tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-75161870900272555652024-03-05T19:55:54.545-07:00Switzerland Trail of AmericaWorking notes for the history of a mountain community.Michael, Dad, Poppi.http://www.blogger.com/profile/03898139769103917942noreply@blogger.comBlogger55125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7516187090027255565.post-85690996642291073762019-02-21T15:27:00.002-07:002020-03-26T14:31:30.698-06:00At the Heart of the City<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBKe-UC6VDRxInkruVr2hV2kjtQYpQzi6apquePB4mHIz9cjHxOIfVult4-MouMJFfBetmihJEfxPu27FMNT_bS1tRY5K5SWEtvEeCwugd-_lLqN3lrOtd7rdQ-eBMCv1gTSsNNdEqEMgB/s1600/Broadway-and-Canyon-2019.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="330" data-original-width="600" height="176" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBKe-UC6VDRxInkruVr2hV2kjtQYpQzi6apquePB4mHIz9cjHxOIfVult4-MouMJFfBetmihJEfxPu27FMNT_bS1tRY5K5SWEtvEeCwugd-_lLqN3lrOtd7rdQ-eBMCv1gTSsNNdEqEMgB/s320/Broadway-and-Canyon-2019.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
Today this is one of the busiest intersections in the city of Boulder--Broadway and Canyon--in an image taken from 13th Street.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikaAktJkmJFplzlSTMk_9E-_nt9NTX1euQc6oNiFLK9F6OcuZ0sBwsf7nBB_OxzLkjIxS06eZx-lQk7w-D8mnkX6cuhHPMouT-VoAT-m4n1_6YKqiH8dnKoISs0iPl2q2zrvCZvphtPLPH/s1600/Depot-location-from-13th-St.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="775" data-original-width="1475" height="168" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikaAktJkmJFplzlSTMk_9E-_nt9NTX1euQc6oNiFLK9F6OcuZ0sBwsf7nBB_OxzLkjIxS06eZx-lQk7w-D8mnkX6cuhHPMouT-VoAT-m4n1_6YKqiH8dnKoISs0iPl2q2zrvCZvphtPLPH/s320/Depot-location-from-13th-St.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
Not so long ago, it was known as 12th and Water Streets, home to the Boulder Train Yards and most importantly for many people, the Freight Depot of what the photographer identified as the Union Pacific Railroad.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgag9QROjsyjqlW0P7A0iwTJ64EZ47lFGVAN7MTTOgJY9H-Gcp90V-ws6g6ENCtmMf322T45khx4ol4cvDxOyW0jVjk6TG1cS4ciqA_0T32pEVJ4TMU8imG-aVWbOc0pBgNBil9Ti3UaY5J/s1600/12th-St-Station.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="330" data-original-width="600" height="176" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgag9QROjsyjqlW0P7A0iwTJ64EZ47lFGVAN7MTTOgJY9H-Gcp90V-ws6g6ENCtmMf322T45khx4ol4cvDxOyW0jVjk6TG1cS4ciqA_0T32pEVJ4TMU8imG-aVWbOc0pBgNBil9Ti3UaY5J/s320/12th-St-Station.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Technically, the railroad was the Greeley, Salt Lake & Pacific. That name was a stand-in for the true operators of the line, but calling it the Union Pacific made it clear that Boulder had been placed on the national map. It was every business operator's dream come true--being a part of the transcontinental railroad.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEittiJf3xmbb5tg-659-uKTsD-CuA8mUeiryr0FLWXndhagLGWvSpGuhgOOwK-MTXHkwkl1CHPKkvqr4x3M3r8eCl0HB9QiY_az2gCq2gsBASnriBUpKpgLI9edVegu5JR6LdLS7axxFGwo/s1600/GSLP-Freight-Depot.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="330" data-original-width="600" height="176" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEittiJf3xmbb5tg-659-uKTsD-CuA8mUeiryr0FLWXndhagLGWvSpGuhgOOwK-MTXHkwkl1CHPKkvqr4x3M3r8eCl0HB9QiY_az2gCq2gsBASnriBUpKpgLI9edVegu5JR6LdLS7axxFGwo/s320/GSLP-Freight-Depot.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
The GSL&P never owned any of its own locomotives--it had a ready source in the also-U.P. controlled Colorado Central Railroad, from Golden to Blackhawk. But that's a story for another day.Michael, Dad, Poppi.http://www.blogger.com/profile/03898139769103917942noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7516187090027255565.post-24316595748108794032019-02-10T14:57:00.000-07:002019-02-10T14:59:10.610-07:00History hiding--but deeper.<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHisHzUeC-z462Pj4OeJ2wO3GQ-yCzEnjGMzC9wgsFXuHV5a54Zd5pkko63CP2VaelLGL0hwXDA2THpgxnv0RciaUO4VtMGkJHJ9Jje2Rsdy6eiz7CT1QWJRoAniEYer9qD7K6MjQH6HrI/s1600/No+30+after+service.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="609" data-original-width="1000" height="242" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHisHzUeC-z462Pj4OeJ2wO3GQ-yCzEnjGMzC9wgsFXuHV5a54Zd5pkko63CP2VaelLGL0hwXDA2THpgxnv0RciaUO4VtMGkJHJ9Jje2Rsdy6eiz7CT1QWJRoAniEYer9qD7K6MjQH6HrI/s400/No+30+after+service.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">After her years of service, No 30 shows her age.</td></tr>
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It takes a bit more digging to reveal this history, but it's there, nonetheless.<br />
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In an <a href="https://switzerlandtrail.blogspot.com/2019/02/boulder-yards-creek-crossing.html" target="_blank">earlier post</a> we shared our discovery of the abutment for the bridge spanning Boulder Creek, long ago buried by overgrowth.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGuw4GzbJYeoM33jNck13_GTvLnlQvo1ALapvqa2eoeoyKxeCaFX30UfU4HiBN44_xnrb8kKdbJ794bVJjFrOuCIym0ybdGLRRMqCRG65mgIdWuCxN66FwkfUn0Jlr3ekityFG1Dkv3zhU/s1600/Location-at-Yards.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="775" data-original-width="1475" height="210" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGuw4GzbJYeoM33jNck13_GTvLnlQvo1ALapvqa2eoeoyKxeCaFX30UfU4HiBN44_xnrb8kKdbJ794bVJjFrOuCIym0ybdGLRRMqCRG65mgIdWuCxN66FwkfUn0Jlr3ekityFG1Dkv3zhU/s400/Location-at-Yards.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The bridge over Boulder Creek.</td></tr>
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If we continue to the ROW just over the bridge and the turn west, we discover an odd angle to a subdivision lane.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgq11rBydRZlEWS6D4tgyjmuh-ezok-bxpyT9F1vE3-bMMSDADozCKVSKMHDmPzM7Ac5alZO-_qaGwh21AhUtH4qBHVHrlF_ngm5fswJZnI2ACqvsqrp4feDAzOfspgG2OG6WpiIlVAvHgR/s1600/From+the+east.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1280" data-original-width="1600" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgq11rBydRZlEWS6D4tgyjmuh-ezok-bxpyT9F1vE3-bMMSDADozCKVSKMHDmPzM7Ac5alZO-_qaGwh21AhUtH4qBHVHrlF_ngm5fswJZnI2ACqvsqrp4feDAzOfspgG2OG6WpiIlVAvHgR/s400/From+the+east.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #0000ee;">The fence along the south side and the property lines on the north side converge in a trapezoid configuration.</span></td></tr>
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The angle here is revealed clearly in the county parcel data base as in exact alignment with the right-of-way for the narrow gauge railroad from a century ago.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgJVG-BonH7nDCoDAjMHFtN6nKour7hKVxSlnA0-pw7YjQrJqsmm_HzMwwdJViw5z-e6JPe783CHr6pWixF5NnTAOuWljIJniCoaxHHzWgnfRzApu10o1GMwreMqw0H3yCHqlPpboR4ouD/s1600/Parcel-Map.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1054" data-original-width="1600" height="262" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgJVG-BonH7nDCoDAjMHFtN6nKour7hKVxSlnA0-pw7YjQrJqsmm_HzMwwdJViw5z-e6JPe783CHr6pWixF5NnTAOuWljIJniCoaxHHzWgnfRzApu10o1GMwreMqw0H3yCHqlPpboR4ouD/s400/Parcel-Map.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Arapahoe Lane today. Switzerland Trail of America yesterday.</td></tr>
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Perhaps one day I'll knock on a door or two and inquire: <i>Are you aware you're living along an historic route?</i>Michael, Dad, Poppi.http://www.blogger.com/profile/03898139769103917942noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7516187090027255565.post-6076444056356462122019-02-06T07:52:00.000-07:002019-02-06T07:52:06.182-07:00Boulder Yards Creek CrossingThis is a story of how our history disappears.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVpzKEvvTHZ-0uSrDaV9RzJJzS3-T9cpiIvNAhcBn-VuJgcjtWKm87CpfzMYIsZuuArgdCy-cTiwhGmEeBABY9VqTOwvN05ksWvqw_RQjP3s-g4u4NZiak8ngPCwSKV5UCeXFyITbpRanP/s1600/No30+new.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="682" data-original-width="1000" height="272" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVpzKEvvTHZ-0uSrDaV9RzJJzS3-T9cpiIvNAhcBn-VuJgcjtWKm87CpfzMYIsZuuArgdCy-cTiwhGmEeBABY9VqTOwvN05ksWvqw_RQjP3s-g4u4NZiak8ngPCwSKV5UCeXFyITbpRanP/s400/No30+new.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Rocky Mountain Joe Sturtevant documented the life of No 30 locomotive.</td></tr>
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At the west end of the rail yards in central Boulder, the narrow-gauge train crossed Boulder Creek over a timber-supported bridge, before heading on its journey to the mountains.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiX-yDsLyC_Yr0Ze7quSD-7vv6_ycq1VCPsCHKfOgfwsObshOrpYW9uO8qiaA4XzLVSLFV2DScfBxPRT9Axzx4SojKOuONsdSuVhK7p2mRsHA3sJCNVchDL91JaRaO6632swSMQt8QSVqM/s1600/Location-at-Yards.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="775" data-original-width="1475" height="210" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiX-yDsLyC_Yr0Ze7quSD-7vv6_ycq1VCPsCHKfOgfwsObshOrpYW9uO8qiaA4XzLVSLFV2DScfBxPRT9Axzx4SojKOuONsdSuVhK7p2mRsHA3sJCNVchDL91JaRaO6632swSMQt8QSVqM/s400/Location-at-Yards.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Today this area is an elegantly landscaped, essential part of our downtown community.</td></tr>
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With the closing of the line in 1919, the entire infrastructure of the railroad was dismantled and sold at auction. Rails, ties, timbers, signage--all were sold, hauled away for reuse on other operating lines.<br />
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But they didn't / couldn't move the supporting foundations of the bridgework. Like memorials in cemeteries, that stonework has lasting power.<br />
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It's a great place to look for traces of the Switzerland Trail of America in the 21st Century.<br />
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So we go looking, and this is what we find.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyAD-lz-9bBkkAxw2oc0PpEYZPQ60AlP6l75cO8_fnHFHO31UTHrpt-1AYD4EJFX9JYaLrKjfhzITszQR5Q0rUKXr5QBiV31s354S2WAflNz7VAZWWx1AKGH6k747f0p5xU019Eva-xL0E/s1600/Bench-setting_web.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1280" data-original-width="1600" height="512" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyAD-lz-9bBkkAxw2oc0PpEYZPQ60AlP6l75cO8_fnHFHO31UTHrpt-1AYD4EJFX9JYaLrKjfhzITszQR5Q0rUKXr5QBiV31s354S2WAflNz7VAZWWx1AKGH6k747f0p5xU019Eva-xL0E/s640/Bench-setting_web.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">You might enjoy stopping at the bench to ponder what's before you.</td></tr>
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This is the view from the bicycle path along the creek. The bench is an ideal marker for where to look, just west of the Boulder County Courthouse structure and fencing, off Sixth Street a few hundred yards. <br />
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A snowy day is the perfect time to see the sandstone foundations of the bridge, at the base of the south side of the Creek. In the warmer seasons there's vegetation hiding it, though it's still visible if you know where to look.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGz5UN9WGKbltQ4afUKJ833tzIjteP0UF7FgfPBwZMCUSScCbKd7KomrQ5cvL25DyQw6XvYq6bwat2yrNMpYwBP9tUkUv_F6FrcoaclSlgrM-5HhNCsMzXxGtSpt0t0ucfRtHUqoeQw0Hz/s1600/Full-width_web.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1280" data-original-width="1600" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGz5UN9WGKbltQ4afUKJ833tzIjteP0UF7FgfPBwZMCUSScCbKd7KomrQ5cvL25DyQw6XvYq6bwat2yrNMpYwBP9tUkUv_F6FrcoaclSlgrM-5HhNCsMzXxGtSpt0t0ucfRtHUqoeQw0Hz/s400/Full-width_web.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This stonework has been here more than 100 years. It'll be here 100 years after we're gone.</td></tr>
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As you move closer, the base takes form more clearly. This is at the north end of properties along West Arapahoe Avenue, homes visible at the top of the bank.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFJNQP0W5_Bn9hyDHbzqxRO7e8p605KR6J2ULL09gRN6KWE0YqGCYYBdm8orZnw1kYlzBJCP8riRCp_h3KTnhB4oo9LXbaJFNR2-N_UAu7be0okl7Yfpp5ZGiqlQn1y5tDeUZoVUsmJEc1/s1600/Stonework_web.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1280" data-original-width="1600" height="512" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFJNQP0W5_Bn9hyDHbzqxRO7e8p605KR6J2ULL09gRN6KWE0YqGCYYBdm8orZnw1kYlzBJCP8riRCp_h3KTnhB4oo9LXbaJFNR2-N_UAu7be0okl7Yfpp5ZGiqlQn1y5tDeUZoVUsmJEc1/s640/Stonework_web.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Pristine, finely finished, perfectly fitted blocks.</td></tr>
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Boulder Creek Path is regularly walked, biked, visited for lunch and picnics. It's a beautiful retreat to nature in the heart of the city.<br />
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How many visitors stop to ponder and appreciate this monument to another time?<br />
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How many can imagine the tens of thousands of passengers who crossed over this bridge? Their excitement as they headed up to the true adventure of the gold-mining country of early Colorado?Michael, Dad, Poppi.http://www.blogger.com/profile/03898139769103917942noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7516187090027255565.post-20308254607161494262019-01-08T16:13:00.003-07:002019-01-08T16:34:47.208-07:00Switzerland Trail of America to Estes Park<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2GGTuWLXNtOJ5gx4FWEKmIkuzjAAymOUhwmgnsgWS90k0KOHzVfZHGu_LWXRYBIaZgb6dq4TbKsHgkoLJm15FWueUorHZ2TPcWlHY1R2Mtff10oAKkBITtmSfkqS2YW6tit9z51K4jRLi/s1600/Peak+to+Peak.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" data-original-height="1320" data-original-width="1500" height="351" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2GGTuWLXNtOJ5gx4FWEKmIkuzjAAymOUhwmgnsgWS90k0KOHzVfZHGu_LWXRYBIaZgb6dq4TbKsHgkoLJm15FWueUorHZ2TPcWlHY1R2Mtff10oAKkBITtmSfkqS2YW6tit9z51K4jRLi/s400/Peak+to+Peak.jpg" width="400" /> </a></div>
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In its 1916 heyday, the Switzerland Trail of America was part of an integrated, multi-modal trip from Denver to Estes Park.</div>
