trip or two to the section on a stroll through Monument Valley Park. We also know that residents of the Pikes Peak region had considerable interest in learning the basics of mining, prospecting, assaying and geology. As long as there was gold in “them there hills,” innumerable advertisements and notices ran in the city’s main newspaper, the Gazette, offering courses to citizens interested in learning geology and other skills necessary for prospecting. Consider but one representative example: a recurring advertisement that ran in the Gazette during the end of 1877 and early 1878 for a “Mining Institute” of Colorado Springs. Its enticing copy read in part: To furnish an opportunity to Miners, Prospectors and Capitalists to fit themselves for engaging intelligently and profitably in the mining interests of Colorado . . . To prepare ladies and gentlemen, about to visit the mineral regions of the Rocky Mountains, to enjoy the wonderful resources of nature, and to gather from the same whatever is curious, beautiful and valuable.21 The ad went on to describe its courses in blow-piping, assaying and metallurgy, to include instruction in geology and paleontology, with the aid of “A Cabinet of American Minerals.” Course prices ranged from $20 to $160—not an inconsiderable

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sum, yet indicative of the time and money local residents were willing to invest in understanding their region’s geology and how they might be able, even on a Sunday hike, to “gather . . . whatever is curious, beautiful and [perhaps most importantly] valuable.” As Colorado’s mineral wealth was extracted on a larger and larger scale over the final decades of the 19th century, basic training in geology could not be overstated. In 1901, even the New York Times reported on the importance of some knowledge of geology to the handful of prospectors who had become, quite literally, filthy rich in Colorado’s mountains. In an article entitled “Careers Which Show All is Not Luck in Mining,” the Times noted: “For instance, old H. A. W. [Horace Austin Warner] Tabor, one of the first men in Colorado to acquire fame as a mining man and a United States Senator, was popularly supposed to have got his money by bull-head luck. It is true he was an ignorant man in a good many ways, but he was a splendid judge of ore: one of the very best.” And of the eccentric and infamous Winfield Scott Stratton, the discoverer of the massively rich Independence Lode near Victor, the Times wrote: “he was all the time acquiring an unrivalled [sic] knowledge of the ore-bearing ground of Colorado. And he was no common prospector or miner. After a while he took a course in geology, mineralogy, and assaying at Colorado College.” And, lest Stratton be seen in too golden a light, the article took off some of the sheen by concluding: “Stratton is a crank, like most multi-millionaires.”22 In light of the almost insatiable demand for geological knowledge and the technical skills needed to analyze the Pikes Peak region’s ore, van Diest’s geological section should now be understood as much more than just a representation of local rock layers. Yes, it was a geological training tool for students located in a pleasant setting adjacent to a waterfall. But even more than that, it was a tantalizing reminder for prospectors, miners, industrialists, and capitalists of the mineral wealth lying just beneath their feet. When Monument Valley Park was given to Colorado Springs in 1907, the Pikes Peak region’s gold producing days were waning, although at the time this was not entirely obvious.


For the first decade of its existence, van Diest’s geological section remained a remarkable feature of that park, regardless of how it was viewed by those who visited it. Energized by a cascading waterfall, surrounded by vegetation, and uplifted towards Pikes Peak, it was a dynamic reminder of the riches available to those engaged in mining and prospecting. That view of the geological section, however, was a far cry from the static, forgotten structure it is today. A century of changing economic fortunes, and a few devastating floods, have buried its layers of stone under layers of obscurity, leaving most visitors to the geological section scratching their heads in wonder, and perhaps a little confusion. Steve Ruskin is a native of Colorado Springs and holds a Ph.D. in history and philosophy of science from the University of Notre Dame. He is the author of the book John Herschel’s Cape Voyage (Ashgate Publishing Co., 2004), as well as numerous articles on scientific expeditions. His essays Darwinians in the Rockies and the Eclipse of 1878 have appeared in Colorado Heritage, the magazine of the Colorado Historical Society. NOTES

1. Edwin B. Eckel, History of the Colorado Scientific Society 1882– 2002, 3rd ed. (Denver: Colorado Scientific Society, 2003), 5. 2. Colorado Springs Gazette Telegraph, “Geologic Column is Set as Photo Feature of Annual Mineral Show,” July 18, 1965. 3. Judith C. Galas and Cindy West, Walking Colorado Springs. (Helena: Falcon Press, 1997), 55. 4. “Monument Valley Park Geologic Column Historic Marker Ceremony.” Pikes Peak Library District, Special Collections. Clipping File: Parks-Colorado Springs-Monument Valley Park. 5. Ibid. 6. Ibid. 7. Colorado Springs Gazette Telegraph, “Region’s Geology Shown in Stone in Upper M. V. Park; General Palmer’s Idea Seldom Seen by Region Residents,” October 8, 1939. 8. Colorado College Special Collections, Edmond C. van Diest Papers, Ms0233 Box 79, Book A, 400.

RUSKIN • 257 9. Ibid., Box 79, Book A, 425-26. 10. Arthur Lakes, Prospecting for Gold and Silver in North America, 2nd ed. (Scranton: The Colliery Engineer Co. 1896), 15-16. 11. Ibid., 16-18. 12. Ibid., 19. 13. Ibid., 20. 14. Regis Chauvenet, History of the Colorado School of Mines: Origin and Early Years. (Golden: Colorado School of Mines Arthur Lakes Library, 1920), 3. See also Wilton Eckley, Rocky Mountains to the World: A History of the Colorado School of Mines. (Virginia Beach, VA: The Donning Company Publishers, 2004), 22. 15. Robert Sorgenfrei, The Colorado School of Mines: Its Founding and Early Years, 1874–1902. (Golden: Colorado School of Mines Arthur Lakes Library, 1999), 7. 16. It is worth noting that Edmond’s van Diest’s father, Pietre Heinrich van Diest, joined the School of Mines Board of Trustees in 1882, which is likely the same time Edmond enrolled. See Regis Chauvenet, History of the Colorado School of Mines: Origin and Early. (Golden: Colorado School of Mines Arthur Lakes Library, 1920), 13. 17. Rachel Laudan, From Mineralogy to Geology: The Foundations of a Science, 1650–1830. (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1987), 55. 18. Martin J. S. Rudwick, The Great Devonian Controversy: The Shaping of Scientific Knowledge among Gentlemanly Specialists. (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1985), 3. 19. The Monument Valley park geological section may in fact be unique, or at least rare in this regard. A fairly thorough online search failed to turn up any other record of such a large-scale recreation of geological strata in a public space anywhere else in the world. Additionally, the Smithsonian American Art Museum lists the geological section as an important American sculpture in its Art Inventories Catalog: Inventory of American Sculpture. See Smithsonian Institution Research Information System, “Monument Valley Geologic Column, (sculpture),” http://siris-artinventories.si.edu/ipac20/ipac. jsp?uri=full=3100001~!334108!0 (accessed May 2, 2010). 20. Colorado College Tutt Library, “Edmond C. (Cornelius) van Diest Papers, Ms0233: Biography,” http://www.coloradocollege. edu/library/specialcollections/Manuscript/VanDiest.html (accessed May 2, 2010). 21. Colorado Springs Gazette, Advertisement for “Mining Institute, Colorado Springs, Colorado,” December 4, 1874. 22. New York Times, “Careers Which Show All is Not Luck in Mining,” August 11, 1901.

The Burns Theatre opened during May 1912 and was built by James Stewart and Co. of Salt Lake City and New York—the same contractor constructed the Broadmoor Hotel in Colorado Springs. The Burns later became the Chief Theater and, despite state and local preservation efforts, the Burns Building was razed during May 1973. The enormous office building and theater was located at 17, 19, 21, 25 and 27 East Pikes Peak Avenue. The seating chart (above) was published in the 1917 R. L. Polk’s Directory of Colorado Springs.

From Prize-Fights to Shakespeare: Traveling Entertainers in the Pikes Peak Region Beth R. Barrett Even in its early days there was theatre in Colorado. With the gold strikes of the 1850s at Gregory’s Gulch and Cherry Creek, people began streaming into the Pikes Peak region, followed 20 years later by a second round of miners and entrepreneurs when silver was discovered. Gold and silver brought the settlers, but the railroads brought civilization. Actors, singers, and touring companies found they could stop at previously unreachable towns to play to entertainment-starved audiences. With travel no longer limited to wagons and coaches on uncertain roads, entertainers could bring sets, props, and costumes with them. No one was more influential in the development of Colorado’s traveling entertainment than Peter McCourt, the brother of Elizabeth McCourt, the latter better known as “Baby Doe” Tabor. Peter McCourt served first as Horace Tabor’s personal secretary and, beginning in 1884, as the manager of the lush Tabor Grand Opera House in Denver. McCourt realized early on that he needed to be able to lure performers with more than just a stop at the Tabor Grand, so he began to put together a booking circuit through the state that eventually reached into Wyoming, Utah, and New Mexico. After several years planning, McCourt launched the Silver Theatrical Circuit in 1889. He was a man in the right place at the right time: forty thousand miles of track had been added across the country between 1870 and 1880, making coast-to-coast tours for a variety of entertainers not only feasible but also financially attractive.1 Who came to perform in Colorado? Luminaries Edwin Booth and Lawrence Barrett, leading Shakespearian tragedians, came multiple times during the 1880s (and kept most of the house receipts). Popular stage performer Anna Held, wife of Florenz Ziegfield, came with her touring company in 1904, traveling on the Colorado Midland Railway. Other actors, past their prime, • 259 •

260 • FROM PRIZE-FIGHTS TO SHAKESPEARE

closed out their careers on the road, capitalizing on their stillrecognized names. Touring melodrama companies drew good audiences. Most melodrama dealt with social issues of the day, although perhaps not very realistically by today’s standards. The most performed play of all was Uncle Tom’s Cabin, which Colorado Springs audiences saw staged at least twenty-eight times between 1876 and 1912, performed by a variety of companies that were known collectively as “Tom Shows.”2 Audiences also were treated to good music. John Philip Sousa toured Colorado yearly near the turn of the century. There were a number of light and grand opera companies that crisscrossed the country, as well as groups that performed (often pirated) editions of the popular Gilbert and Sullivan operettas.

Singer Anna Held (center) and her company as they came through Hell Gate in Eagle County via the Colorado Midland Railway, 1904. Harry H. Buckwalter photograph, courtesy History Colorado (Buckwalter Collection, Scan #20031393).

Also popular were the related forms of entertainment of minstrelsy, vaudeville, and burlesque. All were ancestors of what we would nowadays call variety shows, although burlesque was considerably earthier than the others. In addition, entertainers from social critics and lecturers to circus

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performers, boxers and magicians joined these thespians and musicians on the stage and found receptive audiences. Dubbed “Little London,” Colorado Springs had cultural aspirations from the start. During its first decade, a number of theaters sprang into existence, with the City Hall Theater probably the best of the lot—and that wasn’t saying much. It had a tiny stage (20 x 10 feet). The cramped backstage area allowed only one actor at a time to dress and put on makeup. In 1878, actor George Rignold and his grand opera house troupe performed Shakespeare’s Henry V there, complete with a horse that was somehow coaxed to the second floor stage for Henry’s battle scenes. When Rignold instructed actors playing French emissaries to “Begone!” he added in an undertone, “But I don’t know where the devil you’ll go to!” Later, as Henry rallied his troops, he impaled his royal flagstaff in the low ceiling, where it stuck tight. The town needed an improvement over the City Hall Theater, and three prominent Colorado Springs bankers saw that the first state-of-the-art theater was built in 1881, just 3 years after that unfortunate Henry V production. It stood next to the First National Bank at 18-20 North Tejon St., and was called the Colorado Springs Opera House. The auditorium seated eight hundred people and tickets on the parquet sold for $1.50. For those who could not afford those prices, there was the high gallery (one level above the balcony and nicknamed “The Garden of the Gods”), where seats cost 50 cents. The gilt and velvety interior went well with the beautiful stage curtain, which featured a Venetian scene and the Colorado state motto, “Nil sine numine” (Nothing without providence). Marshall Sprague wrote that one of the owners translated that to “No sign of a new mine.”3 Colorado Springs, like many towns, opted to designate its best theater as the opera house, since “theaters” often were in saloons and had a reputation for being havens of vice. Opera and Shakespeare were above reproach, though, so using the appellation “opera house” signaled to residents that the finest in entertainment was performed there, even though everyone knew opera might be an infrequent visitor.


The theater was opened by Maude Granger, a well-known actress of the day, and her company. Miss Granger’s choice of the play, Camille, was probably ill conceived. Camille tells the sad story of a young courtesan who dies of tuberculosis in the last act. By 1880, Colorado Springs was promoting itself as “The sanatorium of the world” for people with tuberculosis. A writer for the Colorado Springs Gazette wrote, “For a house full of consumptives to see a poor creature fade away with this fell disease is not Interior of the Colorado Springs Opera desirable. People go to House as it appeared when it opened in such places for recreation 1881. H. S. Poley photograph, Denver Public and amusement, not to Library, Western History Collection, (P1848). be reminded of their latter end. The clergy are supposed to take charge of that part of the programme.”4 Nevertheless, all society turned out for the first night’s performance, which was very well received. Unfortunately, at the final curtain the play’s tragic ending was somewhat spoiled: The couch upon which the actress was to make her ascent into the starry regions happened to be poorly constructed, while the actress was rather portly. So, when, breathing her last breaths of this sordid existence, Camille saw visions of a new world, the cot gave way, and instead of finding herself securely housed in another sphere the actress found herself in an ungraceful position on the floor. The climax was capped, however, when Miss Granger, not knowing that the curtain had

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been raised for her to answer a call, uttered forth a volley of abuse upon the stage manager in hearing of the entire audience, in terms not at all conducive to her good reputation.5 The stage manager Miss Granger took to task was probably Simeon Nash Nye, who held the position for 33 years and was the most influential of all those associated with entertainment in Colorado Springs. He considered Camille, from Miss Granger’s appearance onward, an unlucky play, although it was frequently performed at the Opera House and elsewhere. A year after Miss Granger inaugurated the theater, Oscar Wilde, Irish aesthete and playwright, arrived on his first American tour. He appeared on the stage wearing a black velvet dress coat, lace collar and cuffs, knee breeches, silk stockings, and shoes with sparkling buckles and lectured on “Art Decoration.” The audience’s reaction was subdued.6 By contrast, Wilde received a more robust reaction when he left Colorado Springs for Leadville, where he discoursed to silver miners about Benvenuto Cellini, the 16th–century Italian goldand silversmith. The audience struck up a lively exchange with Wilde during his lecture, inquiring why Wilde had failed to bring Cellini with him. “He’s dead,” Wilde replied, nonplussed. “Who shot him?” retorted another. After the lecture Wilde was treated to a tour of Leadville’s Matchless Mine, where a celebratory banquet was served. The miners’ approbation turned to admiration when they saw how well Wilde held his liquor. Wilde recounted in his memoirs, “The amazement of the miners when they saw that art and appetite could go hand in hand together knew no bounds. The first course was whiskey, the second whiskey, the third whiskey, all the courses were whiskey, but still they called it supper.”7 Theater manager Nye booked a wide range of entertainers into the Opera House, from vaudevillians to stock companies, from the 1880s through the beginning of the 20th century. He was responsible for bringing Dora de Fillippe, the Milanese soprano chosen by Puccini to be the first Madame Butterfly, to reprise that role in 1908. In 1911 he booked Sarah Bernhardt to appear in another stormy production of Camille that confirmed


Nye’s misgivings about the play. In a rare misstep, he created an uproar in 1910 when he scheduled a filmed showing of a prizefight between Jim Jeffries and Jack Johnson, drawing strong objections from residents. Nye assured newspaper readers that he had seen the film in Denver and that there were as many ladies as men in the audience, and that he had seen nothing indecorous. The film was shown, but it was uncommon fare for Opera House audiences.8 The most lavish theater to be built in Colorado Springs was the Burns Theatre, which opened in 1912. Jimmie Burns made his fortune in Cripple Creek at the Portland Gold Mine. When he tried to rent out the Colorado Springs Opera House for a social affair, his standing in Colorado Springs society was not deemed adequate by those who had the power to grant his request, and he was turned down. Undeterred, Jimmie Burns decided to build his own theater and outdo the Opera House. He succeeded. He built his theater at 21 E. Pikes Peak Avenue, at a cost of $350,000, four times what the Opera House had cost. The auditorium had a seating capacity of fourteen hundred, nearly double that of the Opera House and boasted a stage large enough to accommodate the most lavish productions. The exterior was glazed terracotta. Theater-goers entered into a lavish marble lobby and then into a velvet-draped auditorium.9

Exterior of the Burns, The Theatre Beautiful, ca. 1914. Courtesy Denver Public Library, Western History Collection, (X-14865).

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Most innovative was the use of hanging balconies. Unlike the Opera House and almost all other theaters built in the late 19th century, the Burns had no pillars supporting upper levels of seating. News of this engineering feat was met with trepidation among Colorado Springs residents, however, who did not trust the balconies to hold when they were full of people. To reassure them, Burns had workers load every balcony seat with a hundred-pound bag of sand, of which a photograph survives.10 Townspeople must have felt comfortable with the sandbag test, because they showed up in droves for the opening. Burns thought of everything, down to a traffic control system that kept carriages and automobiles moving in front of the theater that night.11 The Burns Theatre gave Colorado Springs society a new house with great sight lines and terrific acoustics. Over the years such notables as Helen Keller and Ignace Paderewski appeared on its stage. George M. Cohan’s Forty-Five Minutes from Broadway was a huge hit during the theater’s inaugural year, with more than ten thousand people attending during its one-week engagement. Not all performances were so successful. In October 1912, Burns paid a large guarantee to the Chicago Grand Opera Company for its performance of The Secret of Suzanne, and lost money when crowds were meager. The Gazette noted that Simeon Nash Nye over at the Opera House avoided paying guarantees, chortling that “he would not guarantee the Passion Play with the original cast.”12 With the advent of the Silver Theatrical Circuit, and because nearby Denver could draw big names, Colorado Springs residents in the last decades of the 19th century were treated to entertainment that appealed to all sensibilities, from the highflown to the common. Managers for the most part avoided shows that were risqué or unsuitable for families. Colorado Springs audiences were known for their high expectations —and for arriving late. A typical review from 1922 covering an appearance by Ethel Barrymore stated, “Possibly Miss Barrymore has found audiences colder than that at the Burns last evening, but surely not often. Late, as usual, in arriving,


people settled down finally in the attitude, “Well, we’re ready; go ahead and arouse us, if you can.”13 Over time, touring companies found it harder to make a living traversing the country on the railroads. Bookings for big name actors touring with their own casts and sets were gradually replaced by more economical stock companies that played in theaters for extended periods. More significant was the rise of moving pictures. By 1912, there were four movie theaters in Colorado Springs, and both the Colorado Springs Opera House and the Burns eventually installed motion picture equipment, booking vaudeville between movies. By the late 1920s, the Burns was featuring movies 6 days a week. In 1928, it was sold to a national movie theater chain that prohibited the showing of live theater. It continued on for another 45 years as a movie theater, which many remember as “The Chief.” Neither the Opera House nor the Burns survives today, but there is a last remnant of this era of entertainment at the City Auditorium, which now houses the “mighty Wurlitzer” that was installed in the 1920s at the Burns Theatre. Today, audiences for the summer lunchtime brown bag concerts can recall the waning days of live entertainment and relive the excitement that accompanied the arrival of motion pictures in Colorado Springs.

City Auditorium, Colorado Springs, erected in 1923 by a bond issue of $390,000, with a seating capacity of more than 3,500. Special Collections, Pikes Peak Library District, (208-9574).

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Beth R. Barrett and her late husband, Dan, combined their love of theatre and music history to explore the story of early entertainment in Colorado, culminating in the book, High Drama: Colorado’s Historic Theatres (Western Reflections, 2005). Beth has been a librarian for over 30 years, and currently serves as Director of Library and Museum Services in Louisville, Colorado. NOTES

1. Daniel and Beth R. Barrett, High Drama: Colorado’s Historic Theatres (Montrose, Colo., Western Reflections Publishing Company, 2005), 14–19. 2. Jack Duane Barnes, “Simeon Nash Nye, Pioneer Colorado Theatre Manager, 1882–1914” (Ph.D. diss., University of Denver, 1972), 354–5. 3. Marshall Sprague, Newport in the Rockies: The Life and Good Times of Colorado Springs (Athens, Ohio: Swallow Press, 1987), 49. 4. Daily Gazette (Colorado Springs), April 14, 1881. 5. Colorado Springs Gazette, July 24, 1909. 6. Daily Gazette, April 15, 1882. 7. Richard Ellmann, Oscar Wilde (New York: Vintage Books, 1988), 205. 8. Colorado Springs Gazette, September 27, 1910. 9. Daniel and Beth R. Barrett, 123–125. 10. Ibid., 126. 11. Colorado Springs Gazette, May 8, 1912. 12. Ibid., October 27, 1912. 13. Ibid., February 13, 1922.

Albert E. Carlton, president of the First National Bank of Cripple Creek, who was involved in the Colorado Labor Wars, among other political and financial dealings. Courtesy of the Cripple Creek District Museum (A 82 692).

Mining for Interest in the First National Bank of Cripple Creek Collection Amy Ziegler Deposits, withdrawals, loans, and account balances. What could possibly be exciting about viewing the records of a bank? Money, of course! And all of the power, influence, opportunities, and greed that comes with it. The First National Bank of Cripple Creek Collection in Special Collections of the Pikes Peak Library District (PPLD) contains information on the savvy business dealings of the president of the bank, Albert Eugene Carlton. While much of the collection focuses on the bank’s business matters, some of the most surprising information relates to Carlton’s personal and professional life, including his position in the Colorado Labor Wars, his influence in politics, his innovative mine tunnel construction, and his business tactics. The collection contains a wealth of information that might not immediately be apparent to a researcher, such as detective reports, communications in code, and mining labor conditions, to name a few. It is typical of archival research that a collection often will reveal more topics than initially imagined. The research experience can be interesting, confusing, frustrating, and fascinating. By using the First National Bank of Cripple Creek Collection as a case study, readers will become aware of the material available in this archival collection and also gain useful tips for conducting research in any archive. Cripple Creek, Colorado, approximately 45 miles west of Colorado Springs, is a mountain community with a long mining history. The town got its start when Bob Womack discovered gold there in 1890, when the area still was part of El Paso County. People flocked to the town, hoping to strike it rich, and indeed a few did. Ore produced in 1893 was worth $2,443,704, although this figure is approximate since many of the mines refused to publish their production totals.1 Yet, this was only the beginning of the amount of gold that would come out of the town over time. In 1899, Teller County was carved out, • 269 •

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primarily from the mountainous, western portion of El Paso County, and by 1900, the populations of the two counties were 29,002 and 31,602, respectively, with most of Teller County’s population residing in the Cripple Creek Mining District.2 The First National Bank of Cripple Creek was organized in 1893 by Jim M. Parker. Located on Bennett Avenue, it was first known as the Bank of Cripple Creek and was the first bank in town. James L. Lindsay, the cashier of the bank, had come from Detroit, Michigan. In 1894, the capital of the bank was $50,000, but by 1944, that amount had increased to $2,200,233.18.3 With such an impressive bottom line, it is evident that this financial institution had the opportunity to be involved dramatically in both great and small affairs. Besides conducting business with local individuals and business owners, the bank made loans across the country and internationally. Bank president A. E. Carlton was at the center of business, financial, and political activity during this extremely prosperous time in Cripple Creek history and he was privy to all its details. Collection Details An archivist’s goal for any collection is to make it accessible for research. Processing is “the arrangement, description, and housing of archival materials for storage and use by patrons.”4 In other words, the materials are organized, identified, and preserved for researchers to use. Additionally, an inventory is created for researchers to reference when requesting material from the archives. The First National Bank of Cripple Creek Collection was processed in 2009. The collection includes eighty-seven cubic feet of boxes, which primarily contain correspondence, with a few reports and other paper formats, from 1893 to 1966. Most of the records date from 1900 to 1928. When the collections was acquired in 1986, some of the records were in very poor condition, with dirt, rust marks, water damage, and singed edges from fires. The papers of several individuals are found in the collection including those of A. E. Carlton; various cashiers and vicepresidents; Carlton’s brother, Leslie Carlton; and the thousands of people that responded to their inquiries. Not only does the collection include letters received, but since carbon copy

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paper was used at the bank, there are also copies of the letters sent. This is not the case in all archival collections. Yet, the benefits of having both forms of communication are bountiful as they can indicate the tone of the correspondence, give a better understanding of inquiries, and provide context for the communication. The collection is organized chronologically and alphabetically, divided by the bank’s papers, A. E. Carlton’s papers, Leslie Carlton’s papers, and other companies. This arrangement already existed when the collection was first surveyed. Archivists follow the rule of “original order,” which states “that records should be maintained in the order established by the person or organization that created, accumulated, assembled, or maintained them.”5 In this instance, Carlton’s (or the cashier’s) filing system was preserved, which allows the researcher to view the records in the context that the creator used them. For instance, many of the files were organized by year. This order is retained in the collection. If they were rearranged alphabetically by the addressee, then the context of many letters would diminish, as replies to letters would be much harder to track down. A unique aspect of the First National Bank of Cripple Creek records is that various topics are represented in the collection. The records expose researchers to many facets of history that occurred simultaneously in Cripple Creek, allowing them to view the cause and effect of events, such as how the Colorado Labor Wars of the early 1900s affected banking practices. Not often are so many different industries represented in a single collection. Records from the Bank of Victor, Colorado Trading and Transfer Company, Doctor-Jack Pot Mining Company, Pikes Peak Power Company, Findley Mines Company, and Portland Gold Mining Company all can be researched in the collection. This collection can provide information for genealogical research in many forms. Mining payrolls, accident reports, and employment requests all potentially can provide information about an individual’s occupation. In some cases, it is helpful in genealogical research simply to place a person in a location. Finding a letter about an ancestor’s loan payment, or impending


foreclosure, could be a great family history find. Additionally, creditors often wrote the bank requesting information about individuals seeking loans. The letters sometimes provide occupation, personal history, rumors, and information about the individual’s character. At times, employees of the bank did not provide a positive image of the loan applicant. The records are not censored and the information provided can be offensive. The original intention of the records was routine business correspondence conducted throughout the course of a workday. They now have a separate use and a different meaning than originally intended. The records of A. E. Carlton come from only one perspective, which could be distasteful to some individuals. Not everyone will agree with all the viewpoints and opinions expressed in the materials. Also, there are items that may have been appropriate for the time period, but are no longer considered socially acceptable, such as references to minorities. A researcher can, however, be exposed to firsthand accounts of events in these records and may gain insight into an individual’s perspective and the feelings of the time period. Albert Eugene Carlton: The Best Fighter in the World A. E. Carlton, a.k.a. “Bert,” was born in Warren, Illinois, on February 20, 1866, to wealthy parents Horace Carlton and Amelia Lewis.6 He attended Beloit College in Wisconsin in 1882 and started a merchandise store in Warren after graduation.7 After contracting tuberculosis, he relocated to Colorado Springs in 1889. Regaining his health, he then moved to Cripple Creek and, along with his brother Leslie, started the Colorado Trading and Transfer Company. They first began supplying firewood and coal to mines and then progressed to hauling gold from the mines to the Midland Terminal Railroad. Some in the community disparagingly called the business, “The Colorado Thieving and Thriving Company.”8 Despite such foul press, business was good. With one business flourishing, Carlton bought the First National Bank of Cripple Creek from Jim Parker and J. L. Lindsay in 1898, 5 years after its organization. Besides establishing the Colorado Trading and Transfer Company, Carlton held positions in numerous other businesses.

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He served as president for: City Bank of Victor; First National Bank of Cañon City; Rio Grande Sampling Works in Victor; Cripple Creek Central Railway Company; Doctor-Jack Pot Mining Company; Findley Mines Company; Golden Cycle Mining and Reduction Company, Holly Sugar Company; Gold Sovereign Gold Mining Company; Blanche Gold Mining Company; and Cresson Consolidated Gold Mining Company. He served as vice-president for the Elkton Consolidated Mining Company. He also had large interests in the Mary McKinney Mine and the Vindicator Consolidated Mine. Carlton was involved in multiple business ventures and he knew he was a prominent player in the mining community and saw himself as “the best fighter in the world, too good in fact!”9 Early in his stay in Cripple Creek, Carlton’s romantic life, involving one wife and two fiancés, created quite a scandal! Carlton had married Eva J. Stanton from Warren, Illinois, December 4, 1890, in Las Vegas, New Mexico.10 The couple never made the marriage public, opting to keep it secret until Carlton made his fortune. Eva stayed in Carlton’s Warren, Illinois home town, while he moved to Cripple Creek, where he quickly became wealthy. Just as quickly, he became engaged to another sweetheart - Mary Quigley. While still engaged to Mary, he found another love interest in Ethel Frizzell. Soon he broke off the engagement with Mary and filed for divorce from Eva. During the divorce trial, Carlton was accused of tampering with the jury. Carlton states in a letter that the court bailiff offered to sell him the jury for $1,500. Carlton told the man “to go to H-“and in the letter, he describes harassment from Judge Stevens, who presided over the trial.11 That the trial caused quite a stir in the community is apparent from the fullpage spread that appeared in a Colorado Springs newspaper, written in gossipy, grandiose tone.12 There is little information in the collection about his first marriage, but there is a letter from the District Court of Teller County notifying Carlton to make his alimony payment, along with a receipt for a payment of $500.13 If this scandal served as Carlton’s introduction to the community, just 2 years after his purchase of the bank, there would soon be more for the town to talk about.


Colorado Labor Wars One of the more notorious events in Cripple Creek history was the Colorado Labor Wars, a series of strikes and confrontations between unionized mine labor and capital interests that flamed for 15 months. The unions were led by the Western Federation of Miners and the capitalists comprised the Cripple Creek Mine Owners’ Association and the Citizens’ Alliance. A. E. Carlton supported the Cripple Creek Mine Owner’s Association and the Citizens’ Alliance, which discouraged the strikes and the poor business conditions the unions created. Events escalated to the point that Governor James Peabody called the Colorado National Guard in to Cripple Creek. Many mine owners supported Peabody’s actions and financed the militia’s stay. The First National Bank of Cripple Creek records demonstrate the measures undertaken to keep the militia in town and also the amount of surveillance conducted.14

Check payable to George F. Dayton, clerk on the Colorado Springs Police Force. Calvin P. Otto Cripple Creek Mining District Collection, MSS 0313, Box 1, Folder 22, Special Collections, Pikes Peak Library District.

Mine owners were having a hard time paying the troops for their services. In 1903, Carlton paid $4,000 for “State of Colorado certificates of indebtedness issued to maintain the militia in Cripple Creek.”15 A certificate of indebtedness is a “short term IOU issued by the U.S. Treasury department.”16 Carlton and fellow mining millionaire Winfield Scott Stratton, owner of the Independence Mine, were also contributing a percentage from their mines’ payrolls.17 In a letter dated April 19, 1904, the Mine Owners Association requested funds to pay the troops from February 27, 1904, to April 19, 1904, as they were behind on payments. The Association agreed that each

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mine should contribute 10 percent of its monthly payroll to pay the troops.18 The Association owed $500 for milk for the militia, which would cost the dairy farmer his feed if he did not receive payment.19 To keep the financial picture straight, Carlton was keeping tabs on who had paid, who had agreed to pay but had not, and who Carlton felt should pay but had not agreed to pay.20 Interestingly, the largest contributors were banks. The Bank of Victor, First National Bank of Cripple Creek, Exchange National Bank of Colorado Springs, First National Bank of Colorado Springs and El Paso National Bank of Colorado Springs each contributed $10,000. Carlton, who had “been in charge of the finances, had to raise nearly $250,000.00” in paying the troops.21 When the troubles were over the state of Colorado had spent $396,433.55 on the military from 1903 to 1904.22 Carlton even appealed to out-of-state sources for financial assistance to keep the troops in town. He stated, “We are waging a vigorous campaign here against anarchy, and its allied evils, and need every assistance possible.”23 Some individuals from out of state read about the happenings in Cripple Creek and thought they might be able to make some money off of the terror. C. H. Rosenfeld, a “Special Agent” from West Virginia, who claimed to have successfully “fought through two strikes” read a newspaper account of the strike and wrote Carlton offering “three or four Dectives [Detectives]” for a fee of $500 a day plus expenses. Carlton rejected the offer.24 Since it was such a volatile time, there was a great effort to keep track of the support and allegiances of specific individuals. In a folder of Business Men of the Citizens’ Alliance meeting minutes there is a listing of individuals along with their business affiliations. Perhaps it is a membership list of the Business Men of the Citizens’ Alliance.25 On the other side of the spectrum, those identified as union sympathizers were labeled as “bad men.” In one letter, Carlton wrote Sherriff Ed Bell of Teller County that “Dave Reed, engineer on the Delmonico, was heard by old man Gray and E. C. Moffatt, both of Independence, talking against Alliance, Mine Owners Association, and justified blowing up the men on the Findley Mine.”26 The under sheriff replied that the Colorado Springs Alliance had warned him about the same individual and that he had arrested him.27 Bell was appointed


sheriff after Carlton forced the resignation of Sheriff Henry Robertson. According to one account, after a rope was tied into a noose, Carlton said to Robertson, “Will you resign now? If you don’t we will turn you and the rope over to the crowd inside,” referring to a crowd of anti-union supporters.28 Carlton then aided in Bell’s appointment and was able to have him on his side keeping track of residents. Even after the Labor Wars, identification of non-union men was encouraged through the use of a card system, instituted to prevent union miners from gaining influence. A worker had to answer questions that verified an anti-union stance in order to obtain a card and he could not secure a position without one. Carlton wrote a letter to L. L. Patrick in Goldfield, Nevada, discussing labor issues on January 7, 1908. In it, he discusses the activity in Cripple Creek and the use of the card system. Miners were informing on other miners when a card was “issued to an improper person.”29 By 1912, a letter to the Doctor-Jack Pot Mine was issued from the Mine Owners Association stating that “as the greater portion of the [employees] of the District have become members of the Miners’ Protective Ass’n, we have decided that a general notice should be posted at once notifying all who are not yet members to make application before July 1, 1912.”30 The Miners’ Protective Association differed from the Mine Owners Association in that it scrutinized a potential employee’s background. 31 On the “Application for Membership in The Miners’ Protective Association,”applicants were asked if they were previously or presently members of the Western Federation of Miners or another labor organization. If they indicated previous membership in the WFM, they were asked the date they terminated that association.32 The Mine Owner’s Association sought to control the entire District’s mining industry and labor employee base. Carlton reported to Sheriff Bell, that “Mr. Walsh, of the Forest Queen Lease, yesterday joined the Mine Owners’ Association, and says he will observe care in selecting his [employees], and only employ such men as carry Association cards.”33 The Irving Howbert Papers, also located in PPLD Special Collections, contain a notice sent out stating that at the Portland Mine “in no case shall [the supervisor] employ any member of the Western

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Federation of Miners.”34 By investigating other collections in the archives, researchers can gain more information about their topic, strengthen their argument, and find opposing ideas. Those who refused to obtain a card from the Mine Owners Association faced forced deportation to Denver, Kansas, or New Mexico. Not only were individuals facing deportation by the militia, but mobs of Cripple Creek residents threatened WFM members and supporters to make them leave town. In a 1904 letter, Carlton stated, “Robert and Ed Greene, contractors on the Magnolia, located right in the edge of town on Gold Hill, are reported to be very bad men. I suggest that they be taken up before the Deportation Committee.”35 During this time period, Carlton was charged with “conspiracy and assault to kill, conspiracy and false imprisonment, malicious mischief, and larceny.”36 With such a military presence and several strikes occurring, the amount of violence in the area was tremendous. During the 1904 Colorado gubernatorial election, Carlton wrote to business partner William K. Gillette, “To-day is election day and so far there have been only two men killed, both of them at Midway, but it is only nine o’clock in the morning now and it is hard to tell what will happen before night.”37 Writing to a friend in 1904, Carlton stated, “We have had a terrible strike here and labor troubles galore, but have started up our mines now nonunion, and are getting along all right. There has been the usual number of murders and other depredations of lesser nature.”38 By 1904, murder had become common, the most significant event was the June 6, 1904 dynamiting of the Independence depot in the Cripple Creek District where the explosion killed thirteen strikebreakers and wounded six others.39 Besides the identification card system, detective agencies, such as the Pinkerton National Detective Agency and the Thiel Detective Service Company, also kept tabs on union activity. In a report from the Pinkerton Agency to Carlton on March 31, 1905, notice was provided of a new labor union emerging called the Industrial Union. It would be launched in Chicago on June 27, 1905, under the leadership of labor activists, Eugene V. Debs and William “Big Bill” Haywood. The lengthy report noted that two hundred families in Cripple Creek had received relief from


the Western Federation of Miners and the WFM had plans to move the union records and headquarters out of Colorado.40 A report from the Thiel Detective Service Company stated that the Western Federation of Miners were putting “trusted men” in the non-union mines in Colorado to get a feel for the miners after noting that conditions were improving.41 Other detective agencies were willing to offer their services to Carlton. The Reliable Secret Service offered their aid in 1902. A. M. Sparhawk and W. R. White, the detectives writing to Carlton, had some previous business arrangements through the Pinkerton Detective Agency. Both had been operatives for Carlton in a case at Goldfield.42 Dewar’s Detective Agency of St. Louis also offered their services. The agency wrote Carlton, “I saw by the papers, that you are the owner of the Findley Mines, which was blown up and killed a lot of men. I wish to state, I can find who done the job and who the guilty parties are and guarantee to get the necessary facts.”43 Carlton wrote back, “At the present time we have very efficient men looking after Cripple Creek matters.”44 The collection contains several accounts of accusations and volatile experiences during the labor wars. In the Marshall Sprague Papers, which also references the Cripple Creek Labor War, a letter from A. W. Bainbridge, son of William Bainbridge, who had been superintendent of the El Paso Mine, relates conditions at the El Paso Mine. 45 The letter discusses how, during the strike, a local railroad cooperated with the Western Federation of Miners to assist in the opening of the El Paso Mine by transporting equipment and supplies. The rail workers were housed in a bulletproof carpenter shop to protect them from the strikers. Letters from Bainbridge can be found in the First National Bank of Cripple Creek Collection too, concerning not only the Colorado Labor Wars, but also the Cripple Creek Drainage Tunnel. Referencing both collections expands the researcher’s perspective of the situation. A.W. Bainbridge wrote to Sprague in response to having read the author’s book Money Mountain: The Story of Cripple Creek Gold. He said he felt that Sprague had left information out of the book and even distorted some facts. While Bainbridge’s intention was to criticize the text, what comes out is an account

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of oral history passed down from a father to his son. Many times, a collection of an author’s papers will include research files and a good deal of information that never made it to print. In the case of the Marshall Sprague papers, there are many letters from individuals replying to Sprague about historical events and adding tidbits of personal knowledge about local history.

The Pinkerton Detective Agency continued their business with the bank after the Colorado Labor Wars with their “bankers protection” subscription. First National Bank of Cripple Creek Collection, MSS 0301, Box 22, Folder 5, Special Collections, Pikes Peak Library District.

Election Politics While politics fueled the Colorado Labor Wars, election politics also triggered Carlton’s interests. Carlton was a member of the Republican State Executive Committee. His influence and connections within the party are apparent from his correspondence during the 1900 election. Whenever the party talked about getting the Republican vote, Senator Edward O. Wolcott stated, “Well, I know that Carlton is going to take care of that all right.”46 The Republican ticket included Ira Harris and C. E. Brady, for district judges, and Edward M. De La Vergne, John Stephen, I. J. Woodworth, and J. B. Cunningham for the state legislature.


Republican politicians were able to use workers and the media in order to achieve large registration numbers in the 1900 election. In an October 13 letter, Carlton wrote to F. M. Woods in Victor, Colorado, about men working at the Skaguay power plant. “The men are living in an outside precinct, and we can register them without their personal appearance,” Carlton said.47 When writing to Judge Ira Harris in Colorado Springs, Carlton discussed agents working in mines to secure votes. At the Anaconda Mine, the superintendent was “getting things shaped up through his shift bosses.”48 When it came to the media, Carlton wrote to Mr. C. D. Ford in Denver, introducing him to John Shorten, who worked for the Cripple Creek Sunday Herald, “Anything you can do for Mr. Shorten will help to secure the desired results in this district.”49 Another election in 1906, had Judge George W. Musser upset with the local political realities. Carlton would have been familiar with Judge Musser, who had been an arbitrator during the labor wars. In 1906, Musser ran against Republican John W. Sheafor for Fourth Judicial District judge. 50 Sheafor won the election, however, and was sworn into office on January 2, 1907.51 Musser wrote to Carlton in 1908, a year before he was elected to the Colorado Supreme Court, regarding the 1906 election. Musser felt he had rightfully won the election, which he said had been a fraud. He wanted Sheafor impeached. Carlton wrote back that he had contacted the individual who had rigged the election and that Musser had indeed won the election by sixteen hundred votes.52 Other elections appeared to be arranged by the Ku Klux Klan in Colorado. When a change in county commissioners came up, Mr. Jenkins, the head of the District’s Ku Klux Klan was upset that he had not been notified and proceeded to let Norris Eads, chairman of the Republican Committee, know that an anti-Klan man would not be appointed!53 Carlton wrote a letter to cashier Virgil Mann stating, “We cannot get anywhere unless we follow the Klan route.”54 Carlton’s political machinations were not hidden from cashier Mann, instead the two seemed to work in tandem. For example, in a letter to Joe DeLongchamps, Mann inquired about Frank Seely, a candidate for councilman in Colorado

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Springs. Mann wanted to know if he was “friendly to the Carlton interests or hostile.”55 The letter reveals an aspect of the relationship between Carlton and Mann and a little about how they conducted business. Cripple Creek Drainage Tunnel Construction When met with obstacles to his interests, A. E. Carlton could engineer innovation. Carlton contributed to the innovative construction project of the Cripple Creek Drainage Tunnel, formally known as Gatch Park Tunnel. A three-mile tunnel through Pikes Peak granite provided drainage to the mines and allowed workers to move further into the shafts for excavation. Gold was sitting under water, where miners could not touch it. The Cripple Creek Drainage and Tunnel Company organized in 1906 to spearhead the enterprise. Carlton picked up the contract in 1908.56 Carlton personally invited President Theodore Roosevelt to attend the opening of the tunnel, slated for September 1910, celebrating a $250 million increase in gold production.57 Colorado Governor John F. Shafroth declined the invitation in order to attend Watermelon Day in Rocky Ford. 58 The construction of the tunnel created dangerous working conditions for many of the workers. The Bureau of Mines sent recommendations to Carlton in 1909 regarding safety precautions requiring attention. The inspector related that he had told the project foreman, “to place guard rails around the shaft on the station at the tunnel level for the reason as I told him that I considered the condition dangerous, and on a second examination of March the 14th 1909 I found that the same was only partly complied, and then not until an accident had occurred.”59 Loose rock was also a safety hazard addressed by the mine inspector. Companies were required to report their compliance to the Commissioner of Mines in Denver. There are reports of work-related accidents in the collection. Theo Vosburgh, who was a superintendent at the Drainage Tunnel for a month, was injured October 8, 1909, when a rail punctured his leg and scraped periosteum (the fibrous membrane that covers bones) from the bone for four inches. Interestingly, the accident report was completed by cashier Virgil Mann, who acquired the statement from a cook at the


tunnel.60 Another incident resulted in the death of 40-year-old John Atchison, only 6 weeks on the job, when he was hit in the head with a counterbalance, fracturing his skull.61 In another incident, Mary Schweiger held Carlton, co-workers, and an engineer responsible for her husband’s death on March 18, 1908. Joseph A. Schweiger, was knocked out of a bucket while working on the Cripple Creek Drainage Tunnel. After falling to the bottom of the shaft, he was killed by an explosion of dynamite. Mrs. Schweiger pursued legal action following her husband’s death.62 The accident reports and investigations by the Bureau of Mines stand in stark contrast to publicity photos taken in 1940, when a different Carlton tunnel was constructed. This tunnel was completed under the leadership of Ethel Carlton, Albert’s widow, who tackled the water level problem after her husband’s death in 1931. One photo shows several miners outside the tunnel under a slogan, “Safety First.”63 The photograph is from the Merrill E. Shoup Business Collection housed at the Colorado Springs Pioneer Museum. One discovers how much can be gained by using archival collections from various institutions in tandem. Merrill Shoup was a business partner of Carlton. He was vice-president of the Holly Sugar Company and worked at the Golden Cycle Corporation. Looking for friends, relatives, acquaintances, and business partners of the individual being researched can lead to discoveries of unexpected information. Banking Practices Let us not forget the money. After all, the First National Bank was a financial institution first. In May 1904, Carlton states that two other banks had closed, The First National Bank of Victor and the Bi-Metallic Bank in Cripple Creek.64 Carlton said, “We have had a general cleaning up and wiping out of the weaklings in business.”65 His success can be viewed in his business strategy, credit safeguards, and collection methods. Carlton was doing business all across the country and even had international dealings. He was making loans in Aguascalientes, Mexico, and engaged the El Canaleña Mine in Sonora, Mexico, as a business prospect.66 There is correspondence in the collection in Spanish, German, and French, which reveals

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not only Carlton’s well traveled lifestyle, but also his sense of business opportunities. Carlton even made an appearance in the publication Successful American. The caption underneath his photo read “one of the virile and fearless young westerners who have built up the mining towns of Colorado.”67 Carlton’s business strategies are further revealed through correspondence between him and his cashiers. Much of the correspondence is typed, which would First National Bank of Cripple Creek on be expected of business Bennett Avenue. Courtesy of the Cripple communication during Creek District Museum, (A 82 628).. this time period; however, there are handwritten letters as well. The records of cashier Joe DeLongchamps contain correspondence with Carlton and one letter in particular illustrates the business atmosphere, language, and strategy used by the two men. The letter, dated February 11, 1911, was from DeLongchamps and addressed to Carlton in San Diego. In it, DeLongchamps keeps Carlton abreast of business matters in Cripple Creek.68 In the letter, DeLongchamps discussed a conflict with Mr. Burris, from the El Paso Mine in Cripple Creek, who had been depositing less money with the First National Bank of Cripple Creek than with the Exchange National Bank in Colorado Springs. Carlton’s advice on the matter was to “Pat him on the back. Don’t dwell too much on our rights—but peddle hot air. Tell him you want to make a good showing while I am away.”69 In another matter, DeLongchamps stated his preparation for an upcoming visit by a bank examiner. “Wish I could figure out


some plan to cover up the Dahl loan as part of the notes and interest are so long overdue that I am sure we will be severely criticized.”70 Carlton recommended two different replies based on the response of the examiner. “Tell examiner it’s good but if not paid by July 21st we will charge it off. Also say if he does agree with us you will charge it off at once.”71 When writing to bank employees and to other businessmen, Carlton sometimes communicated in code. During business dealings, Carlton did not want to let certain information slip through on a telegram, so codes were used. Thankfully, code keys exist in the collection, in most instances. Some business partners of the bank, such as the Pueblo Grain and Stock Brokerage Company, frequently changed their codes. They used a numeric code for certain key words. For instance, the number one equaled “influence” and the number four equaled “judge.”72 The bank also had some of its own internal codes. In a letter from then bank vice-president Virgil Mann to Carlton, looking for instructions regarding the endorsement of a $50,000 loan, the word “nedet” referred to 50,000 and “cebja” meant to advise.73

Coded telegram from Cashier Virgil Mann to A. E. Carlton, seeking counsel on a $50,000 loan. First National Bank of Cripple Creek Collection, MSS 0301, Box 4, Folder 2, Special Collections, Pikes Peak Library District.

The code keys changed frequently and different types of keys were used, including alphabetical, numerical, and slang terms. In fact, at the time, writing in code was not uncommon

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and there were many different code systems available. In PPLD’s Special Collections there is a code book that belonged to millionaire miner Spencer Penrose, McNeill’s Code. Arranged to Meet the Requirements of Mining, Metallurgical and Civil Engineers, which lists both word and numeric codes along with their keys.74 Carlton did not use McNeill’s code; however, it is apparent that codes were common for high-stake business dealings in the early 20th century. Once deals were finalized, Carlton expected prompt payment. He went to great lengths to get loans paid, including contracting surveillance from a detective agency. In 1913, Carlton hired the Pinkerton Detective Agency to track an individual named, Mr. Hobbs, whose accounts had gotten to the point of legal action. Jack Frazier, from the Pinkerton agency knew Mr. Hobbs and was able to provide inside information on the case. Carlton was committed to paying for all of the surveillance and information obtained to “service” Mr. Hobbs on three cases against him, including two lawsuits on outstanding notes and one summons on a lawsuit.75 The Pinkerton Detective Agency also investigated forgery cases for the bank. Included in the records are fascinating reports from the detective agency that read like pages of a spy novel, along with an example of a forged check.76 By March 1910, the First National Bank of Cripple Creek was purchasing a subscription to Pinkerton’s Bank and Bankers’ Protection. The subscription came in handy when they arrested Joseph Clark for forgery in Fort Worth, Texas, and brought him back to Cripple Creek. The cashier of the bank expressed gratitude and praised the Pinkerton Agency for being much more efficient than other agencies.77 The Pinkerton Detective Agency was not the only agency in the banking business. The Reliable Detective Bureau investigated delinquent accounts, gave advice to the bank regarding payment, and recommended when to send accounts to judgment. They were tenacious in their efforts to track down debtors across the United States. In 1923, detectives in Los Angeles were on the trail of an individual who owed the bank $25.00.78


Carlton had no patience for collectors who failed or faltered on collecting debts. Collector Emil Selbach, in Salt Lake City, Utah, was engaged to collect on a loan made to Frank French, also in Utah. In a January 25, 1910, letter, Carlton instructed Selbach to hire an attorney to settle the debt and commented, “I do not intend to let Frank play horse with me. He may commit perjury when he is fighting his wife but I am through with him and want my matters settled up as agreed.”79 By February 10, 1910, Carlton had lost patience and told Selbach, “I thought you were a real collector. What about the French notes? Shall I send one of my highbinders out there with chloroform and a gun?”80

Letter from A. E. Carlton to Emil Selbach exposes the consequences of not paying off a debt. First National Bank of Cripple Creek Collection, MSS 0301, Box 162, Folder 1, Special Collections, Pikes Peak Library District.

Hopefully most debt collections never made it to such extremes, because the bank did calculate risk. Character summations were an important part of the banking business. Banks wanted to be sure they were loaning money to individuals who would pay them back. Much of the information in the character summations appears to be little more than small town gossip about the individual. In a letter to cashier Joe DeLongchamps, Carlton’s brother, Leslie, recommends limiting one individual’s credit limit because he’s been “drinking pretty hard. If he buys boot-leg he will surely go broke.”81 No FICO scores here.

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At times, even one’s political leanings might be held against him or her when seeking credit. In one letter, Dr. David H. Rice wrote Carlton inquiring about an individual’s “financial standing, truth and veracity.”82 Carlton responded, “I believe the party referred to is all right, as regards truth and veracity, but his financial standing is not very good. He has been absolutely all right on the strike question, and one of the first men to go to work, and work as long as we needed men, but I do not think he has been very prompt in meeting his obligations.”83 Carlton had a large impact on Cripple Creek history and much of it veering far from strictly financial matters. As with most individuals, his life was complex and not black and white. There are huge areas open for interpretation that leave the reader puzzled. But the questions that form are the exciting potential for research. Amy Ziegler is a certified archivist in Special Collections at the Pikes Peak Library District. She came to Colorado Springs from Austin, Texas, where she completed her Masters in Information Science from the University of Texas at Austin. She also holds a B. A. in History from Oklahoma State University in Stillwater. Prior to moving to Colorado Springs, she worked at the Center for American History in Austin, as a project archivist for the Professional Touring Entertainment Industry Archive. Amy has been published in Primary Source, a publication of the Society of Mississippi Archivists.


Research Potential As the foregoing demonstrates, the collection of the First National Bank of Cripple Creek certainly has great potential for research on many topics of regional history. There are many other items in the collection not explored here, such as a petition to make Cripple Creek anti-saloon territory. This poses many interesting questions. Why is it in the collection? Who signed it? How large was the issue? To investigate this item and numerous others, Special Collections, Pikes Peak Library District, offers several resources, not only relating to the First National Bank of Cripple Creek but a variety of topics relating to the local history of the Pikes Peak Region. Other topics to research include looking at A. E. Carlton’s life from another perspective. One related collection to the First National Bank of Cripple Creek Collection is the Albert-Gillette Correspondence. This collection focuses on William K. Gillette, who managed the Midland Terminal Railway and includes correspondence from Carlton who was managing the Colorado Trading and Transfer Company at the time. Much of the collection pre-dates the bank collection and can provide an alternative perspective on Carlton, since the majority of the collection is from Gillette’s point of view. Special Collections houses many other archival collections that are available with no appointment required. To view inventories, visit the Rocky Mountain Online Archives webpage at: http://rmoa.unm. edu. This website contains inventories of collections from Colorado, New Mexico, and Wyoming. To view material only from Pikes Peak Library District: simply select “Pikes Peak Library District, Special Collections” from the drop down menu in the advanced search screen. You’ll discover an array of collections from a wide range of backgrounds such as Alexander Industries, Charles and Virginia Baldwin Papers, League of Women Voters, and many more. Visiting other local archival repositories is a must and should not be missed. The Colorado Springs Pioneers Museum and Colorado College’s Tutt Library Special Collections are minutes away from Pikes Peak Library District’s Special Collections. Visiting more than one archival repository strengthens research, providing support for arguments and different perspectives on a single issue. A researcher might find photos at one institution, meeting minutes at another and correspondence at a third institution all related to the same subject. Using the materials collectively gives more meaning to the topic. When conducting archives research, patience is a virtue. Archival research takes a considerable amount of time. For example, when

ZIEGLER • 289 working with a collection that is primarily correspondence like the bank collection, the letter format alone will require more time than would a collection of photos. Hunting through correspondence for the information required takes much longer than identifying a needed artifact. Reserve enough time to read the correspondence and decipher handwritten letters. Additionally, take into account the size of the collection. A one cubic foot collection will take less time than a two hundred cubic feet collection. Finally, there is one suggestion to help researchers in their quest for the perfect information: talk to the institution’s archivist. Especially inquire if the processing archivist is available. This individual would have worked with the collection in detail and could possibly point the researcher in the right direction and save time. Besides archives and photo archives, Pikes Peak Library District’s Special Collections houses other research resources, including regional and local history books, a genealogy collection with print resources and databases, government documents, pamphlets, blueprints, city directories, and newspapers. These resources are a wonderful supplement to archival research. They can provide additional context for subjects, provide an overview of the topic, and give detailed information not found in a letter. There are several resources available for newspaper research both electronically and on microfilm. There is an index available for many local papers called: Pikes Peak NewsFinder. This index is located on the Special Collections website of the Pikes Peak Library District at: http://more.ppld.org:8080/SpecialCollections/Index/article _search.asp. Through the searchable index, researchers can request full text Adobe PDF articles that are scanned from microfilm. This free service is available internationally to any one with an internet connection. Newspapers included in the index are: Colorado Springs Gazette; Colorado Springs Gazette-Telegraph; Out West; Free Press; Colorado Springs Sun; and the Old Colorado City Iris. For access to other newspapers located outside Colorado, a library card makes full text searchable databases available through Newspaper Archive and the 19th Century Newspaper Database. Still can’t find what you are looking for? A Pikes Peak Library District library card provides access to the library’s interlibrary loan services, offering card holders the opportunity to borrow materials from libraries around the world. To take a sneak peek, at the many materials available, visit WorldCat, which can be found on the interlibrary loan webpage of the Pikes Peak Library District, at ppld. org. It is a global catalog of archives, books, film, sound recordings,

290 • MINING FOR INTEREST maps, and visual materials. In many instances, these materials can be borrowed from another library and delivered right to your local library. As curiosity grows around a topic, don’t forget the archives. As witnessed in the First National Bank of Cripple Creek Collection, archives provide original and unique documentation, creating an unmatchable experience. Actually being able to touch and use the materials as organized by the previous or original owner provides so much more depth. Some materials may bring more questions than answers. Often times this can create a few divergent paths on the road to research. Sometimes, however, the detour is the trip.

NOTES

1. History and Description of the Cripple Creek Mining District. Mining and Business Director, City of Cripple Creek and Adjacent Towns (Cripple Creek, Colo.: Hazeltine & Co., 1894). 2. U.S. Census Bureau, Census of Population and Housing, 1910. Cripple Creek, Teller, Colorado; volume 1, 104. 3. History and Description of the Cripple Creek Mining District; Statement of Condition, April 13, 1944, “Scrapbook #4, General, 1944– 1945,” 15, Merill E. Shoup Business Collection, Colorado Springs Pioneer Museum. 4. Pearce-Moses, Richard, A Glossary of Archival and Records Terminology (Chicago: Society of American Archivists, 2005). 5. Roe, Kathleen, Arranging and Describing Archives and Manuscripts (Chicago: Society of American Archivists, 2006), 16. 6. Portrait and Biographical Album Jo Daviess County, Illinois (Chicago: Chapman Brothers, 1889), 435–436. 7. Beloit Academy Register Index, Beloit College, Beloit, Wisconsin, http://www.beloit.edu/archives/assets/Beloit_Academy_Index 001.pdf (accessed January 7, 2011). 8. Colorado Springs Gazette, May 23, 1965, DD 12. 9. Albert Carlton to Edmond Seymour, January 31, 1910, “Seymour-Simplex Electric Heating Company, 1910,” folder 2, box 162, First National Bank of Cripple Creek Collection, 1893–1966, MSS 0301, Special Collections, Pikes Peak Library District. 10. Colorado Springs Evening Telegraph, July 7, 1900, 2. 11. Albert Carlton to C. T. Sills, September 5, 1900, “Judges, 1900,” folder 13, box 131, FNB Cripple Creek Collection, 1893–1966, MSS 0301. 12. Colorado Springs Evening Telegraph, July 7, 1900, 2.

ZIEGLER • 291 13. F. E. Boynton to Albert Carlton, September 18, 1900, “A. E. Carlton-Important, 1899–1914 (1 of 2),” folder 2, box 130, FNB of Cripple Creek Collection, MSS 0301. 14. For details on the Colorado Labor Wars see The Colorado Labor Wars: Cripple Creek, 1903–1904, A Centennial Commemoration (Colorado Springs: Pikes Peak Library District, 2006). 15. Albert Carlton to First National Bank of Colorado Springs, October 1, 1903, “Labor, Strike, 1902-1907,” folder 7, box 136, FNB of Cripple Creek Collection, MSS 0301. 16. Fitch, Thomas P. Dictionary of Banking Terms, 5th Edition (Hauppauge: N.Y.: Barron’s Educational Series, Inc., 2006). 17. Mine Owners Association Finance Committee to E. G. Taylor, January 21, 1904, “Labor, Strike, 1902–1907,” folder 7, box 136, FNB of Cripple Creek Collection, MSS 0301. 18. Finance Committee to William Lennox, April 19, 1904, “F-W, 1904,” folder 2, box 140, FNB of Cripple Creek Collection, MSS 0301. 19. Albert Carlton to J. A. Holmberg, February 19, 1904, “Labor, Strike, 1902–1907,” folder 7, box 136, FNB of Cripple Creek Collection, MSS 0301. 20. Albert Carlton to Sherwood Aldrich, December 7, 1903, “Labor, Strike, 1902–1907,” folder 7, box 136, FNB of Cripple Creek Collection, MSS 0301. 21. Albert Carlton to Francis Webster in Scotland, March 16, 1904, “F-W, 1904,” folder 2, box 140, FNB of Cripple Creek Collection, MSS 0301. 22. U.S. Congress, Senate, Commissioner of Labor, A report on labor disturbances in the state of Colorado, from 1880 to 1904, inclusive, with correspondence relating thereto. S. Doc. 122, 58th Cong., 3d Sess. (Washington, D.C.: 1905), 360. 23. Albert Carlton to E. B. Field, March 16, 1904, “A-E, 1904,” folder 6, box 139, FNB of Cripple Creek Collection, MSS 0301. 24. C. H. Rosenfeld to Albert Carlton, June 9, 1904, “P-W, 1904,” folder 13, box 140, FNB of Cripple Creek Collection, MSS 0301. 25. Alphabetical listing of individuals, undated , “Labor, Strike, 1902-1907,” folder 7, box 136, FNB of Cripple Creek Collection, MSS 0301. 26. Albert Carlton to Sheriff Ed Bell, June 21, 1904, “A-E, 1904,” folder 6, box 139, FNB of Cripple Creek Collection, MSS 0301. 27. L. F. Parsons to Albert Carlton, June 22, 1904, “A-E, 1904,” folder 6, box 139, FNB of Cripple Creek Collection, MSS 0301. 28. Montgomery, W. H., Ninth Biennial Report of the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the State of Colorado 1903–1904 James Cowie, Secretary of State,

292 • MINING FOR INTEREST Commissioner ex officio (Denver: The Smith-Brooks Printing Company, State Printers, 1904), 98. 29. Carlton to L. L. Patrick, January 7, 1908, “Cripple Creek Drainage Tunnel, 1906–1908,” folder 8, box 144, FNB of Cripple Creek Collection, MSS 0301. 30. D. D. Woodruff to Doctor-Jack Pot Gold Mining Company, June 19, 1912, “To be filed, 1912,” folder 15, box 212, FNB of Cripple Creek Collection, MSS 0301. 31. Mining Science, (Denver: E. G. Reinert) February 22, 1912, 197. 32. Charles Turnquist Application for Membership in The Miners’ Protective Association, May 1, 1912, box 1, Miners’ Protective Association Collection, MSS 0291, Special Collections, Tutt Library, Colorado College, Colorado Springs, Colorado. 33. Albert Carlton to Sheriff Ed Bell, June 21, 1904, “A-E, 1904,” folder 6, box 139, FNB of Cripple Creek Collection. MSS 0301. 34. Notice: On Motion of Thos. F. Burns, undated, “Western Federation of Miners,” folder 14, box 3, Irving Howbert Papers. MSS 0168. Special Collections. Pikes Peak Library District. 35. Albert Carlton to Sheriff Ed Bell, June 21, 1904, “A-E, 1904,” folder 6, box 139, FNB of Cripple Creek Collection, MSS 0301. 36. U.S. Congress, Senate, Commissioner of Labor, A report on labor disturbances in the state of Colorado, from 1880 to 1904, inclusive, with correspondence relating thereto. S. Doc. 122, 58th Cong., 3d Sess. (Washington, D.C.: 1905), 311; Photographs of many of the deported miners can be viewed online on Special Collections’ digital photograph archives website, http://more.ppld.org:8080/SpecialCollections/ Project/. Type “deported miners” into the search box. 37. Albert Carlton to W. K. Gillett, November 8, 1904, “F-W, 1904,” folder 2, box 140, FNB of Cripple Creek Collection, MSS 0301. 38. Albert Carlton to M. S. Beals, January 19, 1904, “A-E, 1904,” folder 6, box 139, FNB of Cripple Creek Collection, MSS 0301. 39. Elizabeth Jameson, All That Glitters (Urbana and Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1998), 6. 40. J. C. Fraser to Albert Carlton, April 4, 1905, “Cripple Creek Drainage Tunnel, 1902–1905,” folder 11, box 135, FNB of Cripple Creek Collection, MSS 0301. 41. W. E. Geise to Albert Carlton, March 8, 1905, “Cripple Creek Drainage Tunnel, 1902–1905,” folder 11, box 135, FNB of Cripple Creek Collection. MSS 0301. 42. Sparhawk and White to Albert Carlton, May 14, 1902, “Labor, Strike, 1902–1907,” folder 7, box 136, FNB of Cripple Creek Collection, MSS 0301.

ZIEGLER • 293 43. Thomas Dewar to Albert Carlton, June 6, 1904, “A-L, 1904,” folder 7, box 139, FNB of Cripple Creek Collection, MSS 0301. 44. Albert Carlton to Thomas Dewar, June 14, 1904, “A-L, 1904,” folder 7, box 139, FNB of Cripple Creek Collection, MSS 0301. 45. A. W. Bainbridge to Marshall Sprague, January 20, 1954, “Old Cripple Creek, 1953–1954,” folder 5, box 43, Marshall Sprague Papers. MSS 0050. Special Collections. Pikes Peak Library District. 46. A. W. Stevens to Albert Carlton, October 31, 1900, “A. E. Carlton Important, 1899–1914 (1 of 2),” folder 2, box 130, FNB of Cripple Creek Collection, MSS 0301. 47. Albert Carlton to F. M. Woods, October 13, 1900, “Elections, 1900,” folder 10, box 131, FNB of Cripple Creek Collection, MSS 0301. 48. Albert Carlton to Judge Ira Harris, October 2, 1900, “Elections, 1900,” folder 10, box 131, FNB of Cripple Creek Collection, MSS 0301. 49.Albert Carlton to C. D. Ford, October 27, 1900, “Elections, 1900,” folder 10, box 131, FNB of Cripple Creek Collection, MSS 0301. 50. Colorado Springs Gazette, August 8, 1921, 1–3. 51. Ibid., January 3, 1907, 5. 52. Albert Carlton to George Musser, March 23, 1908, “MinesMusser, 1908,” folder 8, box 151, FNB of Cripple Creek Collection, MSS 0301. 53. Virgil Mann to Albert Carlton, March 16, 1925, “Mann, Virgil H., (March 19–March 31) 1925,” folder 13, box 84, FNB of Cripple Creek Collection, MSS 0301. 54. Albert Carlton to Virgil Mann, March 18, 1925, “Mann, Virgil H. (March 19–March 31), 1925,” folder 13, box 84, FNB of Cripple Creek Collection. MSS 0301. 55. Virgil Mann to Joe DeLongchamp, March 22, 1925, “Mann, Virgil H. (March 19–March 31), 1925,” folder 13, box 84, FNB of Cripple Creek Collection. MSS 0301. 56. Colorado Springs Gazette. February 16, 1908, 59. 57. Albert Carlton to President Theodore Roosevelt, August 6, 1910, “R, 1910,” folder 15, box 161, FNB National Bank of Cripple Creek Collection, MSS 0301. 58. John Shafroth to Albert Carlton, August 11, 1910, “SeymourSimplex Electric Heating Company, 1910,” folder 2, box 162, FNB of Cripple Creek Collection, MSS 0301. 59. Recommendations on intermediate shaft of the drainage tunnel, M J. McCarthy to Albert Carlton, March 16, 1909,”To be filed, 1904–1917,” folder 2, box 4, FNB of Cripple Creek Collection. MSS 0301. 60. Report of an Accident to an Employee, October 8, 1909, “U-V, 1909,” folder 4, box 158, FNB of Cripple Creek Collection, MSS 0301.

294 • MINING FOR INTEREST 61. Report of Accident to an Employee, March 14, 1909, “A, 1909,” folder 4, box 153, FNB of Cripple Creek Collection, MSS 0301. 62. Theodore Thomas to Albert Carlton, May 15, 1908, “Cripple Creek Drainage Tunnel, 1906–1908,” folder 8, box 144, FNB of Cripple Creek Collection, MSS 0301. 63. Carlton Tunnel Photograph, undated, “Scrapbook II,” Merrill E. Shoup Business Collection, Colorado Springs Pioneer Museum. 64. Albert Carlton to William Lewis, May 16, 1904, “A-L, 1904,” folder 7, box 139, FNB of Cripple Creek Collection, MSS 0301. 65. Albert Carlton to Francis Webster in Scotland, March 16, 1904, “F-W, 1904,” folder 2, box 140, FNB of Cripple Creek Collection, MSS 0301. 66. Albert Carlton to Abram Rapp, September 30, 1909, “R, 1909,” folder 3, box 157, FNB of Cripple Creek Collection, MSS 0301; Harry Rucker to Albert Carlton, April 26, 1909, “R, 1909,” folder 3, box 157, FNB of Cripple Creek Collection, MSS 0301. 67. Albert E. Carlton, Successful American (New York: Writers Press Association). October 1902, Volume 6, Issue 4, 613. 68. Joe DeLongchamps to Albert Carlton, February 28, 1911, “DeLongchamps, Joe and Carlton, 1910–1911,” folder 13, box 19, FNB of Cripple Creek Collection, MSS 0301. 69. Ibid. 70. Ibid. 71. Ibid. 72. Pueblo Grain and Stock Brokerage Company to The First National Bank of Cripple Creek, July 1, 1907, “N-Q, 1907,” folder 1, box 7, FNB of Cripple Creek Collection, MSS 0301. 73. Virgil Mann to Albert Carlton, February 5, 1915, “To be filed, 1904-1917,” folder 2, box 4, FNB of Cripple Creek Collection, MSS 0301. 74. McNeill, Bedford, McNeill’s Code. Arranged to Meet the Requirements of Mining, Metallurgical and Civil Engineers. (New York: American Code Company, 1895). 75. D. W. Strickland to Albert Carlton, February 3, 1913, “R-S, 1913,” folder 5, box 171, FNB of Cripple Creek Collection, MSS 0301. 76. William Pinkerton to E. C. Newcomb, September 28, 1901, “Pinkerton Detective Agency case file, 1901,” folder 13, box 2, FNB of Cripple Creek Collection. MSS 0301. 77. Cashier to E. E. Prettyman at Pinkerton’s National Detective Agency, December 13, 1910, “Pacific Mutual-Pinkerton’s National Detective Agency, 1910,” folder 5, box 22, FNB of Cripple Creek Collection, MSS 0301.

ZIEGLER • 295 78. The Reliable Detective Bureau Inc. to The First National Bank of Cripple Creek, August 1, 1923, “Miscellaneous, 1923–1926,” folder 2, box 80, FNB of Cripple Creek Collection, MSS 0301. 79. Albert Carlton to Emil Selbach, January 25, 1910, “San Juanita Land and Timber Company-Selbach, 1910” folder 1, box 162, FNB of Cripple Creek Collection, MSS 0301. 80. Ibid. 81. Leslie Carlton to Joe DeLongchamps, September 4, 1926, “Carlton, L. G., (May–December) 1926,” folder 3, box 88, FNB of Cripple Creek Collection, MSS 0301. 82. D. H. Rice to Albert Carlton, February 9, 1904, “To be filed, 1904–1917,” folder 2, box 4, FNB of Cripple Creek Collection, MSS 0301. 83. Albert Carlton to D. H. Rice, February 10, 1904, “To be filed, 1904–1917,” folder 2, box 4, FNB of Cripple Creek Collection, MSS 0301.

Teller window of The First National Bank of Cripple Creek. Cashiers were the eyes and ears of this financial institution. Special Collections, Pikes Peak Library District, (005-2101).

Fannie Mae Duncan listening to saxophonist Davis Carr performing in the Cotton Club, above Duncan’s Cafe and Bar, 1955. The Cotton Club peacefully integrated whites and blacks and music lovers of every race and culture with a policy of “Everybody Welcome.” Lew Tilley photograph, Special Collections, Pikes Peak Library District, (099-1940).

Chasing the American Dream: Fannie Mae Duncan & the Cotton Club Kathleen F. Esmiol In the summer of 1933 an old truck covered with Oklahoma dust chugged down the road leading into Colorado Springs. Since there were no accommodations for people of color traveling from Guthrie, Oklahoma, to the Rockies, the exhausted, young, black driver, Lenwood Bragg, had made only occasional stops along the way. He gripped the wheel and wearily stared straight ahead while his nine passengers craned their necks to gawk at Pikes Peak and the majestic mountain range towering over the city. The bed of the truck was packed to overflowing with all the worldly possessions of Lenwood’s widowed aunt, Mattie Brinson Bragg, and crowded into the front seat next to Lenwood and Mattie was a young couple, Mattie’s oldest son Vernon and his teenage wife Asie Lee, who was holding their 7-month-old baby boy.1 Leaning against the truck’s cab and nestled midst the piles of bedding and belongings in the open-air back of the truck were five exuberant youngsters—Johnny, Fannie Mae, Selena, Cornelius, and Herbert, Jr.—yelling COLO-RAID-O! COLORAID-O! Many families continued to flee Depression-era Oklahoma, and so a truck full of Okies heading west through the city was not unusual. No one expected them to stop. Neither shoppers nor pedestrians paid more than a passing glance at the noisy new arrivals on the day that Fannie Mae Bragg arrived in town. Little did Colorado Springs’ residents realize that this enterprising granddaughter of slaves from Fort Deposit, Alabama, was destined to integrate the city to the riffs and rhythms of jazz.2 Two years earlier Fannie Mae’s sister, Frances, the oldest of the seven Bragg children, had traveled to Colorado with her Aunt Fang Harris to seek better job opportunities.3 Aunt Fang lived in Manitou Springs, a mountain resort that attracted both tourists and the tubercular who came to Manitou for the • 297 •

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hot mineral springs that bubbled up from the ground and for the healthy arid climate. Although she was still a teenager, Frances diligently saved the money that she earned by working at Bingo Jack’s in Manitou Springs and also as a maid for first the Wallenstein family and then the R. P. Aldridge family at 1832 Cascade Avenue in nearby Colorado Springs.4 Frances was intent upon bringing her family to Colorado, and since she lived rent-free with Aunt Fang and Uncle Dan Harris, she was able to send most of her earnings home to her mother. At long last, Mattie had enough money socked away under her mattress to take her children west and join Frances in Colorado. From the moment the family arrived in town that summer day in 1933, Frances had jobs lined up in Manitou Springs for the three older children, and so they went straight to work to help support their mother and their younger siblings. Fannie Mae washed stacks of greasy pots and pans for Ethel and Andy Harper’s Barbecue at 2 Fountain Place, and she also passed out towels to both the wealthy and the suffering at the Manitou Spa. Johnny got a job at Patsy’s Candy and Popcorn stand, and Vernon was hired as the janitor for Hiawatha Gardens, a popular local dance hall. Having grown up helping their father Herbert picking cotton and selling produce from their tenant farm in Luther, Oklahoma, all the children were disciplined to work as a team and pull their share of the load. The happy sounds of their white contemporaries skating to music at the local rink and the graceful movements of white adult couples dancing to the strains of Fred Waring or Woody Herman at Hiawatha Gardens seemed but an impossible dream for the Bragg children . . . everyone, that is, except Fannie Mae who had big plans for the future.5 The Braggs had always been very close-knit, but from the moment Fannie Mae was born on July 5, 1918, she was a daddy’s girl. 6 When she was only a few years old, Fannie Mae tagged along behind her father each time he headed out to the Braggs’ roadside fruit and vegetable stand, and she loved to help him sell the family’s produce. She was very bright and had a natural talent for math when it came to making sales and changing money for her father. Herbert Bragg indulged his daughter as his self-appointed “business partner” and encouraged her

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entrepreneurial bent, for it was clear she far preferred selling vegetables to the painful and labor-intensive experience of picking cotton bolls from their “stickery” stems. Herbert was a patient father and explained to Fannie Mae that all the neighboring tenant farmers in their black community on the outskirts of Luther, Oklahoma, bartered with each other, but whites purchased everything with actual money. He emphasized the importance of treating all people with respect, particularly the cash-paying customers, and he taught Fannie Mae how to deal with the public. She was a quick learner and, much to Herbert’s amusement, she usually charmed her father’s white customers into buying far more than they had planned. Sadly, Herbert Bragg died at Thanksgiving in 1926 from injuries he sustained in an automobile accident. The whole family was devastated, but Fannie Mae was depressed and inconsolable. She had lost her hero, her champion. As a young widow, Mattie knew she could not manage the family’s tenant farm while tending to the needs of her seven youngsters. Cornelius, the youngest, was only 6 months old, and although she was reluctant to uproot her children, Mattie finally Mattie Bragg (1896–1974), mother of agreed to let three of Fannie Mae Duncan and wife of Herbert Herbert’s six brothers— Bragg, ca. 1970. Gift of Mrs. Fannie Mae Early, Jesse, and Uncle Duncan, Special Collections, Pikes Peak Library District, (001-8610). Honey—move her family


to a smaller, more manageable home in first Arcadia and then Guthrie, Oklahoma.7 Times were hard and the family struggled for seven arduous years. In 1933, when the Braggs arrived in Colorado Springs, the town claimed to have about 34,500 residents, and only 965 were listed as colored, but Mattie and her children were undaunted.8 Once again everyone was full of hope. After working throughout the entire summer, Fannie Mae was eager to enter North Junior High and make friends, but she was a little nervous about attending a desegregated public school for the first time in her life. In Oklahoma she had always attended segregated country schools, and her only previous associations with white students were the rock-throwing encounters between black and white country kids passing each other on the way to their own separate schools each morning. A keen observer, Fannie Mae quickly adjusted once she attended her junior high classes. She took her education seriously and studied with white kids from the North End, an affluent section of town. After a few months, she considered Hattie Bullock, Louise White, and Barbara Puffer (of the Puffer Mercantile family) as her personal friends, and since they were in many activities, she joined in, too.9 Fannie Mae was a born leader, and she soon became one of the popular members of her class at North Junior High. At one point, Fannie Mae was encouraged by her teacher, Miss Bessie Eastwood, to audition for the role of Delilah Johnson in her school’s production of the controversial Imitation of Life. Fannie Mae was excited about the opportunity, but she was dissuaded from playing the part by John Banks, a classmate whose father Charles Banks was very important in the black community.10 John explained that since the character of Delilah was a maid, the role was a stereotype. When Fannie Mae argued that she was perfect for the part, John responded, “Perfect to be a maid? Is that all ya want out of life? My papa says we better start payin’ attention to racism or things will never change.”11 With great reluctance, Fannie Mae turned down her chance to be in the spotlight. It was her first awareness of civil rights. Throughout her school years, Fannie Mae worked at various jobs. Each one was a decidedly different learning experience that increased her knowledge about business, introduced her