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Passengers rode from Denver to Boulder along a standard-gauge track system, in a narrow-gauge car resting on a third rail inside the 3'6" span of the standard gauge.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXwozu3pc-FhadFzOb8TrjOLdk8l_T13sxha7oCpi8O7kSqp8vtvVesLbEs-yrEB-MAulGcEEEkQO5YgB8R14Dj9Y4hpWAOUe-9eGVp-9UPDCgBCIN3tyLAoT3zgTX6p_NcUDR0Fn0Ca4I/s1600/Photo+Map.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1196" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXwozu3pc-FhadFzOb8TrjOLdk8l_T13sxha7oCpi8O7kSqp8vtvVesLbEs-yrEB-MAulGcEEEkQO5YgB8R14Dj9Y4hpWAOUe-9eGVp-9UPDCgBCIN3tyLAoT3zgTX6p_NcUDR0Fn0Ca4I/s320/Photo+Map.jpg" width="239" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Boulder, Colorado was at the center.</td></tr>
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In Boulder the locomotive pulling them was switched out with one of the Denver Boulder & Western narrow gauge units. Moving slowly through the spectacular switchbacks of the northern branch to Ward, they enjoyed the wildflowers and the inviting vistas of the continental divide.</div>
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At the end of the railroad line, they were met by Stanley Steamer automobiles, carried in high fashion the remaining 35+ miles of unfinished gravel road to Estes Park.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvXHcOIinlZgzARkcdC6hVV3n6dtG9sXViuZYDvMXkKDVSobTPMang3dSQEQVN8otb4EWPgiUw0xiFFfOymS0HfoaaOg9Koqum7M6_72AvcYYzddgBkEUaS2j7OMYwBeOm_6PvlHDOE8UZ/s1600/Estes+Park+fare+structure.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1504" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvXHcOIinlZgzARkcdC6hVV3n6dtG9sXViuZYDvMXkKDVSobTPMang3dSQEQVN8otb4EWPgiUw0xiFFfOymS0HfoaaOg9Koqum7M6_72AvcYYzddgBkEUaS2j7OMYwBeOm_6PvlHDOE8UZ/s320/Estes+Park+fare+structure.jpg" width="255" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Round trip was $9.60. In 2018 dollars? $234.51.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
It certainly wasn't a trip for everyone, but for those adventurous few who could afford it, it must have been the journey of a lifetime.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Colorado was making its introduction to the world stage. Rocky Mountain National Park had been declared a national treasure in 1915.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
Michael, Dad, Poppi.http://www.blogger.com/profile/03898139769103917942noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7516187090027255565.post-46532691195499739572015-09-03T16:41:00.000-06:002018-12-18T06:15:53.148-07:00Sunset Water Tank.<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjqMRoW3zh117Y-iopBmRgXEhF8Na3NWMpEUtjOvbODrVXeCt22pHCTh7e-7hsA4y-DMQHVFEP6f7d08Oo7eZ2qg4_Saq53NxXOTmxAYIu0Fm5Xc5gfBpZDTlekU0tTVY_NiEgMDQMjhlT/s1600/Sunset+Water+Tank.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="310" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjqMRoW3zh117Y-iopBmRgXEhF8Na3NWMpEUtjOvbODrVXeCt22pHCTh7e-7hsA4y-DMQHVFEP6f7d08Oo7eZ2qg4_Saq53NxXOTmxAYIu0Fm5Xc5gfBpZDTlekU0tTVY_NiEgMDQMjhlT/s400/Sunset+Water+Tank.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://history.denverlibrary.org/news/acclaimed-western-photographers-louis-charles-mcclure" target="_blank">Charles McClure</a> captures the excitement of the day, showing the 2-8-0 as it arrives at the new water tower at Sunset, about 1898. The recently constructed right-of-way to Ward climbs up the mountainside in the upper left of the image.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The original narrow-gauge railroad serving the mountain community of Boulder County was one of three local lines operated by the Union Pacific under the name <i>Greeley Salt Lake & Pacific</i>, begun in 1883. A catastrophic flood event in 1894 removed most of the infrastructure, a gift to the UP as it had already contemplated ceasing operations. Gold mining operations were now deep enough they required massive capital investments, and silver mining had disappeared with the 1893 repeal of the Sherman Silver Purchase Act <br />
<br />
For three years there was no rail service, with not enough mining activity to justify the capital expense and no investors in sight. In 1897 that began to change, with the incorporation of the <i>Ward Smuggler Gold Mining Company</i> and several other indications of increased activity.<br />
<br />
After some tentative efforts to develop a 22-inch tramway between Ward and Boulder, comparable to the successful <a href="http://www.gilpintram.com/" target="_blank">Gilpin Tramway</a>, Investors from New York, Pennsylvania and Boulder filed papers of incorporation for the <i>Colorado & Northwestern Railway Company</i>. It was to be a full 36-inch narrow gauge, and the announcement of its coming triggered significant additional investments in the Ward District.<br />
<br />
Using some of the right-of-way of the defunct GSL&P, moving some sections above the flood zone, and extending it to Ward, the railroad was in Boulder County again. Michael, Dad, Poppi.http://www.blogger.com/profile/03898139769103917942noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7516187090027255565.post-28314194494008627082014-04-28T11:23:00.002-06:002014-04-29T07:31:04.658-06:00Rand McNally 1895: Boulder County and Colorado.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh514SPCZHFkP0LPU7QB0m2b2qroJ7akcHn4IxG_UDgDUNLlkq1wFk5RMQzwq-CnCll4uYj8aUlP4Xd1AAKY-bPk_CwmRwRu4wV_d2hCZq989QPK9ZDjWUNukJJTu7d14aclt_myI-W6jHS/s1600/boulder+1895.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh514SPCZHFkP0LPU7QB0m2b2qroJ7akcHn4IxG_UDgDUNLlkq1wFk5RMQzwq-CnCll4uYj8aUlP4Xd1AAKY-bPk_CwmRwRu4wV_d2hCZq989QPK9ZDjWUNukJJTu7d14aclt_myI-W6jHS/s1600/boulder+1895.jpg" height="266" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<i><a href="http://www.livgenmi.com/1895/" target="_blank">The New 11 x 14 Atlas of the World</a>,</i> it was called. <br />
<br />
This map was published during the recovery of the national economy from its 1892 downturn. Less than ten years earlier, the Greeley, Salt Lake & Pacific railroad had made its first trip from Boulder into the mountain community, in 1883. Now it no longer existed, a casualty of natural disaster--a springtime flood--and human folly.<br />
<br />
Time would see the rebuilding of the narrow-gauge rail system, in 1896 under new ownership and management. The Colorado & Northwestern Railway, a new name, a new day. <i>The Switzerland Trail of America</i> slogan, brand name, had yet to be born.<br />
<br />
Altona, Hygiene, Highland, Caribou, Sunset, Sugar Loaf, Marshall, Canfield, Boulder Junction--so many. Towns prominent enough to be on a state map in 1895, in 2014 exist in memory alone. <br />
<br />
Time passes. Some communities serve temporary purposes. I doubt they understood that about themselves.<br />
<br />
Where is Caribou Town now? What happened to the narrow-gauge trestles to the top of the world?<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvMRgPEg0K0eNxyT0zETezT_RLfq4LRfnTi4a-QY3miC98-e0kVkkLISg0TwwY1JrXChj4ArmN_tCXBNRl3E5gUhRGLenK11W5c2_AGBIEHZJtRvgq4CdftpuDLdzFziW-3QneT-xhjuAG/s1600/colorado1895.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvMRgPEg0K0eNxyT0zETezT_RLfq4LRfnTi4a-QY3miC98-e0kVkkLISg0TwwY1JrXChj4ArmN_tCXBNRl3E5gUhRGLenK11W5c2_AGBIEHZJtRvgq4CdftpuDLdzFziW-3QneT-xhjuAG/s1600/colorado1895.jpg" height="278" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">35 years from Native American to European.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />Michael, Dad, Poppi.http://www.blogger.com/profile/03898139769103917942noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7516187090027255565.post-55078724770107043352014-04-15T11:53:00.000-06:002014-04-28T14:37:56.281-06:00The Panic of 1873.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5DMQAGgA54KUeUwid1Djwif-zVF9N3eAQnKKxqOGUZc8zxiJ-iFIM2wo00bbQ9QMdGqThqIeTIZcs_2FJu8eNjPU1-xG2fmlm0OXK-KDIgpUgVlgtSEUNeQG95tXj7e3yjN9AoKrXESs7/s1600/panic-a-1040cs1040.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5DMQAGgA54KUeUwid1Djwif-zVF9N3eAQnKKxqOGUZc8zxiJ-iFIM2wo00bbQ9QMdGqThqIeTIZcs_2FJu8eNjPU1-xG2fmlm0OXK-KDIgpUgVlgtSEUNeQG95tXj7e3yjN9AoKrXESs7/s1600/panic-a-1040cs1040.jpg" height="260" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
By 1883 the mining industry in Colorado had been developing for more than 20 years, yet the railroad had yet to come to the Boulder mountain area. The need for a more efficient and effective transportation system had long been evident. Wagon transport across rocky terrain was slow, expensive, wrought with danger, and was a clear limiting factor in full exploitation of the resources buried in the mountain treasure chest.<br />
<br />
The transcontinental railroad had been completed in 1865, the driving of the golden spike at Promontory Point in Utah signaling not just the connection of the coasts but the maturation of a technology. In the east and on the west coast, railroad growth experienced rapid, often explosive growth. The population base in the mountain west was insufficient to merit the massive capital investments required, but would soon begin growing.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhN7jlYdUOu3uNVypiBBpyZptmfwfOy7HB3x3LU0UYdwJtP7ICF_a6aGSqDRkFOOiio-j6q3dQI99-i0wMI_YtOFbktE25qF-D8zHLOM8Ndj_BtZhvSn3_K0ycqsYjkeaM6tye6-VxNwIAD/s1600/clear+creek+1872.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhN7jlYdUOu3uNVypiBBpyZptmfwfOy7HB3x3LU0UYdwJtP7ICF_a6aGSqDRkFOOiio-j6q3dQI99-i0wMI_YtOFbktE25qF-D8zHLOM8Ndj_BtZhvSn3_K0ycqsYjkeaM6tye6-VxNwIAD/s1600/clear+creek+1872.jpg" height="320" width="286" /></a>By the late 1860s and early 1870s railroads began appearing in the Rocky Mountains, where industrialization had already been developing. <span class="st">The Denver Pacific Railroad laid its first track in 1869, and in 1872 the Colorado Central Railroad extended its line up Clear Creek Canyon to Blackhawk, at the southern end of the mineral field west of Boulder. Conditions were ripe for a rail line to the north.</span><br />
<span class="st"><br /></span>
<span class="st">Between 1848 and 1873 the economy of the European continent had experienced an expansion without historic precedent. One example, to illustrate: total rail lines in 1850 came to 14,500 miles. By 1870 that figure was 63,300 miles.</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<span class="st"></span><br />
<div id="stcpDiv" style="left: -1988px; position: absolute; top: -1999px;">
etween
1848 and 1873, the European economy experienced an economic boom
without historic precedent. - See more at:
http://www.counterfire.org/index.php/articles/a-marxist-history-of-the-world/15498-a-marxist-history-of-the-world-part-61-the-long-depression-1873-1896#sthash.cr7Lylqk.dpuf</div>
<div id="stcpDiv" style="left: -1988px; position: absolute; top: -1999px;">
etween
1848 and 1873, the European economy experienced an economic boom
without historic precedent. - See more at:
http://www.counterfire.org/index.php/articles/a-marxist-history-of-the-world/15498-a-marxist-history-of-the-world-part-61-the-long-depression-1873-1896#sthash.cr7Lylqk.dpuf<span class="st">Between 1848 and 1873 the European economy had experienced an expansion without historic precedent. One detail to illustrate: </span>in 1850 there were 14,500 miles of rail in Europe. By 1970 there were 63,300.</div>
<span class="st">Then came the crash.</span><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiS2v6cZyU2SBhhjM36nbeJaX9ri6iWc7ZJcNbP4J054ZWRSOX-co7ailPxVmrD3WxnzRYMGJddYm5Odj7Lkgy8dwezG9KqZ7wcbuFHmOWDL1HL8jPKiUEAKzog1iyPdVsaPipLFi8EfpGb/s1600/northernpacificrrvig.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiS2v6cZyU2SBhhjM36nbeJaX9ri6iWc7ZJcNbP4J054ZWRSOX-co7ailPxVmrD3WxnzRYMGJddYm5Odj7Lkgy8dwezG9KqZ7wcbuFHmOWDL1HL8jPKiUEAKzog1iyPdVsaPipLFi8EfpGb/s1600/northernpacificrrvig.jpg" height="83" width="200" /></a></div>
In May 1873 the Vienna Stock Market collapsed. Cascading through the continent, one national economy after another failed. The agriculture industry in England was decimated. By September 1873 the catastrophe arrived at American shores, with the decimation of the empire of Jay Cooke and Company, with large holdings in lumber and in railroads. Panic was in the air as investors in every sector of the economy rushed to preserve their own assets.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrvxF5XVzehShHUsHFBSnvIBJmyiPDpUSBTi0aYYCA4WL1TBEapAtUPB_up3_w3lQGWiqCyPmN_SjdXB1rUMKyGAHBO9lIxZs5T6cYDu_wkCIdb9Co2jfW6NgX8zqtTRO462vijRGeR3ee/s1600/panic+news+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrvxF5XVzehShHUsHFBSnvIBJmyiPDpUSBTi0aYYCA4WL1TBEapAtUPB_up3_w3lQGWiqCyPmN_SjdXB1rUMKyGAHBO9lIxZs5T6cYDu_wkCIdb9Co2jfW6NgX8zqtTRO462vijRGeR3ee/s1600/panic+news+2.jpg" height="160" width="200" /></a><br />
So began what has become known as the Long Depression, described today as shallow but lasting a generation. With the destruction of capital nationwide, the immense investments required for development of railroad lines in Colorado came to a halt.<br />
<br />
It was not until 1883 that the Union Pacific had mustered enough capital and enough courage to venture into the risk of developing a narrow gauge rail that would eventually extend into the gold and silver fields west of Boulder City, Colorado.<br />
<div id="stcpDiv" style="left: -1988px; position: absolute; top: -1999px;">
Europe
had just 14,500 miles of railway in 1850, but 63,300 miles of it by
1870. - See more at:
http://www.counterfire.org/index.php/articles/a-marxist-history-of-the-world/15498-a-marxist-history-of-the-world-part-61-the-long-depression-1873-1896#sthash.cr7Lylqk.dpuf</div>
<div id="stcpDiv" style="left: -1988px; position: absolute; top: -1999px;">
Europe
had just 14,500 miles of railway in 1850, but 63,300 miles of it by
1870. - See more at:
http://www.counterfire.org/index.php/articles/a-marxist-history-of-the-world/15498-a-marxist-history-of-the-world-part-61-the-long-depression-1873-1896#sthash.cr7Lylqk.dpuf</div>
<div id="stcpDiv" style="left: -1988px; position: absolute; top: -1999px;">
etween
1848 and 1873, the European economy experienced an economic boom
without historic precedent. - See more at:
http://www.counterfire.org/index.php/articles/a-marxist-history-of-the-world/15498-a-marxist-history-of-the-world-part-61-the-long-depression-1873-1896#sthash.cr7Lylqk.dpuf</div>