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to networking, and exposed her to the unimaginable level of opulence that could be achieved through concerted effort and having influential connections. During the years that she cleaned the home of Russian Count and Mrs. Benjamin Lefkowsky, she dreamed of having a living room with floor-toceiling blown glass windows and a dining room furnished with a marble-top table covered with crystal and china and adorned with silver candelabra like the ones she polished each week for the Lefkowskys.12 On the other hand, when Fannie Mae and her younger sister Selena waitressed at Father Divine’s, the cafe run by Mr. and Mrs. Tom Wallace, she learned quickly that the way you treat the public makes a difference. She realized she could pick up more than nickel tips if she provided enthusiastic service and a big smile when she delivered food to her customers’ table.13 Since the restaurant was located on the Double-O block of Colorado Avenue in downtown Colorado Springs, it was the first stop for hobos hitching a ride and jumping off the train at the station behind the Antlers Hotel. Mrs. Wallace was an astute businesswoman, but she was also very generous toward those riding the rails and searching for a second chance.14 Each evening she would freeze leftovers and heat them up the following day for the transients who showed up at the cafe’s back doorstep. She never turned anyone away—black or white—and she treated down-on-their-luck transients with the same respect that she showed cash-paying customers. Fannie Mae learned the importance of being generous and gracious to everybody, regardless of their status or lack of it. She remembered her father’s teaching her that very same lesson. During Fannie Mae’s teenage years, she and her brothers and sisters kept the family together by pooling their paychecks and having Momma manage the family budget. Mattie took in laundry to make a little extra money, maintained a vegetable garden to feed everyone, and kept house. Although frugal, Mattie was also ambitious. She wanted the best for her brood, and so every time she learned of a better living situation, she had the Braggs “movin’ on up.” The post office could hardly keep track as the family’s address changed on a regular basis—704 North Franklin, 815 El Paso, 415 Corona, 706 Corona, and a


white frame house on Wahsatch near the Elks Lodge. It wasn’t until they moved into the house at 730 Pine Street that Fannie Mae finally understood her mother’s seeming wanderlust.15 Momma was trying to get her family to “the Westside, the Best Side,” and once the Braggs settled in across the street from Reverend Chester Morgan and Sister Anna, his stately wife, it was clear that Momma was finally ready to put down roots. The Westside was an enclave of enterprising blacks who looked out for each other. Fannie Mae’s Uncle Jesse Bragg and his wife, Aunt Allie, were neighbors, and Uncle Jesse restored unwanted items left curbside by customers of his ash and trash business. He provided his sister-in-law Mattie and her family with second-hand furniture, used appliances, and toys—castoff items of the more fortunate—and he was a father figure for Mattie’s children. Todd Colbert owned a shoe repair shop, and he saw to it that underprivileged neighborhood children, like Mattie Bragg’s kids, had shoes. Young Gladys Childress, one of Fannie Mae’s talented and brilliant peers, gave music lessons;16 John MacDonald was a professional musician; and Myrtle White even owned an apartment house as well as a rental on Spruce Street.17 Best of all, was Sunday on the Westside. After Reverend Chester Morgan’s service at the Holiness Church on Spruce Street, the congregation gathered in the meeting hall for a sumptuous feast.18 Not even the historic Memorial Day Flood of 1935 could dampen the spirits of the families living on the Westside. They were industrious and pulled together, come rain or shine. Influenced by their exemplary efforts and charitable attitudes, Fannie Mae was convinced that she could accomplish almost anything if she set her mind to it. It was all just a matter of innovation, good timing, and hard work. When Fannie Mae attended Colorado Springs High School in the heart of the city, she became involved in every activity she could possibly fit into her busy schedule. She was a talented athlete and a leader on a girls’ basketball team, sponsored for black students by Hunter’s Mortuary and coached by Mrs. Sam Hunter.19 Fannie Mae also joined V.V.V., a newly formed club whose initials stood for Julius Caesar’s famous statement, veni, vidi, vici—I came, I saw, I conquered. The group was

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organized by Tandy Stroud, a former high school student who hoped to encourage academic excellence among black students. Another stated goal of the club was “to develop any talent that the members might possess.”20 The club’s sponsor was Miss Ernestine Parsons, a white faculty member with a degree from Colorado College and a Master’s from Columbia University. Miss Parsons’ weekly goal for the group was to discuss the achievements of blacks in the arts and Fannie Mae (Bragg) Duncan’s Colorado High School graduation picture, sciences, but Fannie Mae Springs 1938. She was the first in her family to was more interested in the receive a diploma. Gift of Mrs. Fannie opportunity to socialize, to Mae Duncan, Special Collections, Pikes Peak plan events, and to manage Library District, (001-8748). the club’s treasury.21 She did not realize that being active in V.V.V. was going to impact her future far more than she could ever imagine. The president of V.V.V. was Donnie Duncan, a gifted basketball, tennis, and track star. Donnie and his older brothers, Jimmy and Ed, were all talented athletes, and they had established themselves as a family dynasty with the Colorado Springs High School’s Athletic Department. Edward Roy Duncan was a working adult, but he attended every one of Fannie Mae’s basketball games because he had decided that she was the one for him. At Ed’s request, Donnie influenced Fannie Mae to go out with his older brother, and although Fannie Mae was excited about dating a Duncan, she fully expected to return to Oklahoma after her high school graduation and to enroll in Langston College. She had never forgotten that a lack of adequate medical attention had led to her father’s death, and


she was eager to obtain a nursing degree so that she could help others avoid such needless tragedy. Marriage was not in her immediate plans. When Fannie Mae graduated with the Colorado Springs High School Class of 1938, she was proud to be the first in her family to receive a diploma, but her financial situation forced her to face harsh reality. As she put it, “After high school whites went to college and blacks went to work.”22 Ed Duncan took advantage of her compromised situation and convinced her that the two of them would make a great team. He agreed to help her with her goals, but he pointed out that if they married and spent a few years working together and saving money, she could attend college later. Reluctantly, she postponed her dream and became Fannie Mae Duncan. Ed was 6 years older than Fannie Mae and had worked several years as a chauffeur and general handyman for Mrs. D. Arthur Jones, a wealthy socialite living in the affluent southwest end of town. Mrs. Jones’s impressive home was on Lake Avenue, the road leading straight toward the prestigious Broadmoor, an elegant hotel established by one of the city’s founding fathers, Spencer Penrose. Even though Fannie Mae and Ed were careful with their money, the young couple had taken out a sizable loan to buy a modest house on North Corona Street, and it was Edward Roy Duncan, married Fannie Mae Bragg in Colorado Springs on October 9, financially impossible 1939. Gift of Mrs. Fannie Mae Duncan, Special for them to purchase a Collections, Pikes Peak Library District, (001second car. As a result, 8747). Fannie Mae had to land

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a job that was within walking distance. Luckily, she found a position working as a domestic for District Attorney Irl Foard and his wife. Their home was only six blocks away so the job seemed perfect. That soon changed. Fannie Mae struggled with Mrs. Foard’s increasingly erratic behavior and unreasonable demands and she even threatened to quit on many occasions, but Mr. Foard relied on her so she always acquiesced to his desperate pleas. Mr. Foard remained indebted to Fannie Mae long after Mrs. Foard’s tragic death in a house fire. He even gave her Mrs. Foard’s medium-length, black mink coat, and when she modeled it for her husband Ed, Fannie Mae felt she was on her way to fame and fortune.23 At least she looked the part. After a more rewarding stint working as a domestic for the Caroline Jackson family in the Broadmoor, Fannie Mae reassessed her priorities and decided to seek employment worthy of her talents and intellect.24 With the bombing of Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, and America’s official entry into World War II, Camp Carson materialized on the south end of Colorado Springs. The U.S. Army installation immediately became a hotbed of expansion and activity, and jobs opened up for local citizens as the numbers of incoming soldiers escalated. The population of Colorado Springs was nearly thirty-seven thousand at the time, but Fannie Mae felt certain she could land a good job at Carson.25 She paid attention to gossip from the grapevine, and soon her friend Juanita Hairston alerted her about an opening as manager of the PX soda fountain at the Haven Club on post. Fannie Mae jumped at the chance and landed an interview with Johnny James who managed the Post Exchange facilities for blacks. He offered her a job on the spot and directed her to take the required Civil Service exam, which she passed with a 99 percent.26 At long last, Fannie had what she considered her first real job. The world opened up to Fannie Mae at Camp Carson. She couldn’t believe her luck when she got to meet boxing champion Joe Louis, and she was surprised at the off-stage shyness of Sammy Davis, Jr. when he came to entertain the troops. She loved the opportunity to hobnob with celebrities even if it was


only a quick handshake and a muttered comment. She began to dream once more. From the very beginning, Fannie Mae was a hit with the young soldiers coming in for a moment’s respite to enjoy a treat at her soda fountain. She served many specialties that were her original creations, but the soldiers’ absolute favorite was Fannie Mae’s banana split served with a smile. She loved to tell them, “Here’s your banana split, soldier. They’re my specialty. Oh, and there’s no extra charge for the smile.”27 Lonely soldiers probably frequented her soda fountain more for the companionship and attention she gave them than for the items on the menu, and since the future was uncertain, they were quite free with their money. Even the post commander was a part of her loyal following, and before long the profits at the Haven Club’s soda fountain reached an all-time high. As she raked in the money for her manager Johnny James, Fannie Mae once more began to consider her options. Instead of making money for the PX, why not branch out and go into business for herself? Fannie Mae decided it was the perfect time to take a risk, a really big one. Her husband Ed was employed at the Denver and Rio Grande train station down the hill from St. Francis Hospital, and the couple had managed to save a considerable amount of money. She heard through the grapevine that the cafe and snack bar at the USO on Colorado Avenue, the Servicemen’s Center for black soldiers, was to be rented out as a concession, and the USO was looking for a manager to run it.28 Fannie Mae was familiar with the area. The cafe was across the street from where she had waitressed as a teenager at Father Divine’s, the restaurant named after the itinerant black preacher who used the upstairs hall of the building for religious services prior to making a name for himself in Harlem.29 Fannie Mae wanted that manager’s position. She was certain that she could make a go of the cafe, but first she had to convince City Manager Earl Mosley to issue her a business license. Armed with letters of reference from Count Benjamin Lefkowsky, District Attorney Irl Foard, and Camp Carson’s PX Manager Johnny James, Fannie Mae strode into Earl Mosley’s office fully expecting to get a business license. Shocked to be turned down, she was relentless. She showed up daily at

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Mosley’s office above the police station on Nevada Avenue and demanded that he reconsider his decision. Confident and selfassured, she never would have guessed Earl Mosley’s reasons for turning her down—she was black, a woman, and only 26 years old. Earl Mosley had never met the likes of Fannie Mae Duncan, however, and he was no match for such a determined young woman. He finally gave in to her insistent demands, and even though he felt certain she would fail, he issued her a business license.30 Fannie Mae’s next hurdle was her husband. As a Denver and Rio Grande Railroad employee, Ed had a pension plan for the first time in his life. Fannie Mae knew that he would be reluctant to give up the security it provided, but she needed Ed to quit his job and go to work for her. It was critical to the success of her plan. Although her mother was an excellent cook, Fannie Mae’s only interest in a kitchen was sitting down at the table and enjoying Momma’s delicious meals. Fortunately, Ed was a decent short-order cook, and he could provide that service without charge. Besides, Ed had another talent. He had gained experience painting signs for the Works Progress Administration, instituted by Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and he was a good graphic artist. The USO cafe definitely needed an updated decor, and she knew Ed would do a great job for her. Even though Fannie Mae was a born risk-taker and Ed was not, she was remarkably persuasive when she made up her mind to something. Soon Ed was adding the finishing touches to his western landscapes that traced across the USO cafe’s walls, and two weeks after Fannie Mae gave Mr. James her notice at Camp Carson, she was welcoming her first guests to sit at the red-and-white checked tablecloths adorning the tables at her cafe’s grand opening.31 Meanwhile, Ed was hard at work in the kitchen preparing meals for the larger-than-anticipated crowd. The cafe was so popular that Fannie Mae soon needed to hire help, but always mindful of her profit margin, she enlisted two of her nieces to be waitresses. Odessa and Beatrice Bragg were not more than 10 and 12 years old at the time, but no one paid much attention to child labor laws when it came to black children. Fannie Mae picked up Odessa from Garfield Elementary and Beatrice from North Junior High every day


after school, and the girls proudly donned the zip-up-the-front uniforms that Fannie Mae bought for them at J.C. Penney’s.32 Although she paid the young sisters a modest salary, they worked mainly for tips just as Fannie Mae and Selena had done at Father Divine’s. Expenses were kept to a minimum, and everyone in the family benefited. Fannie Mae’s success was a remarkably singular accomplishment for a young woman of her era, but she was not one to rest on her laurels. Besides, she was motivated by the excitement of creating and pursuing bigger and more innovative projects. Since Ed did not share her entrepreneurial passion, she generally had her latest venture all planned out before she consulted him. Such was the case when she learned that Douglass Hall was for sale. The building was the very one where Fannie Mae and her sister Selena had worked for Mr. and Mrs. Tom Wallace. Not only was there kitchen equipment in the cafe area downstairs, but the huge hall upstairs had unlimited potential, and Fannie Mae knew just what she wanted to do with it . . . eventually. The building was owned by Lon and Alice Douglass in Denver, but Lon had recently died, and his widow wanted to sell their Colorado Springs real estate. Ed was dumbstruck when Fannie Mae presented her arguments. “Mrs. Douglass is gettin’ old . . . She’s in her heavy fifties, maybe sixties . . . she needs a buyer. She’s made it known she wants to keep it in the community ‘cause she says black folks are never ever gonna have a place downtown again if whites get hold of that property.”33 When Ed reminded her that they only had $3,000 in savings and could not meet Mrs. Douglass’s asking price of $6,000, Fannie Mae was ready to counter his argument.34 She pointed out that Mrs. D. Arthur Jones, his former employer down in the Broadmoor, was not only fond of him but that she also fully trusted him, and so she might be willing to advance them the money. Ed was shocked by his wife’s audacity, but Fannie Mae prodded him until he picked up the phone and asked Mrs. Jones if he and his wife could meet with her to discuss a business proposition.

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No one was more surprised than Ed when Mrs. Jones invited the young couple to her home at 31 Lake Avenue, but he felt certain she was just being courteous and would turn them down. He had not taken into account how persuasive Fannie Mae could be when she was trying to nail down a deal. By the time Mrs. Jones had finished listening to Fannie Mae’s spiel, the elderly woman asked Ed to drive the three of them downtown to the bank. Ed was even more stunned as he and Fannie Mae listened to Mrs. Jones direct Exchange National Bank Vice President Jasper Ackerman to cash her check for $3,000 so that she could lend the money to the Duncans.35 Fannie Mae exuded a level of confidence that inspired faith in her, but on November 15, 1947, when Mrs. D. Arthur Jones handed over that impressive amount of money, she would have been surprised to learn that Fannie Mae had been given only 24 hours to come up with the $6,000.36 As far as Fannie Mae was concerned, it was merely a matter of nothing ventured, nothing gained. Purchasing the Douglass building was one thing. Learning how to open a restaurant and bar was quite something else. Since her mother was a church-going teetotaler, Fannie Mae knew very little about alcohol, much less the complexities of placing huge orders for beer. By now Earl Mosley was quite familiar with Fannie Mae’s ambitious nature and getting a liquor license was no problem, but her first excursions into the world of being a bar owner must have bemused everyone associated with her. Still, she plunged right in and placed large orders with Pabst Blue Ribbon, Budweiser, Schlitz, and Falstaff. Since she had no discretionary funds to pay for the orders, she talked the beer distributors into collecting their money the following week after she was open for business, and although she feared she might not have enough funds to cover her expenses, she was relieved when she ran out of beer and had to close early a few nights later. Taking a risk had paid off. She had enough money in the cash register to cover her debts.37 Having the faith and confidence to run her business on a shoestring, Fannie Mae was vindicated by the steady following of customers that she and Ed had established when they ran the USO cafe across the street. Duncan’s Cafe and Bar proved to be popular with the black community from the moment the


young couple opened the doors at 25 West Colorado Avenue, and from then on, Fannie Mae’s white distributors treated her with great respect as a businesswoman. In fact, George Adams of Budweiser was especially supportive, and over the years he introduced her to many of his other business clients. She credited him with helping her to make a real name for herself, and the lines between black and white, male and female business associates faded for everyone with whom she was involved.38

At Duncan’s Cafe and Bar, 1955. Fannie Mae Duncan sitting at the counter; her brother Cornelius Bragg and his wife Nellie are behind the counter and Nellie’s mother, Marguerite Manley, is at the fountain. Lew Tilley photograph, Special Collections, Pikes Peak Library District, (099-1946).

Soon Fannie Mae realized that she should offer mixed drinks as well as beer at the bar, and her naiveté about alcohol led to an amusing incident, which her loyal patrons never let her forget. Shortly after Duncan’s Cafe and Bar added mixed drinks to the beverage menu, Fannie Mae was left to take a customer’s order because Ed had ducked into the kitchen for a minute. When the man seated at the bar ordered a Bloody Mary, Fannie Mae defiantly put her hands on her hips, narrowed her gaze to a stern stare, and admonished him, “I’m not gonna have that kind of talk in here.”39 She was quite surprised when

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the man and the other customers sitting on nearby bar stools almost died laughing. Sunny Howard, a friend of the family, came to her rescue. He explained what a Bloody Mary was and offered to compose a list of mixed drinks and their ingredients in case Fannie Mae ever was called upon to serve a customer again.40 Needless to say, everyone tried to come up with an order that would evoke a similar response from the attractive novice bartender, but Fannie Mae had a great sense of humor. She enjoyed a good joke, even when it was at her expense, as long as it was punctuated with another sale chalked up in the cash register. Since alcoholic beverages were served at the Duncan’s place, Fannie Mae was concerned about excluding the younger generation. She vividly remembered her own youth and how teenagers had few options when it came to entertainment. There were those wonderful occasions when the all-white Elks Club would close down for a night and let blacks hold a dance upstairs in their meeting hall, but most weekends when young couples had time off from their jobs, there were not many places in town where they were accepted. Even though they had once attended class and had lunch with whites at Colorado Springs High School, young black couples were only permitted to be employees at local white restaurants or hotels. They were not welcome to dine or enjoy entertainment there. Ever the problem solver, Fannie Mae branched out. She instructed her brother Cornelius to pave over the back alley, and she opened the Cherry Pit Barbecue. Not only did she serve the best barbecue downtown, but she also hired Jimmy Jules and the Diamonds, a group of musicians out of Louisiana, to provide entertainment. Although she originally hired Jimmy and his band for a two-week gig, they were such a big draw with the younger crowd that they remained the house band at the Cherry Pit Barbecue for 8 years.41 Ed was always relieved when Fannie Mae’s latest venture was a success, and he was content to “let things be,” but for Fannie Mae, success was just the catalyst that fanned the flames of her ambition. When the Dentan Printing Press building next door to the Duncan’s property was put on the market, Fannie Mae immediately snapped it up so that she could open several other


businesses.42 The Dentan building not only provided copious amounts of storage space, but it also offered another exciting possibility. By tearing down the upstairs wall between the two buildings Fannie Mae envisioned that she could ultimately turn Duncan’s Lounge, which she and Ed were beginning to develop above their cafe and bar, into a first-class nightclub that could accommodate several hundred customers. Of course, she kept her big ideas to herself because Ed was always leery of their overextending themselves and risking financial ruin. Meanwhile, Fannie Mae forged straight ahead and opened a business complex featuring a record shop, a gift shop, a beauty parlor, a cigar store, and a two-chair barber shop run by Roosevelt Price. She also provided a meeting room for clubs. Her many enterprises mushroomed into the first full-service mall just for blacks, and at the conclusion of church services on Sundays, the family crowd literally flooded into her stores after enjoying a meal at Duncan’s Cafe or the Cherry Pit Barbecue.43 Fannie Mae seemed to have the Midas touch. In addition to members of the local community, soldiers from Camp Carson began frequenting Duncan’s Cafe and Bar, and once word spread that it was the best place in town to get down-home cooking prepared with Momma’s time-honored recipes Selena (Bragg) Charlton, E. L. Rhodes, and and featuring vegetables Fannie Mae Duncan in front of the Cotton fresh from her garden, Club, 1955. Lew Tilley photograph, Special Fannie Mae and Ed could Collections, Pikes Peak Library District, (0991947).

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count on a regular clientele waiting in line for a chance at a table. Ed Duncan was delighted with the young couple’s success and satisfied to have Fannie Mae at the helm while he served as the chief cook and bottle washer for their restaurant and bar. Fannie Mae, on the other hand, was always thinking ahead and planning ways to achieve her ultimate goal of opening a major nightclub that welcomed everyone. She noted that many soldiers were returning from overseas with war brides of different races, cultures, and ethnic groups. Mixed marriages were not generally accepted in American society. In fact, some states had anti-miscegenation laws that actually deemed such liaisons illegal. To Fannie Mae, it was unconscionable that American soldiers were treated with such disdain after risking their lives and serving their country honorably. She planned to change that, and she knew just how she was going to do it. On occasion, Fannie Mae and Ed traveled to Denver in their shiny, new Cadillac to enjoy an evening at the Rossonian in Denver’s historic Five Points, the thriving black community east of downtown. It was the most elegant place in Denver to see the great black entertainers of the day, and pulling up in their new Cadillac was a visible sign of the Duncans’ success. Dressed to the nines in the highest of heels, her latest flashy suit, and Mrs. Foard’s medium-length black mink coat, Fannie Mae stepped out on the sidewalk and proudly straightened to her natural height of five foot seven inches.44 She exuded the aura of a Nubian queen, and she fully intended to give the Rossonian competition—once she figured out how to run such an operation. While Ed listened to the strains of music and enjoyed a cocktail, Fannie Mae tapped her finger to the rhythm of the melody, but she was way ahead of the beat of the band. She was making mental notes about how the Rossonian’s managers, John Kai and Quentin Harrington, ran the place. The Rossonian’s head waitress Joyce Peterson was a white woman married to black entertainer Pete Peterson, and Fannie Mae made a point of striking up a friendship with the polished waitress. Fannie Mae realized that Joyce could be instrumental in helping her achieve her dream of opening a full-scale nightclub in Colorado Springs that would be competitive with the Rossonian.45


That evening as a relaxed and unsuspecting Ed drove back to Colorado Springs after another exciting evening in Denver, Fannie Mae decided the time was right to let him in on her plans. As usual, she had reasoned everything through and was prepared to deal with any arguments he might offer in defense of their often precarious finances. Much to her surprise, Ed just smiled. He had long since learned that nothing stopped his enterprising wife once she made up her mind. When Fannie Mae read in the Colorado Springs Gazette and the evening Telegraph that the Kress Five and Dime downtown on Tejon Street was remodeling and offering items for sale, she was at the head of the line to purchase the whole soda fountain—the shiny marble counter, the white cushioned stools, two refrigerators, and the beverage coolers. “The entire thing cost me only $500. It was a steal,” she explained to Ed.46 Secretly, she was delighted that blacks would be welcome to perch on those white cushioned stools that had been forbidden to them in Kress’s soda fountain. Knowing that they were in too deep to pull out now, her husband merely rolled up his sleeves and waited for her new purchases to be delivered. Later that afternoon Ed and Fannie Mae’s brother Cornelius struggled under the weight of the refrigerators and beverage coolers as they lugged the remains of Kress’s soda fountain up the steep stairs to the hall above Duncan’s Cafe and Bar where Father Divine had once held church-goin’ meetings. Working until late into the evening, the exhausted trio managed to install the marble counter and bar stools, too. Although things were well underway, Fannie Mae was impatient to open as soon as possible. Time meant money, and she was spending almost more than they were making. What began as Duncan’s Lounge upstairs above Duncan’s Cafe and Bar was about to become much more. Sitting with friends in the skeletal beginnings of her new nightclub, Fannie Mae listened as Henri Woode, one of her band leaders, tried to talk her into naming her new establishment Sweet Slumber after a song he had written.47 Fannie Mae seriously considered his suggestion until she learned that the famous Cotton Club in New York City had closed. The Harlem club had been opened for rich white folks to be entertained

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by blacks, and she liked the idea that her Cotton Club would welcome everybody to enjoy the best in black entertainment. That’s when she made the purchase that almost threatened her marriage. She ordered a twentyfoot-high sign from the Link Neon Sign Company in Manitou Springs that proclaimed in flamingo pink— COTTON CLUB Presents TWO LAVISH SHOWS NIGHTLY DINING DANCING

The silhouette of an unidentified singer at the Cotton Club, 1955. Numerous wellknown and up-and-coming entertainers performed at the Cotton Club. Lew Tilley photograph, Special Collections, Pikes Peak Library District, (099-1942).

Ed nearly had a conniption when Fannie Mae revealed that the bill for the mammoth neon sign came to $4,300, but she argued that travelers heading south from Denver would not be able to miss the Cotton Club once they reached the northern outskirts of Colorado Springs. The sign would light the customers’ way straight to their club.48 To avoid any further dissension, she immediately put Ed to work building a bandstand while she busied herself sewing the curtained backdrop to enhance it. She decided it wise to wait until the profits came rolling in before she revealed that she planned to buy a Steinway piano for her musicians. It was going to cost $1,600, but that was a bargain.49 It was a Steinway, after all, and even though Fannie Mae was always looking at her profit margin, she wasn’t about to skimp on the essentials. “First class acts are gonna expect first class accommodations,” was how she planned to explain it to Ed when the Steinway was delivered.


On the Duncans’ next trip to the Rossonian, Fannie Mae had another surprise up her sleeve. Ed learned about it when his wife asked Joyce Peterson, the Rossonian’s head waitress, to become the Duncans’ head waitress at their soon-to-open nightclub. Fannie Mae had devised a very persuasive argument to lure the young woman away from her enviable position at the Rossonian. She knew that Joyce was in a mixed marriage, and society was not very welcoming to such couples. In fact, in many areas of the country it was downright dangerous for them. On Sunday afternoon when Joyce showed up in Colorado Springs, Fannie Mae wined and dined her for all she was worth, but what really impressed Joyce Peterson was Fannie Mae’s determination to have waitresses of all ethnic groups. Fannie Mae told her, “A lot of my clientele is the military, Joyce. Some of the GIs are bringin’ back war brides from different countries. I want them to feel at home. That’s why I’m lookin’ for a real mix in my waitresses.”50 Joyce Peterson was impressed by Fannie Mae’s graciousness and courage, and when she returned to the Rossonian, she gave her two-week notice. “I can’t believe that one of my good customers has stolen one of my best waitresses,” was John Kai’s complaint to losing one of his top employees, but it was to no avail.51 Joyce Peterson helped Fannie Mae hire fifteen waitresses of every nationality, and she remained at Fannie Mae’s side for at least 12 years until her health failed. “Good friends come in every color,”52 Fannie Mae said of their relationship. Many people strive to be color-blind; Fannie Mae truly was when it came to accepting people for the content of their character, as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. directed everyone to do. As soon as Fannie Mae welcomed her first customers to the Cotton Club, her big risk began paying off. Her expensive neon sign was not the only thing that beckoned people to her establishment. Soldiers stationed at Camp Carson spread the word about the Cotton Club when they were scattered to the winds and reassigned to posts throughout the United States and military installations around the world. When a new batch of soldiers arrived at the army post south of Colorado Springs, they knew exactly where to find great entertainment. Many

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of them, especially the black recruits, learned it was far more difficult to locate housing for their families. Discrimination was subtle but very real. Fannie Mae had a solution for that problem, too. Years earlier, she had purchased property from her Uncle Jesse to help him resolve some of his financial difficulties. Ever the entrepreneur, she opened Duncan’s Apartments at 814 South Tejon, and she offered her rentals to incoming soldiers at a more reasonable rate than many local landlords.53 Black soldiers were not the only ones facing discrimination. Since prestigious local hotels still did not welcome blacks as either guests or entertainers, Fannie Mae became the only game in town. Each time Leroy Smith, who was running the Voters Club in Denver, booked the biggest names in the business, Fannie Mae offered them a side gig in Colorado Springs. She and Leroy enjoyed an almost symbiotic relationship—major bands were more likely to travel to Denver to perform if they could also play the Cotton Club in nearby Colorado Springs, too.54 Everyone benefited. Fannie Mae began pulling in top talent. Soon the local white citizenry, music aficionados, students from Colorado College, and soldiers from Camp Carson were coming to Fannie Mae’s nightclub in droves to enjoy Fats Domino, Louis Armstrong, Lionel Hampton, Duke Ellington, Etta James, Erroll Garner and the veritable parade of stars that appeared at one time or another at the Cotton Club. Of course, Fannie Mae had everyone checked at the door to make sure they were old enough to be on the premises where liquor was being served, and she also established a dress code so that her customers would behave appropriately. Men were expected to be attired in coat and tie, and ever the businesswoman, Fannie Mae had extra ties available for sale just in case a gentleman arrived without one. Fannie Mae herself was always dripping with furs and expensive jewelry and outfitted in the latest styles from New York City when she walked through the room and welcomed the evening crowd to the Cotton Club. Both Mrs. Levy of Rae’s Dress Shop at the Broadmoor Hotel and Irene Newcomb, the buyer for the exclusive Gray Rose downtown on Tejon Street, would return from their frequent fashion forays in the Big


Apple with couture designs to suit Fannie Mae’s impeccable but flamboyant taste.55 Needless to say, women did not need a dress code. They jumped at the opportunity to show off both figures and finery as they enjoyed an evening at the Cotton Club.

Fannie Mae Duncan in her living room, 1955. The mermaid coffee table was manufactured by the California Lamp. Co., in 1950. Lew Tilley photograph, Special Collections, Pikes Peak Library District, (099-1937).

Fannie Mae’s success exceeded her wildest dreams, but she was always trying to improve. She demanded the highest standards of her staff for cleanliness and for gracious acceptance of the public. She employed bouncers to evict anyone who might try to ignore the level of decorum that she expected, and when college students sneaked into the bathroom to avoid being fingered as minors, she insisted that they were respectfully escorted to the door. She cooperated with the police and welcomed their occasional “walk throughs” to check out the action. Consequently, she was quite surprised when Police Chief Irvin B. “Dad” Bruce called her into his office. She couldn’t imagine what he wanted. The scene that unfolded has been retold to the point of becoming legend, but according to Fannie Mae, the police chief put down his stogie long enough to say, “Is it true that there are blacks and whites and all colors mixin’ at your club? That’s

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what I’ve been told.” Fannie confirmed that it was true but that people were doing it of their own accord. “You can’t be mixin’ colors, Fannie Mae. You hear?” Emboldened by the injustice of his demand, the stubborn young entrepreneur pointed out that she checked to make sure everybody was of legal age but that she did not know she had to check everyone for color, too. Surprised to be confronted by a woman and a black one at that, Chief Bruce pronounced, “You’re letting ‘em mix, Fannie. Gotta stop. Run it black.”56 Fannie Mae reminded Chief Bruce that whites knew their constitutional rights and that she expected him to back her up if she turned them away. Thinking she had won the battle, she was heartbroken when he agreed. However, by the time she returned to the Cotton Club, Chief Bruce had reconsidered his brash decision and he called to let her know. That evening Fannie Mae asked her husband Ed to hand-letter her now famous business slogan, EVERYBODY WELCOME. She proudly placed the sign in her window, and the rest is history. That night whites and blacks and music lovers of every race and culture sat side by side enjoying the best entertainment of the day. Few of them were aware that they were making history, but Colorado Springs was peacefully integrated at Fannie Mae’s Cotton Club that evening, and best of all, it was sanctioned by the local police chief himself. Once Fannie Mae and Dad Bruce resolved their differences, she began to seek a solution for another distressing situation. Even though she booked world-class black entertainers, they still were not welcomed by the local hotels. Each night when Fannie Mae closed the Cotton Club’s doors at 2:00 a.m., her performers had to drive all the way back to Denver’s Five Points to get some sleep. Not only was Fannie Mae worried about her entertainers’ safety, but she was also exasperated by her hometown’s lack of hospitality. Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Lionel Hampton, Etta James, Dinah Washington, Fats Domino, Louis Armstrong, Faye Martell, the Coasters, B. B. King, Bo Diddley, Little Richard, Horace Henderson—the most gifted musicians of the day performed at the Cotton Club, and often they visited the sick at local hospitals and cheered up wounded soldiers in wards on the army post. Some of them even gave


shows at the Red Cross Auditorium at Camp Carson.57 In spite of everything, they were still treated like second-class citizens. Fannie Mae was determined to have her entertainers receive the respect and appreciation that they deserved. She didn’t stop until she found an answer. Local businessmen were always offering deals to Fannie Mae, and that’s how she learned that one of the old Victorian mansions at 802 North Nevada Avenue near Colorado College was destined to be demolished to make way for a Standard Oil filling station. Built in 1891 for Dr. James A. Hart, the 3-story home offered 8,000 square feet of grandeur and featured 43 rooms.58 Of course, she fully intended for the mansion to be her family’s home, but as a businesswoman, she felt it only fair to charge her performers a modest fee for the convenience of being able to spend the night in the commodious quarters of her residence in the Springs. After their initial stand-off, Fannie Mae and Dad Bruce developed a solid working relationship. He appreciated her diligence in adhering to the letter of the law, and she placed total trust in his judgment. When she approached him with her reason for purchasing the Hart mansion, he concurred that it was a shrewd decision. Unfortunately, he failed to mention that she would need to apply for a license to move the house to 615 N. Corona Street where she had purchased property from the Doenges-Long firm. Meanwhile, Fannie Mae engaged a local moving company to transport the mansion to its new address. The building was so large that it had to be cut into three sections so that it could be transported to a different location, and just as it was headed into the intersection of one of the city’s busiest streets, the police halted its progress and demanded to see the license permitting such a move.59 Fannie Mae was furious and immediately called Chief Bruce. She fully expected him to back her, but instead, he sheepishly admitted that she did, indeed, need a license to move her mansion. For almost 3 weeks, traffic had to be re-routed because Fannie Mae’s dissected home rested in the middle of Nevada Avenue, a main thoroughfare. Finally, after wading through the required red tape and threatening a nervous breakdown, Fannie Mae got her license.

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Although the move cost her $6,200, Fannie Mae insisted she paid an even bigger price in the stress the fiasco caused her, but she soon forgot the whole ordeal once contractor Bob Erickson pieced the old Victorian back together atop its new foundation. By the time Pete Beroni restored the interior that had been exposed to the elements for several weeks, the old Victorian became one of Colorado Springs’ proud “painted ladies” once again.60 At long last, Fannie Mae had the home she had always dreamed about as a teenager working for Count Lefkowsky. It was only natural that when the Count divorced his wife to marry a younger woman, Fannie Mae was the one to purchase much of his heavily carved furniture—the marbletop dresser, the dining room table, the elaborate headboards, and the ceiling-to-floor framed entry hall mirror—as well as the sterling candelabra she had polished as a young dreamer.

Fannie Mae Duncan in her car near her home at 615 North Corona Street, Colorado Springs, 1955. Lew Tilley photograph, Special Collections, Pikes Peak Library District, (099-1938).

During the years that Fannie Mae was immersed in becoming a business mogul, philanthropist, and community activist, her younger sister Selena was making a name for herself, too. When the two girls were still high school students, Selena had met and fallen for a traveling musician named Les Franklin, who performed at the first dance Selena ever attended at the local


Elks Club. Love and a resulting pregnancy led Selena to marry as a teenager, and she and her infant son moved to Los Angeles to be with Selena’s talented new husband. A natural beauty, Selena was ineligible to enter the Miss America contest, but she won the Miss Bronze America title twice, and when she began waitressing at one of the biggest nightclubs in Los Angeles, she was discovered as a vocal talent, too.61 Surrounded by the gifted entertainers of the day, Selena picked up hints from each of them, and soon she was singing with T-Bone Walker and then with Lionel Hampton’s band. However, the demands of being a young mother, the frequent separations from her traveling husband, and the distressing drug use among many of the musicians with whom she worked led Selena to make a difficult decision. She called her big sister and asked Fannie Mae to take the toddler back home to Colorado. Both Fannie Mae and Ed were thrilled to welcome the little fellow into their home. Momma nicknamed the child Syl, and everyone adored him. Meanwhile, Selena desperately missed her son. Eventually, she abandoned her career and returned home for a better life in Colorado Springs. There had always been a strong bond between Fannie Mae and her younger sister, and as soon as she arrived in town, Selena began bartending for Fannie Mae, running a photo concession at the club to capture each patron’s night on the town, and performing a song or two for her adoring fans at the Cotton Club. Fannie Mae knew she was lucky. Not only was business booming, but she was also the only nightclub owner whose beautiful sister was the “house singer.” The two of them were an unbeatable combination, and with Selena’s show business expertise and connections in the entertainment world, Fannie Mae was assured of even greater success. A tough businesswoman on the exterior, Fannie Mae had a heart of gold. She was always willing to give young people a chance at success, and they seldom disappointed her. Late one afternoon she noticed a soldier stroll in the door of the club way ahead of the usual crowd. He paused at the bar for a moment to talk to Selena, and then he disappeared. Curious, she asked her sister about him and learned that he was a young comedian stationed out at the army installation south of town. With a little

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prodding from Selena and assurance that the young man had quite a following among his fellow soldiers, Fannie Mae agreed to let him have a shot at show business.

E. L. Rhodes (on the left), Joyce Peterson, Selena (Bragg) Charlton (center, wearing the hat), and an unidentified employee at the Cotton Club, 1955. Lew Tilley photograph, Special Collections, Pikes Peak Library District, (099-1939)..

Some nights the crowds at the Cotton Club could be tough if a performer didn’t live up to expectations, and once the young soldier returned, she worried as she watched him pace nervously in the corner near the stage. He seemed almost withdrawn, keeping to himself and not talking to anyone. Fearing she had made a mistake, she was pleasantly surprised when he ran onto the stage at the sound of the musical cue, grabbed the microphone, and stood in the spotlight wearing an impish smile and telling jokes with a confident flair. He brought the house down. Every time he appeared after that, he had the audience in gales of laughter before he even uttered a word. A star was born on the very first night that he waltzed across the Cotton Club stage, and even though he went on to garner Hollywood and TV fame, Flip Wilson always credited Fannie Mae Duncan with giving him his start.62 Although she had reached a pinnacle of success, Fannie Mae was unable to enjoy the moment. Instead, she was forced to confront a family tragedy. She and Ed had lost their only


child when they were running the USO concession. The baby girl, Yvonne Delores, died at birth and was buried in Evergreen Cemetery on June 11, 1946.63 It was a crushing blow for both of them, but the young couple coped with adversity in very different ways. In the months following her child’s death, Fannie Mae purchased Douglass Hall from Alice Douglass in Denver, and she immersed herself in one business venture after another. Ed, on the other hand, turned to alcohol to drown his sorrow. Fannie Mae was too busy to notice that Ed’s ready access to liquor was developing into full-blown alcoholism. By 1954, her husband’s drinking problem reached the stage that he was too ill at night to perform his duties as club manager. Fannie Mae had to face reality. She was losing Ed. When she finally made the decision to replace Ed as manager at the Cotton Club, Fannie Mae tried to think of a way to preserve her husband’s dignity. Learning that the Iron Springs Chateau in nearby Manitou Springs had recently been put up for sale, Fannie Mae leaped at the chance to buy it. From the time it first opened in 1880, the Chateau was a mecca for tourists, and Fannie Mae sensed it was a good business investment as well as a solution to her problems.64 She had poignant memories of the days she worked in Manitou as an impressionable teenager in the summer of 1933, and she envisioned opening another business complex in the historic building much like the one she had established on Colorado Avenue. The setting for the Iron Springs Chateau was strategically located in the creases of the foothills tracing down from Pikes Peak, and the train station for the Cog Railroad that ran to the top of the mountain was just a short distance up the slope from the Chateau. Fannie Mae was guaranteed a constant flow of sightseers heading past her new enterprise to catch the train, and she felt certain tourists would stop for dinner and browse in her shops when the passengers returned in the afternoon. It was the ideal location for a dress shop and gift shop that catered to Manitou’s active tourist trade, but the large dance hall upstairs was what excited her the most. Its walls of windows looked out upon the mountainside, and it was the perfect setting for a second nightclub.