<br />Michael, Dad, Poppi.http://www.blogger.com/profile/03898139769103917942noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7516187090027255565.post-8899529082800645472014-03-26T09:49:00.001-06:002014-03-26T09:54:31.685-06:00University of Colorado, 1880.As the narrow-gauge railroad was being contemplated, hoped for, planned, here's what the University of Colorado looked like.<br />
<br />
This is it in 1880. In its totality.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSfpIA4A5c0hqb4l6V95fFjLR0ELeAebRlJwJ0_nojJH0Io1Gj8LlBIByVwndARrx2bXuBm8RTOHSzo-XS7-dZhXJdFB4ELfefRFkfmGWKK_w1v0Z3Y0OOBR6RMpwPNZywiiayMY1i0O4w/s1600/CU+history+photo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSfpIA4A5c0hqb4l6V95fFjLR0ELeAebRlJwJ0_nojJH0Io1Gj8LlBIByVwndARrx2bXuBm8RTOHSzo-XS7-dZhXJdFB4ELfefRFkfmGWKK_w1v0Z3Y0OOBR6RMpwPNZywiiayMY1i0O4w/s1600/CU+history+photo.jpg" height="291" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />Here it is in 2010. Construction has continued for the past four years.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhY3tC0u2Kk0fag-21d3wICVrh2npVKB3ZgZFsQz1lwQxt5YKj7GXhou_T51CHcr0ZN1CrLbG0Rnlot0VjtXscFYPTWt6yM_OsBozMCg3yRnW9Hx7wO31oRvY3-OAhYncyOWrliwdyxd5Ww/s1600/CUBoulder-2010_Aerial3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhY3tC0u2Kk0fag-21d3wICVrh2npVKB3ZgZFsQz1lwQxt5YKj7GXhou_T51CHcr0ZN1CrLbG0Rnlot0VjtXscFYPTWt6yM_OsBozMCg3yRnW9Hx7wO31oRvY3-OAhYncyOWrliwdyxd5Ww/s1600/CUBoulder-2010_Aerial3.jpg" height="265" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />Michael, Dad, Poppi.http://www.blogger.com/profile/03898139769103917942noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7516187090027255565.post-53941514952630093082014-03-25T10:10:00.002-06:002014-03-25T11:58:44.589-06:00Boulder County STA Map.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggD9TCCJAU1Xgy-tsFPKSiDjyPrPiXTdVv22_uoaRhUcX-VSP3okVrvSG1VESINYq_Q4a1p7glgRYVYsJRNem3LEIwWx2TGdxIc9TTiKeEFPEwVNPbHsWnDNveSAEEGtuxRaRDvo7YROMz/s1600/Boulder+County+STA+Map_image.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggD9TCCJAU1Xgy-tsFPKSiDjyPrPiXTdVv22_uoaRhUcX-VSP3okVrvSG1VESINYq_Q4a1p7glgRYVYsJRNem3LEIwWx2TGdxIc9TTiKeEFPEwVNPbHsWnDNveSAEEGtuxRaRDvo7YROMz/s1600/Boulder+County+STA+Map_image.jpg" height="270" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
Doing some other research I've just encountered a map created from our data being used by the <a href="http://bouldercountyopenspace.org/hard-rock-mine-tour/sites.html" target="_blank">Boulder County Open Space Department</a>.<br />
<br />
I'm thrilled to see it being used, and consider it a huge success for the efforts we've been making to restore this historic treasure to its proper place in local consciousness.Michael, Dad, Poppi.http://www.blogger.com/profile/03898139769103917942noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7516187090027255565.post-14856351616487793902014-03-24T08:04:00.000-06:002014-03-26T09:56:14.001-06:00American History unfolding.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjee6050PLL5wS8jYGcaF9ruf9459gaEGuzno10NeKfQFC9Q31qb-0cYTLCM0eRa9p3I0Ly9x-xFOMgHx2ZEgJMA0bhYpLMNW0NqO33iMe5hmuNkxpaPvmBa66NXa7Buzt_kPXhKfHLD5mP/s1600/index.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjee6050PLL5wS8jYGcaF9ruf9459gaEGuzno10NeKfQFC9Q31qb-0cYTLCM0eRa9p3I0Ly9x-xFOMgHx2ZEgJMA0bhYpLMNW0NqO33iMe5hmuNkxpaPvmBa66NXa7Buzt_kPXhKfHLD5mP/s1600/index.png" height="270" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<br />
<br />
A clever and efficient use of technology, here's the story of the development of the legal entities that have comprised the United States. The image is a static view of the first frame. <a href="http://gif-explode.com/?explode=http://i.imgur.com/yPov2.gif" target="_blank">Here's history in motion</a>.<br />
<br />
Despite the <a href="https://highered.mcgraw-hill.com/sites/0073124923/student_view0/chapter16/where_historians_disagree.html" target="_blank">professional controversies</a> regarding the frontier thesis of <a href="https://www.gilderlehrman.org/history-by-era/development-west/timeline-terms/frederick-jackon-turners-frontier-thesis-0" target="_blank">Frederick Jackson Turner</a>, it's difficult to escape the reality of the East to West direction of the development of the country. Michael, Dad, Poppi.http://www.blogger.com/profile/03898139769103917942noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7516187090027255565.post-48847713189784012382014-03-19T16:05:00.003-06:002014-03-24T10:59:23.689-06:00Mines in Colorado.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrOIkQyQpPXf-b16GwUqLnuf-12nuyaPGJnmytzXsdHMhFr_QDUavXrBNJKRKQqlvFy968KhLo0AiwdvD8FjtqOMXTrLz-3yDLBglg8GTMFtZ28GcRxVhwOYf-ZPx42ukPEhvYztcd3blJ/s1600/Mining+Sites+Print+Screen.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrOIkQyQpPXf-b16GwUqLnuf-12nuyaPGJnmytzXsdHMhFr_QDUavXrBNJKRKQqlvFy968KhLo0AiwdvD8FjtqOMXTrLz-3yDLBglg8GTMFtZ28GcRxVhwOYf-ZPx42ukPEhvYztcd3blJ/s1600/Mining+Sites+Print+Screen.jpg" height="298" width="400" /></a></div>
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These are <a href="http://westernmininghistory.com/mine_state/colorado" target="_blank">mine locations</a> from the USGS Mineral Resources Data System. The graphic here is a Print Screen created from the live, zoomable image of the entire state of Colorado.<br />
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The map is produced in a Geographic Information System (GIS) application. Linked to each point there are data, including names and information for 1014 mines in Boulder County.<br />
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This resource comes to us from a long-time resident of the mountains, compliments of Facebook. Mike Shaw has lived in the Nederland area for most of his life, knows the area, knows the people.<br />
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These data will be useful in documenting the activities of the industrial revolution that seized the area in the late 19th and early 20 centuries.Michael, Dad, Poppi.http://www.blogger.com/profile/03898139769103917942noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7516187090027255565.post-75859624852410696642011-03-15T07:44:00.000-06:002011-04-26T13:42:25.441-06:00Mining Claims and Surveying.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiecssMC8HIaSwqUYGVOoBFN3mDB14JoxLu6M8HQLGgARyMSnrpbDz54eNu2Yn16JPYSd2dmyCYzZ1yXP5p9DVGpEwocNaaqKGoTTnuWP6IYhZY1Hpp8Ws6TBblTyCCQ6tyaxEYO_rcyCWv/s1600-h/Irrigation+Circles,+San+Luis+Valley+CO.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiecssMC8HIaSwqUYGVOoBFN3mDB14JoxLu6M8HQLGgARyMSnrpbDz54eNu2Yn16JPYSd2dmyCYzZ1yXP5p9DVGpEwocNaaqKGoTTnuWP6IYhZY1Hpp8Ws6TBblTyCCQ6tyaxEYO_rcyCWv/s400/Irrigation+Circles,+San+Luis+Valley+CO.jpg" /></a><br />
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<div style="text-align: right;"><i><span style="font-size: x-small;">Irrigation circles, San Luis Valley, Colorado. </span></i><br />
</div>If you've flown over the heartland of the American continent you've seen it.<br />
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The patchwork quilt of our nation's agricultural landscape.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVonvgU09fH5bu6cDOhp5Uk-mR7FhfdfOmATM-lk8-oBMl3qm5UiH8QeuoSVHMUkWXpZzKTWg3gl0LgLo3rFcMZZBlM_W-zjpv3o0zjH-Ir3e6nuvbbnuzyBg0V0hEAH1ZCvCCCI_Wjxlu/s1600-h/San+Joaquin+Valley+CA.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVonvgU09fH5bu6cDOhp5Uk-mR7FhfdfOmATM-lk8-oBMl3qm5UiH8QeuoSVHMUkWXpZzKTWg3gl0LgLo3rFcMZZBlM_W-zjpv3o0zjH-Ir3e6nuvbbnuzyBg0V0hEAH1ZCvCCCI_Wjxlu/s320/San+Joaquin+Valley+CA.jpg" /></a><br />
</div>Jim Wark, a generous, quiet and personable man, began his career as a mining engineer and geologist. For twenty years now he's been studying the patterns of landforms on the North American continent. And making beautiful pictures of them, from one end of our country to the other.<br />
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He flies out of <a href="http://tinyurl.com/yclwjj2">Pueblo, Colorado</a>, in a sturdy front-and-back two seat airplane. Like most photographers, he's moved to digital equipment. But only in his commercial work. These images here, like all of his stock work, were created with <a href="http://en.leica-camera.com/photography/r_system/">Leica R-series</a> 35mm film cameras--those of crystalline lenses. The plane is small, with a high wing and a large side opening for an unobstructed view. I imagine him banking a turn in his little <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aviat_Husky">Husky</a>, hanging out the window, wind in his hair. Capturing beauty, one click at a time.<br />
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<i><span style="font-size: x-small;">San Joaquin Valley, California.</span></i><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-r-uuXMSzOIvoD_EuBWeEnwUoN8z5f5AbKe-HkagPgHdNYT8YJp74Dn7BCQj0ak2KxliO6zb4uyjV3yNtWbU69JKHGenFP2GXXZMSM4DOG2BkELuTaxNPu7okP3rdLUJDP_CjYGASnBR7/s1600-h/Ouellette+ME.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-r-uuXMSzOIvoD_EuBWeEnwUoN8z5f5AbKe-HkagPgHdNYT8YJp74Dn7BCQj0ak2KxliO6zb4uyjV3yNtWbU69JKHGenFP2GXXZMSM4DOG2BkELuTaxNPu7okP3rdLUJDP_CjYGASnBR7/s320/Ouellette+ME.jpg" /></a><br />
</div>Jim makes these photographs available at <a href="http://www.airphotona.com/index.asp">Airphoto North America</a>, "providing 100,000 high quality stock aerial images with coverage from Alaska and Labrador to Costa Rica and the Lesser Antilles - and everything between."<br />
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A prize-winning aerial photographer, he's also published a number of <a href="http://www.rizzoliusa.com/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9788854400030">magnificent books</a>. <br />
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A viewer with a bit of historical perspective sees in Jim's images the bedrock of the American way of life, the blueprint for our national economy. Three of the four presidents featured on <a href="http://www.nps.gov/moru/index.htm">Mt Rushmore</a>--George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln--were surveyors. <br />
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<i><span style="font-size: x-small;">Oullette, Maine.</span></i><br />
</div><a href="http://www.monticello.org/jefferson/biography.html">Thomas Jefferson</a>--himself the son of a surveyor--proposed a system for overseeing the setting of boundaries and defining the nature of the measurements of the vast land that stretched out west of Washington DC. The basic module of the <a href="http://www.nationalatlas.gov/articles/boundaries/a_plss.html">Public Land Survey System</a> is a Section, one mile along each side, one square mile. Section lines are roads.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPwTQ1FB4hPHyij8AzST5dDxJ0Mfos6hWNxPWVYhNHHVrymdQ5JfB2-Ux7tqwltKMXwXwcqbCeZxneBslct5RqDOiWepAB9OpEnmrEXw-3GI6UTmK4GR90chJ_8cawJzP45dvTqk84rU5C/s1600-h/Section+Breakdown.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPwTQ1FB4hPHyij8AzST5dDxJ0Mfos6hWNxPWVYhNHHVrymdQ5JfB2-Ux7tqwltKMXwXwcqbCeZxneBslct5RqDOiWepAB9OpEnmrEXw-3GI6UTmK4GR90chJ_8cawJzP45dvTqk84rU5C/s400/Section+Breakdown.gif" /></a><br />
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<blockquote>In surveying history, Ohio is perhaps best known as the birthplace of the Public Land Survey System, which is still in use today. This system split public land into townships of six miles by six miles. These would be divided into sections, each one mile square and containing 640 acres. The first area surveyed under the Public Land Survey System was in eastern Ohio, and the work began in 1785 with the Point of Beginning, or the intersection of the Western boundary of Pennsylvania and the North bank of the Ohio River.<br />
<div style="text-align: right;"><a href="http://ezinearticles.com/?Land-Surveying-History-and-Systems-in-Ohio&id=2546328"><i><span style="font-size: x-small;">Land Surveying History and Systems in Ohio</span></i></a>. <br />
</div></blockquote><div style="text-align: left;">Thus, the patchwork from California to Maine, from Texas to North Dakota. To the discerning eye it's an elegant, austere beauty, a God's eye view of the countryside. Ask Jim Wark.<br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjz9Dz0xSYUHHFUDaF8CIqpI0xolPpGS-gjj0750Lla_yHMY0ltHzS86Zf8slJkuhQ604ijWR2vKWJ9YHGAll7ggsGW8hb0oMDARnsvgLmXkkmMAMgK3Ki4E2E_fiyUk4uENjb3ap9wkfgd/s1600-h/Mount+Pleasant+IA.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjz9Dz0xSYUHHFUDaF8CIqpI0xolPpGS-gjj0750Lla_yHMY0ltHzS86Zf8slJkuhQ604ijWR2vKWJ9YHGAll7ggsGW8hb0oMDARnsvgLmXkkmMAMgK3Ki4E2E_fiyUk4uENjb3ap9wkfgd/s640/Mount+Pleasant+IA.jpg" /></a><br />
</div><div style="text-align: right;"><i><span style="font-size: x-small;">Mt Pleasant, Iowa.</span></i><br />
</div>In the present layout of our counties, the pattern is unmistakable. One can see it in the layout of the streets, in the layout of the agricultural parcels. Here's Boulder County, south of <a href="http://www.ci.longmont.co.us/">Longmont, Colorado</a>.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgovTtkYI2hHVonB9DwAngIrrkmyMHY-rd0Op7Fnytnvq36YTYc33OmtvgXstjGEA8oIuRnufMHjl2h8qtCEXA4xxEszIpvxND2MRTnzS2tyzj94X6H7DstzHxD2NhtTRAW10fZ9-TtOhPK/s1600-h/plss-county_150.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgovTtkYI2hHVonB9DwAngIrrkmyMHY-rd0Op7Fnytnvq36YTYc33OmtvgXstjGEA8oIuRnufMHjl2h8qtCEXA4xxEszIpvxND2MRTnzS2tyzj94X6H7DstzHxD2NhtTRAW10fZ9-TtOhPK/s640/plss-county_150.jpg" /></a><br />
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<div style="text-align: left;">Less visible but nonetheless still in evidence, section lines continued to define our space when we moved to towns and cities. Looking at northwest Denver streets, east and west, one sees 64th Ave, 72nd Ave, 80th Ave, 88th Ave. Each major thoroughfare, one mile from the next.<br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcaqEr4qWevRdAdFMgC3Ux405gpZGM5jcuw-h-m58jk9FFSSUDx4n7TymO5tfTCw3Lkt-DkSZlnKn9duBwEiOX0orrAHAfxtWm69zJXmWkqlfa7UGJ-jjupkjqtULx3gFt7m4Ficr44kER/s1600-h/NW+Denver_miles_150.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcaqEr4qWevRdAdFMgC3Ux405gpZGM5jcuw-h-m58jk9FFSSUDx4n7TymO5tfTCw3Lkt-DkSZlnKn9duBwEiOX0orrAHAfxtWm69zJXmWkqlfa7UGJ-jjupkjqtULx3gFt7m4Ficr44kER/s640/NW+Denver_miles_150.jpg" /></a><br />
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<div style="text-align: left;">North and south, one sees Pecos St, Federal Blvd, Sheridan Blvd, Wadsworth Blvd, Kipling St, each measuring off some variation of a one-mile marker.<br />
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In Boulder, we see Table Mesa/South Boulder Road, Baseline Road, Arapahoe Road. Each precisely one mile from the next.<br />
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And thus it is in one American city after another, making way only for natural breaks in the terrain--rivers, mountains, passes.<br />
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<b>Mining Claims.</b><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">Superimposed on the Public Land Surveyor System is the system for mining claims, based on the geologically-defined location and direction of valuable minerals. PLSS defines surface rights only; lode mining claims define subsurface rights as well.<br />
</div><blockquote>Deposits subject to lode claims include classic veins or lodes having well-defined boundaries such as quartz or other veins bearing gold or other metallic minerals and large volume, but low-grade disseminated metallic deposits. Federal statute limits their size to a maximum of 1,500 feet in length along the vein or lode and a maximum width of 600 feet, 300 feet on either side of the centerline of the vein or lode. The end lines of the lode claim must be parallel.<br />
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<div style="text-align: right;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><i><a href="http://www.mineralprospector.com/us">The Mineral Prospector. </a></i></span> <br />
</div></blockquote><div style="text-align: left;">1500 feet long. 600 feet wide. Following veins of gold and silver. The resulting parcel map is a riot of <a href="http://www.24hours7days.com/Puzzles/PickUp_Sticks_6480.html">pickup-sticks</a> ownership parcels.<br />
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</div><div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwi0LlRzzeonn4eP7zvOOtZ6zRhcuuGCjWyRcGJpi3LWVgGwOLVJ0es9Ms-OeJ1bHLtMp_zg4pbnOxUVCr2Wh-5QDAOYOabCLOPJEuvtTtjP1E580m2hRpKiqiTZTBF8LKKOmKB2K1TKzR/s1600-h/mining+claim+parcels_150.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwi0LlRzzeonn4eP7zvOOtZ6zRhcuuGCjWyRcGJpi3LWVgGwOLVJ0es9Ms-OeJ1bHLtMp_zg4pbnOxUVCr2Wh-5QDAOYOabCLOPJEuvtTtjP1E580m2hRpKiqiTZTBF8LKKOmKB2K1TKzR/s640/mining+claim+parcels_150.jpg" /></a><br />
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</div><div style="text-align: right;"><i><span style="font-size: x-small;">Recently <a href="http://switzerlandtrail.blogspot.com/2009/12/gold-mining-2009.html">reactivated gold mines</a> along the Switzerland Trail right of way.</span></i><br />
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<div style="text-align: left;">(There's a splendid irony that this jumble of chaos lies directly along one of the true spinal axes of the world survey system, the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/40th_parallel_north">40th parallel north</a>. Baseline Road--"baseline"--in Boulder. The Kansas / Nebraska border a few hundred miles east.) <br />
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Imagine now the complexities of logistics and administration of a system like this, and put it in the context of the management technology available in the 19th century. This graphic was prepared using 21st century state-of-the-art GIS/computer technology and the advantages of aerial orthophotography. These folks used paper and pencil, drafting table and t-square, transit, <a href="http://switzerlandtrail.blogspot.com/2009/09/railroad-surveyors.html">Gunter's chain and red-and-white pole</a>.<br />
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</div><div style="text-align: left;">The potential for error and for conflict were immense as the mining claims were being filed and worked--all with an urgency even in our time-saturated pace of today we might find overwhelming.<br />
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</div><div style="text-align: left;">This was the situation on the ground--quite literally--as people came together to seek their individual fortunes. These were fierce individualists, self-reliant, proud. And facing the absolute reality of requiring protection in a desperately competitive situation. Stripped raw of all political cant, they were faced with the ultimate need to form a <a href="http://www.hbo.com/deadwood/about/">government</a> that would respect their freedom while protecting the rights of each of them.<br />
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One wonders how the simple geometric layout of our land has influenced the American psyche, so steeped in rational thought and <a href="http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Age_of_Enlightenment">post-Enlightenment thinking</a>. No doubt there's comfort there, the illusion that we've tamed the world. Perhaps there's a clue here to why we so value our time in the mountains and the <a href="http://www.pbs.org/nationalparks/">wild places of the earth</a>? <br />
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</div>Michael, Dad, Poppi.http://www.blogger.com/profile/03898139769103917942noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7516187090027255565.post-55093295232837100332011-02-27T18:03:00.000-07:002011-04-26T13:44:03.503-06:00Maxwell Pitch.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfweqiYSugW5uA8O8GH76pPhvuIhE8-lVZAZHKikoQovp9v_z8pESJ-Pso6r2u00givqY8QVN_LXzNuxhnbIHskJ5SOhiGQ8yYqOGyb3pE4OX74MhhjI18J3iuXrIi3eTsGyZESJs_fgmY/s1600/0560.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfweqiYSugW5uA8O8GH76pPhvuIhE8-lVZAZHKikoQovp9v_z8pESJ-Pso6r2u00givqY8QVN_LXzNuxhnbIHskJ5SOhiGQ8yYqOGyb3pE4OX74MhhjI18J3iuXrIi3eTsGyZESJs_fgmY/s400/0560.jpg" /></a><br />
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Less than a mile from the opening of Boulder Canyon, a marker's been placed by the <a href="http://www.boulderhistorymuseum.org/">Boulder Historical Society</a> to indicate Maxwell's Pitch, one of the earliest structures remaining from the original toll road up into the mountains. Spend a little time studying this structure and the challenges of early transportation become more than evident. There's a reason why the earliest routes to the gold mines went up Sunshine Canyon.<br />
<blockquote><div style="text-align: center;">MAXWELL PITCH<br />
</div>The iron aqueduct that you see adjacent to the trail lies just beneath "Maxwell Pitch," named for Boulder Canyon Wagon Road engineer J.P. Maxwell. At this point the road pitched steeply up and down, and was a well-know landmark for travelers. Because of its steep, narrow grade, sharp curve, violent winds, and poor visibility, Maxwell Pitch was the scene of numerous horse and wagon accidents. Notice the remnants of a stone wall visible above the aqueduct. This was is said to have been constructed in 1865 (without mortar!) by Maxwell and a crew of Italian laborers. The iron aqueduct was originally a wooden flume, and supplies Boulder with a portion of the meltwater from <a href="http://ned-runner.blogspot.com/2009/11/to-sugarloaf.html">Arapaho Glacier</a>.<br />
</blockquote><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFUZJrnoGIp2jo0hnLF4LnFWAtDKz_xcAo7POrCoEEcYPIDzzYcx8QL2RoYOSNiaFiQwkQlrCQJovY2LZNyX1HZroJgxZJc9t2Cy15vRykQSkD8Esax5dF2RDiF9Dgb-1-Oy5kdQSZs3j5/s1600/0561.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFUZJrnoGIp2jo0hnLF4LnFWAtDKz_xcAo7POrCoEEcYPIDzzYcx8QL2RoYOSNiaFiQwkQlrCQJovY2LZNyX1HZroJgxZJc9t2Cy15vRykQSkD8Esax5dF2RDiF9Dgb-1-Oy5kdQSZs3j5/s400/0561.jpg" /></a><br />
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An extension of the Switzerland Trail ROW has become a hiking trail now, an important part of the City of Boulder pedestrian and biking network <a href="http://gisweb.ci.boulder.co.us/website/pds/Transportation_gisweb/viewer.htm">interactive map here)</a>. Here it's visible below the irrigation structure, in this location the edge protected from a steep dropoff with a section of wrought-iron fencing.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglRwfYMLz8Y7ZO8FaAwq-TZOdYCbx4dacJ99y9bZ9pDP2WALX031A5v5P689QsocVF89kBOu9HWzWBwV9oAU1h7LT2DgF-YzXY4rpxjLEbPA7X-5dTbBbTwgamB6Fb4whTD_4tSK2jZlo7/s1600/boulder+county+courthouse.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglRwfYMLz8Y7ZO8FaAwq-TZOdYCbx4dacJ99y9bZ9pDP2WALX031A5v5P689QsocVF89kBOu9HWzWBwV9oAU1h7LT2DgF-YzXY4rpxjLEbPA7X-5dTbBbTwgamB6Fb4whTD_4tSK2jZlo7/s320/boulder+county+courthouse.jpg" /></a><br />
</div><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
The ROW itself actually crossed the creek at this point. Directly opposite the Maxwell Pitch are the remains of one of the dozens of bridges crossing Boulder Creek. Another sign posted by the Historic Preservation group describes the use of the stones from these bridges in the later construction of the <a href="http://www.bouldercounty.org/about.htm">Boulder County Courthouse</a>, after the Denver, Boulder & Western Railroad was dismantled and sold for parts in 1919.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKptq-uSUfv70HBhg9Lr4fZfqoYhuWZ06qOA_mAY1ual4mLBnyKCz1IdoOFE-3I6Oe-Xbk6Dxo92pasDNp6cwCpJQ8s8dDcvlfSVxnKKAzRzmBV5abYlSc6tVf9INOEgwIvs5yNIJ8ASQA/s1600/0564.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKptq-uSUfv70HBhg9Lr4fZfqoYhuWZ06qOA_mAY1ual4mLBnyKCz1IdoOFE-3I6Oe-Xbk6Dxo92pasDNp6cwCpJQ8s8dDcvlfSVxnKKAzRzmBV5abYlSc6tVf9INOEgwIvs5yNIJ8ASQA/s640/0564.jpg" /></a><br />
</div><br />
Earlier this year the Maxwell Pitch was pictured <a href="http://bcn.boulder.co.us/basin/ditchproject/?Then_and_Now:Maxwell_Pitch_in_Boulder_Canyon">Then and Now</a> as part of a presentation on the role of irrigation ditches in the development of Boulder Valley. The historic image shows the roadbed more clearly than is visible now. Erosion has taken its toll.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGVKDZ0IJGPq_H_yaJOzy06QCB8JoBHZn55gOLgnOzdG8C047mBwD3Yc3y6drYLYnEn3b2ibfelvJIoCX13RmANA5j_JcQpO-UaBHkxhSB369tchCRl27zYGW3j8pu81CjAHLu0N3bOWg1/s1600-h/Location+displays_detail-context_Maxwell+Pitch.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGVKDZ0IJGPq_H_yaJOzy06QCB8JoBHZn55gOLgnOzdG8C047mBwD3Yc3y6drYLYnEn3b2ibfelvJIoCX13RmANA5j_JcQpO-UaBHkxhSB369tchCRl27zYGW3j8pu81CjAHLu0N3bOWg1/s320/Location+displays_detail-context_Maxwell+Pitch.jpg" /></a><br />
</div>Michael, Dad, Poppi.http://www.blogger.com/profile/03898139769103917942noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7516187090027255565.post-64829367179865397682010-12-11T12:23:00.000-07:002011-04-26T13:47:41.974-06:00Life Was Never Easy.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCIay9TEettOLn06MVVrXz_N-jP0XC4Mff0tcQxju1F9QEoZJ16ML5awWoWiKQpz9tnM_uSUrT1NADTYCki9mkX0ywi32RZcnWwmfYSzwI3cffm6q2PI1-6x-0TpsQVqEwowNaW7Qr8otB/s1600-h/Rocky+Mountain+Mining+Camps.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCIay9TEettOLn06MVVrXz_N-jP0XC4Mff0tcQxju1F9QEoZJ16ML5awWoWiKQpz9tnM_uSUrT1NADTYCki9mkX0ywi32RZcnWwmfYSzwI3cffm6q2PI1-6x-0TpsQVqEwowNaW7Qr8otB/s400/Rocky+Mountain+Mining+Camps.jpg" width="261" /></a></div><br />
<blockquote>Sanitation and public health, though recognized as issues of extreme importance in an urban environment, were not communally resolved. Natural drainage could not cope with the situation, and individuals were lax or negligent in self-regulation. Piles of offal, manure, and other filth accumulated in the alleys behind the business district. Trash of all descriptions was liberally scattered around the camp. The housewife, no more considerate, threw the garbage out in the backyard and allowed it to rot. Privies with shallow cesspools and vaults ranked perhaps as the greatest menace of all. In this disease-fermenting atmosphere, health was seriously threatened. The combination of putrid, rotten, decaying material and refuse produced a stench which hung over the camp and which would have been extremely offensive to later generations of Americans who were not accustomed to such conditions. <br />
<br />
In the summer and fall, dust from the streets, mills, and mines added to the general discomfort. In the winter and spring, mud contributed its share. The summer months were the worst, for the warm sun brought into full strength all the odors which the cold of winter had helped to mask. With trees and natural shrubbery having been appropriated for other uses, erosion took place, so that a sudden shower might cascade mud, sand, and rocks into the camp. To be sure, the water washed away some of the filth but it was soon replaced. <br />
<br />
Not a pretty picture, this camp scene, and the reader might be justified in declaring it too grim for any one camp. What cannot be denied is that all suffered to some extent, and in general, the larger the settlement, the more unfavorable the health conditions. Dysentery and diarrhea resulted from contaminated water, and even worse, typhoid, which swept through communities in epidemic proportions. Diphtheria. smallpox, scarlet fever, and other illnesses threatened both young and old. Before transportation improved, scurvy continued to be a menace in the winter-isolated camps. The common cold and sore throat were potentially dangerous, for even a mild cold weakened resistance and could lead to something far worse. Pneumonia, a dreaded killer at high altitudes, often resulted. These frontiersmen were not weak, unhealthy specimens susceptible to every illness, but in the crowded and unsanitary environment a host of diseases could emerge. Only the cautious and lucky citizen survived in this natural breeding ground of sickness.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>from</i><br />
Chapter Twelve: Life Was Never Easy.<br />
Duane A Smith<br />
<a href="http://switzerlandtrail.blogspot.com/2010/01/rocky-mountain-mining-camps-urban.html"><b>Rocky Mountain Mining Camps: <i>The Urban Frontier</i></b></a><br />