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Since Fannie Mae already held a liquor license for her establishment on Colorado Avenue, according to the law she was not permitted to apply for a second one, although she did have the option of leasing an area of the building to someone who might be eligible to apply for such a license. To assuage the angry rumblings of disgruntled citizens who opposed Fannie Mae’s business plans for the Chateau, Georgetta Shaw, Manitou’s city clerk, revealed that the Duncans had not applied for a liquor license or expressed their intention to do so. Of course, it was a moot point since only twelve such licenses could be issued according to city ordinance and none were available. Only three 3.2 beer licenses were open at the time.65

Fannie Mae Duncan sitting on a bed with a cashbox and a pistol, 1955. Lew Tilley photograph, Special Collections, Pikes Peak Library District, (099-1949).

Unfortunately, no one but Momma, Selena, and Fannie Mae’s brother Cornelius knew that she was leaning toward serving only non-alcoholic beverages at her newly acquired Iron Springs Chateau. Fannie Mae felt there were distinct advantages to that approach. It would give the younger crowd a place to go; her entertainers would have an additional gig in the area; and Ed might be able to manage her nightclub at the Chateau since he wouldn’t have access to alcohol there. Besides, Manitou‘s


Mayor Mabel Willie put her stamp of approval on the deal, so Fannie Mae was confident that she was on the right track.66 Not one to reveal her plans until she had everything worked out, Fannie Mae publicly indicated that she was considering all her options. Her ambiguity fueled the fire. Determined to keep her out, boisterous citizens actively and persistently protested the opening of a black nightclub at the Chateau. In an effort to prevent the issuance of a dancehall, restaurant, or club license to the Duncans—much less the issuance of a liquor or malt beverage license—Manitou residents campaigned openly against the Duncans. A session in council chambers became so heated that the usually formidable Mayor Mabel Willie was even accused of failing to keep “due order.” 67 As the public mood became increasingly volatile, Fannie Mae hired attorneys Leo Rector and Hayden Kane to represent her, and charges of racial discrimination were bandied about.68 A Gazette Telegraph article reported, “The Duncans, who also operate Duncan’s Cafe and Bar in Colorado Springs, are Negroes.”69 Hurt and disappointed, Fannie Mae acquiesced to the public’s demands. After years of success and recognition, she was stunned by their hostile reaction. Not only did she lose $18,000 in her effort to launch the business venture, but she also lost something far more important.70 Ed became critically ill a few months later and died at St. Francis Hospital on January 22, 1955. He was 42 years old. Fannie Mae had lost her hero and champion. In 1955, she faced life as a 36-year-old widow.71 Not one to show her emotions, Fannie Mae handled her situation the way she had coped with tragedy ever since she was 8 years old and lost her beloved Papa. She buried herself in work and devoted every waking minute and all her energy to her businesses. Fortunately, she had always employed many family members, and they rallied around her in her time of need. Each night she went home exhausted, but her mother was there for her. Momma was Fannie Mae’s rock. For a while things began to improve and she almost seemed like her old self, but tragedy struck again. Her older brother Vernon’s 7-yearold son Gregory contracted bulbar polio and was admitted to the hospital in critical condition. Once more Fannie Mae found herself pacing the floor at St. Francis Hospital. Even though she

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offered to pay whatever it might cost, physicians were unable to save the boy.72 Gregory’s death, on September 1, 1959, hit Fannie Mae hard.73 As she grieved over the injustice of the little boy not “gettin’ his chance in life,” she struggled to find some way to honor her beloved nephew. Ever resourceful, Fannie Mae contacted Mahalia Jackson and the world-famous singer agreed to give a benefit performance so that the proceeds could be donated towards the purchase of an iron lung for the city of Colorado Springs. Of course, Fannie Mae paid Mahalia’s expenses, and since blacks were now accepted at the exclusive Broadmoor Hotel, she even reserved an expensive suite for her celebrated guest. Everyone in the community flooded to City Auditorium to hear Mahalia sing, and the concert was a sellout.74 Even so, the ticket sales did not cover the entire expense of purchasing an iron lung so Fannie Mae staged other events with the help of the 400 Club, a social organization for blacks organized by Fannie Mae and her poolroom manager, Al Tresvan, to further the welfare of the less fortunate in the community.75 By the time she finally had enough money for the iron lung, Dr. Jonas Salk had created a vaccine that protected children from contracting the dreaded disease. As a result, Fannie Mae donated the $2,400 to the Birth Defects Research Clinic at the University of Colorado Medical School in Denver.76 She finally completed her quest to honor her nephew, and although she never got over little Gregory’s death, she was able to visit his grave at Evergreen Cemetery without the pangs of guilt that had haunted her. Fannie Mae had a special spot in her heart for all children. Life continued to be a roller coaster for Fannie Mae, but she always forged ahead with determination and a positive attitude. Instead of dwelling on her losses, she counted her blessings each night, especially when she went home. Her Victorian mansion offered a respite for her, and it had also become a showplace that engendered pride within the black community. Gardeners from the Broadmoor often showed up after work to tend the rows of fragrant peonies and roses that Momma planted along the white picket fence that traced the perimeter of the property. The house was usually full of


interesting guests. Fannie welcomed not only her entertainers but also visiting dignitaries when they came to town. She was especially humbled when a prominent minister, the Reverend Milton Proby, asked her if Medgar Evers could stay with her when he came to speak at the United States Air Force Academy. Of course, she was delighted. She expected Evers would enjoy Momma’s down-home cooking, but she was surprised when he commended her on her contribution to the Civil Rights Movement. Fannie Mae never considered herself a civil rights activist, but Mr. Evers assured her that the peaceful integration of the Cotton Club was a major victory for civil rights. His words were an inspiration to her.77 Not long after Evers returned to Mississippi, he was murdered, and his death nearly broke Fannie Mae’s heart. She could not understand such a senseless act of violence. Remembering how he had praised her for being a community leader, she felt compelled to set an example for others. Even though she was an unquestionable success as a businesswoman, she secretly despaired over never earning a university degree. She was a great believer in the importance of higher education, but since her many enterprises demanded her full attention, college was the one dream that continued to elude her. She finally decided to delegate more responsibility at the club and to enroll in classes at the local El Paso County Community College. As a youngster she had been an excellent student, and she looked forward to returning to the academic world. At first things went well, but her staff could not understand her thirst for knowledge, and their frequent interruptions of her classes to get verification for an order or solve a problem resulted in her abandoning her quest. It was perhaps her biggest regret in life, but she continued to be an avid supporter of higher education for youth. She annually contributed to the United Negro College Fund, and she also provided local scholarships for deserving students. Fannie Mae personally funded the college education for half a dozen youngsters. Throughout her life, Fannie Mae’s reputation as a philanthropist was as legendary as the fame of the entertainers who performed at her Cotton Club. Working for decades with the 400 Club, she provided clothing and food for the poor whenever

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the need arose and distributed toys to underprivileged children during holidays. Each year at Christmas, she purchased bicycles for dozens of youngsters. She volunteered to drive families in her own Cadillac whenever they needed to be escorted to funeral services, formal receptions, or celebratory events such as weddings. As a member, and often treasurer, of the El Paso County Beverage Association, she worked tirelessly so that the group averaged a yearly donation of $8,000 to support programs sponsored by the March of Dimes to help disabled children.78 She was passionate about giving all youngsters their chance in life, and as one of the founders of the Colorado Springs Sickle Cell Association, she focused public attention on the need to fund research.79 The black community relied heavily on Fannie Mae. They sought her out when they suffered financial reverses or when they needed loans to pursue business ventures. Few of them realized how much of her fortune was invested in her many enterprises, and occasionally, people were critical when she did not have the discretionary funds to respond to their requests. Even so, some stories touched her heart to the point that she simply couldn’t refuse. Once she spent $5,000 to pay off the mortgage on a widow’s house so that the bereft mother could take care of her children without the constant worry of keeping a roof over their heads. Fannie Mae never forgot her own humble beginnings in Luther, Oklahoma, and how her mother had struggled as a young widow. It gave her a realistic perspective about life. Fannie Mae Duncan was an innovator, an entrepreneur, and a savvy businesswoman, but she was also the right person in the right place at the right time. When she began her career in business, the city government routinely issued only one or two liquor licenses to clubs designated for black patrons, and this gave Fannie Mae a lock on the market.80 In the early 1950s, it was Fannie Mae’s acceptance of all people combined with her culturally diverse patrons’ defiance of segregation—by going to the Cotton Club to see the great black artists of the day— that resulted in the peaceful integration of Colorado Springs. Ironically, it was the success of the Civil Rights Movement that spelled the nightclub’s ultimate demise. Once blacks were


accepted as both guests and performers at local establishments, the Cotton Club was no longer the only game in town. With the death of Police Chief Dad Bruce in early 1960, Fannie Mae lost her major source of support in city government, and eventually her famous hot spot at 25 West Colorado Avenue was targeted to become a victim of urban renewal. When African-American Gerald H. Bradshaw was brought down from Denver to be the Executive Director of the Colorado Springs Urban Renewal Effort (CURE), Fannie Mae could see the handwriting on the wall.81 She hired one lawyer after another in an attempt to save her property. Attorneys Murphy and Morris in Colorado Springs and Ervin Andrews out of Denver were enthusiastic about being able to forestall the inevitable, but in the end their efforts were fruitless. During her 28 years as a businesswoman, Fannie Mae printed “Easy to Find and Hard to Leave” on her business cards, but it took the city only 3 months to raze her buildings on the Double-O block of Colorado Avenue, thus marking the end of 75 years of black ownership of property in the heart of Colorado Springs.82 On August 3, 1975, a Champagne Sip was held in Fannie Mae’s honor at the Cotton Club.83 Women arrived in feathered hats, silks, satins, and finery. Men wearing suits and ties glanced at the colorful murals on the walls as they climbed the stairs to the club’s entrance and joined people of every race for a few hours of reminiscing about all the amazing talent they had witnessed at the Cotton Club. Senators, representatives, the mayor, and county commissioners mingled with ordinary citizens at the final celebratory event before Fannie Mae closed her nightclub’s doors for the last time.84 Ted Beals and his wife, former County Clerk and Recorder Harriet Beals, were among the dignitaries honoring Fannie Mae. Mr. Beals acknowledged, “When my wife wanted to raise money for a club, Fannie Mae bought all the food, opened up her house, and gave the money over to the organization.”85 Horace Butler, lead guitarist for Jimmy Jules and the Diamonds, also confirmed Fannie Mae’s generous nature. “She was good to work for, real good. We were the house band for a long time, and whenever she hired another band for a special gig she would pay us, too, even though we weren’t playing.”86

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As the grandchild of Alabama slaves, Fannie Mae knew that she could not rely on family wealth or political ties to achieve her goals, but she was resourceful, imaginative, and determined. As a result of her innovative approach to obtaining funding, dealing with authority figures, resolving societal issues, and working in the male-dominated business world, Fannie Mae Duncan achieved the American dream. Consequently, her impact on Colorado Springs is undeniable. Fannie Mae Duncan’s natural business acumen, her courage, and her historic sense of timing during the Civil Rights Movement resulted in the peaceful integration of Colorado Springs. While other cities were dealing with the threat of Molotov cocktails and violence during the bloody years of struggle for civil rights, Fannie Mae welcomed people of every race and served them chilled cocktails to the accompaniment of hot jazz. As owner of the Cotton Club, Fannie Mae found common ground in the performing arts to unite people, and her business philosophy, Everybody Welcome, still inspires us today. Each year in August, Colorado Springs recognizes its cultural diversity and invites natives, newcomers, and tourists alike to join together in celebration of every race, culture, ethnic group, and nationality. The festival is named Everybody Welcome in honor of Fannie Mae’s gracious acceptance of all people. Her story is not just a Colorado story. It is a story for all of America. Her life is a reminder that the American dream can be achieved against all odds through creativity, entrepreneurship, and dedication. Fannie Mae Duncan embodied all those qualities, and her legacy lives on in the two words that defined her approach to life—EVERYBODY WELCOME.


Kathleen F. Esmiol received her undergraduate degree from Florida State University and her M.A. from the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs. During the 25 years she taught English in Academy District 20 in Colorado Springs, she wrote and produced six plays and an opera. Her 1993 play about Fannie Mae Duncan led to her assisting Fannie Mae in writing her memoir. In 1996, Prentice Hall named Kathleen Team Teacher of the West and used her play, Voices and Visions, as the basis of a national publication on original research, local history, and theatre. Disney recognized Kathleen as their 2001 Middle School Humanities Teacher of the Year, and in October 2002 she taught American studies and English for the U.S. State Department’s Teaching Excellence and Achievement program in Blagoveschensk, Russia. Kathleen delights in making history come alive for an audience—whether in a theater or on the pages of a book. NOTES

1. Irene Bragg Marshall. Bragg Family History (self-published family genealogy, 1994). 2. Ibid. 3. Marshall Sprague, “Making a Wild, Brave Dream Come True,” from column, “Time Out of Mind,” in Colorado Springs Free Press, circa 1953. Reprinted in 2007 by Colorado Springs Pioneers Museum for the exhibit: A Day in the Life of Fannie Mae Duncan, Images by Lew Tilley. Since the article mentions that Fannie Mae is not yet 35 years old and she was born 5 July, 1918, the article was printed between January and July 5, 1952, instead of 1953. 4. Fannie Mae Duncan with Kathleen F. Esmiol, Everybody Welcome: A Memoir of Fannie Mae Duncan and the Cotton Club, Chapter 5, “Changin’ Directions,” 59–60. Manuscript in Special Collections, Pikes Peak Library District, Colorado Springs, Colorado. 5. Duncan with Esmiol. Chapter 6, “Savin’ the Day,” 66–67. 6. Marshall. 7. Duncan with Esmiol. Chapter 4, “Losin’ Everything,” 51–52. 8. “Statistical Review,” Polk’s Colorado Springs City Directory including Manitou Springs, Colorado. (Colorado Springs: R. L. Polk & Company, Publishers, 1933). 9. Duncan with Esmiol. Chapter 7, “Rain On My Parade,” 84.

ESMIOL • 333 10. John S. Holley. The Invisible People of the Pikes Peak Region: An Afro-American Chronicle (Colorado Springs: Friends of the Pikes Peak Library and Friends of the Colorado Springs Pioneers Museum, 1990), 188. 11. Duncan with Esmiol. Chapter 6, 72. 12. Duncan with Esmiol. Chapter 7, 86–87. 13. Sprague. 14. The Double-O block was what Fannie Mae and the black community called the block where the Cotton Club was located. It may have been called this because the addresses only had two numerals, but it also distinguished the area where they were welcomed. 15. Duncan with Esmiol. Chapter 6, 75–77. 16. Terror Trails, Colorado Springs High School Yearbook, 1938, 94. 17. Duncan with Esmiol. Chapter 6, 75–79. 18. Ibid., 77–78. 19. Duncan with Esmiol. Chapter 8, “Keepin’ Score,” 92. 20. Terror Trails. Colorado Springs High School Yearbook, 1937, 78. 21. Ibid. 22. Duncan with Esmiol. Chapter 9, “Brussels Sprouts and Babies,” 103. 23. Ibid., 104–107. 24. Sprague. 25. Holley, 224. 26. Duncan with Esmiol. Chapter 10, “Banana Splits and a Smile,” 109; Sprague. 27. Ibid., 110–112. 28. Holley, 179. 29. Sprague. 30. Duncan with Esmiol. Chapter 11, “Takin’ A Risk,” 127–128. 31. Ibid., 129. 32. Ibid. 33. Duncan with Esmiol. Chapter 14, “Whatever Lola Wants,” 143. 34. Sprague. 35. Duncan with Esmiol. Chapter 14, 144. 36. Sprague. 37. Duncan with Esmiol. Chapter 14, 145. 38. Ibid., 146. 39. Diane Dorrough. “Cotton Club revisited at museum reception.” Gazette Telegraph (Colorado Springs), n.d. Article from Fannie Mae Duncan’s personal scrapbook.

334 • CHASING THE AMERICAN DREAM 40. Sprague. 41. Duncan with Esmiol. Chapter 14, 147. 42. “Mrs. Duncan Buys Dentan Printing Co.,” Gazette Telegraph article, a one-column excerpt from Fannie Mae Duncan’s personal scrapbook, circa 1949. 43. Duncan with Esmiol. Chapter 14, 147–148. 44. Ibid., 149–150. 45. Duncan with Esmiol. Chapter 15, “Flamingo Pink Neon,” 154. 46. Duncan with Esmiol. Chapter 14, 151. 47. Duncan with Esmiol. Chapter 15, 152–153. 48. Ibid., 153. 49. Sprague. 50. Duncan with Esmiol. Chapter 15, 155. 51. Ibid. 52. Ibid. 53. Polk’s Colorado Springs City Directory including Manitou Springs, Colorado (Omaha: R. L. Polk & Company, Publishers, 1946), 147. This same entry appears in subsequent directories. 54. Duncan with Esmiol. Chapter 15, 157–158. 55. Ibid., 161. 56. Steve Antonuccio, Videographer. Everybody Welcome: The Story of Fannie Mae Duncan and the Cotton Club, a 29-minute video interview with Fannie Mae Duncan, (Colorado Springs: Pikes Peak Library District, 1991). 57. “Entertain At Hospital,” The Free Press (Colorado Springs), Friday, August 28, 1953, 16. 58. Sprague. 59. Duncan with Esmiol. Chapter 17, “Til Death Do Us Part,” 174– 175. 60. Sprague. 61. Duncan with Esmiol. Chapter 12, “Change of Plans,” 132. 62. Duncan with Esmiol. Chapter 16, “Dirty Linens,” 166–168. 63. Yvonne Bragg Duncan. Burial date of June 11, 1946, listed in Evergreen Cemetery Records. Evergreen Cemetery, Colorado Springs, Colorado. There is a blank cement stone marking the grave. No name or birth or death date is recorded on the stone in Section 240, Plot 84C. 64. “Duncans Purchase Old Iron Springs Chateau, Manitou,” Gazette Telegraph, May 23, 1954. 65. Ibid. 66. Duncan with Esmiol. Chapter 17, 184–186. 67. “Iron Springs Chateau License Issue Up to Court,” Gazette Telegraph. Excerpt of article from Fannie Mae Duncan’s personal scrapbook. 1954.

ESMIOL • 335 68. Ibid. 69. Ibid. 70. Jerry Mosier. “Fannie Mae Duncan and the Cotton Club: The Only Game in Town.” Colorado Springs Magazine (August 1979). 71. Duncan with Esmiol. Chapter 17, 187. 72. “Gregory Bragg First Polio Patient to Die in 2 Years.” Gazette Telegraph article in Fannie Mae Duncan’s personal scrapbook. 1959. 73. Gregory C. Bragg, Evergreen Cemetery, Colorado Springs, Colorado. Tombstone dates listed as birth, October 26, 1951, and death, September 1, 1959. 74. Gazette Telegraph article, partial one-column excerpt in Fannie Mae Duncan’s personal scrapbook, 1959. 75. Duncan with Esmiol. Chapter 18, “Medgar, Mahalia, and the Reverend Graham,”191–192. 76. Ibid., 195. 77. Ibid., 188–190. 78. “March of Dimes Gift,” Gazette Telegraph, n.d. Photo with caption and commentary, in Fannie Mae Duncan’s personal scrapbook. 79. “About Fannie Mae Duncan,” tribute presented by the Negro Historical Association of Colorado Springs at a reception in the upstairs main courtroom of the Pioneers Museum honoring Fannie Mae, February 1989, Fannie Mae Duncan’s personal scrapbook. 80. Mosier. 81. Holley, 226. 82. Joe Barber. “Fannie Mae’s Not Singing Blues,” Gazette Telegraph. Reprint in New York Times Special Features, August 1981. Excerpt of the article in Fannie Mae Duncan’s personal scrapbook. 83. “Appreciation Champagne,” Gazette Telegraph, August 3, 1975. 84. Ibid. 85. Linda Smith, “Our Cotton Club,” Gazette Telegraph, January 20, 1985, Lifestyle Section F. 86. Mosier.

The Thursday night community square dance in Acacia Park entertained both Colorado Springs residents and summer visitors to the Pikes Peak region, ca. early 1950s. Deits Bros. photograph, Dean Edwards Fun Finders Collection, Special Collections, Pikes Peak Library District.

Ballroom & the Barn: Dr. Lloyd Shaw, Dean Edwards & the Western Square Dance Revival in Colorado Springs Traci West The history of square dancing in the United States is a rich, if somewhat esoteric, story, bringing together diverse influences and traditions, including the formal dances of 17th-century Europe and the informal dances held by the early pioneers as they crossed the Great Plains of the United States. For those who would not consider themselves aficionados of the art of square dancing, the term itself might conjure up visions of men and women in fancy costumes moving in step to the seemingly unintelligible instructions of the caller. For those old enough (including the author), the term may be a reminder of physical education class in grade school where students were first introduced to the very basics of square dancing. But for those few whose lives were focused on the resurrection and long-term survival of this uniquely American art form, square dancing has been a source of great joy and passion. Colorado Springs, by a combination of happenstance and geography, became the epicenter of the reemergence of square dancing into the American cultural scene. And while the history of square dancing is crowded with influential figures, two men in particular possessed both the entrepreneurial and innovative spirit to be considered the cornerstones of the art’s reemergence. Dr. Lloyd Shaw, in the first half of the 20th century, rescued the art of square dancing from obscurity by capturing its oral traditions and then standardizing its practice across the nation. Dean Edwards, in the second-half of the century, promoted square dancing among the general public and created organizations that ensured the art would continue to flourish. The roots of western-style square dancing in the United States extend across the Atlantic to the British Isles and Western Europe, where a growing popularity of country dances • 337 •

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coincided with rising migration to the Americas in the 17th and 18th centuries. Like many of the cultural institutions and traditions which made the journey from the Old World to the New, dances were maintained and passed from generation to generation through oral tradition. According to Lloyd Shaw, “The dances and the calls, except in rare cases, were never written down, but were transmitted from caller to caller by the oral route. And all the footnotes and references and authorities are lost in the process.”1 Therefore, much folk dance history has to be inferred from scant existing documentation and consists of a fair amount of speculation. During the 17th century, England was swept up in a “Country Dancing” craze. In 1651, John Playford published The English Dancing Master: or, Plaine and Easie Rules for the Dancing of Country Dances, with the Tune to Each Dance, which contained music and instruction for longwayes (line dances), round dances and square dances. These country dance styles spread to France, where they became known as Contredanse Anglais (English country, or contra, dance), also performed in lines, circles, and squares. The square formation ascended in France and became a popular style known as cotillon. Around 1800, the cotillon evolved to the quadrille, a highly formalized square which utilized grand opera music in contrast to the cotillon folk tunes, and both styles made their way from France back to England to influence popular dancing there. Early American settlers brought the basic steps of the cotillion and the quadrille, maintaining their square form. The European formality of the quadrille quickly disappeared in the more rambunctious, rural interpretations of the dance in America.2 A square dance, or barn dance, celebrated the cooperative efforts of neighbors as Americans incorporated fiddle, banjo and guitar music and instituted the role of the caller.3 As the United States expanded west across the Great Plains, this uniquely American version of square dancing was shared as the pioneers on wagon trains met up and danced for recreation. As Dean Edwards would later say, they got out on the prairies and the cowboys “really kicked it up.”4 By the early 20th century, however, many once-popular forms of dancing were being abandoned. As Dorothy Shaw

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and Kenny Reese noted, “Quadrilles died, contras died, people two-stepped their waltz and forgot their polka.”5 Since many of the dancing styles depended upon oral tradition to be passed from generation to generation, the possibility of them dying out was very real. Fortunately, one man, with both the interest and, more importantly, wealth and influence, was able to reinvigorate the fading pastime of American traditional dance. While Shaw and Edwards are the main subjects of this paper, Henry Ford, the great American industrialist, is considered largely to be responsible for the rebirth of traditional dancing in the United States. While vacationing at the Wayside Inn in Sudbury, Massachusetts, Ford encountered Benjamin Lovett, a skilled dancing master, who directed the inn’s dancing program.6 With expertise in a wide range of dances, like the gavotte, mazurkas, the Schottische, the minuet, and the Virginia Reel, Lovett possessed skills which Ford, a relative dancing neophyte, valued. After attempting to hire Lovett, who refused due to his existing contract with the inn, Ford did what many a man of vast means Henry Ford reintroduced traditional might do—he bought the American folk dance to the mainstream inn and Lovett’s contract. public during the 1920s. Ford collaborated Ford took Lovett to De- with Benjamin Lovett to publish what had formerly never been preserved in troit, Michigan, where the print. Photograph made in 1934. Library auto magnate instituted a of Congress Prints and Photographs Division, wide range of programs Washington, D.C., (LC-USZ62-78374). for dance instruction. In Dearborn, Michigan, Ford


and his wife Clara built a dance hall, complete with teakwood floor and crystal chandeliers, and christened it Lovett Hall.7 Ford’s contributions to the resurgence of American-style dancing were numerous, but there is one in particular that stands out. In 1926, the Fords and Benjamin Lovett published Good Morning: After a Sleep of Twenty-Five Years, Old Fashioned Dancing is Being Revived, a book that became a critical reference for all those with similar interests and inspirations. This small volume clearly and concisely described the multitude of dancing styles and techniques that the Fords and Lovett had saved and rebuilt. For those who desperately wanted to reconnect with these styles of American dancing, the book was a godsend. One of those people was Lloyd Shaw.8 Lloyd Shaw The survival and resilience of a particularly western style of square dancing in the early 20th century can be attributed primarily to the efforts of Colorado Springs educator Dr. Lloyd “Pappy” Shaw. Were it not for Shaw’s effort and the passion with which he approached the task of reviving this cultural artifact, western-style square dancing might have died out. From what began as a search for “wholesome” activities for his students, Shaw ensured the restoration and continued practice of a uniquely American style of dance. Born in Colorado in 1890, to William and Julia Shaw, Shaw was the youngest of three sons along with older brothers, Ray and Glenn. When he was 2 years old, his family moved to Glendale, California. His father, at different times a grocer but also involved in the burgeoning Southern California real estate market, eventually moved his family back to the Rocky Mountains and to the growing city of Denver. By the time Shaw was 11, his family relocated to Colorado Springs, where William Shaw was employed as a travel agent and later as a solicitor.9 In 1909, Shaw enrolled at The Colorado College, in Colorado Springs. There, he met the love of his life, Dorothy Stott, who eventually became his wife and his partner in the rejuvenation and spread of western-style square dancing. They would become a formidable team in this effort.

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Shaw graduated college in 1913 with a major in biology. Forecasting his future popularity and eclectic approach to education, Shaw graduated as president of his class, belonged to a range of literary, musical, dramatic and athletic clubs and societies, played football and served as editor-in-chief of the yearbook.10 Following graduation, he embarked on a career in education Lloyd Shaw was a beloved educator that spanned 4 decades. at Cheyenne Mountain School, as well After teaching at varias scholar of American folk dance, ca. ous local schools, in 1916, 1930s. Special Collections, Pikes Peak Library Shaw became principal District, (001-10529). and superintendent at the Cheyenne Mountain School, in the Broadmoor area of Colorado Springs, a position he held until 1951. There, his desire to create a positive influence in the lives of school children brought Shaw into contact with the art of western-style square dancing. During the early years of his tenure, especially following World War I, Shaw sought to engage his students in wholesome, physical activity. He believed that if children were not actively occupied in some sort of physical activity or team sport, mischief would surely follow. In a 1974 interview, conducted many years after her husband’s death, Dorothy Shaw was asked how and why Dr. Shaw made the Cheyenne Mountain School famous. She replied, They [high school children] were drifting along, and when children drift along they get into trouble of various kinds which he began to discover [and] which he would not tolerate. He was very good at exploring the boys’ rooms and coming back and picking out the one that


had written his name and something else on the wall and taking him down there and standing by while he scrubbed it off and then he would give a sermon in the assembly to all the kids. It had the reputation of being morally a very, very clean school.11 During this period, many soldiers who had left home to fight in the war returned to high school to complete their secondary education. It is not surprising that Shaw looked for an outlet to channel some of the energy of those returning soldiers, quite a bit older and more worldly than most of their classmates. In fact, Shaw coached a very successful football program that defeated the reigning state champions, Colorado Springs High School, in 1920. However, Shaw came to believe that football specifically, and competitive sports in general, could only reach a portion of the school body and that contact sports glorified the “punishment of a physically weaker foe.” Such values, to Shaw’s thinking, “have no place . . . in a civilized social order.” Shaw searched for alternative activities for his students to pursue. What he sought was an activity “that was intramural, viable in all seasons, suited to both boys and girls, and which promoted the perfection of self rather than the humiliation of an opponent.” That search ultimately led him to investigate and integrate folkways and dance into his school’s curriculum.12 The history of Cheyenne Mountain School under Shaw’s leadership is remarkable. Film footage from that period depicts a vibrant school body engaged in physical activities ranging from the fairly typical to the seemingly fool-hardy. For example, students would hike a portion of Pikes Peak and then ski down with techniques that bordered on out of control. Tennis, archery, golf, and track and field sports typically involved a wide crosssection of the student body. Additionally, the school established the “Five Dollar Ford Club,” so named because students were to spend only $5.00 repairing and preparing their cars, which they then drove with reckless abandon. In 1931, the school had a glider club, though it only lasted one year. Whether from a sense of self-preservation on the part of the students, or a realization on the part of the school administration of the risks involved, the glider was sold to a local buyer. The new

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owner was killed while using it the following year. Under the tutelage of Shaw, students at the Cheyenne Mountain School were exposed to a far more exciting curriculum than students at most other schools.13 Although the school embraced an array of usual and unusual activities for its students, it was square dancing that brought the school and Shaw to national attention, and left an imprint on American culture that remains today. Dorothy Shaw described the state of square dancing during that early period of the 20th century and Lloyd’s critical participation in its further development, Well it was along in the early ‘30s that he really began to tie into dance seriously. He knew that people have to dance. He’d had no dancing experience of his own . . . . oh, we used to waltz. We used to two-step our waltzes beautifully. It felt very good, but it wasn’t right, we knew that something wasn’t right but he knew that there was right here where we are [Colorado Springs] that there was a core of American tradition. You know the settling of America went very fast, relatively, much faster than most countries, and it only took . . . about 150 years for it to move across the country and bring with it its traditions, but when it hit the Rocky Mountains it kind of washed up and stopped at that barrier for a while so that things sort of settled in here. . . . American folk dance which has many variations . . . all flopped here and kind of formed a medley and he knew there was this thing and he started to hunt for it.14 That “hunt,” as Dorothy Shaw accurately termed it, took Lloyd Shaw on a historical fact finding mission to capture and recreate the style of dance that developed in the Western United States. Through persistent effort, Shaw was able to tap the memories of many regional practitioners of the art and he was the first to capture the ideas and techniques in written form. Dorothy Shaw stated,


We had so great a treasure because so many different people came in from every direction from the Kentucky mountains and from New England and from Ohio and all sorts of places. It was a very hard thing to dig this up because it had become decadent. There were some men who called themselves callers and they were unable to help when it came to putting anything down on paper because they themselves could not put it down on paper—they couldn’t remember. They had kinetic memories and the minute they stood up and the music began to play then they knew what we [were] going to do, but they couldn’t tell you. They couldn’t describe a dance pattern to you, or they couldn’t tell you what they said when they were calling it. So this took a tremendous amount of research and it took a young man who always had a notebook in his pocket wherever he went.15 Explaining his dedication to the study of dance, Shaw wrote of himself, “Whenever I find a new flower, or a new bird, or a new friend, I immediately want to know all I can about it, its history, its background and the little intimate things about it. It’s the same with a dance. It is more fun if you know something about it.”16 Consequently, Shaw not only learned about the old folk dances and how to do them, but he published books that included bits of history, gossip and folklore about each dance followed by chapters that offered a general description and some historical notes. In 1939, Shaw produced what is considered by many to be the seminal work on the art of square dancing, Cowboy Dances: A Collection of Western Square Dances followed in 1948 by The Round Dance Book: A Century of Waltzing.17 Searching for an innovative way to preserve and teach the dances, Shaw described in his books the standard steps of each dance, along with its variation, then the derived and related dances. But Shaw’s intention in preparing his books was twofold. First, he wished to give “all the detailed help you need in order to dance these old dances. But more than that I want it somehow to carry the hilarious joy, the laughing abandonment, the rhythmic ecstasy, the contagious good fellowship, without which the dances are nothing at all.”18

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But Shaw, the scholar and student of nature and of humans, and who early in his career wrote books about the beauty and characteristic of the natural world in the Pikes Peak region, also recognized that the antique dances of America were anthropological treasures that illustrated in their calls, rhythms, forms and steps the historical memory of the folk traditions that once lost, can never be restored. For Shaw, it was an imperative to put pen to paper to preserve that unique language of dance through publishing reference books of calls, definitions of terms used, and instructions for the moves and forms along with illustrations, both diagrams and photographs of the actual postures and costumes.19 Along with the square dancing program he instituted at Cheyenne Mountain School, Shaw’s books would win him nation-wide recognition. Articles by and about Shaw appeared in major periodicals, including Journal of Health, Physical Education, and Recreation; Women’s Home Companion; Time; and the Christian Science Monitor Magazine from the mid1930s through the early 1940s.20 Along with those publications, the enterprising Shaw gained notoriety for his troop, for his hometown, and for his school by touring across the country with his Cheyenne Mountain Dancers, demonstrating to an increasingly interested public the skills and techniques of square dancing. Soon, Shaw was inundated with requests for further instruction in both dancing and calling. Additionally, Shaw, who received honorary degrees from the Colorado College (LL.D., 1928) and from the University of Colorado (Ed.D., 1937), produced commercial recordings of cowboy and dance music with calls. He also organized summer classes for teachers and callers. Though temporarily suspended because of World War II, Shaw’s classes and his continued touring would ignite a boom in the square dance revival.21 Shaw’s efforts to revive western-style square dancing ultimately led him to the Silver Screen. For the 1946 film Duel in the Sun, Shaw was credited as advisor for the large square dancing scene in the movie.22 Additionally, he worked personally with the stars of the film, Gregory Peck and Jennifer Jones, to develop their dancing skills as required by the script.


Shaw also performed as the caller during the dance scenes. While he had a limited amount of on-screen time, Shaw’s strong, confident calls can be heard throughout the scene. Given his passion for this type of dancing, it was perhaps a trade-off that Shaw preferred. Shaw’s passion for square dancing extended beyond his retirement from the Cheyenne Mountain School in 1951. He continued as the face of square dancing even as others began to take on the responsibility for carrying square dancing into the second half of the 20th century. In poor health through most of the final years of his life, Shaw passed away in 1958. With Shaw’s death the impact of square dancing on American culture could have declined, though Dorothy Shaw did continue many of her husband’s efforts in the following decades. Fortunately though, Colorado Springs once again produced another enterprising man with a passion for this uniquely American tradition—one who would ensure its practice into the latter part of the 20th century. Dean Edwards William Dean Edwards lived most of his 77 years in Colorado Springs. The youngest child of Maude McFee and William Sanders Edwards, Dean was born in La Junta, Colorado, September 26, 1927. He moved to Colorado Springs in 1928 with his mother, his sister Rosamond, and two of his brothers, Verlin and Roy, after their father had died tragically.23 Edwards grew up on West Bijou, Willow and Cache la Poudre streets, listening to traditional music in his home and learning to square dance in school, at 4-H club and at public programs in Acacia Park. In 1939, the city of Colorado Springs invested in public projects that specifically supported the growing interest in square dancing, building a concrete slab in Acacia Park for the purpose.24 Although he retired as a civilian worker for the Colorado Springs Police Department, Dean Edwards enjoyed a long and varied involvement in the world of dance. His interest in traditional American folk dancing benefited from having a local population with a strong passion for the art. He started teach-

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ing professionally at the YMCA in Colorado Springs in 1948. He founded the Fun Finders, an exhibition group of recreational round and square dancers in the late 1940s, that was based on the practice and social benefits of western-style square dancing. Edwards learned earlyon from older square dance callers that inclusiveness was critical. Bill Wright, one of those callers, taught him that you have to be able to teach others to blend in. For example, a successful caller needed to be able to effectively mix dancers of various skill levels on the dance floor. As Edwards put it, “If you Dean Edwards, caller, instructor and don’t get your group moving emcee, during the live Fun Finders in 5 minutes . . . you lost it.” Square Dance television show on Wright similarly said a caller KRDO channel 13, Colorado Springs, must have the ability to “get 1955. Dean Edwards Fun Finders the melting pot going.” Ed- Collection, Special Collections, Pikes Peak Library District. wards surely had that ability. He was the Colorado state champion caller from 1951 through 1955. His calling, accompanied by his orchestra, the Hoedown Aires, attracted hundreds of dancers to Acacia Park through the 1950s.25 Unlike Shaw, who Edwards described as having perceived western-style square dancing as an art to be constantly improved upon and with increasing levels of difficulty, Dean believed that the choreographic level must remain relatively simple so that anyone could participate, especially the uninitiated public. The goal of many later square dancing pioneers like Edwards was to provide an environment where people could share, unite, and have fun without competing with each other.


While Edwards’ programs focused on inclusiveness to the general public, that did not prevent him from getting into the more detailed aspects of the dancing. His mantra, however, would always be that dance must be kept non-competitive and accepting of every participant’s varying skill level. As a caller, he would not criticize dancers on the floor. For those who remember dancing under Dean Edwards, the focus was never purely on the technical aspects of square dancing. Author, Leland Feitz, of Colorado Springs, recalled the pure pleasure he experienced for “15 or 20 years” as a square-dancer under Edwards’ tutelage, of the friends he made, and of the wonderful lasting memories of good, clean fun. Feitz remarked also on the civility of Edwards’ square dances; there were never angry outbursts among the crowd, not a hint of “liquor on a dancer’s breath.” Edwards remained calm when “his dancers missed a beat and the squares fell apart.” The dancers simply “laughed and started over.” And the dances always ended with “the proper bows and thank you’s.”26 Like Shaw before him, Edwards was an entrepreneur. He also was involved in the production of a major motion picture, the 1978 film, Comes a Horseman. Edwards coached actors James Caan and Jane Fonda for a significant square dancing scene. And, like Shaw, Edwards’ talents were utilized both behind the scenes, in his coaching of the actors, and on the Silver Screen itself, playing, as would be expected, the square dance caller.27 Edwards also helped popularize American folk dance in radio and movie commercials filmed at the local Alexander Film Studio for Seven-Up and The Union Pacific Railroad. Likewise, Edwards made commercial recordings of dance music in the early 1950s.28 Additionally, over 25 years he periodically spent time video-taping instructions accompanied by dancers who demonstrated the “wonderful dances from another time.”29 After devoting his life to preserving and promoting squaredancing, Dean Edwards died in February 2005. While Shaw has been recognized as the father of modern western-style square dancing, Edwards’ contributions are equally significant. His organization of the Fun Finders group was based on “joy and fun for all” with “fellowship and exercise.”