1967</span></blockquote>A far cry from the pastoral scene of today's life in the mountains.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5Z3yLohxKyhji__EwD20U5HLwZldoppLYrGabXAF7y_p45ekOJ-2AZk_WVZ6tuyYY1ZWRIv_-be0nGHFRLI-Jb4HuqEvsK9g_1wwT0kALTTOWemlLwhKKpowDcrrUWuooy1_sWIPPFCkI/s1600-h/fig8.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="272" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5Z3yLohxKyhji__EwD20U5HLwZldoppLYrGabXAF7y_p45ekOJ-2AZk_WVZ6tuyYY1ZWRIv_-be0nGHFRLI-Jb4HuqEvsK9g_1wwT0kALTTOWemlLwhKKpowDcrrUWuooy1_sWIPPFCkI/s400/fig8.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>Michael, Dad, Poppi.http://www.blogger.com/profile/03898139769103917942noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7516187090027255565.post-3972656921305845122010-11-10T18:01:00.000-07:002014-08-26T06:48:20.303-06:00Reality I: Sanitation in the Mining Camps.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4HVGRtl-8nXqBQJ7Cxkew_d5ff6IoaUt2YSy2tS34484_OqJgUEW4s-Y-ZDZjKP2-uMGTqypllQVjPSk5-pcDmDaQhYiHy3rWH_xDRD-V5zl0YKdwE-Oc_hCoXtGxshtW_3j-yxujJWhM/s1600-h/toilet_from_the_good_enough_mine_in_tombstone_arizona_06-13-2007.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4HVGRtl-8nXqBQJ7Cxkew_d5ff6IoaUt2YSy2tS34484_OqJgUEW4s-Y-ZDZjKP2-uMGTqypllQVjPSk5-pcDmDaQhYiHy3rWH_xDRD-V5zl0YKdwE-Oc_hCoXtGxshtW_3j-yxujJWhM/s400/toilet_from_the_good_enough_mine_in_tombstone_arizona_06-13-2007.jpg" height="300" width="400" /></a></div>
Nearly every day I drive by the site of the previous "townsite" of Tungsten, near the base of what is now Barker Dam, east of Nederland. <br />
<br />
In the boomtimes of the early 20th century, when the mineral tungsten was discovered to have significant applications in the hardening of steel for machine tools and weaponry, this site was reported in some sources to have a population of 3,000 people. Eventually I'll track down a link to this, but for now I'll just report it.<br />
<br />
3,000 men, sleeping in beds rented in eight-hour shifts.<br />
<br />
The stories of the crowded conditions are a bit legendary in these parts. The <a href="http://www.nederlandcpc.org/">Presbyterian Church in Nederland</a> was built and paid for during these times, by the pastor renting out the floors and pews for miners to sleep on.<br />
<br />
Well, with the work I've been doing for the last few years, I've been sensitized to a vital municipal public health function: the treatment of human waste.<br />
<br />
I keep wondering, how was this managed in the mining camps and towns in 1910?Michael, Dad, Poppi.http://www.blogger.com/profile/03898139769103917942noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7516187090027255565.post-59048753431569916292010-09-23T18:58:00.000-06:002011-04-26T13:49:09.800-06:00The Mountain Community.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhptKXr5zfdymZFvvGwDDpysOM468c2fIT7PEYEJ7VheEHhmf3zgvzGQi_4Vmhsbg9_Ce2sxm_pRh2eY9ZIDGKani-Xgoq0xDvUjHs0bk_SZBmghiOSUstJ83kwzs9N7_ebguQbKRZhkaSw/s1600/Mountain+Community+map.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhptKXr5zfdymZFvvGwDDpysOM468c2fIT7PEYEJ7VheEHhmf3zgvzGQi_4Vmhsbg9_Ce2sxm_pRh2eY9ZIDGKani-Xgoq0xDvUjHs0bk_SZBmghiOSUstJ83kwzs9N7_ebguQbKRZhkaSw/s400/Mountain+Community+map.jpg" width="388" /></a></div>In the byline of this online journal, we say <b>Mapping the history of a mountain community</b>.<br />
<br />
Here's that community.<br />
<br />
It's a bit wider than the area served directly by the narrow gauge line, shown in red on the map. The folks who live here consider it a neighborhood.Michael, Dad, Poppi.http://www.blogger.com/profile/03898139769103917942noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7516187090027255565.post-63800930630898263282010-04-20T07:40:00.000-06:002010-05-15T17:26:44.772-06:00Crisman.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMQWzaZi9BeGWC67WNrc8c8PtFmDXZuaQfVaokO4Dv0_mNF9FmL3kV6og_Ae1cSwtuMiwZguAIaOm24hAqO7bn7hT7EDKo9jjMAhsf-1F5aFXyahUKd-rd5naIZJKjtOK_SP3Pig0o2Dk5/s1600/Chrisman+panorama.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="166" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMQWzaZi9BeGWC67WNrc8c8PtFmDXZuaQfVaokO4Dv0_mNF9FmL3kV6og_Ae1cSwtuMiwZguAIaOm24hAqO7bn7hT7EDKo9jjMAhsf-1F5aFXyahUKd-rd5naIZJKjtOK_SP3Pig0o2Dk5/s640/Chrisman+panorama.jpg" width="600" /></a></div><div style="text-align: right;"><span style="color: #666666; font-size: x-small;">Click on the image to see it in larger view. </span></div>Searching maps and aerial photographs for an historic mountain community is a challenge. Changes in vegetation over the past century have obscured and altered town and camp sites beyond recognition. In at least one instance that I've yet to document in this journal--the Salina Depot--the original site is buried under tons of mining debris, since grown over with heavy aspen cover.<br />
<br />
Even when the location of a town is unquestioned--Puzzler, or Sunset at Pennsylvania Gulch, the heavy growth of forest makes it impossible to identify exact locations of landmark features.<br />
<br />
Other times the exact location is simply difficult to discern from the road. I've yet to identify the exact sites of Shale or Copper Rock, despite the looming presence of obvious geological cues.<br />
<br />
So with Crisman, showing up on maps as the area below the Logan Mine site. Despite a good number of trips up and down Four Mile Canyon, the precise location of this important townsite eluded me. Was it buried in the forest now? Needless to say, for residents of the areas in questions these are silly questions. But for a researcher, not so silly.<br />
<br />
On a run up the canyon last January, I was moving slowly enough--with good time to actually look at what I was passing--and saw the street sign with the name on it. Crisman. About a half-mile below Logan Road, not far from the <a href="http://switzerlandtrail.blogspot.com/2009/10/ride-row-october-4-2009-ii-black-swan.html">Black Swan</a> mill site and curve.<br />
<br />
It's a clearly marked opening with a road branching down, the main Four Mile Canyon Road continuing on uphill across the eastern flank of the valley. Unmistakably, this is a natural location for a settlement.<br />
<br />
And inspection reveals the RR right-of-way along the western flank, down.<br />
<br />
Identifying it so positively, I felt the complete fool. I was looking so hard for subtlety I overlooked the totally obvious. Blinded by the openness. <br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEYYGKp3vklia-RmOKlqBvNaiOzSDWJur39rfFtslSDvdAPNXEyiePe52AM4H-DnZ1Lme6Uf16LnmmTM3omZFBSGHASD5qBjHUbqBBlEoMu72bOn6czroai8nqdpengPgqLMC7Q127lun_/s1600/Crisman+General+Store.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="217" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEYYGKp3vklia-RmOKlqBvNaiOzSDWJur39rfFtslSDvdAPNXEyiePe52AM4H-DnZ1Lme6Uf16LnmmTM3omZFBSGHASD5qBjHUbqBBlEoMu72bOn6czroai8nqdpengPgqLMC7Q127lun_/s400/Crisman+General+Store.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>A couple of days ago, Saturday, found me once again <a href="http://ned-runner.blogspot.com/2010/04/long-run-to-chrisman.html">on a long run</a>, preparation for an upcoming half marathon in Fort Collins. Starting at my locker room in downtown Boulder, midway through my 14 mile run was Crisman, at mile 7. Stopping to explore the area from the road, identifying the RR right-of-way, making the images for the panorama in this journal entry, I was greeted by a local resident wondering what I might be up to. Introducing myself and explaining my interest, I was met with a warm welcome.<br />
<br />
Ms Eileen Sharbonda has lived in Crisman for 60 years. Her mother, living next door to her, has been there 80 years. The home Ms Sharbonda lives in was the General Store for Crisman. She has graciously agreed to meet with me one day soon, when I'm more disposed to visit.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiG_aVZw6iwK3bJHmTQV2Ugvx-rFnyIOuzi4itHL8g_Z-MyvOrjSgfFnnt1xVfqtt0Tk4FrQAs1-mpWUY058ozdjMcpOF4U3TZAC6ytr_Bd3y6cgXGAM8UDF6nq9iSvELcQE-dWNg_AJ5cp/s1600/Crisman+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="258" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiG_aVZw6iwK3bJHmTQV2Ugvx-rFnyIOuzi4itHL8g_Z-MyvOrjSgfFnnt1xVfqtt0Tk4FrQAs1-mpWUY058ozdjMcpOF4U3TZAC6ytr_Bd3y6cgXGAM8UDF6nq9iSvELcQE-dWNg_AJ5cp/s400/Crisman+1.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
These great images are from<i> <a href="http://switzerlandtrail.blogspot.com/2010/04/gods-country-usa.html">God's Country, U.S.A. Wall Street, Colorado</a></i>, by Delores S Bailey. This is a book I discovered in visiting the <a href="http://switzerlandtrail.blogspot.com/2009/09/wall-street-assay-office.html">Assay Office at Wall Street</a> last summer, a copy of which I've acquired for the STA Foundation Library.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0QAVxsFBlOY6uLyOyMcDZ2x3rZq9G9N0iHTLEVLvtlVs2d9zk_lPjBxW9MGaqNMv3uP7jQ6tfXFmc7z_sM29n8oyYyA2PqU3XDrSJkFTfF8mukvBkcMo0FmkWYj9ocWXBMkDV_I_lgROY/s1600/Location+displays_detail-context_Crisman.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0QAVxsFBlOY6uLyOyMcDZ2x3rZq9G9N0iHTLEVLvtlVs2d9zk_lPjBxW9MGaqNMv3uP7jQ6tfXFmc7z_sM29n8oyYyA2PqU3XDrSJkFTfF8mukvBkcMo0FmkWYj9ocWXBMkDV_I_lgROY/s400/Location+displays_detail-context_Crisman.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div>Michael, Dad, Poppi.http://www.blogger.com/profile/03898139769103917942noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7516187090027255565.post-91105847541504395432010-02-03T12:49:00.006-07:002010-04-20T08:24:59.774-06:00Library of Congress, American Memory.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLEsiqTwJt2hJPHMHL3swsnN45FBVc3gsZmrg-DE6mG52Pm-hXBteTgeqMtoekpRph4S-iyaus3V2NPvLFrNC7t3uUmj1nudSrHwya4CnSnOvY24XaIuQCOsTUpNdw6Xk8somAJAL8c2tV/s1600-h/Lovers+Leap.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLEsiqTwJt2hJPHMHL3swsnN45FBVc3gsZmrg-DE6mG52Pm-hXBteTgeqMtoekpRph4S-iyaus3V2NPvLFrNC7t3uUmj1nudSrHwya4CnSnOvY24XaIuQCOsTUpNdw6Xk8somAJAL8c2tV/s640/Lovers+Leap.jpg" width="600" /></a></div><div style="text-align: right;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">credit:<i> Western History/Genealogy Department, Denver Public Library </i></span></div>Here's a <a href="http://tinyurl.com/yafgp77">great research resource</a> for photographs outside the <a href="http://boulderlibrary.org/carnegie/">Carnegie Library for Local History</a> in Boulder, including this treasure of Lover's Leap. This is a stunning print of an excellent photograph, beautifully composed, elegantly executed. The cloud cover is classic local afternoon weather.<br />
<br />
It's a reminder that the <a href="http://history.denverlibrary.org/images/index.html">Denver Public Library</a> is rich in archives, and a source I need to return to.<br />
<br />
The image here is just above the entrance of Boulder Canyon. The road that wraps around the structure has been replaced by asphalt through a cut in the mountain, eliminating the slow curving right of way shown here.<br />
<br />
The rails shown here are along what is now the running path I use for one of my routine runs.Michael, Dad, Poppi.http://www.blogger.com/profile/03898139769103917942noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7516187090027255565.post-331928717522318622009-12-02T12:07:00.032-07:002009-12-24T21:22:13.825-07:00Gold Mining 2009.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8L7FXqGRwZZBrgxO0x-WzTny0nTItvAE_KoUMfYRllbJ0Dq4Yb1KjC__QcTNsOqRyj8pqXUjpEU66jtChUzrndl3_W97gmsy-rMjdGixYLNVmYJQzajOVaX5p6WP50VXqylyRWg8vAki3/s1600-h/gold+mining.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8L7FXqGRwZZBrgxO0x-WzTny0nTItvAE_KoUMfYRllbJ0Dq4Yb1KjC__QcTNsOqRyj8pqXUjpEU66jtChUzrndl3_W97gmsy-rMjdGixYLNVmYJQzajOVaX5p6WP50VXqylyRWg8vAki3/s400/gold+mining.jpg" /></a><br />
</div><div style="clear: both; text-align: right;"><i><span style="font-size: x-small;">Underground mining operations in Ballarat, Australia.</span></i><br />
</div><br />
After being closed for nearly half a century, gold mines along the Switzerland Trail Railroad are about to be reopened. The <a href="http://www.goldprice.org/">price of gold</a> has closed above $1200 per ounce, making it now profitable.<br />
<br />
[It's worth noting here that this is not the first indication of a <a href="http://www.denverpost.com/breakingnews/ci_9032494">resurgence in gold mining</a> in our area. In our immediate neighborhood, Tom Hendricks and <a href="http://www.calaisresources.com/">Calais Resources</a> have been running an environmentally friendly operation for years now, with the <a href="http://www.calaisresources.com/caribou_cross.htm">Cross / Caribou Gold and Silver Mine</a><span id="redesign_default"> near Nederland.]</span><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.aurora-gold.com/">Aurora Gold Corp</a>, based in Zug, Switzerland, has initiated the process of going back in.<br />
<br />
I heard about this from <a href="http://www.mountainaviation.com/contact.html">Malachi</a>, who sent me a link to the story at the <a href="http://www.bcbr.com/article.asp?id=103199">Boulder County Business Report</a>:<br />
<blockquote>The <a href="http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Black-Mountain-Resources-Inc-pz-3732146709.html?x=0&.v=1">Front Range Gold Project</a> consists of 85 patented and 21 unpatented lode claims covering approximately 480 acres, or about three-quarters of a square mile. The project is in the Gold Hill Mining District nine miles west of the city of Boulder and includes 18 past producing mines. These mines produced gold and silver from narrow quartz veins. <br />
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...Work would begin at the Cash and Rex mines. The Cash mine has an inclined shaft 761 feet deep, with more than 6,220 feet of drifting on nine levels. The Rex mine includes an inclined shaft with more than 2,500 feet of drifting on six levels. The Who Do, St. Joe and Black Cloud mines also would be worked. They have more than 3,000 feet of underground workings on three levels. <br />
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The U.S. government's War Production Board halted mining in the district during Word War II. After the war, most mines remained closed. The Cash mine was one of the few that reopened. The Rex mine was discovered in the 1950s. By 1964 development at the Cash mine had reached the eastern limits of the mine property, and both mines were closed by their owner with "ore in the back," awaiting higher gold prices.<br />
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The demise of the <b>Switzerland Trail / Denver, Boulder & Western Railroad</b> arrived because the mines were no longer producing enough ore, at the level of technology available in the early 20th century. I'll watch with great interest to see how the ore is managed and transported now.<br />