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Edwards “was given the talent to be able to communicate to thousands and thousands of people through the different mediums and different programs.” By his count, Edwards taught over two million people how to square dance. There was even a Fun Finders TV show in 1950s (on Colorado Springs station KRDO), which rotated dancers onto the program and lasted a remarkable 3 years in a completely unscripted manner. Fully embracing the theory that mistakes were part of the fun, Edwards refused to adhere to what he called pre-scripted “idiot sheets.”30 Edwards touched unique areas of the Colorado Springs community in innovative ways. In the 1940s, Dr. Alfred Brown, of the Colorado School for the Deaf and Blind, taught deaf students how to square dance by standing on a chair and signing the calls to them. The dancers could feel the rhythm of the small orchestra through the floor. Dean Edwards later taught blind students how to square dance as well. With significant modification, Edwards was able to teach these students with a combination of touch and space. He described these efforts as the most rewarding times of his career. He also was involved in a special program for people with head injuries in Beaver Creek, Colorado. As described in a 1989 news article, 50 years after he first learned the art of square dancing at Acacia Park, Edwards was holding dances in local parks that attracted three to four hundred people. He was also hosting seminars for the elderly and teaching at Elderhostel events.31 To Edwards, music was the greatest healer, and he was a strong advocate of its therapeutic use. Edwards believed that square dancing was more than a hobby, and his place in its development provided more than just personal satisfaction. As he put it, “It’s not doing what you like to do but doing what you have to do that makes life blessed.” In a published interview, following a dance exhibition, Edwards further elaborated on his “desire to awaken the spiritual urge to dance,” claiming, “there’s a silent seeking; that’s what keeps you dancing all your life and seeking truth beyond (dancing) to satisfy your soul.”32


Collision on the Dance Floor While both Lloyd Shaw and Dean Edwards were vital to the continued survival of square dancing as an art and symbol of American culture, each had a distinctly different perspective on its practice. According to Edwards, Shaw, the father of westernstyle square dancing, was interested in the scholarly pursuit of the traditional and formal aspects of folk dance, while Edwards saw himself as focusing more on its fun, recreational, and allinclusive traits. Edwards described the Shaw school of thought as being laid upon the foundation of adherence to the rules and strictures of the early 20th century forms of square dancing. Participants in this structured form of dance generally pursued higher and higher levels of qualification and achievements in the dancing community. Much like a student of martial arts, this process required that more difficult and complicated types of dance maneuvers had to be mastered in order to move up to the next level. Constant improvement was necessary in order to actively participate in dances. Therefore, under the Shaw theory of square dancing, the dancing itself became less of a casual hobby and more of a practice involving increasingly difficult levels of mastery.

Dean Edwards, far left, and the “Fun Finders” dancers performing for the live KRDO television show on March 4, 1955. Dean Edwards Fun Finders Collection, Special Collections, Pikes Peak Library District.

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Edwards, on the other hand, concluded that the only way western-style square dancing would continue as a vibrant and active expression of American culture would be for it to be as inclusive as possible. In order to do so, the strict adherence to square dancing’s forms and rules would have to be loosened. Essentially, the formal aspect of square dancing, which had proliferated under the guidance of Shaw and his adherents, would have to be sacrificed in order to ensure its continued survival. By 1950, Edwards believed that dances were becoming overly complicated and that “special interest groups are tearing the world apart and do not allow for unification.” From his point of view, after World War II there was a need for camaraderie and “the warm clasping of a hand.” Even late in life, Edwards perceived square dancing as much more than just a style of dancing. Rather, dance could bring people together and act as an equalizer. To Edwards, square dancing helped teach the great life lesson that humans should all get along with and accept one another.33 While both men had their share of support among westernstyle square dancing practitioners, according to Edwards, the debate between the men’s differing theories caused a schism across the square dancing community in 1959.34 A segment of the dance community associated with the Shaw camp preferred to present intricate and complicated square dance routines. In order to do so, the relatively simple dance moves and free-form nature of the calls, which had allowed a greater portion of the community to take part in square dancing, were sacrificed. The slogan for proponents of the intricate style was, “We must take the dance out of the barn and put it into the ballroom.” This required that the formal choreographic elements be raised to the point that the intricate dances surpassed the skill level of the recreational dancer. Along with the increased complexity of the dance, elaborate costumes became the norm. As the vocal opponent of these developments, Edwards put a humorous twist on the “barn to the ballroom” slogan by saying these changes were “taking the folk dance from the masses and giving it to the asses.”35


Edwards referred to the 1959 split as the “Ballroom versus the Barn” controversy. He felt that the trend toward more standardization and complication would take the intrinsic aesthetic value out of the dances. From Edwards’ perspective, standardization made the dances bland. The unique character and rhythms of the dancing were being removed with the dancers becoming more robotic in their movements. Speaking in a philosophical tone, Edwards said this suppression of freedom and individuality in the practice of square dance resulted in a “lost communication to [the] silent seeking of rhythm in your own life in your own way and without criticism and without challenge.”36 The Music: Live versus “Canned” During the period of 1939 to 1959, western-style square dancing depended upon the availability of a live band to provide the music. In 1954, pre-recorded music, also referred to as “canned” music, started to become available to the square dancing community. Edwards, like many other purists, was hesitant to utilize this new technology. He recognized, however, the benefits arising from the introduction of recorded music. No longer would musicians have to wait during long periods of instruction to the dancers. So, to some extent, canned music opened up opportunities for people to learn the art of square dancing without requiring the time commitment of a group of musicians. As the availability of recorded music become more prevalent, its use also proliferated. For square dancing instructors who were focused on organizing, governing and standardizing all aspects of the dances, recorded music allowed leaders and callers to simplify an already complicated course of instruction. Edwards, however, feared that the reliance on canned music created “a canned situation. You could control the speed and tempo” that would inevitably take away from the spirit of the dance. Edwards conceded that recorded music had its place when teaching, but during performance and social dancing the authenticity and the camaraderie engendered by live music

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were lost. It was more convenient to change the music to fit the choreography than to change the choreography to fit the music. Ultimately, live music could not keep up when compared to the ease of use of recorded music.

Dean Edwards calling a dance with the Harry Williams Orchestra in Pueblo, Colorado, ca. 1950s. Harry Williams is playing the fiddle. Live music eventually gave-way to recorded phonograph albums. Dean Edwards Fun Finders Collection, Special Collections, Pikes Peak Library District.

Recording of canned square dance music exploded and Edwards’ fear that canned music destroyed the aesthetic value and original purpose of the tune was realized. While people still loved the live music, its existence was threatened by the new technology. Many of Edwards’ favorite square dance orchestras eventually fell by the wayside, neglected and obsolete. When Edwards spoke about American square dancing, his passion for this unique tradition was evident. Much of his description evoked a near spiritual experience or awakening. For Edwards, square dancing was never just about the figures and the music. It was about getting people together to release their communal energy. Being able to unify people through


dance—for caller, dancers and musicians to form a single, throbbing entity, buoyed on the crest of rhythm, the many becoming one—had the effect of dissipating the community’s bad energy. Survival on the Dance Floor The history of western-style square dancing is an important, if somewhat obscure, chapter of the American story, and the story of Colorado Springs in particular. The passion and enthusiasm, as well as the innovative spirit, of Dr. Lloyd Shaw and Dean Edwards ensured the continued survival of this unique artifact of American culture. Without their efforts, and of others who were similarly motivated, the practice of western-style square dancing might not have achieved the level of popularity as it did during the 20th century. While the dawn of the 21st century might not be considered the hey-day of square dancing in the United States, traditional community dancing, along with traditional musical performance styles, are thriving across the country—carried on by dedicated enthusiasts who share the same passions as Shaw and Edwards. The latter part of the 20th century witnessed the resurgence of the practice of square dance through elementary school physical education programs as well as in Colorado Springs’ public parks. A similar revival in the 21st century is uncertain. The city’s parks no longer host weekly dances, drawing hundreds of participants and spectators as in past years. Still, square dancing remains a vibrant and lucrative part of the Colorado Springs region’s culture and economy. Lloyd Shaw and Dean Edwards, enterprising men whose passion for American folk dance ensured its survival, might be pleased to know that dance clubs with catchy names such as the Swing “A” Ways, the Waggin’ Wheelers, the Rollin Squares and the Mountain Swingers, among others, meet regularly for fun, recreation and competition.37 Even more surprising to the men might be that the role of caller has become more inclusive, welcoming females into its ranks, including Debbie Steinkirchner, a local nominee for three 2011 calling awards from the International Square Dance Music Awards.38 Square

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dance and its related events continue to be popular and to contribute to the region’s economy. In June 2011, Colorado Springs will host the 56th Colorado State Square Dance Festival. The festival is a weekend dance extravaganza that draws dancers, callers, and vendors to the city for fun, workshops, and competitions. Local hotels, camp grounds, restaurants and popular tourist venues will reap the economic benefits, while the dance descendants of Lloyd Shaw and Dean Edwards will enjoy the pleasure, fun, and camaraderie that the two men understood to be the foundations of western-style square dance. Such festivals carry on the folk dance tradition and, if judged by the registration form, they bridge any rift between Shaw’s more intricate and technical style and Edwards’ more casual style. Registrants are asked to indicate which of four levels they enjoy dancing, ranging from basic, or “mainstream” level, to the “challenge” level. According to Colorado Springs caller, Jeff Palmer, as its base, square dance is for fun. It is non-competitive and “no matter what your occupation is, on the dance floor, everyone is equal.” Those words would no doubt please both Lloyd Shaw and Dean Edwards, for each of the two men shared a passion for preserving both the art of square dance and the pure pleasure of its experience.39 Traci West is an archivist at the Oklahoma Historical Society in Oklahoma City. She was also a volunteer archivist in Special Collections at the Pikes Peak Library District and is currently a graduate student in the Master of Library Science Program at the University of Pittsburgh with a focus on archival studies. She holds a B.A. in History with a focus in Museum Studies from the University of Central Oklahoma in Edmond, Oklahoma. NOTES

1. Lloyd Shaw, Cowboy Dances: A Collection of Western Square Dances (Caldwell, Idaho: Caxton Printers, Ltd., 1949), 25. 2. The Standing Stones, “Quadrilles and Cotillions,” http://www. standingstones.com/cotill.html (accessed February 24, 2011).

356 • BALLROOM & THE BARN 3. Fun Finders brochure, undated. Dean Edwards Fun Finders Collection, MSS 0341, box 1, item number TAFD FF #0, Special Collections, Pikes Peak Library District. 4. Dean Edwards, interview by Nancy Thaler, VHS video recording, December 5, 2003. Colorado Springs Oral History Project, CSHP 0036, Special Collections, Pikes Peak Library District. 5. Dansen in Zeeland—Dansclub North Sea Dancers, “The Henry Ford Era, by Dorothy Shaw and Kenny Reese,” http://www. northseadancers.nl/engels/geschiedenis.htm (accessed February 24, 2011). 6. Ibid. 7. Ibid. 8. Henry Ford and Lovett, Benjamin B., “Good Morning” : After a Sleep of Twenty-five Years, Old-fashioned Dancing is Being Revived by Mr. and Mrs. Henry Ford (Dearborn, Mich.: Dearborn Pub. Co., 1925). 9. Dorothy Shaw, interview by Lottie Mogilner and Mrs. James Hamilton, ¼-inch reel-to-reel audio recording, March 11, 1974, Friends of the Library Oral History Project, OH II-18, transcript page 1, Special Collections, Pikes Peak Library District; R. L. Polk Directory Co., Colorado Springs, Colorado City and Manitou City Directory (Colorado Springs: R. L. Polk Direcotry Co., 1911, 1918); U.S. Census 1910, Colorado El Paso, Colorado Springs Enumeration District: 0033; Page 3A. 10. The Pike’s Peak Nugget (Colorado Springs.: Colorado College, 1914), 43. 11. Dorothy Shaw interview transcript, 5. 12. Marion Ritchey Vance, “This Remarkable Experiment: Dr. Lloyd “Pappy” Shaw and Cheyenne School,” Cheyenne Mountain KIVA Vol. 2, No. 2 (Spring 1998): 6. 13. Cheyenne Mountain School, video footage taken by Dr. Lloyd Shaw from 1916 to 1951, occasionally assisted by Bob Udick, student. Film primarily shot in the 1920s and 1930s. Pikes Peak Library District Archives, MSS 0200, Pikes Peak Library District Video Center VHS tapes subseries, box 4, Special Collections, Pikes Peak Library District. 14. Dorothy Shaw interview transcript, 7–8. 15. Ibid., 8. 16. Shaw, The Round Dance Book (Caldwell, Idaho: The Caxton Printers, Ltd., 1948), xiv. 17. Lloyd Shaw, Cowboy Dances; Shaw, The Round Dance Book. 18. Shaw, The Round Dance Book, xii. 19. Shaw, Cowboy Dances, 11, 12; for nature books, see, Lloyd Shaw, Nature Notes of the Pikes Peak Region (Colorado Springs: Apex Book Co., 1916); Lloyd Shaw, Pictorial Guide of Colorado Springs and the Rocky Mountains (Colorado Springs: L. Mohl, The Bookhome, 1945).

WEST • 357 20. Lloyd Shaw Foundation, “Lloyd Shaw: A Bibliography,” http://www.lloydshaw.org/Resources/lsbib.htm (accessed February 22, 2011); CALLERLAB International Association of Square Dance Callers, http://www.callerlab.org/AboutCALLERLAB/ CALLERLABsHistory/tabid/75/Default.aspx (accessed February 24, 2011). 21. Ibid. 22. Duel in the Sun. 16 mm, 138 min. Macmillan Films, American Broadcasting Company, 1946. 23. Colorado Springs Gazette, February 1, 2006. U.S. Census 1930, Colorado, El Paso, Colorado Springs, 4B. Circumstance of William S. Edwards’ death is not documented, but is recalled as the result of a train accident in an undated conversation between Dean Edwards and Tim Blevins between the years 2002 and 2003. 24. Addresses identified in the Colorado Springs city directories from 1930, 1940, and 1948. “Biographical Info” Dean Edwards Fun Finders Collection. 25. Edwards interview, December 5, 2003. Colorado Springs Gazette, July 24, 1989. 26. Leland Feitz, From 7 to 77 . . . a memoir of sorts (Colorado Springs: Little London Press, 2001), 81. 27. Comes a Horseman. 35 mm, 118 min. United Artists, 1978. 28. Colorado Springs Gazette, July 24, 1989. 29. Feitz, 82. 30. Edwards interview, December 5, 2003. 31. Colorado Springs Gazette, July 24, 1989. 32. Ibid., July 24, 1989. 33. Edwards interview, December 5, 2003. 34. Ibid. 35. Ibid. 36. Ibid. 37. Southeast Colorado Square, Folk & Round Dancing Fun, “Southeast Colorado Area Clubs,” http://www.squaredancing.com/ seasdc/data/areaClubs.html (accessed February 24, 2011). 38. MusicForCallers.com, http://www.musicforcallers.com (accessed February 22, 2011). 39. Southeast Colorado Square, Folk & Round Dancing Fun, “Southeast Colorado Area Clubs,” http://www.squaredancing.com/ seasdc/data/areaClubs.html (accessed February 24, 2011); Jeff Palmer telephone interview by Chris Nicholl, February 5, 2011.

Francis Schlatter “Healing the Sick” in front of the Edward L. Fox home in northwest Denver, October 25, 1895. Thousands lined up to be healed by Schlatter’s divine touch before he seemingly vanished on November 13, 1895. William A. White photograph, Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division, Washington, D.C., (LC-USZ62-105413).

Marketing a Messiah: Denver’s Divine Healer & His Inspiration of Entrepreneurs Tim Blevins During 1895, a humble divine healer drew enormous crowds to a small home in north Denver, Colorado, arousing immense religious, as well as entrepreneurial, spirit. A combination of perfectly created factors united to inspire health seekers, and wealth seekers, to rejoice in what became a supernatural circus. Opportunity undoubtedly knocked on Denver’s door when the “Christ Man” came to town. On July 22, 1893, the Rocky Mountain News reported that a Denver shoemaker mysteriously disappeared from his home at 1848 Downing Avenue. A note was found in his shop which read: “To the world: Meet me in the backyard.”1 The missing shoemaker, Francis Schlatter, was born in Alsace-Lorraine in 1856. Following the Franco-Prussian War, he left his home, spent time in England, and migrated to New York City in 1884, becoming a naturalized U.S. citizen in 1891.2 He moved to Denver in September 1892 and eventually set up his shoe repair business in a tiny storefront on Downing Avenue until the voice of God told him to leave Denver. For “730 awful days of superhuman endurance,” he listened to the voice and followed every command, leading him mostly on foot as far east as Hot Springs, Arkansas, west to California, and finally to Albuquerque, New Mexico.3 During his travels the voice told Schlatter that he could heal the sick, and in Albuquerque he attracted large crowds. Schlatter accepted no money for his healing, insisting that the results were not from his own powers, but the work of God. Edward L. Fox, a former Denver alderman and owner of a coal and grain supply, persuaded Schlatter to return to Denver.4 Leaving Albuquerque by Atchison Topeka & Santa Fe train on August 21, 1895, Schlatter was met by crowds along the Santa Fe Route in Cerrillos and Lamy, New Mexico, and Trinidad and • 359 •

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La Junta, Colorado. The Santa Fe Route proudly published that it was the only railroad that Schlatter traveled.5 He arrived in Denver on August 22, “weak, weary and sick.”6 Despite the persistent crowds gathering to receive Schlatter’s powers, word came that he would not perform any healing for the people of Denver for at least 3 weeks.7 He resumed healing on September 16 from the yard of the Fox residence at 625 Witter Street. “Since his advent in Denver,” the newspaper reported, “Mr. Schlatter has done nothing to greatly distinguish him, and has only attracted crowds through his reputation which came before him.”8 Schlatter made it clear that he would remain in Denver for only 60 days.9 After Schlatter began healing in Denver, news of his God-given abilities spread quickly. Thousands traveled to the Fox residence to receive his healing blessings. Several prophets, visionaries, messiahs and “tramp healers” had made international news during the mid-1890s, but 39-yearold Francis was different.10 Unlike most other divine healers, Schlatter remained in this one Denver location for many weeks, attracting enormous crowds, as he spurned offers of money. His visible unselfishness secured his credibility in the minds of believers. “I have no use for money,” Schlatter said, “The father will take care of me.”11 Those who desired Schlatter’s blessings, but could not travel to Denver, appealed for healing by mail. It was estimated that he had received forty-nine thousand pieces of mail by the end of the first week of November, with fifteen hundred letters still arriving daily.12 Many factors may have contributed to this divine healer’s success—the new century was approaching and prophecies foretold of Christ’s second coming. When asked by a reporter, Schlatter confirmed that he was Christ.13 He resembled Christ as represented in centuries of religious iconography—with long, dark brown hair and steel-grey eyes raised to heaven. The Rocky Mountain News reported, “Excepting his emaciated appearance he bears some resemblance to the pictures of the Savior, whom [Schlatter] claims to be.”14 In almost all photographs of Schlatter his “eyes [are] turned upward in an attitude of humble supplication.”15 Some were convinced that Schlatter believed

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that he was Christ—”He has unhealthy, irrational views, verging to insanity, but there is a kindly method in his madness and his failings lean to virtue’s side.”16 After opinions were published in the Denver papers claiming that Schlatter was actually the Antichrist, Edward Fox stated that “Schlatter does not claim to be Christ. To me he avers that he is nothing but a poor, ignorant man.”17 Schlatter did not preach and he did not speak volumes. The few sentences he uttered were heavily seasoned with Francis Schlatter photographed, with a German accent, said to be his eyes gazing upwards, by Raton, New Mexico, photographer William “with a pronunciation that 18 A. White. This cabinet card was baffles imagination.” th “Copyrighted. Oct. 30 [18]95.” William Nationally, the newsA. White photograph, courtesy Edwin and papers reported on the Nancy Bathke. testimonies of successful cures received by those who were touched by Schlatter—the blind man who could now see, the deaf woman who could now hear, and the crippled girl who could now walk, were common confirmations of Schlatter’s effectiveness. There were also claims that Schlatter cured liver abscesses, relieved the effects of tuberculosis and diminished other serious diseases. These affirmations boosted the daily numbers of those seeking his help from hundreds to thousands. “It is well worth the time of any thinking person to take a trip to North Denver in order to look upon the miscellaneous gathering there assembled,” reported the Rocky Mountain News.19 Not all of the reported news was favorable—The Institute for the Deaf and Blind in Colorado Springs, having been refused a healing visit from Schlatter, reported that not a single


treatment was beneficial to those from the school who visited him in Denver.20 A crowd of three thousand gathered for Schlatter’s divine treatment on October 19, 1895.21 Where there is a crowd there is money to be made. Some of Schlatter’s more fortunate patrons found rooms for rent in nearby residences, enabling them to rise “at the first break of dawn to secure [the] first places” in line.22 A large tent was erected in a lot near the Fox home. One could rent a bed, outside of the tent, for $2.00.23 A “thriving little town,” including restaurants, sprang up forming a “White City” of sailcloth tents. The fire department ordered the tents out as they violated a city ordinance.24 Schlatter himself insisted that the owner remove the tent with the rented beds, for “he would not allow any person to rob the unfortunate.” When the crowd learned of Schlatter’s contempt for the recalcitrant owner, fifty men “leveled [the tent] to the ground.”25

“Crowd at 9 A.M. at Fox’s residence as the ‘Healer’ commences treating for the day,” October or November, 1895. William A. White photograph, Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division, Washington, D.C., (LC-USZ62-105412).

Handkerchiefs blessed by Schlatter were thought to possess sufficient curative power that they would provide results for those who were distant from Denver, or who could not travel. A man who chose to remain anonymous stood in line with a bed sheet that he wished to have blessed. “I am much interested in the powers of Francis Schlatter,” he said. “A neighbor’s wife had her handkerchief blessed a week ago with the hope that

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it would moderate her ungovernable temper. Her husband reports to me a remarkable [c]ure. I am after the same cure for my wife and have brought a sheet instead of a handkerchief.”26 Reportedly at Schlatter’s request, Edward Fox swore out an arrest warrant for a John Doe, who, for $1.00, “was selling handkerchiefs printed with a likeness of the ‘healer’ and which [the seller] declared had been blessed [by Schlatter]. The man reaped a big harvest among the crowd before [he was] taken into custody.”27 Three men, charged with “selling fraudulent ‘blessed’ handkerchiefs purporting to cure any disease. . . . [conducted] a thriving business at their shop on Fifteenth street.” Their case was dismissed after Schlatter did not appear as a principal witness.28 Regarding those who purchased the fraudulent handkerchiefs, Schlatter reportedly said (in literal vernacular), “Dose people vas fools. Fen dey pay for a handkerchife dot make it no good. Father will not bless such tings. They should think for themselfs. Efen if I did have ‘em in my hands, fen dey sell ‘em nobody gets vell.”29 Francis Schlatter’s name—and fame—were opportunistically used in advertising. For example, J. T. Fitch, who was in the boot and shoe business, ran an ad: “Schlatter Outdone in Aspen! You can be heeled while you wait. I will also look after the welfare of your soles.”30 Tailors at Skinner Brothers & Wright Company promised a “Souvenir Francis Schlatter Cyclus” with every $5.00 purchase.31 The Cyclus was a small booklet with a poetic story about Schlatter in Denver.32 Other books about Schlatter were sold in stores and by mail order.33 Photographs of Schlatter also could be purchased by mail order. William A. White of Raton, New Mexico, succeeded in taking Schlatter’s photograph and sold the cabinet cards for 25 cents.34 Photographing Francis Schlatter was apparently a difficult task. Schlatter told a Denver reporter, they tried to take a picture of me with the camera three times at Albuquerque. I told them to go ahead and get the picture if they could. I knew they couldn’t. The glass snapped three times. The Father did not want them to have it, and they didn’t get it.35


Schlatter at first refused to pose, but “finally the thrifty picture man gained the friendship of Schlatter,” reported the Rocky Mountain News. Schlatter consented to have White make six photographs, but “it is said upon the best authority that White took advantage of the simplicity of the healer and made twenty negatives instead of six.”36 Schlatter refused to sit for any other photographer, resulting in White’s exclusive “good thing.” White expected to be able to exploit those waiting for Schlatter to arrive in Chicago, Illinois. When asked his opinion of Schlatter, White said, “I am not saying anything, but I have told my intimate friends that I believe he is crazy.”37

“Refreshment booth near where the ‘Healer’ was treating,” October or November, 1895. William A. White photograph, Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division, Washington, D.C., (LC-USZ62-105408).

Those waiting to see Schlatter could purchase aromatic coffee, hot soup and doughnuts. There was a hot tamale man and a popcorn vendor, and a man selling souvenirs.38 “The lemonade, popcorn and watermelon merchants made the air ring with their cries, and gathered in nickels and dimes with swiftness. Nothing was lacking in refreshment,” reported The

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Evening Post.39 “A lunch counter opposite the [Fox] cottage was kept busy supplying hot coffee and sandwiches to the hungry.”40 Crowds of people who have visited Healer Schlatter from time to time have caused vendors to appear in the vicinity with curious wares. Yesterday the limit of peddler’s ingenuity was reached when an entertaining individual announced to the long line of waiting people that for a nickel apiece he would furnish them with hot bricks. As the day was cold[,] the bricks went like hot cakes.41 Also, enterprising Fox neighbors got into the game by renting chairs. They “did a good and profitable business” offering a restful place for those in line to sit. One morning, at daylight, four boys took places in line that they later sold to four men for $9.00. This scalping offended Schlatter, who insisted the men give up their purchased places in line.42

“Waiting while the ‘Healer’ is at lunch,” October or November, 1895. William A. White photograph, Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division, Washington, D.C., (LC-USZ62-105411).

There were Schlatter skeptics who did not believe—not that they did not believe in Schlatter’s healing abilities, but that he would actually provide his services for no personal benefit. Some speculated that he had to be receiving money in secret, or that those supporting Schlatter’s efforts were somehow reaping a fortune.


Edward Fox, in whose home Schlatter was living, was suspected of receiving $50 a day from the Denver City Cable Railway Company. The Rocky Mountain News quoted the company manager, Colonel George E. Randolph, who said, “We would be very glad to make a handsome present to Mr. Fox or the healer either, but I see no way to make the present. Our company has profited thousands of dollars by the presence of Schlatter in North Denver, and of course, we are thankful.”43 By example, the first Fifteenth Street cable car transported seventyfive pilgrims on the morning of October 12. “Every car up to 9 o’clock was crowded.”44 Streetcars stopped at Fairview and Goss, two blocks west of the Fox residence on Witter Street.45 A single-line note in the Denver Evening Post stated, “The Denver City Cable company will not be sold till Schlatter departs.” The company’s mortgages were in foreclosure earlier in the year.46 There is one feature of the healer’s stay in Denver that has deeply interested the railroads and that is the increase in passenger business. . . . all of the [rail]roads report a great number of passengers whose sole business is a visit to the Denver attraction. . . . It would be a good thing for our business should Schlatter remain, but the roads entering into Chicago are going to reap the big profits,” said “one prominent railroad man.47 Schlatter was visited on November 12 by a committee of businessmen from Omaha, Nebraska, who were intent on Schlatter’s healing in their city.48 Though these men may have had a noble interest in Schlatter’s apparent healing gift, it probably occurred to them that an attraction like Schlatter could have positive profitable benefits as well. Schlatter disappeared from the Fox home on November 13, 1895, reportedly leaving a simple note for Edward Fox that said, Mr. Fox My mission is finished father takes me away good bye November 13th Francis Schlatter

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A sign on the electric streetcar states “Take This Car for the Healer” to promote its route to the Denver neighborhood where Francis Schlatter drew thousands. William A. White photograph, Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division, Washington, D.C., (LC-USZ62-105405).

Although the total is uncertain, it was estimated that Schlatter treated between fifty thousand and eighty-seven thousand souls in Denver, with more than two hundred thousand gathering near the Fox home to scrutinize him during his 6 weeks there.49 The population of Denver at the time was less than 164,000.50 Charlatan Schlatters started to appear just one day after his disappearance from Denver. A “young man” claiming to be Francis Schlatter appeared in Beatrice, Nebraska, about fifty miles south of Lincoln. Perhaps the news of Omaha’s desperate bid for Schlatter to visit was adequate incentive for an equally desperate imposter. Soon other charlatans claimed to be Francis Schlatter. For weeks after his disappearance from Denver, Schlatter sightings were published in the newspapers—some reported that he was near Golden, Colorado, when at the same time others said that he was more than fifty miles from Golden, near Elizabeth, Colorado, riding a white horse.51 Some reported that


he was in New Mexico, others found him in Arizona. News from Chicago stated that letters received from Schlatter indicated his certain arrival on November 30, 1895. One story jokingly stated that Schlatter was already in Chicago, “curing hams.”52 Pleading statements in the newspapers like, “Schlatter Come Back!” were countered by claims that he was a fraud, including allegations that he had a manager who “charged for places in line, and probably divided [the money] with Schlatter.”53 Rumors of Schlatter’s death appeared in the news during June 1897. Credible accounts reported that a man fitting Schlatter’s description was found dead near Casas Grandes, Chihuahua, Mexico, and that a white horse, copper rod and a bible with Francis Schlatter’s name written in it were among the deceased’s belongings.54 “No healer in modern times has aroused so strong a belief in his power or won as large a following. And still numerous Schlatters now traveling throughout the west are gaining the pecuniary benefit of the dead man’s notoriety,” observed the Milford Mail.55 Remarkably, charlatan Schlatters were claiming to be the divine healer for more than 20 years after Francis Schlatter reportedly was found dead in Mexico in 1897.56 Imitators seized the opportunity to fill the void in Francis Schlatter’s absence. Four categories of impersonators emerged: there were imposters of circumstance—those who did not claim to be Francis Schlatter, but who were identified as the man by others; there were imposters who fraudulently assumed the identity of Francis Schlatter; there were dual-identity imposters, who claimed their own identity, as well as the identity of Francis Schlatter; and there were imposter teams—partners, sometimes portraying the Schlatters as husband and wife, who cooperated to reinforce their divine healing claims. With the exception of those who made no claims to be the real Francis Schlatter, the knock-offs and con-artists had one common goal—to make a buck. Imposters of Circumstance Schlatter’s disappearance from Denver, leaving thousands without benefit of his touch, resulted in a man-hunt along Colorado’s Front Range. Conflicting stories of Schlatter’s

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whereabouts immediately followed his Denver departure. During February 1896, a prisoner whose, “description fits that of Schlatter perfectly,” was found in the San Bernardino, California, jail, arrested for vagrancy. Another prisoner, who saw Schlatter in Denver, was “positive that the man here and the healer are identical.” An analysis of the prisoner’s handwriting “shows a great similarity.”57 During January 1897, Francis Schlatter, “or his double,” was found in Ogden, Utah. “His resemblance to Schlatter, the healer, impressed all present, his hair and beard being long, black, and wavy.” He was “in a precarious condition. He attempted suicide last night,” reported the New York Times, “and [he] probably succeeded. About 7:45 o’clock he went into the lunch room of the Union Pacific Hotel, drank a cup of coffee, and went out on the platform. Soon after, he opened a pocketknife and cut his throat, severing the windpipe and most of the arteries, but missing the jugular vein.” A doctor was called, but determined that the man would die. Despite his “rambling manner,” making it “impossible to learn his name,” the Schlatter look-alike was able to ask “for a revolver that he might end his suffering.”58 The coroner’s jury determined the death an intentional suicide and identified the deceased as George O. Davis, a.k.a. A. G. McAllister, from Canadian Valley, Texas. A memorandum among Davis’s belongings stated, “I am taken for Francis Schlatter nearly every place I go[,] but if I was no larger than him I would be just the size of an imp of hell; but so much larger than him am I.”59 Identity Imposter: “Rattlesnake Bill” Martin One of the Schlatter imposters performed “healings “in Chicago’s Manhattan Beach hotel offering free “clinics.” Reportedly, “‘Dr. Schlatter’ had to pay his own expenses and any contribution would be welcome.” About one-third of those received by Schlatter had donated a quarter or more, and one woman parted with her entire purse. Schlatter was denounced as an imposter by H. L. Cochran, who had seen Schlatter in Denver.60 This long-haired charlatan Schlatter was identified as “Rattlesnake Bill,” an “Oklahoma medicine fakir” who had


traveled with J. I. Lighthall of Indian folk remedy fame. According to the Omaha Daily Bee, The bogus Schlatter . . . who is heeling himself in Chicago at the expense of the gullible, does not take pay for his services. He spurns money. But his manager takes care to inform the suckers to throw a few pieces of silver on the platform. The jingle of the coin is sweet music for the ears of the bogus Messiah. Though no cures were reported, “‘Schlatter’ appears to be satisfied with the financial results.”61 Compared to the would-be 39-year-old German speaking Francis Schlatter of Denver, “This man looks like a divinity student and talks like a cockney Englishman . . . This young man could not raise a beard to save his life, and although he says he is 41 years of age, he certainly would more readily pass for 26.”62 Crowds still visited despite the suspicions that Schlatter was a fraud; however, the dissatisfied patrons threatened “Rattlesnake Bill” with “a ducking in the lake if he does not leave.”63 Speaking of the victims of the sham healer’s scam, ex-Chief of Police Hubbard said, “That fellow is a fraud of the worst kind and should be drummed out of town . . . It is the lamest kind of an exercise to take away the money of the afflicted.”64 The Illinois State Board of Health took court action against “Rattlesnake Bill” alleging his “healing” was an act of practicing medicine without a license. Bill’s manager, F. A. Lenger, responded to the summons stating that he had consulted lawyers before and after arriving in Chicago, and he was assured that no license was necessary. Bill faced a $200 fine.65 J. R. Barnes, the attorney for the Board, failed to arrive at the hearing on time, and after waiting more than an hour Justice Woods dismissed the case, allowing Bill to go free. Attorney Barnes arrived late, but with a warrant for the arrest of “Rattlesnake Bill” Martin, on the charge of larceny for “fraudulently representing himself as Francis Schlatter.” Martin was described by a Cleveland woman as a “whisky-

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drinking wretch.” After an acquaintance told Martin that “he looked like Christ,” Martin was said to have responded, “That’s a good card; I’ll play it.”66 Dual Identity Imposter: Charles McLean The “Rev. Dr.” Charles McLean, described as a Presbyterian minister from Boston, arrived in Trenton, New Jersey, during late March 1897, with an engagement to appear at the Taylor Opera House. His clerical clothes resembled “one of the Apostles,” an “impressive figure” with heavy eyebrows, long jet-black hair, and a “long black pointed beard.” He claimed that God bestowed on him “natural gifts,” allowing him to perform miracles and to heal.67 On March 31, McLean promoted a “ladies only” lecture on “Beauty Art, or the Secret of Female Beauty.” Admission was “25 cents to all parts of the house.”68 The next week, McLean lectured, for free, on “Christ’s Healing,” inviting “the attention of clergymen and skeptics” who doubted the claims that he permanently healed several Trenton residents.69 In Syracuse, New York, McLean, now calling himself a “‘divine healer’ to separate himself from the ‘natural healers,’” reported through his press agent that he was born in New York City and that he “had been called by the names of Schlatter, Shrader and other healers,” but that Rev. “Doctor” Charles McLean, claimed he was “traveling by his that he was “the Schlatter of fame,” stating right name of McLean.” that “‘der Schläfer,’ German for ‘sleeper,’” He claimed that he had was the name given him by the Germans of Denver. Drawing from the Anaconda met Francis Schlatter in Standard, March 21, 1901. Denver. Unlike Francis


Schlatter, McLean “guarantees no cures and charges whatever the people can afford to pay, simply trying to make a living for himself.”70 But by May 1898, McLean claimed that he was the real, pure, “original Schlatter,” who drew to Denver thousands seeking his healing powers. To prove his claim to fame, he appealed to Chicago authorities to entomb him for 40 days and 40 nights.71 The health department objected to McLean’s demonstration.72 “Schlatter is not the ‘healer’s’ real name, nor does he go by that appellation,” reported the San Francisco Call, “He is the Rev. Charles McLean, M. D., who, according to his own lips, is the Schlatter of fame. Schlatter is the Anglicized form of ‘der Schläfer,’ German for ‘sleeper,’ and the name was given him, he says, by the Germans of Denver, Colo.”73 In Boston, when asked about the bones found in the desert of the man supposed to be Francis Schlatter, McLean said that “when he buried himself his soul visited God . . . [and he] was instructed by God to come back to earth, [and] join the waiting body.” According to McLean, God told him, “You shall go back again and continue your work.” Another time, McLean said that the bones were not his, but those of his horse. 74 Addressing a small crowd in Brooklyn, New York, McLean encouraged them to tell their friends to hurry and see him as he could not remain in the city long. “I have been around the world four times already, but I must go around three times more before I die, for seven is a perfect number,” McLean said. “Then I will be content to pass to glory, and when I’m in heaven I’ll write a story of my life in Latin and Greek.”75 McLean also claimed to have raised the dead and to have refused one million dollars from Andrew Carnegie and “numerous other rich men.” As evidence of his faith and sincerity, McLean again offered to be buried for 40 days and nights, but this time suggested a depth of sixty feet. The Boston board of health denied his request.76 McLean’s claims become even more fantastic. He told a St. Paul Globe reporter that he was the greatest of all divine healers, with a record of success second only to Jesus Christ. “One would think he has done even more than the Savior in the healing line,” the reporter wrote, “for he modestly lays claim to

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having raised from the dead no fewer than seven persons. . . . Divine healing by an expert is a most lucrative profession,” the reporter observed, as McLean claimed to have collected half a million dollars for his healing in Maine. He was described as “lean, lank and cadaverous, . . . yet, if he is to be believed, his charms are so completely irresistible to the feminine heart that Hetty Green . . . once offered him $5,000,000 if he would consent to lead her blushing self to the altar.” McLean again professed his willingness to be buried alive for 40, or even 80 days, if the St. Paul health office would consent.77 Newspapers began criticizing McLean’s “little fictions”; however, audiences, still numbering more than 100, were willing to pay their quarters to hear him lecture and perhaps receive treatment. The lectures were increasingly salted with McLean’s tirades against all who denounced him.78 In Seattle, Washington, McLean was arrested on March 10, 1900, for “duping people under the cloak of being a religious doctor.” When asked about the $700 he possessed, “he declared that this money belonged to others, and that he relied on only small gifts of money to defray his living expenses.” Crowds followed McLean to jail and women reportedly offered to put up his bail; however, the police “steadfastly refused to grant him even temporary liberty.” The charge against McLean was vagrancy, attributed to Seattle Police Chief William L. Meredith’s war on unscrupulous “quack doctors” who fraudulently “prey on the ignorance of the people.”79 McLean was not held long in Seattle, and he made his way to Butte, Montana, by March 21, 1901. The Anaconda Standard ran a long story on his arrival and packed in nearly every tale previously written about the “healer,” and then some. Regarding the recent news of various arrests, the newspaper reported, “There have been several other ‘Schlatters’ since Dr. McLean became famous, but both have been arrested for fraud.”80 The next day, however, not only did the news of McLean’s troubles in Seattle, and then in Spokane, Washington, catch up to him, but so did a man from his past, from Ohio 25 years previously, who said, “He is a faker of the worst kind.”81 McLean confronted his attackers in the next day’s newspaper, “I pretend to be no one but Charles McLean, a regularly


licensed and ordained minister of the Gospel, and a graduated physician and surgeon.” He contended that the name of Schlatter was given to him in Denver and that the Lord permitted him to use it as “a professional name.” McLean was “exposed by the Standard and driven out of Butte.” He went back east, “to a country where the people were not so discriminating.” Nevertheless, McLean was arrested for vagrancy in Washington, D.C. soon thereafter. 82 As the years passed, alleging his “eighth journey around the world,” McLean continued to make a circuit through the county lecturing, “healing,” and passing the hat. His lectures were normally “How Christ Healed the Sick” and “How Christ Raised the Dead.” He “is anything but handsome,” reported the Logansport Pharos, “His apparel, while not shabby shows signs of hard and constant wear. He has a patriarchal air, his [hair is] long and straggly, hanging to his shoulders, his beard rough and unkempt, his eyes small and keen, with a constant habit of twitching and revealing the high nervous habit.”83 During October 1905, McLean was the butt of an audience joke in Steelton, Ontario, Canada. A healthy man known to the audience faked symptoms of rheumatism and McLean told him that for $1.00 per treatment he could make him well. The crowd laughed and McLean, realizing the joke, responded with “a tirade of profanity.” He was summoned to appear in police court for “using indecent and profane language.” “The peculiar feature of the appearance of the latest Schlatter in Canada,” reported the newspaper, “is that five out of six persons who were treated by him profess to be cured.”84 By 1906, McLean expanded his lecture repertoire to include “Modern Infidelity” and “Is Marriage a Failure.”85 From South Norwalk, Connecticut, McLean, who said he had been fasting for 40 days, had a revelation, “The Lord says that no millionaire or college professor will enter the kingdom of heaven. Higher education is a curse. . . . [and] The students at Yale college are all fools.”86 Despite McLean’s increasingly absurd statements, his easily provoked temper and his well-known lust for money, in June 1909 he was able to finagle a “large sum of money” from J. Anderson of Clinton, Ohio, as an advance for a promised

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cure. As no cure, or refund, was made, Anderson filed a charge against McLean that he obtained the money under false pretenses, landing the “divine healer” in jail. Among McLean’s possessions were $755 and three diamonds.87 After being released from jail and spending about one month in Hastings, Nebraska, Charles McLean died on October 21, 1909. The cause of death was apparently “old age.” He appeared to be penniless. His belongings included a family album, thousands of newspaper clippings, advertising circulars declaring him to be “Francis Schlatter, divine healer, and a receipt for an envelope deposited during February 1909 in Boston at the Bay State Trust Company.” A note, that appeared to be written in 1895, identified David McNaughton of Chicago as friend to be notified should anything happen to McLean. Newspapers reported that McLean appeared as Francis Schlatter after the first divine healer, “Francis Schrader,” died. Both Schlatter and Schrader were similar in appearance and healing methods.88 Adding to the Schlatter-Schrader confusion, a report from St. Louis stated that during May 1908, Schlatter, “a man who is believed to have been McLean,” appeared in that city with a much younger man calling himself Schrader. Both appeared in Los Angeles proclaiming the establishment of the New Jerusalem on a South Sea island.89 Another man, in Battle Creek, Michigan, claimed that he was the true Francis Schlatter. He had been in Battle Creek for the past 5 weeks, and was married to the former Luverna Comer of Alabama. A flashlight photograph taken of the corpse in Hastings was sent to authorities in Denver on the prospect that someone there could positively identify the dead man as Schlatter. In the meantime, confirmations reappeared in newspapers that the real Francis Schlatter had died long before near Casas Grandes, Chihuahua, Mexico.90 A handwritten will by Charles McLean, dated April 6, 1909, on Hotel Waverly stationary (Fort Madison, Iowa), was found in papers that dropped from his clothes when it was thrown out as trash. The document stated, Let this certify that I Charles McLean M. D. leave all my property real and personal to my brother Hector McLean and his wife and daughter Flora and all the


other children of the said Hector McLean. [signed] Rev. Dr. Charles McLean Presbyterian Minister and Physician and Sergeon [sic]—Hector McLean lives at Brush near Denver Colorado.91 According to an interview, Charles McLean stated that, My mother was told before I was born that she would have a son who would be famous as a healer, and that a razor would never touch his face and that he would never cut his hair; that he would be celibate and lead a life like Christ, going about preaching the gospel and healing the sick.92 In this statement there is only one known fact—Charles McLean was born. Dual Identity: Imposter August Schrader Like Francis Schlatter, his contemporary, a divine healer named August Schrader traveled from town to town blessing handkerchiefs and laying hands on the people who gathered. Unlike Schlatter, a newspaper reported that he had “made considerable money” for his efforts. In Fort Worth, Texas, a large crowd gathered near a small lake during August 1896 with hopes of gaining relief at the hands of the boastful Schrader, who in his remarks likened himself to Christ. He “wound up his discourse by declaring that

August Schrader claimed divine healing abilities, as well as several other identities including those of Francis Schlatter, Pope Schlatter-Schrader, John Schrader, and Rev. D. H. Schrader. Drawing from the Daily Inter Ocean (Chicago), February 20, 1896.

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he could even walk upon the water.” His unfortunate proximity to the lake inspired a man in the crowd to call, “Walk then.” Everyone in the crowd began to yell for Schrader to walk on the water and, “Just as Schrader was about to be lifted into the lake a policeman appeared, and during the excitement . . . [Schrader] made his escape.”93 Schrader also claimed that he was Francis Schlatter, stating that the newspapers frequently got his name wrong. He said that he was the healer who attracted thousands to Denver. “I am Schlatter and Schlatter is Schrader. . . . I am the Denver healer called Schlatter, but the name my parents gave me is Schrader—August Schrader.”94 Among Schrader’s other accomplishments, he proclaimed himself the pope of a new Catholic denomination, the “divine Catholic faith,” with eight-hundred thousand followers, and he also founded New Jerusalem in New Mexico.95 Schrader married Daisy Lottie Douglas Roberts in a widely publicized wedding in Newcastle, Indiana, on September 3, 1897. Daisy, the “girl with a long name” was reportedly from Sioux City, Iowa, where she met Schrader.96 Marriage to a divine healer must have been difficult—Daisy divorced August Schrader in 1908. Her itinerant husband, last known to be in El Paso, Texas, had failed to support her—she had only received $10 from him in the past 2 years. When asked by the judge if August Schrader “preached in order to save souls or to make money,” Mrs. Schrader smiled and said she didn’t know.97 James Alexander Dowie During 1908, “Pope” August Schrader teamed up with a man claiming to be James Alexander Dowie, the brother of the successful leader of the Christian Catholic Apostolic Church, and founder of Zion City near Chicago, John Alexander Dowie, who died in March 1907. The Dowie and Schrader pair announced that they were launching a new bible, new church and a new Zion City. “All they need is a bunch of followers and more or less money,” reported the Washington Post. The new bible was 5 years in the making, according to Dowie, who explained that today mankind is “living in the fifteenth world”—the previous


fourteen “were destroyed by the wrath of God because they became so wicked.”98 Per Dowie’s account, Adam and Eve lived 15,000,244 years prior to the days of Noah; however, the first man and woman were not Adam and Eve, but Aivida and Mungola. “They lived 250 years, and were swallowed up by an earthquake,” ending the first world more than 414,000,320 years ago. Dowie claimed that men and women of prior Rev. John Alexander Dowie was the worlds were 15 to 20 feet tall founder of Zion City, Illinois. Library and wore kilts. He predicted of Congress Prints and Photographs that man would continue to Division, Washington, D.C., (LC-DIGevolve “even smaller, until ggbain-01376). grown people will eventually be the size of present eight-yearold children.” What technologies we consider modern today, like aircraft and automobiles, James Dowie contended had existed thousands of years ago. “The plans were lost, when the worlds were destroyed.”99 Dowie & Schrader The man portraying James Alexander Dowie also took on the role of Francis Schlatter, though as Francis he still claimed to be John Alexander Dowie’s brother, and as such, held himself as the rightful heir to the fortunes of Zion City. The October 21, 1909, passing of Charles McLean presented an opportunity that the new Schlatter and Schrader team could not pass up. “[A]ctuated by anger that people should think him dead,” Schlatter, dressed in a black velvet robe “considerably the worse for wear,” quickly laid claim to being the “original divine healer” Francis Schlatter, denouncing all others, including McLean, as frauds. On October 26, 1909, the front page of the Oakland Tribune ran a story, with photographs, stating that Schlatter and John

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Alexander Dowie were brothers. The story also reported that the Oakland residents Schlatter and Schrader were the true “discoverers” of the North Pole in 1887 (not the “fakers” Frederick A. Cook or Robert E. Perry), and that Schlatter and Schrader had also discovered the South Pole in 1897, providing vivid details of the southern expedition: “It took us several weeks to reach the small space, three feet in diameter, which is in reality, the south pole. . . . So strong was the [wind] in fact that we were forced to drop to our stomachs and crawl along this way. At times it was impossible to breathe.” Schlatter said that he was writing a book to set the record straight on the discovery of the poles, as well as the “truth about Mars.”100 Though God would not allow him to go inside the gates of the “unholy” City of Zion, Schlatter went on to explain that his brother John Dowie had left him several islands south of Fiji, which he was dividing into 160-acre farms “for the benefit of any one desiring to go and live there, forsaking the world for a Christian life.”101 The two men, who combined, revised and exchanged their names and titles at will, were reportedly in Denver on June 18, 1910, identified as, “‘Pope Schlatter-Schrader, of the Divine Catholic church, [and the] Crown Prince Francis of the kingdom of the Freeland islands[;] and King Dowie, ruler of a fanciful, wonderful isle in the South seas.” They were praying for the “godless residents” of Denver. Apparently Dowie and Schrader were disappointed by the small numbers of people showing any interest in the new church they intended to establish. Schrader declared, “Denver is the wickedest city in the country.”102 Making their way to Chicago, “King” Dowie and “Pope” Schrader claimed the right of succession to rule Dowie’s brother’s Zion City. The city’s overseer, Wilbur Glenn Voliva, expressed little concern saying, “As far as I am aware John Alexander Dowie had no brother.” When asked if he was going to Zion City, James Dowie said that he would not, “they can come to see me.” During the interview with the Waterloo Evening Courier, Schrader confided that it was his intention to run for U.S. President “on the Republican ticket, backed by his 50,000 cohorts and such others as cared to vote for him.” One can only speculate on the outcomes had Schrader really sought the Republican nomination.103


Perhaps the arrest of Dowie and Schrader tainted the “Pope’s” political aspirations. Both Dowie and Schrader were implicated in “a swindle in connection with a supposed $20 million gold treasure” said to be buried off the coast of Honduras. The treasure was originally worth $40 million, Dowie confided to a St. Joseph, Missouri, real estate agent, but his brother John needed half of the money to build Zion City. Dowie explained that he needed to raise $1,200 to finance an expedition to go after the remaining half of the treasure. The real estate agent said he would find someone to advance him the cash to invest in the venture. The assistant prosecuting attorney for Buchanan County learned of the scam and requested a warrant for the arrest of Dowie and Schrader. Released on $1,000 bond, their bondsman, Dr. H. L. Walker, captured them at shotgun point 6 minutes before they could leave on the train departing Wathena, Kansas. The two were released from jail 2 weeks later.104 Returning to California, where their tales garnered more welcome interest, the James Alexander Dowie identity was again discarded for the Francis Schlatter persona. August Schlatter-Schrader was now identified as John Schrader, and the returning Francis Schlatter maintained that he was the half brother of John Alexander Dowie. The buried treasure now was reportedly worth $120 million and had received the attention of Los Angeles millionaire J. C. Mellen, who failed to locate the treasure on the first expedition, but was “undaunted,” and planning a second trip during 1911. In a reported double-cross, Schlatter and Schrader were duped out of the then $3.5 million treasure by former associate H. H. Hyatt.105 The “Rev. Francis Schlatter” and “Rev. D. H. Schrader” set up healing in Los Angeles at Divine Congregational Church locations at 444½ South Spring Street and 617 West 7th Street, respectively. Their ad in the newspapers billed them as the “world’s greatest healers” and stated that “In Denver, Colo., they cured thousands of all ills that the flesh is heir to, by laying of hands, prayer and the blessing of handkerchiefs.” For “those who are unable to come,” the ads read, “send your handkerchief by Express [mail] and mention your afflictions, and I will bless it and return it to you by express. Thousands of people are cured at home with success. Distance makes no

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difference.” A similar ad, run a week later, indicated that “The old office is closed up. Mr. Shclatter [sic] has moved to 617 West Seventh Street.” Three months later, the Divine Congregational Church, a “Legally incorporated church organized in the state of California,” moved to 626 15th Street in Oakland.106 In September 1913, the church was advertised as the Baptist Church Inc., and moved to 729 Washington Street, room 6 (upstairs), in Oakland. They now claimed they were “backed by the mighty healing power of Baptist healing.” The “church” was regularly listed among the church notices in the Oakland Tribune classified ads. On March 7, 1914, they ran a classified ad seeking a business manager. Business must have been good.107 Good fortune turned bad during May 1916 when Francis Schlatter, August Schrader, and Augustus “Gus” Algard, who was described as Schlatter’s secretary, were all arrested on federal indictments relating to the “use of the mails to defraud.” The three were alleged to have “sent through the mails handkerchiefs [Schlatter] had blessed and represented as containing healing powers.” They were released on bond. Schlatter appeared in a New York court on June 12 “in an effort to prevent his removal to Los Angeles to be tried on the federal indictment.” Taking the stand in his own defense, he declared that he was the “reincarnation of Moses.” He admitted to sending letters requesting money offerings, contending, “the ravens will not feed us.” “Rev.” Algard also testified, saying that “Father” Schlatter healed an average of thirty people a day.108 Schlatter and Schrader stood trial in Los Angeles during February 1917, yet Gus Algard was “at large.” Schrader became quite ill with erysipelas, a disease of the skin caused by streptococcus. That Schlatter could not heal his cohort was called “the irony of fate” by the Oakland Tribune. The jury heard many witnesses who had paid money for healing that they never experienced. Correspondence revealed “the rush of business” and “receipts of $30 a day.”109 “Prince” August Schrader died in the Los Angeles County hospital on February 23, 1917. Pneumonia was believed the cause of death. Francis Schlatter was found guilty on March 10 and on March 12 he was sentenced to 18 months in federal


prison at McNeil Island, Washington. “The jury deliberated but four minutes.”110 Francis Schlatter was received at the penitentiary on March 18, 1917. Schlatter was physically described as 4 feet 11¾ inches tall, 171½ pounds, and missing most of his teeth. The commitment records state that he was 80 years old, had two younger brothers and two younger sisters, was a widower and had three sons living in New York City—Francis R. Kunze, Emil Kunze, and Rudolph Kunze. The three boys were apparently abandoned, appearing in the Westchester Temporary Home for Destitute Children in White Plains, New York, in 1900. Perhaps Francis Schlatter was truly Mr. Kunze.111

Francis Schlatter [Kunze], prisoner 2860. McNeil Island Penitentiary, Inmate Case Files (1899–1920), Record Group No. 129, box 42, National Archives-Pacific Alaska Region.

Luverna Comer-Schlatter & Francis Schlatter The Francis Schlatter in Denver was not the only divine healer making news in 1895. Mrs. Luverna Comer lectured and healed in Chicago, telling of her own experience of being raised from a sick bed. With her “rich, musical voice,” she “told a fairsized audience how she healed by divine intervention.”112

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Luverna Comer was described, in November 1896, as “a little woman, young, with the soft speech of the South, and with eyes and hair like the pine cones of her native state [Alabama], while her cheek was like the petal of a flushed rose.” Her healing powers were not used for private gain, working “absolutely without remuneration.” Comer, a former Baptist and now member of the Episcopal Church, could heal “complicated cases of disease” by just “laying on of hands.” Speaking of Mrs. R. F. Martin of Marengo, Illinois, who claimed Comer’s touch allowed her to now walk after years of diseases, Comer said, “This woman has so many things the matter with her that I thought possibly time would cure her before she got through telling me of her ailments.”113 While headlines during June 1897 declared Francis Schlatter dead in Mexico, a beardless man in Cleveland, Ohio, claimed he was Schlatter and “laughed when his attention was directed to the starvation story,” stating that he was visiting his mother in Bordeaux, Tennessee, near Nashville. Despite his clean-shaven face, there was “certainly a strong resemblance between his features and some of the published pictures of Schlatter.”114 During August 1897, Schlatter was reportedly “making remarkable cures” in Canton, Ohio.115 Luverna Comer told reporters that she met Francis Schlatter in Birmingham, Alabama, on the night Schlatter healed Comer’s sister. A few days later they decided to get married, “We hid in [C]ullman, Ala. to avoid crowds and newspaper men.” Their manager decided that Mrs. Schlatter would lecture and Dr. Schlatter would heal.116 The couple established the Francis Schlatter Institute of divine healing, incorporated in Albany, New York, in 1901, “for the cure of acute and chronic diseases, by means of medicine, osteopathy, and divine healing.” The Institute issued capital stock of $1,500 and the directors were Benno A. Hollenberg, M.D., Francis Schlatter, and Luverna Schlatter.117 “Frank” Schlatter was reported to be in Chicago in 1903, with his divine healer wife Luverna, claiming that he “thought it better, in view of the many false Schlatters who arose, that he should disappear for a time.” He had been living in Chicago for 5 months, and was in Canton, Ohio, before that.118


Not much is known about Francis and Luverna Schlatter between the early 1900s and 1920.119 Francis and Luverna Schlatter were shown to be married to each other in the 1900 U.S. Census. Luverna filed for divorce in the Supreme Court of the District of Columbia in December 1901, for reasons of “cruel and inhumane treatment, and failure to provide.” The couple must have reconciled their differences as a second marriage license, from Box Butte County, Nebraska, was issued in 1912.120 Luverna Schlatter was a patient in the Kankakee State Hospital, in Illinois, during at least parts of 1919 and 1920.121 Luverna’s son, Guy, was living in Chicago at the time with his wife Dora and their 2 ½-year-old son, Guy William Comer Jr.122 Guy Sr. was later a conductor for the Illinois Central Railroad.123 Dr. Francis Schlatter was reported performing healing miracles in Columbus, Ohio, during April 1921 at the West Side Spiritualist Church. Though the healing was free, a conspicuous basket was nearby where offerings were collected.124 Misfortune began to befall the Schlatters. In a letter from Luverna Schlatter, dated August 8, 1921, addressed to the Honorable H. N. Daugherty, Attorney General, Washington, D.C., Mrs. Schlatter wrote that her husband left Columbus on May 25, 1921, to visit Dr. Ellwood Worcester, of the Emanuel Episcopal Church in Boston. She stated that Francis Schlatter was to be confirmed in the Episcopal Church during September, but that he ran into some trouble with immigration in Montreal, Canada. It is not clear what Schlatter was doing in Canada, but he was detained by immigration and denied reentry into the U.S. Canadian immigration agent A. Regimbal described Schlatter’s condition as “psychopathic inferiority.”125 Francis Schlatter was eventually allowed to return to the U.S.; however, during June 1922 Schlatter disappeared from Chicago. His worried wife said that he wanted to see Denver again, even though she thought that he was too old, at age 66, to make the trip. She had been tracking her husband, expecting him to arrive in Kansas when she learned Schlatter was found dead in a St. Louis, Missouri, rooming house on October 16, 1922.126 Police reported that a mysterious young woman was with Schlatter just before he died—his nurse, she told a doctor, named Madalyne Black. She fled before the police arrived.127

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Luverna Schlatter suspected foul play in her husband’s death. “She said her husband had a following of spiritualists who opposed Schlatter’s contemplated confirmation into the Episcopal Church, of which she is a member.” She believed he was waylaid, stating, “they got him.”128 The Certificate of Death indicates that Francis Schlatter died from a hemorrhage of the lungs caused by pulmonary tuberculosis. Schlatter’s body was placed in the care of St. Louis undertaker George L. Pleitsch, and the burial date is listed as December 15, 1922, in Miamisburg, Ohio.129 No burial records have been located for Schlatter in Miamisburg; however, on April 21, 1945, almost 50 years after the original Francis Schlatter healed in Denver, a news report identified Luverna’s husband, Francis Schlatter, as one of four mummified corpses, decadesold, found in two St. Louis funeral homes.130 A 30 Year Enterprise Whether or not one believes that Francis Schlatter was really a divine healer; or that he died in Mexico; or that he was mistaken for Schrader; or that he was reincarnated as Martin, or McLean, or Kunze; or that his relics were those that were never interred in St. Louis; Schlatter’s story is undoubtedly one of entrepreneurial success. The strength of Schlatter’s legend made it possible for him to seemingly rise from death in the form of the many imitators who continued to profit from his memorable success in Denver. Spanning the extremes from the miraculous to the macabre, stories of Francis Schlatter, both the genuine man and the counterfeits, illustrate how legitimate and illicit entrepreneurs successfully exploited the moment, and then the phenomenon, of the simple shoemaker’s life. Denver’s 1895 residents welcomed the “Christ Man” to town—some with faith in his healing, and others with hope for a fast dollar. This faith and hope, combined with opportunity, inconceivable national press coverage, and Schlatter’s apparent authentic sincerity, created a sensation that contributed to the livelihoods of many individuals for nearly 3 decades.


Tim Blevins has been the Special Collections Manager for the Pikes Peak Library District (PPLD), Colorado Springs, since September 2001. He is responsible for the Regional History and Genealogy Collections, housed in the historic 1905 Carnegie Library. He studied photojournalism at New Mexico State University where he earned an undergraduate degree in Journalism and Mass Communications. He later earned a Masters in Library and Information Science from the University of Texas at Austin. He is a co-editor of PPLD’s Regional History Series of books. NOTES

1. Rocky Mountain News (Denver), July 22, 1893. The actual text reads, “The police [are] searching for Thomas Slater, a shoemaker, who mysteriously disappeared from his home, [at] 1848 Downing avenue[.] [A] note was found in his shop which read: ‘To the world: Meet me in the backyard.’“ Francis Schlatter is listed as a shoemaker at this address in Ballenger & Richards Twenty-First Annual Denver City Directory (Denver: Ballenger & Richards, 1893), 955. 2. Norman Cleaveland, The Healer: The Story of Francis Schlatter (Santa Fe: Sunstone Press, 1989), 61. Schlatter lived several years at Jamesport, Long Island. National Archives and Records Administration, M1674: Soundex Index to Petitions for Naturalizations Filed in Federal, State, and Local Courts in New York City, 1792–1906. 3. Cleaveland, 15, 16. 4. “Psychic Healing—The Story of Francis Schlatter, The Healer,” Borderland: A Quarterly Review and Index, January 1896, 64. 5. See Trademark of the Santa Fé showing map of America on globe and train routes with a lion on top of globe, “Only route traveled by Francis Schatter, the New Mexico messiah.” Photograph by W. A. White, 1895, Library of Congress, LC-USZ62-105406. 6. The Denver Evening Post, August 23, 1895. 7. Rocky Mountain News, August 26, 1895. 8. Rocky Mountain News, September 16, 1895. The Fox residence was located at 625 Witter Street, what is now Quivas Street, between today’s West 33rd Avenue and West 32nd Avenue. The one-story brick home is on the west side of the street at 3225 Quivas Street and is designated a historic landmark, built in 1891 (Denver Assessor’s Office, real property data).

BLEVINS • 387 9. Rocky Mountain News, August 23, 1895. 10. Salt Lake Herald (Salt Lake City), November 29, 1896, lists prophets, messiahs and healers: “Healers, generally speaking, may be separated from prophets in that they seldom lead religious organizations. The greatness of being a messiah is ordinarily thrust upon them. They are, however, of humble pretension and seemingly do not court the publicity they receive. To this class belong: Francis Schlatter, the Colorado Healer; August Schrader, the New Jersey Healer; Vignes, the Swiss peasant; Bill James, the Indian healer; and W. E. Hammond.” 11. Rocky Mountain News, November 11, 1895. 12. Ibid., November 9, 1895. 13. Ibid., August 24, 1895. 14. Ibid., August 23, 1895. 15. The Sun (New York), November 8, 1895. 16. A. B. Hyde, “Francis Schlatter, ‘The Healer,’” The Chautauquan, January 1896, 435. Dr. John B. Huber, in a paper he presented to the Medical Society of the County of New York titled “Psychopathic Epidemics,” “did not think Schlatter was consciously an imposter; he was undoubtedly insane.” Frank Van Fleet, “Society Reports.” Medical Record, March 22, 1902, 476. 17. The Milwaukee Journal, October 1, 1895. 18. The Sun, November 8, 1895. 19. Rocky Mountain News, September 27, 1895. 20. The Sun, November 8, 1895. 21. Rocky Mountain News, October 24, 1895. 22. The Denver Evening Post, November 12, 1895. 23. The Evening Post, October 19, 1895. 24. Rocky Mountain News, October 24, 1895. 25. The Evening Post, October 19, 1895. 26. Ibid., October 12, 1895. 27. The Sun, November 8, 1895. The Denver Evening Post, October 19, 1895. 28. The Atchison Daily Globe, (Atchison, Kan.) November 16, 1895. 29. The Sun, November 8, 1895. Handkerchiefs printed with Schlatter’s image were also used to advertise the De Leon and Solomon Store in Albuquerque, illus. Florence Hawley Ellis, “Tomé and Father J. B. R.,” New Mexico Historical Review, July 1955, 194. 30. Emphasis added. The business address was Hospital, 110 South Mill St. “J. T. Fitch, D.D. and M.D. J. S. Thorn, my first assistant with Sewing Machines, oils and Needles.” Rocky Mountain Sun (Aspen, Colo.), October 19, 1895. J. T. Fitch was in the boot and shoe business.

388 • MARKETING A MESSIAH Colorado State Business Directory (Denver: The Gazette Publishing Co., 1896), 126. 31. The Denver Evening Post, February 19, 1896. 32. Otis B. Spencer, Francis Schlatter Cyclus: In Twelve Numbers or Ye Holy Man and His Works (Denver: Williamson-Haffner Engraving Co., 1896). Denver Public Library owns one of the few known copies of this little book, about 5¼ inches square. Spencer was a surveyor of customs in the post office according to the Colorado State Business Directory (Denver: The Gazetteer Publishing Co., 1896), 419. 33. Books published about Francis Schlatter include: The Divine Healer (Denver: Corona Publishing Company, 1895), 53 pages, “Sent prepaid to any address in the U.S. or Canada for 50 cents”; H. B. Magill, Biography of Francis Schlatter, The Healer: With His Life, Works, and Wanderings (Denver: Schlatter Publishing Co., 1896), “Handsomely Illustrated. Price 40 c.”; Charlie Reuben Stedman, Life of Francis Schlatter, The Great Healer, or, New Mexico Messiah (Denver: The Knox Co., 1895), 20 pages, “Mailed to any address on receipt of 25 cents‘; Francis Schlatter, “Compiled and Published in Obedience to his Commands, by his Hostess, [Ada McPherson Morley],” The Life of the Harp—In the Hand of the Harper (Denver: The Smith-Brooks Printing Company, 1897), 191 pages, 50 cents. 34. Rocky Mountain News, December 1, 1896, want ads. 35. Ibid., August 24, 1895. 36. Ibid., November 15, 1895. 37. Rocky Mountain News, November 15, 1895. 38. Ibid., October 24, 1895. 39. The Denver Evening Post, September 19, 1895. 40. Ibid., November 12, 1895. 41. Ibid., November 9, 1895. 42. Ibid., November 12, 1895. Rocky Mountain News, October 8, 1895. 43. Rocky Mountain News, November 11, 1895. The Denver Evening Post, October 12, 1895. 44. The Denver Evening Post, October 12, 1895. 45. Don Robertson, Morris Cafky and E. J. Haley, Denver’s Street Railways, Vol. I, 1871–1900 (Denver: Sundance Publications Ltd., 1999). The Denver Evening Post, November 12, 1895. The location of the Fox residence is now Quivas Street. Goss Street is now Tejon Street. Phil Goodstein, Denver Streets: Names, Numbers, Locations, Logic (Denver: New Social Publications, 1994), 130, 112. 46. The Denver Evening Post, November 14, 1895. Rocky Mountain News, September 11, 1895.

BLEVINS • 389 47. Ibid., November 12, 1895. 48. The Daily Picayune (New Orleans), November 16, 1895. Petitions from other cities, including St. Louis and Kansas City, requested Schlatter visit them after his visit to Chicago. Aspen Weekly Times (Aspen, Colo.), November 16, 1895. 49. San Francisco Chronicle, November 16, 1895. Cleaveland, 68, indicates that 87,000 “received his touch.” 50. Ballenger & Richards Twenty-Fifth Annual Denver City Directory (Denver: Ballenger & Richards, 1897), 15. 51. The Milwaukee Sentinel, November 17, 1895. 52. The Daily Inter Ocean (Chicago), November 24, 1895. 53. The Denver Evening Post, November 16, 1895. The Atchison Daily Globe, November 16, 1895. 54. New York Times, June 7, 1897; The Daily Northwestern (Oshkosh, Wis.), June 7, 1897; The Galveston Daily News, June 9, 1897, and other newspapers throughout the U.S. The rod was described as “a round bar of copper, three feet long, and weighing thirty-nine pounds . . . a common looking man, evidently an angel of the Lord, had brought it to [Schlatter].” Aspen Tribune (Aspen, Colo.), December 3, 1895. The rod is now in the Museum of New Mexico collection. 55. The Milford Mail (Milford, Ind.), August 22, 1901. 56. See David N. Wetzel, The Healer Who Vanished: The Search for America’s Forgotten Messiah, for an intriguing fresh look at the story of Schlatter’s death in Mexico, “tentative” book. This writer is grateful to Mr. Wetzel for his generosity in sharing his extensive research on Francis Schlatter. 57. New York Times, February 10, 1896. Aspen Weekly Times, February 16, 1896. 58. Ibid., January 21, 1897. 59. Salt Lake Herald, January 28, 1897. 60. Alton Evening Telegraph (Alton, Ill.), August 31, 1897. The Milwaukee Journal, August 30, 1897. The Daily Journal (Telluride, Colo.), August 30, 1897. 61. The Denver Evening Post, August 30, 1897. The Omaha Daily Bee, September 3, 1897. Alton Evening Telegraph, August 31, 1897. 62. Alton Evening Telegraph, August 31, 1897. 63. Rocky Mountain News, August 31, 1897. “Ducking” was a form of torture used in the Middle Ages. It involved strapping the victim to a chair that was attached to board that could be lowered into a river or lake—a sort of waterboarding for its day. 64. Chicago Tribune, August 31, 1897. 65. Ibid., September 1, 1897. Official Proceedings of the Cleveland Medical Society, September 10, 1897.

390 • MARKETING A MESSIAH 66. Chicago Tribune, September 9, 1897. 67. Trenton Evening Times (Trenton, N.J.), March 26, 1897. 68. Ibid., March 29, 1897. 69. Ibid., April 3, 1897. 70. Syracuse Evening Herald (Syracuse, N.Y.), February 4, 1898. 71. Perry Daily Chief (Perry, Iowa), May 12, 1898. 72. Chicago Tribune, May 15, 1898. 73. San Francisco Call, April 22, 1899. Sandusky Star (Sandusky, Ohio), December 6, 1899. 74. San Francisco Call, April 22, 1899. Ibid., October 29, 1900. 75. New York Times, January 30, 1899. 76. San Francisco Call, April 22, 1899. 77. St. Paul Globe, September 13, 1900. 78. San Francisco Call, October 25, 1900. 79. Ibid., March 11, 1901. San Francisco Chronicle, March 11, 1901. Ibid., March 12, 1901. 80. Anaconda Standard (Anaconda, Mont.), March 21, 1901. 81. Ibid., March 22, 1901. 82. Ibid., March 23, 1901 and July 19, 1901. 83. Logansport Pharos (Logansport, Ind.), September 19, 1903; September 18, 1903. 84. Ibid., October 23, 1905. 85. Oshkosh Daily Northwestern, January 27, 1906. 86. Elyria Evening Telegram (Elyria, Ohio), June 15, 1908. 87. New York Tribune, June 28, 1909; Washington Post, June 28, 1909. 88. Probate Records, in the matter of Charles McLean, deceased. Adams County (Nebraska) Historical Society. New York Tribune, October 22, 1909. San Francisco Call, October 22, 1909. Emphasis added. 89. The Times Dispatch, October 22, 1909. 90. Colorado Springs Gazette, October 23, 1909. Salt Lake Herald, October 23, 1909. 91. Probate Records, Adams County (Nebraska) Historical Society. Nebraska State Journal (Lincoln, Nebr.), October 24, 1909. Hastings Weekly Tribune (Hastings, Nebr.), October 29, 1909. 92. Anaconda Standard, October 23, 1909. Charles McLean, a Scottish immigrant to the U.S. in 1871, born on the Isle of Mull, was described as having a “highly respectable appearance, suave manners, and a decidedly clerical appearance.” He “represented himself as an ordained minister, deceiving the Presbytery of Ohio until his “immoral conduct [of] the vilest nature . . . so intensely excited the people of [Cincinnati] Ohio that had he returned to that city the prison would scarcely have saved his bones.” McLean went to Philadelphia in 1875, “with excellent credentials” as a Baptist preacher. He attained

BLEVINS • 391 popularity and a license from the Philadelphia Presbytery in July, but “soon scandalised the neighbourhood by his immoral propensities.” His license was revoked in Philadelphia and he masqueraded as a minister in Missouri and other locations in the U.S. McLean returned to Scotland, appearing in Glasgow in 1878 (The Leeds Mercury, September 3, 1888. Birmingham Daily Post, September 3, 1888). In 1879, McLean was “deposed at a meeting of the Glasgow Presbytery of the United Original Seceders for having officiated as the minister of the Baptist congregation at Coatbridge, near Glasgow” (Chicago Tribune, December 14, 1879). McLean claimed medical credentials and was issued a physician’s license on March 13, 1883, by the Illinois State Board of Health (Chicago Tribune, December 14, 1885). McLean was dismissed from the Union Tabernacle Church in New York in June 1884, and he arrived in Chicago in late 1884, and was admitted to the First Congregational Church. It was not until later that they learned that “he was a worthless character” (Chicago Tribune, December 14, 1885). The Illinois State Board of Health took action against McLean in mid-April 1885, charging him “with unprofessional and dishonorable conduct.” McLean claimed to be the president of Dr. McLean’s Medical Institute for Female Diseases, at 182 West Madison Street, in Chicago. He purportedly could successfully teach phrenology and mesmerism, and had a “new developer for delicate ladies [that] never fails to strengthen the chest, develop the bust, and beautify the complexion” (Chicago Medical Journal and Examiner, Vol. LI, June to December 1885, 87. Chicago Tribune, December 14, 1885). McLean was also charged with attempting to blackmail a female patient seeking his medical treatment. She “established the fact of grossly indecent solicitations and practice on the part of said McLean.” He was charged with grossly immoral conduct and with “obtaining money under false pretenses.” McLean was arrested and jailed for this, but was released after refunding the money. He disappeared after his release from jail. The Board of Heath revoked McLean’s medical license on April 16 (Chicago Tribune, December 14, 1885). By June 1885, McLean was again preaching at the First Presbyterian church in Minneapolis, Minnesota (St. Paul Daily Globe, June 7, 1885). Later that year he was with the Ninth Street Presbyterian church, but he was accused of an inappropriate relationship with Lily Mitchell at the boarding house where they both rented rooms, located at 74 Iglehart Street (St. Paul Daily Globe, November 20, 1885). After hearing all of the testimony, the presbytery deliberated for 15 minutes and returned a verdict: “Guilty of all charges.” McLean was expelled from the ministry and the church (St. Paul Daily Globe, December 8, 1885). McLean continued to lecture and took a moral stand against prostitution and the “crimes against

392 • MARKETING A MESSIAH women,” suggesting women might benefit from an understanding of “mesmerism—the art of repelling unworthy influences.” McLean was happy to oblige women by providing them “private instructions in this new method of preserving female virtue” (St. Paul Daily Globe, January 4, 1886). Reverend “Doctor” Charles McLean abruptly disappeared from the U.S. scene. He made his way to Birmingham, in central England, where he practiced medicine and lectured on “Divine healing.” McLean got into trouble when he performed an operation on a 13-year-old Gertrude Paris and he was arrested, charged with indecent assault. Bail and sureties were set at ₤400 and the prosecution was undertaken by the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (Bristol Mercury and Daily Post, August 25, 1888. Birmingham Daily Post, August 31, 1888). Letters in McLean’s possession when he was arrested revealed his intent to identify a woman of adequate means for him to consider for matrimony (Birmingham Daily Post, August 31, 1888; September 3, 1888). Charles McLean was found guilty and sentenced to “five years of penal servitude for indecent assault upon a little girl.” He served his time at Portland Convict Prison, Dorset County, England (The Medical Record, vol. 34, December 29, 1888, 680. 1891 England Census, RG12/1650). McLean's years in a foreign prison allowed him to return to the U.S. and to resume a public life as a lecturer, apparently without concern about the discovery of his previous moral indiscretions in Cincinnati, Philadelphia, Chicago, St. Paul, and other places more than a decade in his past. 93. Chicago Tribune, August 11, 1896. 94. The Galveston Daily News, July 28, 1896. 95. San Francisco Call, May 18, 1904. 96. Logansport Pharos, September 4, 1897. Marriage listed in Ancestry.com, Indiana Marriage Collection, 1800–1941 [database online]. Provo, Utah: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2005. Original data: Henry County, Indiana, Index to Marriage Record 1850–1920 Inclusive Vol., W. P. A., County Clerk’s Office; Book: CC10; Page: 86. 97. San Francisco Call, March 19, 1908. Daisy is living as a “roomer” in Detroit, Michigan, according to the 1900 U.S. Census. She is living in San Francisco in 1910, working as a proof reader for a publishing house. 98. Washington Post, September 11, 1908. 99. Ibid. 100. Oakland Tribune, October 26, 1909. San Francisco Call, October 26, 1909. 101. Oakland Tribune, October 26, 1909. 102. Woonsocket News (Woonsocket R.I.), June 24, 1910.