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<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Denise Grimm, land use planner with <a href="http://www.bouldercounty.org/lu/">Boulder County</a> quoted in the Business Report article, generously provided me with information for mapping. Parcel owners are Mount Royale Ventures, LLC, Southern Cross Prospecting Company and Mi Vida Enterprise. This is a fairly extensive<a href="http://switzerlandtrail.blogspot.com/2009/12/mining-claims-and-surveying.html"> network of mines</a>.<br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhu_pJbVAfblMVyUgR1WE1ZjyoOGvcb9MeKVWFdPNQfL4snx4SVm7sRC7KrFgVSzcAjXkuVVHCi_EPVp6B9YzM5oykn0VqQtFfgo4UIM-0vjYwalNnPIY2LbCBWN0YwJ3A8tb4Lk7wjIQ1F/s1600-h/Location+displays_detail-context_activated+gold+mines.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhu_pJbVAfblMVyUgR1WE1ZjyoOGvcb9MeKVWFdPNQfL4snx4SVm7sRC7KrFgVSzcAjXkuVVHCi_EPVp6B9YzM5oykn0VqQtFfgo4UIM-0vjYwalNnPIY2LbCBWN0YwJ3A8tb4Lk7wjIQ1F/s320/Location+displays_detail-context_activated+gold+mines.jpg" /></a><br />
</div>Michael, Dad, Poppi.http://www.blogger.com/profile/03898139769103917942noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7516187090027255565.post-86804331887059926582009-11-07T16:16:00.025-07:002009-12-10T09:40:53.801-07:00Sugarloaf Mountain--From the Top.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhxAEsa5BCcGg328D83vBImVixKSgC3o_9zdG_9PG5Cu0TnKwFFg55-37oN_QlEjGFN5HDJwhXe1j7-UeCdhESSpDzKfzuHT6pvvMAvo5ChLMnVFy3DI6JJ1sbZtcvGNgN6drmANJckyvy/s1600-h/1094.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhxAEsa5BCcGg328D83vBImVixKSgC3o_9zdG_9PG5Cu0TnKwFFg55-37oN_QlEjGFN5HDJwhXe1j7-UeCdhESSpDzKfzuHT6pvvMAvo5ChLMnVFy3DI6JJ1sbZtcvGNgN6drmANJckyvy/s400/1094.jpg" /></a><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">A sunny November Saturday was a perfect day for a run along the Trail. Though there was <a href="http://ned-runner.blogspot.com/2009/11/to-sugarloaf.html">snow, ice and mud</a> on the ground in the shady and the lee side of the mountains, much of the trail was open and dry. At the east end of the five-mile run from the <a href="http://www.byways.org/explore/byways/2114/travel.html">Peak to Peak Highway</a> (State Highway 72), Claudia waited for me with sandwiches, fresh water and Conor O'Neill. We hiked to the top of <a href="http://switzerlandtrail.blogspot.com/2009/10/sugarloaf-mountain.html">Sugarloaf Mountain</a> and had a picnic.<br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">In direct view here, due east, lies the city of <a href="http://switzerlandtrail.blogspot.com/2007/01/who-knows-only-his-own-generation.html">Boulder, Colorado</a>. The road running from lower right to upper middle is Arapahoe Avenue (State Highway 7), crossing Foothills Parkway (State Highway 157) just above the ridge of the lower foothills. Compare this image with the <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiYsDgHqcIkCvmH6aNbV_3Yzk-UA_88XCH5aZLht5WXpNi6Sb4OdaJnypGdewBOe6P9Y8pxHzzUOE8zatzYLajGblEl8Mi7ScGuvbyxkcaW5tj1j3z6t_VlDVuhyjJGX9e-INjQI8OZFXH/s1600-h/0418.jpg">one made from that intersection</a>.<br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Boulder County <a href="http://www.bouldercounty.org/openspace/recreating/public_parks/legion.htm">Legion Park</a> is immediately past the right (south) edge of the large reservoir, positioned here just above the stack of the power plant in the middle of the image.<br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Along the way to the top we saw grim reminders of the fire that devastated the area in 1979.<br />
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</div><div style="text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihOeWvC4iHXe6aJATM35dWYiulMpQX7iW84V9O0GwtPFJ9lLnDGxpuY3GU56eUJDSHhf84l-2Do5enX6Kth-Pmn2gH7HuGwtMVu1wd9lbUYDzfwLq2iV8pPLXl8eWlWK7BFe6LYlSqUlnN/s1600-h/1080-82.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihOeWvC4iHXe6aJATM35dWYiulMpQX7iW84V9O0GwtPFJ9lLnDGxpuY3GU56eUJDSHhf84l-2Do5enX6Kth-Pmn2gH7HuGwtMVu1wd9lbUYDzfwLq2iV8pPLXl8eWlWK7BFe6LYlSqUlnN/s400/1080-82.jpg" /></a><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: right;"><i><span style="font-size: x-small;">Conor O'Neill, 60 pounds, shows the size of the remainder of a tree.</span></i><br />
</div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">The top also offers a sweeping view of the original townsite of <a href="http://switzerlandtrail.blogspot.com/2009/11/sugarloaf-townsite.html">Sugar Loaf</a>.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQZvGp9Hgr1eD486XuV46UdXi3bG0K2AOxNwnA3R0uBqE-4NXHwCqFue9W417IRskKd83RCVvLM9OSOQ8y2bDgNXjPUfcBU5cZW-_7GHbiVpLtZ_tWfCjW0strxNJ8X7t16mpGpU-3leWa/s1600-h/1091-92merge.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQZvGp9Hgr1eD486XuV46UdXi3bG0K2AOxNwnA3R0uBqE-4NXHwCqFue9W417IRskKd83RCVvLM9OSOQ8y2bDgNXjPUfcBU5cZW-_7GHbiVpLtZ_tWfCjW0strxNJ8X7t16mpGpU-3leWa/s400/1091-92merge.jpg" /></a><br />
</div><div style="text-align: right;"><i><span style="font-size: x-small;">better viewing: click on the image.</span></i><br />
</div>This is looking south from the peak, the broad <a href="http://www.authenticillustrations.com/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/Boulder-Canyon.gif">canyon of Boulder Creek</a> sweeping across the middle of the image, just past the two barren rises in the landscape.<br />
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One can easily imagine this as a splendid location for a town, yet even more striking in this 2009 image is the long-lasting impact of the <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjK7KsOtkFnN-1rx1Dk-oSVBsyaImXEzm1UP-wGSuXQA4ii3vLUd1NDTqMqNjYtw0bQ6saCCDddIiv1G5o2O-8R1U8dVatAWbUPRu3Cb-W6OFWWm7GEcce7wYnXduVpcRF8gHGgLIiCBPBP/s1600-h/black_tiger_case_study_1989+11.jpg">Black Tiger Fire</a> that swept through in 1989, burning to the ground everything in its path. On second thought, maybe this is closer to what the town looked like in 1910, before the forests grew to today's density.Michael, Dad, Poppi.http://www.blogger.com/profile/03898139769103917942noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7516187090027255565.post-62695757133876270892009-11-04T07:21:00.054-07:002009-12-24T17:41:48.519-07:00Sugarloaf Townsite.<div style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjK9BjOu3ESdOYcp0G8LzXAh-ZBaOJkhL-s1G5pPJt7tP8ljO6YSi2QVZJfwXM79vCDTA9JD55_7gJ2QKZJuenO3WAN8Sxr8OqguaARStXtbvPf-mtYC1fFVqSxhtrT88Nk_Po99l6_Eeas/s1600-h/0725.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjK9BjOu3ESdOYcp0G8LzXAh-ZBaOJkhL-s1G5pPJt7tP8ljO6YSi2QVZJfwXM79vCDTA9JD55_7gJ2QKZJuenO3WAN8Sxr8OqguaARStXtbvPf-mtYC1fFVqSxhtrT88Nk_Po99l6_Eeas/s400/0725.jpg" /></a><br />
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An important stop along the Eldora extension of the line was the <a href="http://switzerlandtrail.blogspot.com/2009/11/tungsten-and-sugarloaf-station.html">Sugarloaf Station</a>. At one time the spelling was Sugar Loaf, but in recent times it has become Sugarloaf. This helps in differentiating it from the original name of the town of Wall Street, which was actually Sugar Loaf. Pretty confusing.<br />
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In fact, the Gold Extraction Mill at <a href="http://switzerlandtrail.blogspot.com/2009/09/wall-street-assay-office.html">Wall Street</a>--previously Sugar Loaf--proved economically infeasible, and eventually the mechanical works were transferred from there to the US Mill at the new Sugar Loaf/Sugarloaf, where it operated successfully for many years.<br />
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Stories of the town of Sugarloaf are told in the voices of early residents in a fine history by Dawn Kummli, who has lived on the mountainside there for the past 25 years. My friend Jim Hubbard, who lives on Sugarloaf Road, recently told me about <a href="http://switzerlandtrail.blogspot.com/2006/12/lives-and-times-of-sugar-loaf-community.html"><b>The Lives and Times of Sugar Loaf Community</b></a>. I haven't had time to purchase it yet, but have examined it closely at our friendly <a href="http://boulderlibrary.org/carnegie/">Carnegie Branch Library for Local History</a>. Here's a fine line-drawing map from the opening pages.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZjqkL9YIkPJtWgAyQr_n_w6_2436SyZur-dBAiicM9i-BGGGczzGhNipeNAfTssCfdYZwVJvVM_r3yzOQmHQKX9oeGbbdo0wrBDUS3RX8HDcneWQWfLW2wpmhA6JBTBqF7YAfUoGxv7mx/s1600-h/Sugar+Loaf+Community.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZjqkL9YIkPJtWgAyQr_n_w6_2436SyZur-dBAiicM9i-BGGGczzGhNipeNAfTssCfdYZwVJvVM_r3yzOQmHQKX9oeGbbdo0wrBDUS3RX8HDcneWQWfLW2wpmhA6JBTBqF7YAfUoGxv7mx/s400/Sugar+Loaf+Community.jpg" /></a><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">The Switzerland Trail ROW is shown clearly in the upper left of this cropped image, with <a href="http://switzerlandtrail.blogspot.com/2009/10/sugarloaf-mountain.html">Sugarloaf Mountain</a> Peak in the upper center. The solid line extending from lower left to upper right is Sugarloaf Road, which extends to the east down to Boulder Canyon Road (State Highway 119), from there on into Boulder.<br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="http://switzerlandtrail.blogspot.com/2009/11/sugarloaf-mountain-from-top.html">Here's an image</a> of the area made from the top of Sugarloaf Mountain. <br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">In 1964 the Sugarloaf community was the subject of a picture essay published in the <i>Focus Magazine</i> section of the <a href="http://www.dailycamera.com/">Boulder Daily Camera</a>. I can't link directly to the story--its publication (November 22, 1964) precedes the online archive of the newspaper.<br />
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</div><div style="text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmxVgv66y68EsyuSGrp992nkRB_JuvsgdvB1r4EwPWha7iYngou_4Vf0D61_56KPMjXXx5orAYJsnRS4g7SpBvkfm0dV90_zmPxn6TxKEziQmz-utjGQikExlvz6UtIf6SfbzvUoREv4ge/s1600-h/Shadow+of+Sugar+Loaf.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmxVgv66y68EsyuSGrp992nkRB_JuvsgdvB1r4EwPWha7iYngou_4Vf0D61_56KPMjXXx5orAYJsnRS4g7SpBvkfm0dV90_zmPxn6TxKEziQmz-utjGQikExlvz6UtIf6SfbzvUoREv4ge/s400/Shadow+of+Sugar+Loaf.jpg" /></a><br />
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</div><div style="text-align: left;">Today it's a quiet neighborhood, recently in the news trying to <a href="http://cbs4denver.com/local/suger.loaf.hunting.2.1255063.html">keep itself safe</a> from the dangers of those who want to hunt for wildlife in this part of our mountain community.<br />
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</div><div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbrIj_J30ajrvESY4PH7j_fmf0XQAE_L9f6M-Xwo2g0axaIZy5MpagnUbouijsQYpN0OkArbPnmmWTkdwAHZmMuvNY-SvPeioOMY9c0Jgmtj5wFW5sxTjxQNGnh_TJi4VOuFAPyuRRRAvb/s1600-h/black+tiger+case+study+1989+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbrIj_J30ajrvESY4PH7j_fmf0XQAE_L9f6M-Xwo2g0axaIZy5MpagnUbouijsQYpN0OkArbPnmmWTkdwAHZmMuvNY-SvPeioOMY9c0Jgmtj5wFW5sxTjxQNGnh_TJi4VOuFAPyuRRRAvb/s200/black+tiger+case+study+1989+1.jpg" /></a><br />
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Twenty years ago--July 9, 1989--it was in the news for quite another reason. The <a href="http://bcn.boulder.co.us/basin/forum/fireBT.html">Black Tiger Fire</a>, started by a carelessly thrown cigarette, devastated the area, sweeping through, burning the forest to the ground. All traces of the town's history disappeared in an afternoon.<br />
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Here are graphics from the case study (available as a <a href="http://www.wildfirelessons.net/documents/black_tiger_case_study_1989.pdf">3.2MB pdf file</a>) produced later by the <a href="http://www.nfpa.org/">National Fire Protection Association</a>. For reference, note the circle in the upper left corner representing the location of Sugarloaf Mountain.<br />
<i>[A free Reader for this file is available for download at the <a href="http://get.adobe.com/reader/">Adobe website</a>.] </i><br />
<div style="text-align: right;"><i><span style="font-size: x-small;">Cover sheet from case study. </span></i><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQ1Kay-Y1xK_7E3SGnwd56NuVAPJey3Z2Pwb4zVdWL0sht5ExIjeEf34oq_z1KU2teWq1DGJ_oOhQZi8ZtcdL9QlzalM7CENgQjZ2v_G5Dahm2je_voF_JhveRdm9v0jSEVDtyWI8I9BTC/s1600-h/black_tiger_case_study_1989+9.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQ1Kay-Y1xK_7E3SGnwd56NuVAPJey3Z2Pwb4zVdWL0sht5ExIjeEf34oq_z1KU2teWq1DGJ_oOhQZi8ZtcdL9QlzalM7CENgQjZ2v_G5Dahm2je_voF_JhveRdm9v0jSEVDtyWI8I9BTC/s400/black_tiger_case_study_1989+9.jpg" /></a><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjK7KsOtkFnN-1rx1Dk-oSVBsyaImXEzm1UP-wGSuXQA4ii3vLUd1NDTqMqNjYtw0bQ6saCCDddIiv1G5o2O-8R1U8dVatAWbUPRu3Cb-W6OFWWm7GEcce7wYnXduVpcRF8gHGgLIiCBPBP/s1600-h/black_tiger_case_study_1989+11.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjK7KsOtkFnN-1rx1Dk-oSVBsyaImXEzm1UP-wGSuXQA4ii3vLUd1NDTqMqNjYtw0bQ6saCCDddIiv1G5o2O-8R1U8dVatAWbUPRu3Cb-W6OFWWm7GEcce7wYnXduVpcRF8gHGgLIiCBPBP/s400/black_tiger_case_study_1989+11.jpg" /></a><br />
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Dawn Kummli has also written a splendid book about the Black Tiger Fire, widely distributed and still somewhat <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Sugar-Loafs-Black-Tiger-Fire/dp/B000DING5A">available</a> commercially and through libraries.<br />
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In the meantime, the forest and her creatures are returning.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_a11I9H1HiKBuaZ9lGbG1MMgelxSTJMqBEFDHzqeV4h_hnQ0xBydXBF0ylEA5Kco-u9IUu7OCDZLvoKO2o-b-27ik7-gcugYNATeY8IxcXKpcSkcv4TR95kxdtMwzHo7x2Fas0JvJhx5a/s1600-h/0731.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_a11I9H1HiKBuaZ9lGbG1MMgelxSTJMqBEFDHzqeV4h_hnQ0xBydXBF0ylEA5Kco-u9IUu7OCDZLvoKO2o-b-27ik7-gcugYNATeY8IxcXKpcSkcv4TR95kxdtMwzHo7x2Fas0JvJhx5a/s400/0731.jpg" /></a><br />