BLEVINS • 393 103. Washington Post, July 21, 1910. Waterloo Evening Courier, July 21, 1910. 104. Nebraska State Journal, August 30, 1910. Carbondale Daily Free Press (Carbondale, Ill.), September 15, 1910. Elyria Evening Telegram, October 27, 1910. 105. Oakland Tribune, May 5, 1911 and December 30, 1911. 106. Van Nuys News and The Van Nuys Call (Van Nuys, Calif.), February 9, 1912. Van Nuys News, February 16, 1912. Oakland Tribune, May 21, 1912. 107. Oakland Tribune, September 5, 1913. San Francisco Chronicle, February 22, 1914. Oakland Tribune, March 7, 1914. 108. Salt Lake Tribune, May 28, 1916. Atlanta Constitution, June 14, 1916. 109. Eau Claire Leader (Eau Claire, Wis.), February 14, 1917. Oakland Tribune, February 18, 1917. 110. Reno Evening Gazette, February 28, 1917. Albany Evening Journal, March 14, 1917. The Illustrated Buffalo Express, March 11, 1917. 111. Records from the Department of Justice. Office of the Superintendent of Prisons. U.S. Penitentiary, McNeil Island, Inmate Case Files (1899–1920), box 42, National Archives and Records Administration, Record Group 129. U.S. Census, 1900, New York, Westchester White Plains. The Home for Destitute Children was investigated in 1905 and poor conditions were found, see “Report of Investigation into the Affairs and Management of ‘The Westchester Temporary Home for Destitute Children,’” Annual Report of the State Board of Charities for the Year 1905 (Albany: Brandow Printing Company, 1906), 541–550. 112. Denver Evening Post, November 18, 1895. 113. Saint Paul Globe, November 29, 1896. The article states that Comer was born in Pine Level, Alabama, a widow, with one child. 114. New York Times, June 9, 1897. 115. Salt Lake Herald, August 6, 1897. 116. Ohio State Journal (Columbus, Ohio), April 23, 1921. The location in the newspaper text incorrectly states “Tullman, Ala.” Luverna is listed as a widow, husband John, living in Chicago (The Lakeside Annual Directory of the City of Chicago (Chicago: The Chicago Directory Company, 1897), 473. Also found employed as a teacher in Washington, D.C. (Boyd’s Directory of the District of Columbia [Washington, D.C.: William H. Boyd, 1897], 311). Married Francis Schlatter, living in Kokomo City, Indiana, in 1900, with 15-year-old son Guy William Comer. Both Francis and Luverna are divine healers. The 1900 census shows Francis born in Germany during April 1856, and being an alien who immigrated to the U.S. in 1884. The birth and

394 • MARKETING A MESSIAH immigration years match those of the Denver Schlatter (12th Census of the United States, 1900, Indiana, Howard, Kokomo City, A3). 117. George F. Shrady, ed., Medical Record, A Weekly Journal of Medicine and Surgery, March 30, 1901, 500. 118. Utica Observer, February 3, 1903. 119. Schlatter scholar David N. Wetzel’s “tentative” book, The Healer Who Vanished: The Search for America’s Forgotten Messiah, promises to fill this gap with vivid detail. 120. The Washington Law Reporter, vol. XXX, 67. Box Butte County [Nebraska] Marriage Book D. 121. 14th Census of the United States, 1920, Illinois, Kankakee, Kankakee, 35A. 122. Ibid., Illinois, Cook, Chicago, 3B. 123. Ancestry.com, World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917–1918 [database on-line]. Provo, Utah: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2005, September 12, 1918. 124. Ohio State Journal, April 23, 1921. 125. Letter to U.S. Attorney General H. N. Daugherty (Harry Micajah Daugherty [Republican from Ohio]) from Luverna Comer Schlatter, August 8, 1921, Investigative Reports of the Bureau of Investigation 1908–1922, Bureau Section Files, 1909–1921, Case No. 217862, National Archives and Records Administration, M1085. 126. Salt Lake Tribune, July 12, 1922. Oakland Tribune, October 17, 1922. 127. Lincoln State Journal, October 17, 1922. 128. Moberly Monitor-Index (Moberly, Mo.), October 18, 1922. Salt Lake Tribune, October 18, 1922. 129. Missouri State Board of Health, Bureau of Vital Statistics, Certificate of Death, No. 30038, Francis Schlatter, October 18, 1922. 130. Amarillo Daily News, April 21, 1945. Luverna Schlatter appears in the 1930 U.S. Census living in Miamisburg, Ohio, with her brotherin-law Thomas William Martin. Luverna died on April 27, 1932 (Ancestry.com, Cook County, Illinois Death Index, 1908–1988, [database on-line]. Provo, Utah, file no. 6012067).

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Francis Schlatter, “The Healer,” October 1895. William A. White photograph, courtesy Edwin and Nancy Bathke.

Shepard’s Citations, Inc., ca. 1950s, was one of the first national companies to establish a headquarters in Colorado Springs. Shepard’s Citations started business in Chicago in 1873, moved to New York in 1900, and relocated to Colorado Springs in 1946. The company published court decisions for all U.S. states, including case law, constitution and statutory law. Shepard’s Citations was acquired by McGraw-Hill in 1966, then by Reed Elsevier in 1998, and is now operated as part of LexisNexis. LexisNexis is a global provider of legal information via the Internet, with offices world-wide and in Colorado Springs. Stewarts Commercial Photographers, Special Collections, Pikes Peak Library District, (013-1012).

Selected Bibliography of Materials in Special Collections, Pikes Peak Library District Ball, Charles E. Building the Beef Industry: A Century of Commitment.

Denver: National Cattlemen’s Foundation; Saratoga, Wyo.: Prepared for publication by The Saratoga Pub. Group, 1998.

Baum, Dan. Citizen Coors: An American Dynasty. New York: William Morrow, 2000. Barrett, Daniel and Beth R. High Drama: Colorado’s Historic Theatres. Montrose, Colo.: Western Reflections Publishing Co., 2005. Bundles, A’Lelia Perry. On Her Own Ground: The Life and Times of Madam C. J. Walker. New York: Scribner, 2001. Caryl, Charles W. The New Era Union: A Plan to Help Develop and Utilize the Best Resources of This Country: Also to Employ the Best Skill There is Available to Realize the Highest Degree of Prosperity That is Possible for All Who Will Help to Attain it: Based on Practical and Successful Business Methods. Denver, Colo.: Chas. W. Caryl, 1897. Chapman, Arthur. The Pony Express; The Record of a Romantic Adventure in Business. Denver: Chas. W. Caryl, 1897. Cloud, Barbara Lee. The Business of Newspapers on the Western Frontier. Reno: University of Nevada Press, 1992. Colorado State Business Directory 1854–1954. Microform. Copeland, James. CF & I Coal Mines & Coke Ovens: A History. Pueblo, Colo.: Bessemer Historical Society, 2008. Crampson, L. J. and Fred W. Ellinghaus. The Pikes Peak Region Industrial Survey / By Prepared For The Colorado Springs Chamber Of Commerce. Boulder: Univ. of Colo. Bureau of Business Research, 1954. Crews-Beggs Dry Goods Company. The Crews-Beggs Co. Mail Order Catalog. Pueblo, Colo.: The Company, 1922. Dary, David. Entrepreneurs of the Old West. New York: Knopf, Distributed by Random House, 1986. Durham, Sarah. Brandraising: How Nonprofits Raise Visibility and Money Through Smart Communications. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2010. Edwards, Daniel W. A Painter, an Investor, and a Journalist at EarlyDay Palmer Lake. Palmer Lake, Colo.: The Palmer Lake Historical Society (Occasional Paper; no. 2), 2010. • 397 •

398 • BIBLIOGRAPHY Ewing, Sherm. The Ranch: A Modern History of the North American Cattle Industry. Missoula: Mountain Press Pub. Co., 1995. Fredriksson, Kristine. American Rodeo: From Buffalo Bill to Big Business. College Station: Texas A & M University Press, 1985. Gardner, Mark L. In the Shadow of Pike’s Peak: An Illustrated History of Colorado Springs. Carlsbad, Calif.: Heritage Media Corp., 1999. Gregg, Josiah. A Reprint Edition of Commerce of the Prairies. Dallas, Tex.: Southwest Press, 1933. Halaas, Eugene Trygve. The Banking Structure in Colorado: Historic Developments and Recent Changes. Denver: Division of Research, College of Business Administration, University of Denver, 1969. Haller, Charles R. German-American Business Biographies: High Finance and Big Business. Asheville, N.C.: Money Tree Imprints, 2001. Hinckley, Ted C., ed. Business Entrepreneurs in the West. Manhattan, Kans.: Sunflower University Press, 1986. Johnson, Forrest Hall. Denver’s Old Theater Row; The Story of Curtis Street and Its Glamorous Show Business. Denver, Printed by B. Lay, Litho, 1970. Kendall, Wilson D. A Brief Economic History of Colorado; Prepared for the Demography Section, Colorado Department of Local Affairs. Denver: Center for Business and Economic Forecasting, Inc., 2002. Kerr, K. Austin. Local Businesses: Exploring Their History. Nashville: American Association for State and Local History, 1990. Kint, Lila. Constructors of Colorado: The History of Heavy Construction in Colorado as Seen by the People Who Made It. Denver: The Colorado Contractors Association, 1980. Long, Priscilla. Where the Sun Never Shines: A History of America’s Bloody Coal Industry. New York: Paragon House, 1989. Norris, Scott, ed. Discovered Country: Tourism and Survival in the American West. Albuquerque: Stone Ladder Press, 1994. Penrose, Charles B. The Rustler Business. Douglas, Wyo.: Douglas Budget, 1959. Peterson, Richard H. The Bonanza Kings: The Social Origins and Business Behavior of Western Mining Entrepreneurs, 1870–1900. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1977.

BIBLIOGRAPHY • 399 Preble, Glen R., ed. Impressed In Time: Colorado Beverage Bottles, Jugs & Etc., 1859–1915. Boulder, Colo.: Antique Bottle Collectors of Colorado, Inc., 1987. Pueblo Chamber of Commerce and the Pueblo Library District, comp. A History of Pueblo’s 100 Year Old Businesses and Institutions: Including a Facsimile of the 1880 Business Directory. Pueblo, Colo., 1980. Reich, William L. Colorado Industries of the Past. Boulder, Colo.: Johnson Books, 2008. Richards, George V. Who’s Who in Colorado and Cheyenne, Wyo. vol. 2, 1918–1920: A Directory Devoted To The Prominent Financial, Professional, Business and Club Men and Their Families, Residing in the Twenty-Eight Principal Cities and Towns of Colorado, and Cheyenne, Wyo. Denver: G. V. Richards, [19—?]. Skaggs, Jimmy M. The Cattle-Trailing Industry: Between Supply and Demand, 1866–1890. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1973. Smith, Virginia Field. Women at Work. Denver: Colorado Federation of Business and Professional Women, 1955. Sprague, Marshall. Money Mountain: The Story of Cripple Creek Gold. Boston: Little, Brown, 1953. Tesla, Nikola. Colorado Springs Notes, 1899–1900. Beograd, Yugoslavia: Nolit, 1978. U.S. Department of Labor, Children’s Bureau. Child labor and the Work of Mothers in the Beet Fields of Colorado and Michigan. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1923. Waters, Frank. Midas of the Rockies: The Story of Stratton and Cripple Creek. New York: Covici, Friede, 1937.

400 • BIBLIOGRAPHY Archives Collections Acacia Hotel Corporation Records, 1919–1955, MSS 0059. Minutes, deeds, certificates and bills of sale from the Acacia Hotel Corporation of Colorado Springs, Colorado, from 1919 to 1955. Alexander Industries Records, 1904–1976, MSS 0056. Alexander Film Company was founded by J. Don and Don M. Alexander in Spokane, Washington, in 1919 and moved to Englewood, Colorado, in 1923. With the development and manufacture of the Eaglerock airplane, the brothers also founded Alexander Aircraft Company and the corporate name of Alexander Industries was adopted in 1924. Both the film and airplane companies were included in the corporation. In 1928, the corporation was moved to Colorado Springs after fire destroyed the Englewood plant. The corporation was dissolved in 1932 when the airplane firm filed for bankruptcy, leaving the Alexander Film Company as a single firm incorporated under Delaware corporate laws. The collection contains the correspondence of J. Don Alexander from 1921 to 1945, the bulk of the material falling between 1921 and 1932. Also included within the collection are photographs, magazine articles, clippings, scrapbooks and miscellaneous papers covering the period from 1904 to 1976, and publications and promotional materials related to the Alexander business endeavors during the period from the 1920s to the 1950s. Antler’s Hotel Scrapbook, 1903–1984, MSS 0255. This scrapbook includes interior and exterior photographs, postcards, menus, clippings, ephemera, press releases, and newsletters all relating to the Antlers Hotel in Colorado Springs, Colorado. There is also information regarding the Summer Collage at the Chase Stone Center. Banning-Lewis Ranches Records, 1884–2001 (bulk 1922–1973), MSS 0098. Personal papers of Ruth Banning Lewis and her husband, Raymond Lewis, and business records from their livestock ranching operation, the Banning-Lewis Ranches. Correspondence, financial records, scrapbooks, clippings, photographs, and subject files, largely concerning the Lewis’s raising of registered Hereford cattle, comprise the bulk of this collection. Also included are a small number of materials concerning Raymond’s second wife, Carla Dines Lewis, and plans, starting in the 1980s, for the development of the ranch property. Albert E. Carlton-William K. Gillett Correspondence, 1896–1916 (bulk 1896–1902), MSS 0166. Correspondence consisting primarily of

BIBLIOGRAPHY • 401 letters, memos, and telegrams between Albert E. Carlton of the Colorado Trading and Transfer Company and William K. Gillett of the Midland Terminal Railway Company largely concerning railway and trading company business in what is now Teller County and El Paso County, Colorado. Items date from December, 1896 to May, 1916, with the bulk of the correspondence occurring between 1896 and 1902. Cliff House Records, 1872–1950, MSS 0298. In 1873, two Canadians, named Shurtleff and Webster, built an inn, later to become known as the Cliff House, on Canon Avenue in Manitou Springs. The doors first opened June 10, 1874 with fifty-seven rooms and a lavish opening reception. Edward Erastus Nichols and his wife Anne, both from New York, purchased the inn from brothers Thomas and Frederick Keener in 1880 for $14,500, and renamed it The Cliff House. Guests enjoyed evening concerts, formal dinners, dances, bottled mineral water, and excursions to nearby attractions. Correspondence, guest transfer registers, registration books, and financial documentation document the Cliff House from 1872 to 1950. Colorado Springs Company Records, 1866–1977, MSS 0073. Twenty-five bound volumes of records including minute books, deed books, stock certificate books, journals, and ledgers of the Colorado Springs Company and affiliated organizations such as the Antlers Hotel Company and the National Land and Improvement Company. The bulk of these records date from the 1870s to the 1950s and document the founding of Colorado Springs, Colorado, including information about land sales and the establishment of businesses in the town. First National Bank of Cripple Creek Records, 1893–1966 (bulk 19001928), MSS 0301. Correspondence, financial documentation, legal documentation, reports, minutes, and assorted documentation from 1893 to 1666 highlight the financial working of the First National Bank of Cripple Creek and Albert Eugene Carlton’s influence in mining companies and other business ventures in the city of Cripple Creek, Colorado, and throughout the United States. H&H Printing Company, 1910–1986, MSS 0295. Job files, financial documentation, photographs, orders, layouts, samples, and artifacts document the history of H & H Printing Company, founded by Charles James Haase in 1909. The majority of the collection includes customer files for local businesses and organizations.

402 • BIBLIOGRAPHY James John Hagerman Papers, 1838–1909, CU 11. Correspondence, typescripts and sketches by and about James John Hagerman. Memoirs of James John Hagerman were written for his sons. Also included are letters copied from letter press copies of his longhand confidential business letters.; a “statement of facts” typescript copy of a privately printed pamphlet written by Hagerman presents his side of a controversy with Jerome B. Wheeler; a biographical sketch of James John Hagerman; The Colorado Midland address by Percy Hagerman to the Kiwanis Club of Colorado Springs; business letters written by Hagerman to his business associates at the time of the sale of the Midland to the AT&SF; and a typescript copy of a letter from Percy Hagerman to J. Evetts Haley, in 1934, discusses the building and financing of the Pecos Valley Railroad. Overlook Mutual Water Company Records, 1918–1966, MSS 0297. The Overlook Mutual Water Company Records of minutes, correspondence, financial documentation, legal documentation, and maps document the development of a privately owned water company on Cheyenne Mountain from 1918 to 1996. The Overlook Mutual Water Company was incorporated on April 20, 1918, as a mutual non-profit organization providing water to residents on Cheyenne Mountain. The water source is located inside the Little Suzie Lode mineshaft on Cheyenne Mountain. Initial distribution of the water started along McKay Road. By 1986, distribution expanded to McKay, Margaret, and Overlook Roads. Spotlight Publications Records, 1980–1984, MSS 0312. Case files, photos, printer’s paste-ups, and one publication highlight businesses and institutions in Colorado Springs in the early 1980s through the publication of the First Catalogue: Colorado Springs and The Pikes Peak Region: The Selective Guide to Good Living. The text was published in 1983, by Spotlight Publications in Aurora, Colorado. The principal writer was Charles Bennett, a former editor of the Colorado Springs Sun. H. Chase (Henry Chase) Stone Papers, 1900–1966, MSS 0051. Records produced by, collected by, or relating to Henry Chase Stone, a prominent businessman of Colorado Springs, Colorado, and a veteran of World Wars I and II. Included in this collection are correspondence, photographs, awards, clippings and other materials documenting portions of Stone’s life and activities. Chase Stone moved to the Colorado Springs area in 1924 to receive treatment for tuberculosis at Cragmor Sanatorium. In 1928, he entered local business as the director of the Pikes Peak Flying

BIBLIOGRAPHY • 403 School. Stone joined the First National Bank of Colorado Springs in 1935 and was named its president in 1951, a position he held until his death in 1966. Throughout his time in Colorado Springs, Stone was actively involved in numerous civic organizations, often as an officer or member of the board. The bulk of this collection dates from 1917, when Stone enlisted in the U.S. Navy, to 1946, when he resigned his commission as head of the Recruitment and Manning Organization of the War Shipping Administration. Gordon Sweet Collection, 1925–1960, MSS 0044. Architectural drawings, reference files, and photographic materials dating from 1925– 1960, collected by architect C. Gordon Sweet (1907-1970). Sweet moved to Colorado Springs in 1945 and became a partner at the Colorado Springs architecture firm Thomas and Sweet in 1946. Photographic materials depict architectural works including churches, schools, stores, and residences in the Pikes Peak region, greater Colorado, and New Mexico. Vollmer Brothers Records, 1918–1920, MSS 0169. Business records, including correspondence and product orders, from Vollmer Brothers, a Colorado Springs-based Ford automobile dealer and distributor of Fordson Tractors and other agricultural equipment doing business in southern Colorado and northern New Mexico. The dealership was founded in 1913 by brothers Cornelius (Neil) J. and Paul F. Vollmer and remained in business until its sale to Doenges Motor Company in 1945.

“Workers on the assembly line of the Western Division, Clifton Precision Products company put together a rotary component called a synchro. The highly industrial region around Pikes Peak lists skilled workers as its most important ‘natural resource,’” ca. 1965, Colorado Springs. A synchro is a device used to convert electrical impulses to mechanical energy, and vice versa. The products made by Clifton Precision were used in commercial aircraft, computers and in the space program. Special Collections, Pikes Peak Library District, (001-5627).

INDEX 11th Indiana Infantry, 43 50th Space Wing, 196 400 Club (social org.), 327, 328 Acacia Park, 346, 347 photo of, 336 Ackerman, Jasper, 309 Adams, George, 310 Advertising, 30, 363 Aerobee rocket, 187 Aero Club of America, 170 Aero Craft Construction Co., 173 Aero-cycles, 168–169 Aerogel, 192 “Aeronautics & Astronautics: Pioneering Air & Space Business in the Pikes Peak Region” by Rick W. Sturdevant, 165–211 Aerospace technology, 165–211 workers, 200 African Americans Colo. Springs, 297–335 Agricultural College of Colorado, 41 Ainsworth, Elma, 78 Ainsworth & Sons, 79 photo of balance, 79 Ainsworth, William, 78 photo of business card, 78 Aircoupe (aircraft), 186 Aircraft Interior Products, 183 Aircraft Mechanics, Inc., 183 Air Force Satellite Communication System, 196 Air Force Satellite Control Network, 196 Air Force Space Command, 195–196, 199, 200 Airmail, 183–184 Air pump governor, 51–52

Akin, A. I., 91 Alcoholism, 324 Aldridge, R. P. family, 298 Alexander Aircraft Co., 180–183 bankruptcy, 182 fire, 182 photo of buildings, 182 Alexander, Don, 180 Alexander Film Co., 180, 348 Alexander Industries, 166–167 Alexander, Julian, 180 Algard, Augustus “Gus,” 381 arrested, 381 All Pikes Peak Reads, 1 Alta Vista Hotel, 142, 219–220 Altman, Samuel I., 22 Amarillo Chamber of Comm., 123 Amarillo Motor Club, 123 Amarillo (Tex.), 123 Ambrose, Eliza Ann (Root), 20 Ambrose, Joshua E., 20–21 Ambrose, Miss P. (Johnson), 20 Ambrose, Sarah (Tennant), 20 American innovation, 152 American Assoc. of State Highway Officials, 138–139 American Automobile Assoc., 124 American Beet Sugar Co., 237 American folk dance Edwards &, 346 Shaw &, 343–346 American Inst. of Mining & Metallurgical Engineers, 90, 92 American Inst. of Mining Engineers, 71, 82, 88 American-Marietta Co., 189

• 405 •

406 • INDEX American Mining Congress, 90 Ammons, Elias M., 121, 134 Anaconda Copper Mining Co., 73 Anaconda Mine, 280 Andell & Lowe Transfer Co., 219 Anderson, Emily, ii, 19 Andrews, Ervin, 330 Anti-miscegenation laws, 313 Antlers Hotel, 219, 301 fire, 157 photo of, 163 Archival research, 288–290 Archives processing, 270 Ardmore (Okla.), 136 Armstrong, Louis, 317, 319 Arsdale, George Van, 174 Aspen (Colo.) fences, 235 Aspen Mining District, 72 Assaying, 252 Astronomical observatory, 187 Atchison, John, 282 Atchison Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad, 359–360 Atkinson, George W., 140 Atkinson, James W., 119, 140 Atlas (rockets), 190 Auld, Charles, 223 Austin Chamber of Comm., 134 Austin (Tex.), 134 Automobiles, 90–91. See also automobile maker accidents, 91, 122, 125, 135 camping, 223–224 electric, 90 first woman to own an automobile in Denver, 91 Pikes Peak region, 213–227 registrations, 215, 223 safety lock for autos, 92

Sociability Tour of 1914, 115–147 state highway dept., 215 travel, 218 Aviation & pilots, 165–211 airmail, 183–184 flying schools, 184 meet, 175–176 military aircraft, 179 Bag holder, 41–42 Bailey, J. C., 68 Bainbridge, A. W., 278 Bainbridge, William, 278 Balanced Rock photo of, 220 Baldwin, Cora, 22 Baldwin, Gertrude, 22 Baldwin, Grace, 22 Baldwin, Harry, 22 Baldwin, Ivy. See Ivy, William Baldwin, James, 22 Baldwin, Moses M., 21–24 photo of, 23 Baldwin, Sarah, 22, 24 Baldwin, Thomas S., 169 Bale, Mrs. E. C., 42 Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., 188, 191, 193 Ball Brothers Glass Manufacturing Co., 188 Ball Brothers Research Corp., 188 Balloons, 169–172 photo of, 171 “Ballroom & the Barn: Dr. Lloyd Shaw, Dean Edwards & the Western Square Dance Revival in Colorado Springs” by Traci West, 337–357 Banking, 269–295 character summations, 286–287 communication in code, 284–285

INDEX • 407 debt collection, 286 forgery, 285 overdue loan, 284 practices, 282–287 Bank of Victor, 275 Banks, Charles, 300 Banks, John, 300 Banta, Buford A., 119, 136, 138, 140 Baptist Church Inc., 381 Barbee Iron Works, 232–233 Barlow, John Perry, 199 Barnes, J. R., 370 Barrett, Beth R., 267 “From Prize-Fights to Shakespeare: Traveling Entertainers in the Pikes Peak Region,” 259–267 Barrett, Lawrence, 259 Barrymore, Ethel, 265 Basie, Count, 319 Beals, Harriet, 330 Beals, Ted, 330 Bean puller, 67–68 Bell, Ed, 275–276 Bell, William, 153, 154 Bernhardt, Sarah, 263 Bernier, Amede B., 24–26 Beroni, Pete, 321 Bicycle riding, 50 photo of Palmer, 148 Bi-Metallic Bank, 282 Bingo Jack’s, 298 BioServe Space Technologies, 200 Birth Defects Research Clinic, 327 Black Forest Soaring Society, 167 Black, Madalyne, 384 Blair, Frank P., 170 Blake, Caroline, 26 Blake, Cornelia (Davis), 27 Blake, Henry T., 26–28

drawing of, 27 Blake, Josephine, 28 Blake, Miss. (Austin), 27 Blake, Percy, 28 Blanchard, Jerome B., 168 Blanche Gold Mining Co., 273 Blevins, Tim, 386 “Marketing a Messiah: Denver’s Divine Healer & His Inspiration of Entrepreneurs,” 359–395 Block II (satellite), 197 Board of Trade, 30 Boeing Co., 190 Booth, Edwin, 259 Born, Gary “Burner,” 170 Boston (Mass.) divine healing in, 372 Bowersox, Winfield E., 177–179 photo of, 178 Boyd, George A., 119, 140 Bradley, J. F., 214 Bradshaw, Gerald H., 330 Bradshaw, James Monroe, 40, 41–42 Brady, C. E., 279 Bragg, Allie, 302 Bragg, Asie Lee, 297 Bragg, Beatrice, 307 Bragg, Cornelius, 297, 299, 311 photo of, 310 Bragg, Early, 299 Bragg, Frances, 297–298 Bragg, Gregory, 326 Bragg, Herbert, 298–299 Bragg, Herbert (Jr.), 297 Bragg, Honey, 299 Bragg, Jesse, 299, 302, 317 Bragg, Johnny, 297, 298 Bragg, Lenwood, 297 Bragg, Mattie (Brinson), 297, 298, 299–300, 301–302 photo of, 299

408 • INDEX Bragg, Nellie photo of, 310 Bragg, Odessa, 307 Bragg, Vernon, 297, 298 Bridgeport Brass Co., 21 Broadmoor Hotel, 217–218, 225, 304, 327 photo of, 218 Brooklyn (N.Y.) divine healing in, 372 Brook, William A., 22 Brown, Ainsworth, 29–31 Brown, Alfred, 349 Brown, Alison, 197 Brown, Benjamin B., 119 Brown, H., 214 Brown, Lucy Ellen (Wise), 29 Brown, Luella, 29 Bruce, Irvin B. “Dad,” 318, 320, 330 Brumback, Newton N., 119, 127, 140 Brunton, Agnes, 68 Brunton Co., 94 Brunton, David William, 65–103 Anaconda Co., 73 in Aspen, 72–73 automatic feed box, 66 automatic ore sampler, 71 automobile enthusiast, 90–91 balanced camshaft, 70 bean puller, 67–68 Brunton & Taylor Milling Co., 70 Brunton’s railing, 68 car accident, 91 childhood, 66 Colonel Sellars Mine, 70 Cowenhoven Mining, Tunnel, & Drainage Co., 87 Denver home, 71 Elm Orlu-Black Rock lawsuit, 74–77

engineer for Dakota & San Juan Mining Co., 69 geological mapping, 73 hay unloader, 67 in Leadville, 70 luminous dial for military transits, 86 metallurgist, 69 mining litigation, 72, 74 mining tunnels, 87 ore sampling machine, 71 ornamental railing for bridge drawings, 68 photo of, 64 Pocket Transit, 65, 76–81, 83, 93–94 round timber framing machine, 75 Saunders mining medal, 92 self-cleaning plow coulter, 67 self-emptying water bucket, 67 self-opening farm gate, 67 Telford Prize, 87 treatment of roasted ores, 70 Univ. of Michigan, 68–69 vein modeling techniques, 74 wagon bolt, 67 wheel plow, 67 wooden framing of mines, 75 World War I, 82–87 Brunton, Fred, 72 Brunton, Harold, 72 Brunton, Jack, 71–72 Brunton, James, 68 Brunton, J. Dickinson, 66 Brunton, Katherine (Kemble), 71 first woman to own an automobile in Denver, 91 Brunton, Marion, 72 Brunton Pocket Transit, 65, 76–81, 83, 93–94 photo of, 64, 77, 80 Brunton’s railing, 68

INDEX • 409 Brunton & Taylor Milling Co., 70 Bryan (Tex.), 128 Buck Aircraft & Munitions Co., 174 Buck, Frederick W., 174 Buick Bearcat (automobile), 214 Bullet (monoplane), 182 drawing of, 164 Bullock, Hattie, 300 “Bumps in the Road: The Spirit of Enterprise & the Sociability Tour of 1914” by Katie Rudolph, 115–147 Bureau of Mines, Colo., 281, 282 Burial apparatus, 38–40 patent drawing, 39 Burlesque, 260 Burns, James F. “Jimmy,” 264 Burns Theatre, 264–265 illust. of seating chart, 258 photo of, 264 Burris, Mr., 283 Business League of Waco, 127 Butler, Horace, 330 Butte (Mont.) divine healing in, 373–374 Caan, James, 348 Cadillac (automobile), 121, 216, 313 California Gulch (Colo.), 70 California Lamp. Co. photo of mermaid coffee table, 318 Calves, device for weaning, 40–41 Camille (play), 262–263 Camp Carson (Colo.), 305 Post Exchange, 305 Camping, 223–224 Campion, John collection, 89 Canadian Niagara Power Co., 110

Canadian River (N.Mex.), 120 Canadian River (Tex.), 120, 123 Candlestick, miner’s, 26 Canton (Ohio) divine healing in, 383 Carlton, Albert Eugene, 269–295 alimony, 273 charged, 277 illust. of letter from, 286 jury tampering, 273 photo of, 268 Carlton, Amelia (Lewis), 272 Carlton, Ethel (Frizzell), 273, 282 Carlton, Eva J. (Stanton), 273 Carlton, Horace, 272 Carlton, Leslie, 270–271, 286 Carnegie, Andrew, 152, 372 Carr, Davis photo of, 296 Casas Grandes (Chi., Mex.), 375 Cascade Mountain Mining Co., 47 Castelton, Kate, 45 Celebrities, 305, 317, 319, 322– 323, 327 Cellini, Benvenuto, 263 Central Colorado Improvement Co., 154 Central Philadelphia High School, 150 Challenger (Space Shuttle), 195 Charlton, Selena (Bragg), 297, 301, 321–322 photo of, 312, 323 “Chasing the American Dream: Fannie Mae Duncan & the Cotton Club” by Kathleen F. Esmiol, 297–335 Cherry Pit Barbecue, 311, 312 Cheyenne Mountain (Colo.), 194–195, 222 Cheyenne Mountain Dancers, 345

410 • INDEX Cheyenne Mountain School, 341–343 Five Dollar Ford Club, 342 glider club, 342–343 physical activities, 342 Chicago Grand Opera Co., 265 Chicago (Ill.) divine healing in, 369–370 Childress, Gladys, 302 Childress (Tex.), 124 Christian Catholic Apostolic Church, 377 Church, Virginia C., ii Citizens’ Alliance, 274, 275 City Bank of Victor, 271, 273 City Hall Theater, 261 Civil rights, 300. See also Segregation Civil Rights Movement, 328, 329 Clarendon (Tex.), 124 photo in, 125 Clark, Joseph, 285 Clark, William Andrews, 73 Clayton (N.Mex.), 122 Cleaveland Fence Co., 234 Cleveland (Ohio) divine healing in, 383 Clifton Precision Products Co. photo of, 404 Climate Colorado, 105–107 Climax (Colo.), 187 Climax Observatory, 187 Coal Palmer &, 154 Coasters, The, 319 Cochran, H. L., 369 Code communication in, 284–285 illust. of telegram, 284 McNeill’s, 285 Colbert, Todd, 302 Collins, Stephen, ii

Colonel Sellars Mine, 70 Colorado climate, 105–107 described, 106–107 Colorado Airways Inc., 183 Colorado Automobile Club, 90 Colorado City (Colo.) fences, 233 Colorado Coal & Iron Co., 154 Colorado Coal & Steel Works Co., 154 Colorado College, 157 Tutt Library Special Collections, 288 Colorado Fuel & Iron Co., 154 photo of, 155 Colorado Humanities, ii Colorado Labor Wars, 271, 274–279 Colorado Midland Railway, 51, 213, 259 photo of, 260 Colorado National Guard, 274 Colorado School for the Deaf & Blind, 157, 349, 361–362 Colorado School of Mines, 89, 252–253 Colorado Scientific Soc., 89 Colorado Springs Century Chest, 40 Colorado Springs Chamber of Comm., 118. See also Sociability Tour Colorado Springs City Auditorium, 327 illust. of, 266 Colorado Springs Civil Air Patrol, 184 Colorado Springs Co., 154 Colorado Springs (Colo.) African Americans, 297–335 cottonwoods, 157 demographics, 300, 305

INDEX • 411 described, 105, 157 downtown, 301 hotels, 219, 221 integration of, 297–335 Monument Valley Park, 243–257 North End, 300 North End fences, 233 Palmer’s plan, 155 Westside, 302 Colorado Springs Dental Soc., 31 Colorado Springs Electric Co., 105 Colorado Springs High School, 302, 342 basketball, 303 Colorado Springs Hotel, 27 Colorado Springs Opera House, 29, 261, 264 photo of, 262 Colorado Springs Park & Recreation Dept., 245 Colorado Springs Pioneers Museum, ii, 288 Colorado Springs Rapid Transit Co., 35 Colorado Springs Sickle Cell Assoc., 329 Colorado Springs Urban Renewal Effort, 330 Colorado Springs Volunteer Fire Dept., 45 Colorado State Square Dance Festival, 355 Colorado Supreme Court, 280 Colorado-to-the-Gulf Highway, 115–116 map of planned tour route, 114 Sociability Tour route, 117–118 Colorado-to-the-Gulf Highway Assoc., 115 Colorado-to-the-Gulf Sociability Tour. See Sociability Tour

Colorado Trading & Transfer Co., 271, 272, 288 Colquitt, Oscar Branch, 126, 134 Columbus (Ohio) divine healing in, 384 Combs Aircraft Corp., 184 Combscraft, 184 Combs, Harry, 184 Comer, Guy William, 384, 393 Comer, Guy William (Jr.), 384 Comes a Horseman (film), 348 Comets, 192 Commercial Generic Bioprocessing Apparatus, 200 Communication technology, 165 Company C, 3rd Tennessee Cavalry, 22 Consolidated Space Operations Center, 195 Constellation program, 193 Continental Air Lines, 184 Continental Oil Co., 52 Control Cells, 188 Cook, Frederick A., 379 Cork puller, 43 patent drawing, 44 Corley Mountain Highway, 222 Corrective Optics Space Telescope Axial Replacement, 188 Cottage Home Realty, 52 Cotton Club, 297–335 Everybody Welcome, 319 photo of, 312 photo of singer, 315 Cowboy Dances: A Collection of Western Square Dances by Lloyd Shaw, 344 Cowenhoven Mining, Tunnel, & Drainage Co., 87 Cowenhoven Tunnel, 87 Cresson Consolidated Gold Mining Co., 273

412 • INDEX Cripple Creek Central Railway Co., 273 Cripple Creek (Colo.), 269 cemetery railings, 234 Cripple Creek Drainage Tunnel, 278, 281–282 Cripple Creek Drainage & Tunnel Co., 281 Cripple Creek Mine Owners’ Assoc., 274–275 Cripple Creek Mining District, 270 Crystal County (Colo.) proposed, 22 Crystal Park Mountain Auto Road, 220 Culinary steamer & boiler, 48 Cummins, John, 42 Cundey, William H., 119, 140 Cunningham, J. B., 279 Curtis, Leonard E., 105 Curtiss-Humphreys Airplane Co., 179 Curtiss Oriole (biplane), 179 Cyberspace, 199–200 Daily, Dennis, 19 “El Paso County Inventors & their 19th-Century Patents,” 15–63 Dakota & San Juan Mining Co., 68–69 Dalhart (Tex.), 123 Dallas Automobile Club, 127 Dallas (Tex.), 127 Daly, Marcus, 73 Damon, A. C., 238 Daniels, Josephus, 82 Daugherty, H. N., 384 Davidson Flying Machine Co., 172 Davidson, George L. O., 172 Davis, Dalton, 91 Davis, George O., 369

Davis, John A., 88 Davis, Sammy (Jr.), 305 Day, Everett H., 119, 140 Debs, Eugene V., 277 Decatur (Tex.), 126 photo in, 126 De Fillippe, Dora, 263 Dehner, Christ, 34 De La Vergne, Edward M., 279 DeLongchamps, Joe, 280, 283, 286 Delta (rockets), 190 Dentan Printing Press, 311 Denver Aero Club, 172 Denver City Cable Railway Co., 366 Denver (Colo.), 379 demographics, 367 divine healing in, 360–367 North Denver, 366 Denver & Rio Grande Railway Co., 154, 307 depot, 156–157 depot photo, 157 drawing of alignment over Marshall Pass, 151 Denver Wire & Iron Works, 234 Des Moines (N.Mex.), 122 Detective agencies, 277–278, 285 Dewar’s Detective Agency, 278 Diamonds (musical group), 311, 330 Diaz, Porfirio, 158 Dickinson (Tex.), 129 Diddley, Bo, 319 DigitalGlobe, 194 Discrimination racial, 317, 326 Disruption Tolerant Networking, 200 Divine Catholic Church, 377, 379 Divine Congregational Church, 380–381

INDEX • 413 Divine healers, 359–395 photo of Schlatter healing, 358 Doan, Judge J. Doan’s Grape (photo capt.), 125 Doctor-Jack Pot Mining Co., 271, 273, 276 Doctors quack, 373 Doman, Dave, ii Domino, Fats, 317, 319 Donner, Robert, 184 Douglas Aircraft Co., 183 Douglass, Alice, 308 Douglass Hall, 308 Dowie, James Alexander, 377–380. See also Schlatter, Francis [Kunze] arrested, 380 money, 377 Dowie, John Alexander, 378, 379, 380 photo of, 378 Dream City Vision 2020, 1, 4–13 Arts/Culture/Recreation, Vision Statement, 10 Built Planned Environment, Vision Statement, 12–13 Community Engagement, Vision Statement, 12 Economy, Vision Statement, 7 Education, Vision Statement, 9 Health, Vision Statement, 9 Natural Environment, Vision Statement, 8 participants, 5–7 Public Safety, Vision Statement, 11 Social Wellbeing, Vision Statement, 8 Transportation, Vision Statement, 10–11 Dudley, Charles H., 119, 140 Duel in the Sun (film), 345

Duncan, Donnie, 303 Duncan, Edward Roy, 303–305, 307, 308–309, 312, 313, 315–316 alcoholism, 324 death, 326 photo of, 304 Duncan, Fannie Mae (Bragg), 297–335 born, 298 businesswoman, 306–331 child’s death, 324 Civil Rights Movement, 328, 329 Cotton Club, 315–320 education, 300–304, 328 employment, 305 liquor, 309, 310–311, 324, 325, 329 mansion, 320–321 marriage, 304 philanthropy, 328 photo of, 296, 303, 310, 312, 318, 321, 325 photo of home on N. Corona St., 321 Duncan, Jimmy, 303 Duncan’s Apartments, 317 Duncan’s Cafe & Bar, 309–311 photo of, 310 Duncan, Yvonne Delores, 324 Dunning, William S., 119, 140 Durham, Franklin, 185 Eads, Norris, 280 Eaglerock (biplane), 180, 183 photo of, 181 Earth’s crust (in Colo.) illust. of, 250 EarthWatch Inc., 194 Easter, W. H., 173 Eastwood, Bessie, 300 Eaton, Edwin J., 119, 134, 141 Echo Rocks photo near, 148

414 • INDEX Edison, Thomas A., 83 Edwards, Charles E., 31 Edwards, E. E., 124 Edwards, Maude (McFee), 346 Edwards, Rosamond, 346 Edwards, Roy, 346 Edwards, Verlin, 346 Edwards, William Dean, 337, 338, 346–355 American folk dance, 346 champion caller, 347 Comes a Horseman (film), 348 Fun Finders, 347, 348 music, 352–354 perspective on dance, 350–352 photo of, 347, 350, 353 taught deaf & blind students to square dance, 349 therapeutic use of music, 349 Edwards, William Sanders, 346 Eight Mile Hill (N.Mex.), 122 El Canaleña Mine, 282 Electra oil fields, 124 Electrical energy app. for trans., patent drawing, 113 photo of discharges, 104 transmission of, 105–113 Electric Urban Railway, 135 Elk Hotel illust. of brochure, 222 Elks Club, 33, 311 Elkton Consolidated Mining Co., 273 Ellet, Charles, 150 Ellington, Duke, 317, 319 Elm Orlu-Black Rock lawsuit, 74–75 El Paso Canal, 157 El Paso County, 269–270 geography, 17 El Paso County Beverage Assoc., 329