</div></div>Michael, Dad, Poppi.http://www.blogger.com/profile/03898139769103917942noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7516187090027255565.post-7082011810257863002009-11-01T16:05:00.031-07:002009-12-10T08:55:05.326-07:00Tungsten and Sugarloaf Station.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpPf09Rv3TxRh7ZgLKcLjDhgmxaQwk8j55copWm8zOMhtMRK8ro4EaZ_QJ6rZyTgVqJQ96AM6dZjsu0G_qjgS1-Do-pEnOPMGj008kLoK3utg7JyvJ1r08Q8hyphenhyphendQSaT13uwS5fCMehKUr1/s1600-h/0239.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpPf09Rv3TxRh7ZgLKcLjDhgmxaQwk8j55copWm8zOMhtMRK8ro4EaZ_QJ6rZyTgVqJQ96AM6dZjsu0G_qjgS1-Do-pEnOPMGj008kLoK3utg7JyvJ1r08Q8hyphenhyphendQSaT13uwS5fCMehKUr1/s400/0239.jpg" /></a><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: right;"><i><span style="font-size: x-small;">better viewing: click on the image to make it bigger.</span></i><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Looking south from the Trail at about 6:45 in the morning, I could see <a href="http://www.summitpost.org/mountain/rock/564443/thorodin-mountain.html">Thorodin Mountain</a> in the distance, home of <a href="http://parks.state.co.us/Parks/goldengatecanyon">Golden Gate Canyon State Park</a> and an icon to residents of <a href="http://www.town.nederland.co.us/">Nederland</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rollinsville,_Colorado">Rollinsville</a> and <a href="http://www.co.gilpin.co.us/Directions/County%20Directions.htm">Gilpin County</a>. This was my early September ride by mountainbike from the <a href="http://www.byways.org/explore/byways/2114/travel.html">Peak to Peak Highway</a> (State Highway 72) to Boulder--downhill, of course.<br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">It was on this ride it occurred to me it would be fun to show the prominence of <a href="http://switzerlandtrail.blogspot.com/2009/10/sugarloaf-mountain.html">Sugarloaf Mountain</a> in the city of Boulder terrain. <br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">At 3% grade, it's an easy coast-along mountainbike ride. The condition of the Trail is rough, though, and in many places it's much more like riding a dry river bed than a genuine trail. Because it was on a Monday--work day--I didn't want to dally too long along the way. In fact, I went much too fast for the conditions of the trail, and despite a hefty front suspension on my bike I got a pretty good jarring.<br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">It also meant I didn't get to look around nearly as much as I wanted. My eyes and attention were focused pretty intently on staying upright and astride the bike.<br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">But even to a divided attention the world around me was breathtaking. I have this notion that Time stands still when we're confronted with Beauty, and it sure did for me along the way here. A few weeks previously I'd done a Saturday morning trailrun along three miles of this stretch, so I had some familiarity with the terrain. I'd been surprised that so much of it overlooked the Pennsylvania Gulch side to the north. But again and again and around each bend this morning I was startled by the splendor of what I was seeing.<br />
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</div><div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhK2EmcHq72_3PN1UIQzbEdbgjUJpFAktaKV4PeDi4vuzbsweiBS3K68JpZfbDMqgfF7fQ848ryUNw6hlgdXfPY_IgqwFuWIlhhxRqMRJBMW76ewP1nYM2SOAPvFTxjJOGkWGyzJaHaa9Hg/s1600-h/0238.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhK2EmcHq72_3PN1UIQzbEdbgjUJpFAktaKV4PeDi4vuzbsweiBS3K68JpZfbDMqgfF7fQ848ryUNw6hlgdXfPY_IgqwFuWIlhhxRqMRJBMW76ewP1nYM2SOAPvFTxjJOGkWGyzJaHaa9Hg/s200/0238.jpg" /></a> It all reminded me of the mystical, magical landscape of the film <a href="http://www.trailerfan.com/movie/a_walk_in_the_clouds/pictures">A Walk in the Clouds</a>, sunlight broken by soft mist, breaking through the dark evergreens in streaks of gold, a cool breeze sweet with the scent of forest.<br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">I wanted it to last forever, but was pulled along by the urgency of getting to work and even more by my curiosity to see the stop at Tungsten, which I've had a difficult time locating in aerial orthophotos.<br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">By Forest Crossen's <a href="http://www.silviapettem.com/SwitzTrail.html">account</a>, when the important Sugarloaf Station was first completed the grade under the tracks didn't settle immediately, causing locomotives to slide off the track when they started up. Engineers found it necessary to continue on to Tungsten, a little over a half-mile to the west. Passengers and freight would then have to hike or be hauled back, as Sugarloaf townsite and mill were further east, the other side of the mountain.<br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Knowing that detail put me on the lookout for what might be Tungsten as I rode along this morning. I had no idea what to look for--would it be a widening of the road, a patch of aspens, a homestead? I've seen all three variations of previous stops.<br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Finally after a few false stops--which included image-making, just in case--I came to what is undeniably the site of the Tungsten Stop.<br />
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</div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjw7OHi2zSH_d92CSDKPFEKfbnGOdscD79hDxbrA5SnwXVlPjOr9ABSzqPBu9mN_1oRi7Uiw4FfA4TDVg-Iu5upEBkDueZCPkJa7sdR3ZnOnRtWco2N2eJU_230cGuoSLqER_aU3o8p-N0D/s1600-h/0247.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjw7OHi2zSH_d92CSDKPFEKfbnGOdscD79hDxbrA5SnwXVlPjOr9ABSzqPBu9mN_1oRi7Uiw4FfA4TDVg-Iu5upEBkDueZCPkJa7sdR3ZnOnRtWco2N2eJU_230cGuoSLqER_aU3o8p-N0D/s400/0247.jpg" /></a><br />
</div><br />
<div style="text-align: left;">Here I'm approaching the stop, off to the right, as I follow the Switzerland Trail ROW almost due east at the left side of the image. Having searched unsuccessfully in aerial photographs for it for mapping, I was relieved to see it so clearly. I spent a while walking around, actually savoring its historic qualities. There were trails leading away from it in every direction, clearly indicating it as a hub of activity in earlier times--no doubt now as well, with all the outdoor activities we enjoy in this part of the country. <br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">Continuing on, I came to my first siting of Sugarloaf Mountain. Here's an image from my <a href="http://switzerlandtrail.blogspot.com/2009/10/sugarloaf-mountain.html">earlier posting</a> of the location of Sugarloaf relative to Boulder.<br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhs-2PTBmj4-Hul6JvbhXxw77mqb3ghcLZXe9PLu_CvZk3r3uOAsx11L2optss4U9SpIRoiqounJB8PrYs_iCkjdm8nLQU_4eVUtOJgOK8mx7j0aWoyeKIoy63wUtFjGIilh4g1d1E6L3Gd/s1600-h/0252.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhs-2PTBmj4-Hul6JvbhXxw77mqb3ghcLZXe9PLu_CvZk3r3uOAsx11L2optss4U9SpIRoiqounJB8PrYs_iCkjdm8nLQU_4eVUtOJgOK8mx7j0aWoyeKIoy63wUtFjGIilh4g1d1E6L3Gd/s400/0252.jpg" /></a><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">I was struck with what a challenge it would have been to hike, no less carrying a pack or supplies of any kind, back to the <a href="http://switzerlandtrail.blogspot.com/2009/11/sugarloaf-townsite.html">Sugarloaf townsite</a>. This was not an easy distance by foot, and I could appreciate in a moment the true challenges of traveling in these previous times. <br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">Soon enough on mountainbike I arrived at the site of the Sugarloaf Station.<br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQZC-8Q-Kv8OgpP3-dQ4HVedFsGJ5E99cCs_mXXq46csAqrH4WdHXH5lrnr9d405wvrbaFvNVhrExkW0nHRdyO9BgMFfw1xx66R5lTy7vx0K1-j00Hp82EjUhtvYXQhBoJS1jbgNTAgSQt/s1600-h/0258.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQZC-8Q-Kv8OgpP3-dQ4HVedFsGJ5E99cCs_mXXq46csAqrH4WdHXH5lrnr9d405wvrbaFvNVhrExkW0nHRdyO9BgMFfw1xx66R5lTy7vx0K1-j00Hp82EjUhtvYXQhBoJS1jbgNTAgSQt/s400/0258.jpg" /></a><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">This is the largest clearing I've yet seen of a Switzerland Trail site, no doubt a reflection of the contemporary use of the area as a launching point for backcountry adventures. <br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjytGVV_BB2K4PUCYAqkJ8m38S_u3JHVabHFd0EkJ3i5N7ENAoRE1j1RwCu-oOfMFHw9GNa8LMnK8dAk-NjSN6N5LXp0mWo41MVXZeho0LeU6tGI0IbUi2AFiI4-joD03LDPwWx4zb6oWaH/s1600-h/L1000274+copy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjytGVV_BB2K4PUCYAqkJ8m38S_u3JHVabHFd0EkJ3i5N7ENAoRE1j1RwCu-oOfMFHw9GNa8LMnK8dAk-NjSN6N5LXp0mWo41MVXZeho0LeU6tGI0IbUi2AFiI4-joD03LDPwWx4zb6oWaH/s200/L1000274+copy.jpg" /></a><br />
</div>Here's a sign on Sugarloaf Road coming out of Boulder Canyon, pointing the way to the location of the Sugarloaf Station site.<br />
<br />
Many years ago this is the sign I was searching for, in <a href="http://switzerlandtrail.blogspot.com/2007/01/switzerland-trail-today.html">my first encounter</a> with the mythical "Switzerland Trail" I had heard about and was due at for a training session with <a href="http://www.frontrangerescuedogs.org/">Front Range Rescue Dogs</a>.<br />
<br />
Like <a href="http://switzerlandtrail.blogspot.com/2009/10/visit-to-georgetown.html">my reaction</a> to the absence of historical references at the <a href="http://switzerlandtrail.blogspot.com/2009/10/georgetown-loop-railroad.html">Georgetown Loop Railroad</a>, I find it disconcerting that a site like this has nothing indicating its significance in the history of Boulder County.<br />
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I've worked on this project now for several years, and I can say with some authority not one person in ten in Boulder has a clue what Switzerland Trail means.<br />
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Disgraceful.<br />
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<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizq3szFNyI98SiL_OKICYxvrRetjutQLujD8u1Q5Ovb-1CqHFhgp8O6JFjuxfA7xs6dFUlBOKXBVAOWXOLHZ3WRH33ozVnOvEruCTMqssAKqsPjYZBZhGQY-GpdK841DBLUb1QKEZ2IDWo/s1600-h/0258_longs+highlight.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizq3szFNyI98SiL_OKICYxvrRetjutQLujD8u1Q5Ovb-1CqHFhgp8O6JFjuxfA7xs6dFUlBOKXBVAOWXOLHZ3WRH33ozVnOvEruCTMqssAKqsPjYZBZhGQY-GpdK841DBLUb1QKEZ2IDWo/s320/0258_longs+highlight.jpg" /></a><br />
</div><br />
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As I wandered the site of the station, I saw one striking detail of its location. This is the best south view I've yet seen of the magnificence of <a href="http://www.longspeak.com/">Longs Peak</a>, the 14,000-ft flagship of <a href="http://www.nps.gov/romo/photosmultimedia/lakes_waterfalls_gallery.htm?eid=147239&root_aId=153#e_147239">Rocky Mountain National Park</a>.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiKqLlaex7OIa_kQA9i2mRjzyFtgtb8tSGeplOqauxb5n_WbezZxPxETUAdzQPxkLJ1WLEYQiWcp0BBgZVs_dD04Qm8iwOZXJ-cWnLYR8YNER8McxFX3_hJjw1HvmXNG2et_26fjm5hz3d/s1600-h/0261.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiKqLlaex7OIa_kQA9i2mRjzyFtgtb8tSGeplOqauxb5n_WbezZxPxETUAdzQPxkLJ1WLEYQiWcp0BBgZVs_dD04Qm8iwOZXJ-cWnLYR8YNER8McxFX3_hJjw1HvmXNG2et_26fjm5hz3d/s400/0261.jpg" /></a><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">I was transfixed with the discovery, stunned with the glory of this magnificent view. Living in Colorado, in recent years less than four miles from this site as the crow flies, I sometimes think I'm a bit jaded to the wonder of it all. Not here.<br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Imagine what an earlier traveler from <a href="http://www.kansasinc.org/photo05.shtml">Kansas</a> might have thought on viewing this for the first time.<br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCfWT258fqofSJJAcOXv-RCdRKC1jpjEdwlscdiDvz7-W7XRZdo6xFxABQg_X3bU1w4Z8mS5Oig-d3Pmn93udBIFDOkTaVhCBE6RdNMzx6Z6eIYHoWLjO217h3WAcTGhiphEnAmtfaV2k0/s1600-h/Location+displays_detail-context_Sugarloaf-Tungsten.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCfWT258fqofSJJAcOXv-RCdRKC1jpjEdwlscdiDvz7-W7XRZdo6xFxABQg_X3bU1w4Z8mS5Oig-d3Pmn93udBIFDOkTaVhCBE6RdNMzx6Z6eIYHoWLjO217h3WAcTGhiphEnAmtfaV2k0/s320/Location+displays_detail-context_Sugarloaf-Tungsten.jpg" /></a><br />
</div>Michael, Dad, Poppi.http://www.blogger.com/profile/03898139769103917942noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7516187090027255565.post-65937566432220190322009-10-22T06:34:00.032-06:002009-11-19T11:22:47.338-07:00Sugarloaf Mountain.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: inherit; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhza0vgKzAcAbFZwIHZ5vo30SkA41iyyNTvbofB4POyjECFxnvoQvePlew5WvrIeXS4ToWi8N1TT__CB5JnbSGGLejnblFrEELGUis5ehbt4oMF76uVdVp_vFXfqX36Ag6cTlhvZlP0GAsg/s1600-h/0407.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhza0vgKzAcAbFZwIHZ5vo30SkA41iyyNTvbofB4POyjECFxnvoQvePlew5WvrIeXS4ToWi8N1TT__CB5JnbSGGLejnblFrEELGUis5ehbt4oMF76uVdVp_vFXfqX36Ag6cTlhvZlP0GAsg/s400/0407.jpg" /></a><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: inherit; text-align: right;"><i><span style="font-size: x-small;">better viewing: click on the image to make it bigger.</span></i> <br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: inherit; text-align: left;">The mountain backdrop for <a href="http://switzerlandtrail.blogspot.com/2007/01/who-knows-only-his-own-generation.html">Boulder, Colorado</a>: Bear Mountain, Green Mountain and the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flatirons">Flatirons</a> at the left in this panorama, and Sugarloaf Mountain at right, in clear relief against a cloud cover over the <a href="http://www.coloradowilderness.com/wildpages/indian.html">Indian Peaks</a>. The image was made in October 2009 from <a href="http://www.bouldercounty.org/openspace/recreating/public_parks/legion.htm">Legion Park</a>, east of the city of <a href="http://www.bouldercolorado.gov/">Boulder, Colorado</a> along State Highway 7.<br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: inherit; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: inherit; text-align: left;">Using Sugarloaf as a marker, you can see where the Switzerland Trail is relative to Boulder.<br />
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</div><div style="font-family: inherit; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhb_fAuwYgBdGCJ77SFkjyUoADele_RPiEMXLctevbfrYicxEeFFh470Pqd0RVbRU_Xc532T50sXcqzfmSXxLokeSFxCBc-kj1Cm66wPMqAl9eNsQzQMP90iZJ8Q3IK1_etPbjUZFvyVug2/s1600-h/0417.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhb_fAuwYgBdGCJ77SFkjyUoADele_RPiEMXLctevbfrYicxEeFFh470Pqd0RVbRU_Xc532T50sXcqzfmSXxLokeSFxCBc-kj1Cm66wPMqAl9eNsQzQMP90iZJ8Q3IK1_etPbjUZFvyVug2/s400/0417.jpg" /></a><br />
</div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: inherit;">Though upstaged by the more dramatic features of its neighbors, Sugarloaf is a looming presence in the city of Boulder.<br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: inherit; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiYsDgHqcIkCvmH6aNbV_3Yzk-UA_88XCH5aZLht5WXpNi6Sb4OdaJnypGdewBOe6P9Y8pxHzzUOE8zatzYLajGblEl8Mi7ScGuvbyxkcaW5tj1j3z6t_VlDVuhyjJGX9e-INjQI8OZFXH/s1600-h/0418.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br />
</a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-NOLsoxQUUn5HXMtLRSNOu7yVHue8mq0uQghhSjX5i39tpoyw-MICCiM4P_UZp65kgIfNdZTMZ-j3N6QyIoMTaQGna_r9uXnw3yphcjW0FTuirTqs2MXfDXj2KbP3X9rw1KiaWYpv_Qz4/s1600-h/0418.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-NOLsoxQUUn5HXMtLRSNOu7yVHue8mq0uQghhSjX5i39tpoyw-MICCiM4P_UZp65kgIfNdZTMZ-j3N6QyIoMTaQGna_r9uXnw3yphcjW0FTuirTqs2MXfDXj2KbP3X9rw1KiaWYpv_Qz4/s400/0418.jpg" /></a><br />
</div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: inherit;">Here is Arapahoe Avenue (State Highway 7) looking west from Foothills Parkway (State Highway 157). The snowstorm covering the Indian Peaks provides an uncluttered background for viewing Sugarloaf.<br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: inherit; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaePQXT1OUTOEvjTB07V1JaGBVIskiEkMteN5YzwFAiGZTnx24WHgFKjwkcajnGwNJuCZCdr753hRSpAM2lUKtsQE_JCr9g1wKSrqG4g-53P_JJ2Y5ReJQCFNoko1sUKZAuZudVHl9P0tj/s1600-h/0427.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaePQXT1OUTOEvjTB07V1JaGBVIskiEkMteN5YzwFAiGZTnx24WHgFKjwkcajnGwNJuCZCdr753hRSpAM2lUKtsQE_JCr9g1wKSrqG4g-53P_JJ2Y5ReJQCFNoko1sUKZAuZudVHl9P0tj/s400/0427.jpg" /></a><br />
</div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: inherit;">In an image made the following day, here is Sugarloaf against the <a href="http://bcn.boulder.co.us/basin/learning/arapahoe.html">Arapahoe Glacier</a>, freshly replenished with snow, next year's <a href="http://www.bouldercolorado.gov/files/Utilities/Water/watershedmap.pdf">drinking water</a> for Boulder's citizens.<br />
</div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: inherit;">In early September I rode the Switzerland Trail by mountainbike, from the <a href="http://www.byways.org/explore/byways/2114/travel.html">Peak to Peak Highway</a> (State Highway 72) down to my office in Boulder. Riding due east, here was my first glimpse of Sugarloaf Mountain along the Trail, the view that passengers on the narrow-gauge would have seen in 1889.<br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: inherit; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJdmPHGuznxaudvn-dga1dK6JFZlUWGxeBwMqwPVL0hNzIjnNNcPD4X1tfjVyCulee8j5vw6uSbVVqGG91ZzrN3p2ZYCYHF_qI9Xa-bEHRUmolLxj-MiFkRAAA6FiotkpArQk7eA3op8Dv/s1600-h/0252.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJdmPHGuznxaudvn-dga1dK6JFZlUWGxeBwMqwPVL0hNzIjnNNcPD4X1tfjVyCulee8j5vw6uSbVVqGG91ZzrN3p2ZYCYHF_qI9Xa-bEHRUmolLxj-MiFkRAAA6FiotkpArQk7eA3op8Dv/s400/0252.jpg" /></a><br />
</div><div style="font-family: inherit; text-align: right;"><i><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br />
</span></i><br />
<div style="text-align: left;"><i><span style="font-size: x-small;"></span></i><span style="font-size: small;">A few weeks later I did a trail run along the same section of the Trail and finished with a hike to the <a href="http://switzerlandtrail.blogspot.com/2009/11/sugarloaf-mountain-from-top.html">top of the peak</a>.</span><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br />
</span><br />
</div></div><div style="font-family: inherit; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWeM561ArJPfhvhyaUgIjBYFDlxHWvKu0mQZz0ZLRGCoAEJyhL1wjJ4ZMJFFuiJ10wSBAlbJD1rfYsGv-9arotKB1aipibgGBm8kTSRAApbeGy_8HiL0x7X5wo-8r9gpYE0fryOb8gXKxh/s1600-h/Location_Sugarloaf.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWeM561ArJPfhvhyaUgIjBYFDlxHWvKu0mQZz0ZLRGCoAEJyhL1wjJ4ZMJFFuiJ10wSBAlbJD1rfYsGv-9arotKB1aipibgGBm8kTSRAApbeGy_8HiL0x7X5wo-8r9gpYE0fryOb8gXKxh/s320/Location_Sugarloaf.jpg" /></a><br />
</div>Michael, Dad, Poppi.http://www.blogger.com/profile/03898139769103917942noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7516187090027255565.post-58707956933360687422009-10-20T20:32:00.000-06:002009-10-20T22:45:31.151-06:00How about Durango?Now that I've seen <a href="http://switzerlandtrail.blogspot.com/2009/10/georgetown-loop-railroad.html">Georgetown</a>, my appetite has been whetted for some other adventures.<br />
<br />
There's the <a href="http://cograilway.com/">cog railway</a> up Pike's Peak, running Swiss-made diesel-electrics on a 9-mile course to the top of what's billed as America's Mountain.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhx_oua3Mfaw2q_kyDZiVh4BNXfhsiLarKflSNn46RRtbq68Z-B07xjQRrXhTRC8Sa6bWSFfNCGATGHfVItveV9Wdgx2WkUgd5tFYa0D-IuEOEIdm3BUJqepaaWJ9yvWziW2KGVMUFKfjdK/s1600-h/dsngrr.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhx_oua3Mfaw2q_kyDZiVh4BNXfhsiLarKflSNn46RRtbq68Z-B07xjQRrXhTRC8Sa6bWSFfNCGATGHfVItveV9Wdgx2WkUgd5tFYa0D-IuEOEIdm3BUJqepaaWJ9yvWziW2KGVMUFKfjdK/s400/dsngrr.gif" /></a><br />
</div>But much more to my interest is the steam-powered narrow gauge at <a href="http://www.durangotrain.com/">Durango</a>. Well, at least they claim to be coal-fired and <a href="http://switzerlandtrail.blogspot.com/2009/10/visit-to-georgetown.html">steam-powered</a>.<br />
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The <a href="http://www.durangotrain.com/events/-polar-express">Polar Express</a> sounds fun.<br />
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Though this is the <a href="http://www.houghtonmifflinbooks.com/features/thepolarexpress/">Real Deal</a>.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi72xnB9Ck8UnYez7ZNdvBVLtfKEOQCGJxLF5WyaeDfIT-z35Im8cmOztyR4w4oLSMnAM1ezWgNH1EPJr9r_Ye7IwoPelEKDNg6_gOnC7vESSttO6u-laylGVvRrJp414whUvdv7rbZqzRC/s1600-h/00234.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi72xnB9Ck8UnYez7ZNdvBVLtfKEOQCGJxLF5WyaeDfIT-z35Im8cmOztyR4w4oLSMnAM1ezWgNH1EPJr9r_Ye7IwoPelEKDNg6_gOnC7vESSttO6u-laylGVvRrJp414whUvdv7rbZqzRC/s200/00234.jpg" /></a><br />
</div>Oh yeah, there's the <a href="http://www.cripplecreekrailroad.com/">Cripple Creek & Victor</a>, for next spring.<br />
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And it might be fun next time we're in the collegiate peaks area to take a look at the ROW of the old <a href="http://www.narrowgauge.org/ncmap/jerry/buena_vista.html">Denver, South Park & Pacific</a>, and some of the sights in <a href="http://www.narrowgauge.org/ncmap/ted/dspp2_leadville.html">Leadville</a>.<br />
<br />
Heck, the <a href="http://www.narrowgauge.org/">Narrow Gauge Circle</a> claims a path by rail through a thousand miles of the Colorado Rockies.<br />
<blockquote>The Narrow Gauge Circle is based on an early day travel package offered by the Denver and Rio Grande Railroad. The original "Around the Circle" tour was offered to bolster passenger revenues on the many narrow gauge lines in Colorado. The tour was in incredibly popular destination for many early day adventurers.<br />
</blockquote><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgqEAoVsHCBbl4ezZmqytTogzOpqf6AWkq8SO9bKzueVETE_0VKrfekx78loKd8c5H0KVM-iHWFwsr6nKQYL446UpPD9sY6UvRZQ-6h8rUmZC7KU9FeqwPupzP27a5waLIJRezG66R6ihP/s1600-h/sm-ngc-color-cover-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgqEAoVsHCBbl4ezZmqytTogzOpqf6AWkq8SO9bKzueVETE_0VKrfekx78loKd8c5H0KVM-iHWFwsr6nKQYL446UpPD9sY6UvRZQ-6h8rUmZC7KU9FeqwPupzP27a5waLIJRezG66R6ihP/s400/sm-ngc-color-cover-1.jpg" /></a><br />
</div>I think I've dipped my toe into another world here. It puts the Switzerland Trail of America into an important perspective. What a terrible neglect of an important local historical and cultural icon.<br />
<br />
Oh, wait. How about the <a href="http://www.cumbrestoltec.com/">Cumbres & Toltec</a>? It looks like a definite. <br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCewCi2kX9dOS-nhiUl0V91xGZKhB36ZOdLnyPs0zBsjyZLyduOlzurDdl7kjLPYVGd7qM2qD_RxZaceDIT2LEV8r5nd8XjIeZ8Y_VSgaYGAIy3XEESYjQtnUudb1LyX6B8HY0LWDVeGz9/s1600-h/cumbres-toltec.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCewCi2kX9dOS-nhiUl0V91xGZKhB36ZOdLnyPs0zBsjyZLyduOlzurDdl7kjLPYVGd7qM2qD_RxZaceDIT2LEV8r5nd8XjIeZ8Y_VSgaYGAIy3XEESYjQtnUudb1LyX6B8HY0LWDVeGz9/s400/cumbres-toltec.jpg" /></a><br />
</div>Michael, Dad, Poppi.http://www.blogger.com/profile/03898139769103917942noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7516187090027255565.post-13589070179279359042009-10-18T13:05:00.002-06:002009-10-25T17:24:21.674-06:00Visit to Georgetown.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjIt0oOG5ddCxZSIM3aUwD20B2RTLwfNAr8fTdB6tD1zaElpAfOsSLfVPPCe8-9JkCdmdgur8Ylevg-hqwcHgIBqm2M2UNuoUVAQxZCim5V-d23fo6FgT9kga1FvTuR3zYehMEqNOQPeOj/s1600-h/0666.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjIt0oOG5ddCxZSIM3aUwD20B2RTLwfNAr8fTdB6tD1zaElpAfOsSLfVPPCe8-9JkCdmdgur8Ylevg-hqwcHgIBqm2M2UNuoUVAQxZCim5V-d23fo6FgT9kga1FvTuR3zYehMEqNOQPeOj/s400/0666.jpg" /></a><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">"The beauty of the rugged Rocky Mountains surrounds you as an old-time steam locomotive chugs it way up the canyon..."<br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Not.<br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Oh, there was plenty of beauty surrounding us, but it seems the challenges of maintaining an old-time <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Walschaerts_motion.gif">steam locomotive</a> have caught up with this restoration project as well, a sleek <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diesel-electric_locomotive#Diesel-electric">diesel-electric</a> now "...hauling your train past the remains of several gold and silver mines."<br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0fr8MzKUsRFvBHNrUaqLRb_98DFm-L-Gu7Qgc5QwJB7uomulgEsDXoGuhSNDqv5JTZzMsEzGWTWlxln7-zhWuklFcqsuL1W7ipSojQ63TMQcHDVh1N-u-j0gJDJvlTAo-VmWEiyNuORiD/s1600-h/0653.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0fr8MzKUsRFvBHNrUaqLRb_98DFm-L-Gu7Qgc5QwJB7uomulgEsDXoGuhSNDqv5JTZzMsEzGWTWlxln7-zhWuklFcqsuL1W7ipSojQ63TMQcHDVh1N-u-j0gJDJvlTAo-VmWEiyNuORiD/s200/0653.jpg" /></a><br />
</div>This was quite a disappointment for me in my <a href="http://switzerlandtrail.blogspot.com/2009/10/georgetown-loop-railroad.html">anticipation</a> of seeing a narrow-gauge steam locomotive. I was impressed--shocked, actually--to see what <b><i>narrow</i></b> means in narrow-gauge. I can see why turns at tight radius are possible. Little surprise there were <a href="http://switzerlandtrail.blogspot.com/2009/10/ride-row-october-4-2009-ii-black-swan.html">tipovers</a>--it's a wonder there weren't more. That's a very narrow base, with a tremendous mass above and beyond the wheels.<br />
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</div><div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLjr798hLCYvrpurpT_mod1km27nENMOaXQV4Hojxmxv2YuhR_V_vGQXCFntwV3vnY-y3QJ0HWYAMT4tgvR1eRUH9ovAZ4X0tD-yCNvDLJdEvzdSNbox0ETfpA2d0qQo8_bLmxkbKhnhgR/s1600-h/0646.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLjr798hLCYvrpurpT_mod1km27nENMOaXQV4Hojxmxv2YuhR_V_vGQXCFntwV3vnY-y3QJ0HWYAMT4tgvR1eRUH9ovAZ4X0tD-yCNvDLJdEvzdSNbox0ETfpA2d0qQo8_bLmxkbKhnhgR/s400/0646.jpg" /></a><br />
</div><br />
I did enjoy seeing the layout of the ROW, and I for sure wasn't disappointed in learning about that. Even before I'd seen this plaque I'd put together a mental map from riding the distance, and really enjoyed seeing how the engineers/surveyors solved the various problems of terrain.<br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnzGhrcxo_8zNqDT8p2Gxz4rWdpqXARAE91hPQji_8tNDVD8qHv-lUhZIxa7cgXE2TXY2sjfnOs-72QJL_OuAVGgsxeQw2KRsrMS6ZyCHR1negueOfdL60tk6pJaJj9_eNtEGYGWETQAvg/s1600-h/0663.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnzGhrcxo_8zNqDT8p2Gxz4rWdpqXARAE91hPQji_8tNDVD8qHv-lUhZIxa7cgXE2TXY2sjfnOs-72QJL_OuAVGgsxeQw2KRsrMS6ZyCHR1negueOfdL60tk6pJaJj9_eNtEGYGWETQAvg/s400/0663.jpg" /></a><br />
</div><br />
So this is how engineer Jacob Blickensderfer doubled the 2-mile distance, and it's not only ingenious, it's daring. I can only imagine the courage it took to build a bridge this high in the 1880's. If he's like other engineers I know and work with, he approached it pretty darned cautiously and likely with quite a bit of pressure from the folks he was working for. For this bridge at Devil's Gate--on an 18-degree curve no less--the locomotive engineer really slows down, moving gingerly across.<br />
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Here's the story behind its creation, from the full plaque at the site:<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNHncX1laL9nunrEpe4fveRlU8hVyAyBaduKQuz9a36MtcO8czdy0LSCrE0qljTqwhZnJrMXaUsdxbZm3EfFwdMtwUWaR1G6WVuFf72aaNgV863FATBgzss0lfFmEoGeLRTu4BL-SuCu6C/s1600-h/0662.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNHncX1laL9nunrEpe4fveRlU8hVyAyBaduKQuz9a36MtcO8czdy0LSCrE0qljTqwhZnJrMXaUsdxbZm3EfFwdMtwUWaR1G6WVuFf72aaNgV863FATBgzss0lfFmEoGeLRTu4BL-SuCu6C/s400/0662.jpg" /></a><br />
</div><br />
The loop is a major tourist venue. Every ticket for the 12:30 trip was sold, as they were for every other trip planned yesterday. A fair number of the folks on board were much like the woman from Texas who shared our booth, far more interested in collecting another scalp on her belt of places she's visited--chattering incessantly the entire hour about other places she's been, stopping to look out only to find a pretty backdrop for a snapshot of herself proving her attendance.<br />
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Much to my surprise, despite the presence of a PA system and a generous, well-costumed staff, there was no narration offered during the trip. There were lots of fancy brochures and a gift shop with plenty of t-shirts, but in the two hours we were there we heard no conversation and no discussion of the historical nature of the afternoon's "entertainment." We might as well have been at <a href="http://disneyland.disney.go.com/disneyland/en_US/home/home?name=HomePage&bhcp=1">Disneyland</a> or <a href="http://www.waterworldcolorado.com/">Water World</a>.<br />
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I paid 69c for a postcard showing a vintage photograph.The road shown paralleling the ROW is now Interstate 70.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibNTelnuI7bg2dzSRmYwGipcjkY_NUWFTT8rSFzvDVvuVgWl-VbFI_x9uytk-g1NZNZwy3M5rGSFCpZiwbYCOTbxH3peE2xtLdWwxkMVzlnZPw9wWvQUw3KpoB8nfMNj9MdkpUkmeDmVRx/s1600-h/georgetown+loop_blog.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibNTelnuI7bg2dzSRmYwGipcjkY_NUWFTT8rSFzvDVvuVgWl-VbFI_x9uytk-g1NZNZwy3M5rGSFCpZiwbYCOTbxH3peE2xtLdWwxkMVzlnZPw9wWvQUw3KpoB8nfMNj9MdkpUkmeDmVRx/s400/georgetown+loop_blog.jpg" /></a><br />
</div>Michael, Dad, Poppi.http://www.blogger.com/profile/03898139769103917942noreply@blogger.com2