El Paso County Community College, 328 El Paso County Good Roads Assoc., 214 “El Paso County Inventors & their 19th-Century Patents” by Dennis Daily, 15–63 El Paso County Odontological Society, 31 El Paso Mine, 278 El Paso National Bank of Colorado Springs, 275 Engineering & Research Corp., 185–186 The English Dancing Master: or, Plaine and Easie Rules for the Dancing of Country Dances, with the Tune to Each Dance by John Playford, 338 Entertainers, 259–267 Episcopal Church, 384 Ercoupe, 186 Erickson, Bob, 321 Esmiol, Kathleen F., 332 “Chasing the American Dream: Fannie Mae Duncan & the Cotton Club,” 297–335 Evers, Medgar, 328 Everybody Welcome (festival), 331 Exchange National Bank, 283, 309 Exposition Universelle, 151 Farm equipment, 67 Farming, 41–42 Father Divine’s, 301 Feed box, automatic, 66 Feitz, Leland, 348 Felker, William B., 214 photo of, 212

INDEX • 415 Felts, William B., 166 illust. of, 164, 167 Fences & railings decorative iron, 229–241 Fenix Co., 94 Ferguson, Charles, 23 Fielding, Romaine, 136 Fifth Brigade hurrican of 1915 (photo capt.), 131 Findley Mine, 275 Findley Mines Co., 271, 273, 278 Finlay, George Irving, 246–247 Finley, Judith R., 225 “Hustling the Tourists: Early Automobile Sightseeing in the Pikes Peak Region,” 213–227 Fire & fire fighting, 33, 45–46, 238 Antlers Hotel, 157 First National Bank in Colorado Springs, 27 First National Bank of Cañon City, 273 First National Bank of Colorado Springs, 275 First National Bank of Cripple Creek, 269–295 Collection, 269–295 reserach potential, 288–290 Colorado Labor Wars, 274–279 genealogical info., 271–272 illust. of check, 274 photo of, 283 photo of teller window, 295 records, 271–272 First National Bank of Victor, 282 Fischer, P. J., 173 Fisher, Lewis, 121, 129 Fiskars, 94 Fitch, J. T., 363 Fledderjohann, Sandy, ii, 19

Flight. See Aviation & pilots Floods & flooding, 120, 122–123, 131–132 Flying schools, 184 Foard, Mr. & Mrs. Irl, 305 Fonda, Jane, 348 Food photo of refreshment booth, 364 preparation, 48, 130 vendors, 364–365 Football, 342 Ford, C. D., 280 Ford, Clara, 340 Ford, Henry, 339–340 photo of, 339 Forgery, 285 Fornaire Aircraft Co., 186 Forney Aircraft Co., 186 Fort Worth Chamber of Comm., 126 Fort Worth (Tex.), 126 divine healing in, 376 Forty-Five Minutes from Broadway (play), 265 Fowden, William, 119, 141 Fowler, Marietta (Ryerson), 31 Fowler, William, 31–34 Fox, Edward L., 359, 361, 363, 366 photo in front of home of, 358, 362, 365 France, Matt, 30 Francis Schlatter Institute, 383 Franklin, Les, 321 Franklin, Syl, 322 Frazier, Jack, 285 Free Coinage Gold Mining Co., 22–23 Freed, Elaine, 239 “The Hassell Iron Works,” 229–241 French, Frank, 286

416 • INDEX Friends of the Pikes Peak Library District, ii “From Prize-Fights to Shakespeare: Traveling Entertainers in the Pikes Peak Region” by Beth R. Barrett, 259–267 Fry, James, 201 Fun Finders (dance club), 347, 348 photo of, 350 Gaines, Nora “Ma,” 221 Galileo (spacecraft), 191 photo of, 192 Galveston Commercial Assoc., 131 Galveston (Tex.), 129–131 photo at beach, 130 Gann, George L. L., 119, 141 Garner, Erroll, 317 Gatch Park Tunnel, 281 The Gazette (newspaper), 157 General Dynamics Space Systems Div., 190 General Electric Co., 179 GeoEye, 194 Geological Section, 243–257 photo of, 242, 246, 248, 251 waterfall, 246–247, 248 Geologic Column. See Geological Section Geology Pikes Peak region, 253–254, 255 Gilbert & Sullivan operettas, 260 Gilded Age, 15–16 Gillespie County (Tex.), 118 Gillette, William K., 277, 288 Glen Cove (hotel), 213 Glen Eyrie, 159 Glenn L. Martin Co., 189 Gliders, 166–167

Global Positioning System, 196–199 Advanced Control Segment, 198–199 applications, 196–198 “early version,” 215 Golden Cycle Corp., 282 Golden Cycle Mining & Reduction Co., 273 Gold Reserve Mining Co., 23 Gold Sovereign Gold Mining Co., 273 Good Morning: After a Sleep of Twenty-Five Years, Old Fashioned Dancing is Being Revived by Benjamin Lovett, 340 Goodnight (Tex.), 124 Good Roads Movement, 115 Goodyear X (balloon), 170 photo of, 171 GPS Block II-F (satellite) illust. of, 198 Grand Army of the Republic, 43 Granger, Maude, 262–263 Gray Line, 220, 225 Gray Rose, 317 Great Western Sugar Co., 237 Gree, Hetty, 373 Greene, Ed, 277 Greene, Robert, 277 Greenlee Brothers, 75 G[r?]eiger, George F., 119, 141 Gustin, Bruce A., 170 Hackmen & touring cars, 221–222 code, 222 fees, 222 Haigler, Ray, 119, 141 Haines, Harvey H., 131 Hairston, Juanita, 305 Halfway House, 213 Hall, Bill, 222

INDEX • 417 Hampton, Lionel, 317, 319, 322 Handkerchiefs blessed, 362–363, 380 Hanover gypsum mine, 26 Harper’s Barbecue, 298 Harrington, Quentin, 313 Harris, Dan, 298 Harris, Fang, 297 Harris, Ira, 279, 280 Harrison, Benjamin (pres.), 43 Harry Williams Orchestra photo of, 353 Hart, James A., 320 Hartman Manufacturing Co., 233, 234 Harvey House Hutchinson, Kans., photo of, 135 “The Hassell Iron Works” by Elaine Freed, 229–241 Hassell, Bradford, 238 Hassell Iron Works, 229–241 burned, 238 photo of, 236 photo of fence casting, 232, 233, 234, 235 photo of gate marker, 241 Hassell & Talcott Wire Iron Works photo of, 231 Hassell, William W., 229–241 photo of, 228 Haven Club, 305 profits, 306 Hawley, John, 171 Hay unloader, 67 Haywood, William “Big Bill,” 277 Health, 230 therapeutic use of music, 349 Heinze, F. Augustus, 73 Held, Anna, 259 photo of, 260

Heller, Peter H., 119, 141 Hell Gate photo of, 260 Hemenway & Wentz, 51 Hempfield Railroad, 150 Henderson, Alva W., 118, 119, 126, 127, 130, 131, 133, 137–138, 141 Henderson, Horace, 319 Hennefeld, Albert W., 34–36 Hennefeld, Reta (Baker), 34 Henrietta (Tex.), 125 Henry V, 261 Henwood, Harold, 140 Hiawatha Gardens, 298 Hibbard, Wellington, 91 High But Dry Balloons Co., 170 High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment, 191 Hillsboro (Tex.), 127 Hillsboro Young Men’s Business League, 127 Hirschenfeld, Joseph, 168 Hobbs, Mr., 285 Holiness Church, 302 Hollenberg, Benno A., 383 Hollister, Harry L., 119, 141 Holly Sugar Co., 237, 273, 282 Homestead Act of 1862, 153 Honeywell, Harry Eugene, 170 Hook & eye, 48, 50 Hose coupling electrically arranged, 31–34 Hotels, 219, 221 checkmen, 219–220 segregation, 319 Houston Chamber of Comm., 128 Houston (Tex.), 128 Houston & Texas Central Railroad, 128 Howard, Sunny, 311

418 • INDEX Howbert, Irving Papers, 276 Hubbard, Police Chief, 370 Hubble Space Telescope, 188 Hudson, Percy, 169 Huggins (brothers), 23 Humphreys, Ira Boyd, 179 Hundley, John, 213 Hunter, Mrs. Sam, 302–303 Hunter’s Mortuary, 302 Hunt, Wilbert L., 178 “Hustling the Tourists: Early Automobile Sightseeing in the Pikes Peak Region” by Judith R. Finley, 213–227 Hutchinson (Kans.), 136 Hyatt, H. H., 380 IKONOS (satellite), 194 Illingsworth, Jess, 127 Illinois Central Railroad, 384 Illinois State Board of Health, 370, 391 Imagination Celebration of Colorado Springs, 1 Imitation of Life (play), 300 Independence (Colo.) depot explosion, 277 Independence Lode, 255 Independence Mine, 274 Indiana National Guard, 43 Indianapolis Light Infantry, 43 Industrial Union, 277 Inspiration Point, 220 Institute of Electrical Engineers, 159 International Order of the Odd Fellows, 33 International Space Station, 200 Internet, 200 Interservice Radio Propagation Laboratory, 187 Inventors, El Paso County, 15–63, 237

Iron Springs Chateau, 324–326 Iron Springs Hotel, 28 Iron work ornamental, 229–241 Irrigation Colo. Springs, 157 Ivy, William, 169 Jackson, Caroline, 305 Jackson, Helen Hunt Colo. Springs desc., 156 Jackson Hose Co., 33, 45 Jackson, Mahalia, 327 James, Etta, 317, 319 James, Johnny, 305 Jeanne, J. E., 231 Jeffries, Jim, 264 Jenkins, John H., 119, 127, 130, 141 Jenkins, Mr., 280 Jeppesen, Elrey, 184–185 Jeppesen Navigation Charts, 185 Johnson, Jack, 264 Johnson, Mabel, 175 Jones, Jennifer, 345 Jones, Jody, ii Jones, Mrs. D. Arthur, 304, 308–309 Jules, Jimmy, 311, 330 Jury tampering Carlton &, 273 Kai, John, 313–314, 316 Kane, Hayden, 326 Kansas City II (balloon), 170 photo of, 171 Kansas Pacific Railroad, 153 Keller, Helen, 265 Kilander, Ginny, 94 “Transits, Timbers, & Tunnels: The Legacy of Colorado Inventor David W. Brunton,” 65–103 Killing for Coal by Thomas Andrews, 154

INDEX • 419 King, B. B., 319 King, Martin Luther (Jr.), 316 Kirkwood, Thomas C., 119, 130, 141 Knife & candlestick, combined, 24–26 patent drawing, 25 Konen, Sharon, ii Krause, George, 219 KRDO (TV station), 349 Kress Five & Dime, 314 Kuberski, Nina, ii Ku Klux Klan, 280 Kunze [as Francis Schlatter]. See Schlatter, Francis [Kunze] Kunze, Emil, 382 Kunze, Francis R., 382 Kunze, Rudolph, 382 Lakes, Arthur, 249–251 Lambert, Charlie, 172 Lamps (oil), improvement in, 20–21 Laramie-Poudre Reservoirs & Irrigation Co., 88 Laughlin, Benjamin, 36 Laughlin, Clarence, 37 Laughlin, Cora (Shouts), 37 Laughlin, Gertrude, 37 Laughlin, Homer, 36–37 Laughlin, Nancy, 36 Laughlin, Robert, 36 Laughlin, Thomas, 36 Lawton, Andrew J., 119, 138, 141 Leadville (Colo.), 70 Lefkowsky, Benjamin, 321 Lefkowsky, Mrs. Benjamin, 301 Lendrum, Alexander M., 179 Lenger, F. A., 370 Letts, Chester A., 119, 141 LeVan, Frank, 169 Levy, Mrs., 317

Lid holder for pans or vessels, 48 Lighthall, J. I., 370 Lightning, 106 Lincoln (automobile), 221 Lindbergh, Charles A., 180 Lindsay, James L., 270, 272 Link Neon Sign Co., 315 Lipsey, Julia, 236–237 Lockheed Martin, 190 Lockheed Martin Astronautics, 191, 193 Lockheed Martin Space Systems Co., 192, 193 Locomobile (automobile) photo of, 212 Locomobile Co., 214 Lon, Douglass, 308 Longren Aircraft Co., 180 Loral Command & Control Systems, 195 Los Angeles (Calif.) divine healing in, 380 Louise (Tex.), 133 Lovett, Benjamin, 339–340 Lowenstein, Fritz, 108 Lowry Air Force Base, 189 Lozier (automobile), 216 Ludlow (Colo.), 120 Ludlow Massacre, 120 Luminous dial for military transits, 86 MacDonald, John, 302 Magellan (spacecraft), 191 Mail fraud, 381 Mailloux, Cyprien Odilon, 159 Mallett’s Reduction Works, 27 Manhattan Beach (hotel), 369 Manitou House, 27 Manitou Spa, 298 Manitou Springs (Colo.), 324 fences, 233 Manley, Marguerite photo of, 310

420 • INDEX Mann, Virgil, 280–281, 281–282, 284 March of Dimes, 329 “Marketing a Messiah: Denver’s Divine Healer & His Inspiration of Entrepreneurs” by Tim Blevins, 359–395 Marksheffel, Albert W., 119, 141 photo of, 118 Marksheffel, Zoe (Cunningham) photo of, 118 Marlin Chamber of Comm., 128 Marlin (Tex.), 128 Marr, E. M., 174 Mars, 379 Mars Climate Orbiter, 191 Mars Global Surveyor, 191 Marshall Pass (Colo.) drawing of alignment of the D. & R.G. Railroad, 151 Mars Odyssey, 191 Mars Pathfinder, 191 Mars Polar Lander, 191 Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, 191 Mars Surveyor ’98, 191 Martell, Faye, 319 Martin Marietta Co., 189, 190 Martin, Mrs. R. F., 383 Martin, “Rattlesnake Bill,” 369–371 Mary McKinney Mine, 273 Matchless Mine, 263 Mathewson Aeroplane Co., 174 Mathewson, E. Linn, 174 Mathewson Flyer (biplane), 174 May, “Sweets,” 175 Maytag Aircraft Corp., 186 Maytag, Lewis, 186 Maytag Support Services, 186 McAllister, A. G., 369 McCandless, Bruce, 192 McCourt, Elizabeth, 259 McCourt, Peter, 259

McCreery, Adelia, 38 McCreery, Alexander, 38 McCreery, Anna (Bullock), 40 McCreery, Ann (Herrell), 38 McCreery, Ashby, 38–40 McCreery, Charles, 38 McCreery, Hardin, 38 McCreery, Quincy, 38 McCreery, Sarah E. (Mitchell), 38 McCullough, Paul J., 170 McDonald, William Calhoun, 121 McDonnell Douglas, 190 McDonnell Douglas Corp., 190 McGilchrist, Donald, 160 “The Quest for the Best: William Jackson Palmer, 1836–1909,” 149–163 McIntyre, C. H., 69 McKesson, Charles, 121, 136–137 McLean, Charles, 371–376, 390–392 arrested, 373, 374, 375, 391 assault upon a little girl, 392 claimed to be Schlatter, 372 claims to raise dead, 372–373 cures, 374 death, 375, 378 described, 371, 373, 374 expelled from Presbyterian ministry, 391 Glasgow, Scotland, 391 illust. of, 371 imprisoned, 392 Medical Institute, 391 medical license, revoked, 391 money, 373, 374–375 names, 371, 374 offered to be buried, 372–373 scandal, 391 will, 375 McLean, Hector, 375–376 McNair, Mary Ann, ii

INDEX • 421 McNaughton, David, 375 Medical Institute for Female Diseases, 391 Meek Amoret S. (Barton), 41 Meek, Garrett, 41 Meek, Idella, 42 Meek, Mary M. (Williams), 42, 43 Meek, Ralph, 42 Meek, Sophia, 41 Meek, William Edgar, 40–43 Mellen, J. C., 380 Melodrama, 260 Melzer, Carl, 179 Memphis (Tex.), 124 Menzel, Donald, 186–187 Meredith, William L., 373 Merrick, Gordon B., 119, 141 Merrill, Maggie V. (Kerfoot), 43 Merrill, William H. D., 43–46 Mexican National Railroad Co., 154 Mexican National Railway, 158 photo of station at San Luis Potosi, Mexico, 159 Midland Terminal Railroad, 272 Midland Terminal Railway, 51, 288 Migration westward, 153 Military aircraft, 179 refusal to build planes for, 182 space operations, 194–199 Miller, Edward, 21 Miller, Toni, ii Mine Owners Assoc., 276 Miners’ Protective Assoc., 276 Mines & mining. See also “Transits, Timbers, & Tunnels: The Legacy of Colorado Inventor David W. Brunton”; See also Colorado Labor Wars

accidents, 281–282 union labor, 274 Mining engineer described, 65–66 “Mining for Interest in the First National Bank of Cripple Creek Collection” by Amy Ziegler, 269–295 “Mining Institute” of Colorado Springs, 254 Mining law, 72, 74 Mining tunnels, 87 Miss Bronze America, 322 Selena (Bragg Franklin) Charlton, 322 Missiles ballistic, 188–189 Titan, 189, 191 Missouri, Kansas, & Texas Railroad, 134 Moffat, David, 88 Moffatt, E. C., 275 Moffatt, Gray, 275 Moffat Tunnel Commission, 88 Monarch Air Lines, 184 Money Mountain: The Story of Cripple Creek Gold by Marshall Sprague, 278 Monument Valley Park, 243–257 photo of Geological Section, 242, 246, 248, 251 photo of Reservoir No. 4, 246 photo of waterfall, 242 Mooney, Al, 180 Moore, John D., 119, 122, 141 Morgan, Anna, 302 Morgan, Chester, 302 Morgan, John Pierpont, 110 Moseley, T. Michael, 199 Mosley, Earl, 306–307 Moss, Sanford, 179 Mountain Base Investment Fund, 154

422 • INDEX Mountain States Aviation, 184 Mountain Swingers (dance club), 354 Mountain View Cottage Camp, 224 Mount Manitou Incline, 220 Moving pictures, 121, 124, 136, 217, 266 Murder, 277 Murphy, Chuck, 225 Music & musicians, 352–354. See also Celebrities Musser, George W., 280 National Aeronautics & Space Administration, 183 National Bureau of Standards, 187 National Land & Improvement Co., 154 National Mining Hall of Fame, 93 National Museum of World War II Aviation, 201 Natural History Museum, 89 John Campion Collection, 89 Naval Consulting Board, 82–83 Navasota River (Tex.), 128 Navidad River (Tex.), 132 NAVSYS Corp., 197 Near Space Systems, 171 Negretti & Zambra, 78 Newcomb, Irene, 317 New Jerusalem (N.M.), 375, 377 Newton, Wilbur, 119, 141 Nicholl, Chris, 19 North American Air Defense Command, 194 photo of, 195 North Junior High, 300 North Pole discovery of, 379 Norton, Marta, ii, 19 Nozzle & sprayer, combined, 51–52

Nye, Simeon Nash, 263–264, 265 Oakland (Calif.) divine healing in, 381 Observatory, High Altitude, 187 O’Day, Marcus, 187 Odor-arresting lid for vessels, 31–34 Oldsmobile (automobile), 237 Olsen, Michael L., ii Opportunism, 362, 363, 368–385, 385 renting chairs, 365 scalping, 365 Orbital Imaging Corp., 194 Orbiting Solar Observatory, 188 Ore sampler, automatic, 71 Ore sampling machine, 71 Orion, 193 Ornamental railing for bridge drawings, 68 Out West (newspaper), 157 Overland Park, 172 Packard (automobile), 220, 223 Paderewski, Ignace, 265 Palmer, Dorothy photo of, 148 Palmer, Jeff, 355 Palmer, William Jackson coal &, 154 cultural sensitivity, 158 entrepreneur, 154 environmentalism, 158 geolocial section, 243–248 innovation &, 149–163 Mexican National Railway, 158 observations on innovations, 152 photo of, 148 plan for Colo. Springs, 155 responsibility to individuals, 158–159 Paris, Gertrude, 392 Parker, Jim M., 270, 272

INDEX • 423 Parker, Norman, 185 Parker Pusher (biplane), 173 Parker, Will D. “Billy,” 173 Parmalee, Philip O., 175–176 illust. of aircraft, 164 photo of, 175 Parsons, Ernestine, 303 Patents, 19th-century, 15–63 issued to El Paso County inventors, graph of, 14 Patrick, L. L., 276 Patsy’s Candy & Popcorn, 298 Paulhan, Louis, 172 Peabody, James, 274 Peck, Gregory, 345 Pennsylvania Railroad, 152 Penrose, Spencer, 216–220, 224–225, 285 need for paved roads, 216 Perrett, William H., 129 Perry, Robert E., 379 Peterson Air Force Base, 195 Peterson, Joyce, 313, 316 photo of, 323 Philadelphia (Penn.), 150 Phillips Technology Institute, 201 Phoenix (spacecraft), 191 Photo-Craft Shop, 223 Photography, 363 Pierce-Arrow (automobile), 218 photo of sightseeing cars, 218 Pierce, Joseph J., 119, 122, 141 Pierce, Samuel S., 172, 173 Pietenpol, William, 188 “The Pike” (biplane), 175–177 Pikes Peak auto toll road, 216, 220 aviation &, 166, 169, 173, 175, 177, 178, 179, 182 carriage road, 213 cog railroad, 213, 220 Halfway House, 213

Locomobile, 214 photo of touring car at summit, 223 Pikes Peak Air Commerce, 184 Pike’s Peak & Seven Lakes Toll Road Co., 30 Pikes Peak Auto Highway, 223 photo of, 212 photo of toll gate, 217 Pikes Peak Automobile Co., 217, 220 Pikes Peak Cog Railway, 213, 220, 324 Pikes Peak Commandry of the Knights Templars, 43 Pikes Peak Flying School, 184 Pikes Peak Hill Climb, 217 (photo capt.), 217 Pikes Peak Library District, 1, 3 Special Collections, 288–290 Pikes Peak Library District Foundation, ii Pikes Peak NewsFinder, 289 Pikes Peak Ocean-to-Ocean Highway, 139 marked, 216 Pikes Peak Power Co., 271 Pikes Peak Regional History Symposium, ii, 1 Pikes Peak Summit Motor Club, 217 Pikes Peak toll road, 216, 220 Pile Driver, Steam, 46–47 Pine, F. A., 174 Pine Valley Airport, 184 Pinkerton National Detective Agency, 277–278, 285 Bank & Bankers’ Protection, 285 illust. of invoice, 279 Pinkerton, T. W., 173 Pipe coupling, 51–52 Pitcher carrying basket, 26–28

424 • INDEX Pleitsch, George L., 385 Plomo Mining Co., 254 Polio, bulbar, 326 Politics election, 279–281 Portland Gold Mine, 264 Portland Gold Mining Co., 271 Portland Mine, 276–277 Potato-digger, 21–24 Potatoes, 23 Preston, Ralph A. D., 170 Price, Roosevelt, 312 Proby, Milton, 328 Prospecting geology, 249–250, 254 Prospect Lake, 224 Pueblo Grain & Stock Brokerage Co., 284 Puffer, Barbara, 300 Puffer, Lewis A., 119, 138, 141 Quakers, 150 Queens Canyon, 159 “The Quest for the Best: William Jackson Palmer, 1836–1909” by Donald McGilchrist, 149– 163 QuickBird-2 (satellite), 194 Quigley, Mary, 273 Radar, 187 Radio, 187 Rae’s Dress Shop, 317 Railroads & trains, 52 narrow gauge, 153 profits, 366 Ramblin’ Express, 225 Randolph, George E., 366 Raton (N.Mex.), 122 Raytheon, 194 Raytheon Co., 198 Ray Wilson Flying School, 184 Rector, Leo, 326 Red River (Tex.), 120

Reed, Dave, 275 Reese, Kenny, 339 Regimbal, A., 384 Reid, Herbert, 159 Reliable Detective Bureau, 285 Reliable Secret Service, 278 Republican State Executive Comm., 279 Rhodes, E. L. photo of, 312, 323 Rice, David H., 287 Richard, Little, 319 Rignold, George, 261 Rio Grande Sampling Works, 273 Rio Grande Western Railroad, 159 Rio Grande Western Railway Co., 154 Rio Seco Gold Mines, 254 Roads bridges & culverts (photo capt.), 123 condition, 115, 214–215 convict labor (photo capt.), 116 Good Roads conference, 215 illust. of guidebook, 215 markers & signs, 216 paving, 216 shell road, photo of, 129 Robertson, Henry, 276 Roberts, Walter O., 187 Robinson, Charles Mulford, 214 Rochet-Schneider (automobile), 216 Rockets, 187 Atlas, 190 Delta, 190 research, 185 Rocky Mountain Online Archives, 288 Rocky Mountain Tracking, 198 Rollin Squares (dance club), 354

INDEX • 425 Rosenfeld, C. H., 275 Rossonian (nightclub), 313–314, 316 Roswell Park, 176 The Round Dance Book: A Century of Waltzing by Lloyd Shaw, 344 Round timber framing machine, 75–76 Rouse, Frank, 142 Rudolph, Katie, ii, 139 “Bumps in the Road: The Spirit of Enterprise & the Sociability Tour of 1914,” 115–147 Ruskin, Steve, 256 “Science as Enterprise & Industry: The Monument Valley Park ‘Geological Section’ in Context,” 243–257 Safety lock for autos, 92 Sales, Reno, 73 San Antonio Automobile Club, 133 San Antonio (Tex.), 133 San Luis Potosi (Mex.) photo of train station, 159 Satellites, 188, 194, 196 Schlatter, Francis, 359–395 Antichrist, 361 bones, 372 books about, 363 charlatans suicide, 369 Christ, 360–361, 371 death, rumors of, 368, 375, 383 Denver shoemaker, 359 disappeared, 366 healing in Denver, 360–367 impersonators, 367–385 money, 360, 368, 370 photography, 363 photo of, 358, 361, 395

Schlatter, Francis “Frank” (Dr.), 383–385 death, 384–385 disappeared, 384 divorce, 384 mummified, 385 Schlatter, Francis [Kunze], 378–382. See also Dowie, James Alexander arrested, 381 described, 378, 382 imprisoned, 382 money, 381 photos of, 382 Schlatter, Luverna (Comer), 375, 382–385, 393 described, 383 divorce, 384 patient, 384 Schools, 300 Schrader, August, 375, 376–381 arrested, 380, 381 as John Schrader, 380 claimed he was Schlatter, 377 death, 381 ill, 381 illust. of, 376 money, 376, 377 run for U.S. President, 379 Schrader, Daisy Lottie (Douglas Roberts), 377 Schriever Air Force Base, 196 Schweiger, Joseph A., 282 Schweiger, Mary, 282 “Science as Enterprise & Industry: The Monument Valley Park ‘Geological Section’ in Context” by Steve Ruskin, 243–257 Scribner, Bert F., 119, 142 Seattle (Wash.) divine healing in, 373 The Secret of Suzanne, 265

426 • INDEX Section-insulator, 34–36 Seely, Frank, 280 Segregation, 300, 311, 319, 329 Selbach, Emil, 286 Self-cleaning plow coulter, 67 Self-emptying water bucket, 67 Self-opening farm gate, 67 Senses sharpening, 105 Separator, 40–42 Shafroth, John F., 281 Shan, Henry, 40 Shan Kive (festival), 170, 175 Shaw, Dorothy (Stott), 338–339, 340, 341–342, 343–344, 346 Shaw, Georgetta, 325 Shaw, Glenn, 340 Shaw, Julia, 340 Shaw, Lloyd, 337, 338, 340–346 American folk dance, 343–346 Cheyenne Mountain Dancers, 345 Cheyenne Mountain School, 341–343 Duel in the Sun (film), 345 education, 340–341 honorary degrees, 345 perspective on dance, 350–352 photo of, 341 Shaw, Ray, 340 Shaw, William, 340 Sheafor, John W., 280 Shepard’s Citations, Inc. photo of, 396 Shorten, John, 280 Shoup, Merrill E., 282 Business Collection, 282 Shoup, Oliver H., 119, 136, 142 Signaling apparatus, electrical hose, 31–34 patent drawing, 32 Silva Corp., 94 Silver Theatrical Circuit, 259, 265

Sims, Robert D., 119, 142 Sipple (photographer), 179 Sirangelo, Mark, 200 Six, Robert, 184 Sixth Ohio Infantry, 26 Skaguay (Colo.) Power Plant, 280 Skinner Brothers & Wright Co., 363 Skinner, John C., 47 Skinner, Mary L. (Cameron), 47 Skinner, Thomas M., 46–47 Skinner, Thomas M., Jr., 47 Skylab (space station), 192 “The Skylark” (biplane), 175–177 SkySentry, 172 Smith, Leroy, 317 Smuggler Mountain, 87 Snipers, apparatus for locating, 84 patent drawing, 85 Sociability Tour, 116 accidents, 122, 125, 135 delay, 120 filmed, 121, 124, 129, 136 floods, 120, 122–123, 131–132 members, 119 of 1914, 115–147 route, 117–118 speeding, 128 welcomed, 123, 124, 138 Army camp, photo of, 131 beach, photo of, 130 building bridge, photo of, 123 crowds in Colorado Springs, photo of, 137 Decatur, Tex., parade, photo of, 126 fording creek, photo of, 122 Galveston welcome, photo of, 139 grapejuice well, photo of, 125 Harvey House, photo of, 135

INDEX • 427 high water, photo of, 133 map of planned route, 114 muddy road, photo of, 116 shell road, photo of, 129 train, photo of tourists at, 134 Solar physics, 187 coronagraph, 187 Soldiers African American, 317 Sousa, John Philip, 260 Southern Colorado Coal & Town Co., 154 South Pole discovery of, 379 Space launch vehicles, 190 Space Command, 195 SpaceDev, Inc., 200–201 Space Imaging Corp., 194 Space Shuttle, 183, 193 Challenger, 195 Sparhawk, A. M., 278 Spirit of St. Louis, 181 Spiritualists, 385 Spousler, Armset L. Meek, 42 Sprague, Marshall Papers, 278–279 Springs Area Beautiful Assoc., 244–245 Square dancing history, 337–357 photo of, 336, 350 Standley, Harry, 223 Stardust (spacecraft), 192 State Board of Dental Examiners, Colo., 31 Steelton (Ont., Can.) divine healing in, 374 Steinkirchner, Debbie, 354 Stepanek, Susie, ii, 19 Stephen, John, 279 Stevens, Frank H., 119, 122, 142 Stevens, H. Hoyt, 119, 122, 142

Stevens, Judge, 273 Stewart, Alexander T., 119, 142 Stewart, Alexander T. (Jr.), 119, 142 Stewart Iron Works, 234 Stirrup, saddle, 36–37 St. Louis San Francisco Railway, 135–136 Stone, Henry Chase, 184 Strang, Charles G., 173 Stratton, Winfield Scott, 255, 274 Streetcars, 35, 366, 367 photo of, 367 Stroud, Tandy, 303 Studebaker (automobile), 221 Sturdevant, Katherine Scott, ii Sturdevant, Rick W., 202 “Aeronautics & Astronautics: Pioneering Air & Space Business in the Pikes Peak Region,” 165–211 Surveying, mine equipment, 65–103 Swanson, George, 222 Sweeney, James K., 119, 142 Swing “A” Ways (dance club), 354 Sylvanite, 23 Syracuse (N.Y) divine healing in, 371 Tabernash campus, 185 Tabor Grand Opera House, 259 Tabor, Horace Austin Warner, 255 Talcott, A. B., 231 Tatum, Reese, 123 Taylor, F. M., 70 Teas, Francis M., 135 Teepee (gas filling station), 26 Telegraphic & telephonic messages transmission, 109 Teller County, 42, 269–270

428 • INDEX Tesla, Nikola, 112 aerial machine, 174 photo of, 104 “The Transmission of Electric Energy Without Wires,” 105–113 Texas Automobile Assoc., 124, 126 Texas City (Tex.), 131 Army camp, photo of, 131 Texline (Tex.), 123 Theatre in Colorado, 259–267 Thiel Detective Service Co., 277–278 Thomas, William “Bill,” ii, 19 Thompson, George, 174 Thompson-Van Arsdale Co., 174 Thomson, J. Edgar, 152 Tibbitts, Scott, 201 Tijou, Jean, 232 Tilley, Martha J., ii Titan (missiles), 189, 191 T. M. JR. (mine), 47 Torbrand, Peter Robert, 173 Tourism buses, 218–219 hackmen & touring cars, 221–222 illust. of guidebook, 215 sightseeing, 213–227 Townsley, L. A., 23 “Transits, Timbers, & Tunnels: The Legacy of Colorado Inventor David W. Brunton” by Ginny Kilander, 65–103 “The Transmission of Electric Energy Without Wires” by Nikola Tesla, 105–113 Transportation Pikes Peak region &, 165–211

Trees Colo. Springs, 157 Trenton (N.J.) divine healing in, 371 Tresvan, Al, 327 Trimble Navigation, 198 Trolleys, 35–36 Trousers guard, 48–50 patent drawing, 49 Tuberculosis, 35, 230, 262, 272, 361 Turner, Frederick Jackson, 160 Turpin, J. Clifford, 175–177 illust. of aircraft, 164 photo of, 176 Uncle Sam (balloon), 170 photo of, 171 Uncle Tom’s Cabin, 260 Union Ice & Coal Co., 40 Union Pacific Railroad, 30 Unions & union labor, 274 forced deportation, 277 ident. of non-union men, 276 United Air Lines, 183 United Launch Alliance, 190 United Negro College Fund, 328 Universal Aircraft Industries, 186 University of Colorado, 187, 200, 201 Dept. of Aerospace Engineering Sciences, 185 University of Denver, 189 Upper Air Laboratory, 188 Urban renewal, 330 U.S. Air Force Air Mobility Command, 186 U.S. Army Signal Corps, 169 USO (cafe), 306, 307 Servicemen’s Center, 306 U.S. Patent & Trademark Office, 53 Utah Test & Training Range, 192

INDEX • 429 Valley Air Service, 184 Vandersal, Frank, 174 Vandersal, Jules, 174 Van Diest, Alice, 245 Van Diest, Edmond C., 159 education, 249, 251–252 geological section, 244–248 Van Ness, Charles H., 34 Varney Speed Lines, 184 Velocipede (car), 88 Vernon (Tex.), 124 Viking 1, 191 Viking-Mars lander, 191 photo of, 191 Vindicator Consolidated Gold Mining Co., 26 Vindicator Consolidated Mine, 273 Voliva, Wilbur Glenn, 379 Von Puhl, Sylvester, 140 Vosburgh, Theo, 281 Voters Club (nightclub), 317 Vulcan Iron Works, 47 V.V.V. (club), 302 Waco (Tex.), 127 Waggin’ Wheelers (dance club), 354 Wagon bolt, 67 Walden Shaw Livery Co., 218 Walker, H. L., 380 Walker, T-Bone, 322 Wallace, Mr. & Mrs. Tom, 301, 308 Wallenstein family, 298 Walsh, Mr., 276 War Committee of Technical Societies, 82 Ward, Alta, 48, 50 Ward, Barilla R. (Ward), 48, 50 Ward, Elmer E., 48–50 Wardenclyffe Tower (N.Y.), 110 Ward, Melvin, 48

Ward, Rebecca, 48 Warren, Jay L., 119, 142 Washburn Field, 170 Washington, Dinah, 319 Washoe process, 70 WatchDog (tracking system), 198 Watts, John, 170 Wells, William R., 51 Wentz, Catharine (Fireoved), 51 Wentz, Eva May, 51 Wentz, George F., 51–53 Wentz, Ida May (Kiner), 51, 52–53 Wentz, Solomon, 51 Westchester Temporary Home for Destitute Children, 382 Western Federation of Miners, 274, 276–277, 278 WestPac Restorations, Inc., 201 West, Traci, 355 “Ballroom & the Barn: Dr. Lloyd Shaw, Dean Edwards & the Western Square Dance Revival in Colorado Springs,” 337–357 Wetzel, David N., ii What If, Festival of Innovation & Imagination, 1 Wheel plow, 67 Whiskey, 263 White, Louise, 300 White Motor Co., 218 White, Myrtle, 302 White, Stanford, 110 White, William A., 363–364 White, W. R., 278 Wichita Falls (Tex.), 124 Wide Area Augmentation System, 197 Wild 2 (comet), 192 Wilde, Oscar, 263 William Ainsworth, 78–82

430 • INDEX William Ainsworth Co., 79–80 Williams, Harry photo of, 353 Williams, L. S., 125 Willie, Mabel, 326 Wilson, Flip, 322–323 Wilson, Raymond, 184 Winchell, Horace, 73 Window screen, rolling, 29–30 Wolcott, Edward O., 279 Womack, Bob, 269 Women first woman to own an automobile in Denver, 91 Women’s Christian Temperance Union, 42 Woode, Henri, 314 Woodland Park (Colo.), 22, 23 Woods, F. M., 280 Woods, Justice, 370 Woodward & Ray, 233 Woodworth, I. J., 279 Worcester, Ellwood, 384 World Telegraphy, 109–110 WorldView-1 (satellite), 194 WorldView-2 (satellite), 194 WorldView Imaging Corp., 193 World War I, 82–87, 238 World War II, 183, 184, 185 Wragge, Edmund, 68 Wright, Bill, 347 Wurlitzer (theater organ), 266 Wynne, Michael, 199 Wyrille, Marmaduke, 30 X-33 (space plane), 193 Yellow Taxicab Co., 219 Yont, Charles A., 214 photo of, 212 Young Men’s Business Assoc., 124 Ziegfield, Florenz, 259 Ziegler, Amy, ii, 287 “Mining for Interest in the First

National Bank of Cripple Creek Collection,” 269–295 Zion City (Ill.), 377, 378, 379, 380

Enterprise & Innovation in the Pikes Peak Region

Peak

Peak

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Enterprise SOA: Designing IT for Business Innovation

Vulture Peak

Angel's Peak

Pyke's Peak

Adam's Peak

Liar's Peak

Peak Experience

Angel's Peak

Angel's Peak

Swan Peak

Swan Peak

Innovation in Business and Enterprise: Technologies and Frameworks

Angel's Peak

Angel's Peak

Storm Peak

Storm Peak

Vulture Peak

Devil's Peak

Peak Energy

Swan Peak

Angel's Peak

Swan Peak

Peak Performance

Peak Energy

Enterprise & Innovation in the Pikes Peak Region

Peak

Peak

Complexity & Innovation in Organizations

Entrepreneurship in the Region

Peak

Innovation & Gender

Enterprise SOA: Designing IT for Business Innovation

Vulture Peak

Angel's Peak

Pyke's Peak

Adam's Peak

Liar's Peak

Peak Experience

Angel's Peak

Angel's Peak

Swan Peak

Swan Peak

Innovation in Business and Enterprise: Technologies and Frameworks

Angel's Peak

Angel's Peak

Storm Peak

Storm Peak

Vulture Peak

Devil's Peak

Peak Energy

Swan Peak

Angel's Peak

Swan Peak

Peak Performance

Peak Energy

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