Then and Now Images

[Justin]

Missed the last batch Steve, just saw them now. As always, bravo  .

[bdhszy1]

Best thread ever. What a great reason to sport-tour. Thanks

[bomber]

please let me add my thanks to everyone else's . . . . outstanding work!

[sfarson]

Missed the last batch Steve, just saw them now. As always, bravo  .

Hey Justin, Good to hear from you.  Nice thoughts all.  If up for a few more, had a great ride looking for an old ghost town the other day.  West Creek flared to life in 1896 with claims of gold in the area.  Fortune seekers swept in, erected a scattered town along the namesake creek, and within six months 2,000 people were there.  By late 1897 it was recognized there wasn't "gold in them thar hills", and the fade began.

Here's an excellent eight minute video from Douglas County on the history of what is now known as Westcreek (single word)... Landmark Series - All That Glitters, West Creek Colorado on Vimeo

West Creek around 1896-1897...


In two months (June 2002) will be the ten year anniversary of the massive Hayman wildfire, which consumed 138,000 acres and numerous scattered homes in the Westcreek area.  Today, it is a quiet place, but what a diff versus 1896-1897...


1896-1897...


Today, with a delightful power pole. There was a home behind me preventing a more elevated and precise "where the photographer stood then"...


So the Uly brings me about a mile south along West Creek where a few structures of West Creek "suburbia" were placed...


Guess it is fitting to have horses of the day stand in tribute to the past.  Could have hopped the fence and joined them for a slightly better "now" perspective...

[UHOH]

   nice

[k0guz]

         
         I took a train trip on the Rio Grande Railroad's daily milk train,  the Yampa Valley from Denver to Craig, Colorado during spring break in high school.  I wanted very much to ride this, since it was about to be discontinued.  This was the imposing depot then:



We took a moto trip to Craig a couple of weeks ago.  On the way up, I realized that this trip was taken 50 years almost to the day, from the time that picture was taken.   I'd like to think I have aged more gracefully than the depot:





Ride report if you're interested...

[cubby]

Thanks for sharing. Historical photos are my favorites.

[sfarson]

Hey all, hope you're having a fantastic summer of riding.  Been months since updating this thread.  Here's some more...

Montezuma, Colorado is a semi-ghost town about five miles west of the Keystone ski resort.  It sprung to life in the 1860's after silver was discovered in the area of nearby Argentine Pass.  By 1890 the population was up to 1,000 coinciding with the Colorado Silver Boom.  Well, the population of Montezuma also coincided with the Colorado Silver Bust three years later in 1893, and since then the decline of the population and structure kind has continued. Five fires over the years have not helped with "historic preservation", but nevertheless some old buildings remain and can be viewed on a ride to this high 10,200ft. elev. place.

Here's a look east down Montezuma's main street in the late 1800's...


And today with a population around 40-50.  Note the similar snow patterns on the peak 120+ years later!


Ride the horse through town and turn around looking west back then...


And today...


I did come across this 1940's image of one of the old hotels still standing...


But it is no longer is standing today...


Shawnee, Colorado was a place for tourists to stay a spell.  The train noted in the preceding post would drop off Denver paying passengers at the Shawnee train stop for some relaxin', hikin', fishin', etc. About 100 years ago, looking east from Shawnee, this was the view.  The tracks are unseen here, down and to the left alongside the North Fork of the South Platte River.  But the wagon road is visible...


The dirt wagon road is today's paved U.S. 285...


Now, 100 years ago from the same location as above, if one turned 90 degrees to the right in the wintertime, and looked up, here is where some of the visitors would stay...


It is one of the oldest remaining structures in Shawnee today...


From a distance, one can see how Shawnee looked back then.  Can see the above Grand View Hotel to the left of the access road.  The really big lodge to the right burned down in 1929.  Many of the lodges along the train route burned down mysteriously in the 1920's and 1930's as train traffic gave way to auto traffic.  Travelers by auto could come and go from Denver without staying the night or weekend.  The probable reason for these lodges turned to ashes?  Insurance money.


Well, I hiked up a hill through a garden of cow pies as far as I could go, but elevation gain was no more with a serious barbed wire fence hoping I would make its day.  Turned around for Shawnee today...


Have passed through this canyon (back then a train bed, today a chip seal on the old bed) casually the past year or so trying to spot the location of this 100 year old image. No luck. Until a few days ago. "Poised Rock" is that round rock at the top of the sloping rock face. See that dot of a tree in front of it?


The North Fork of the South Platte, about 30 miles SW of Denver.  Some things change, some things do not...


Here's the wagon access road to the canyon 110 years ago...


Today's Foxton Road...


Now how about this.  Granby almost 90 years ago...


The Granby/Grand Lake area is the gateway to the western sides of Rocky Mountain National Park.  Several quick dashes into the traffic, and this image came closest to what is above...

[sfarson]

A few then/now of Jefferson, a small ranching community in the high meadows of South Park, Colorado. This is from just after the train tracks were pulled up in 1937 and a dirt road placed down.  That's the train depot on the left...


And it is still the "historic" train depot on the left, along with a caboose like structure to the right offering summertime fare like BBQ, burgers, etc.  The size of the community hasn't changed much over the years, usually hovering around 50...


In the color image above, see the home with the white window trim?  Here it is in the late 1800's...


A few decades later, some new surrounding structures, and some new area residents...


And 90 years later, some new aspen.  Well not so new, but doing well.  Angle of the sun is almost the same...


Looking down this residential street back with the same home on the right...


Maybe I'll return with a chainsaw for a better now perspective ...


Paused at Barker Reservoir above Boulder, Colorado.  It was built just over 100 years ago by the city of Boulder as a storage and flood control project.

Looking east as construction continued and water started to fill the meadows... and cattle saw shrinking pasture land...


The dam has been rebuilt since then...


Looking west before there was a Barker Reservoir...


Ehhh, a bit of a change....


OK, the image above shows the historic mining town of Nederland in the distance, with the ski runs of Eldora up higher.  Nederland was a consolidating kind of town, providing central services for the productive mines and now ghost towns up higher.  Men from the Netherlands named it Nederland for the town was located on a somewhat small, but nevertheless flat piece of land reminding them of their European home.  And how about this, a color "then" image from ~60 years ago...


I had lunchtime chow down the street, and after some nice consumption strolled up the hill, turned around, strolled some more, framed things...


Rosita, Colorado was once the Custer County seat, boasting a population of over a thousand in the 1870's, along with hundreds of structures.  The discovery of silver nearby brought the people.  Soon, larger lodes of silver bearing ores were discovered elsewhere in the vicinity, like in nearby Silver Cliff in the 1880's.  Goodbye Rosita as many of the transient residents moved north 7 - 8 miles.  I guess back then, commuting that kind of distance was a BIG deal.  The county seat was relocated to Silver Cliff and by the 1890's Rosita was in a state of decline...





Ehhh, a bit of a change.  This was taken after flames consumed some of the town's structures...




Silver Plume, a flair and fade mining town that was hitched to the fortunes of silver prices, is just off I-70 on the eastern climb to the Eisenhower Tunnel.  It's just one exit west of Georgetown.

72 years ago this is how it appeared...


Today, at almost the same time of day and season given the shadows.  It has not been prettied up like some other historic towns in Colorado, but I kinda like that it hasn't...


At the very least, if there is hint of weakness or affection for freshly baked bread, then absolutely exit for Silver Plume, ride the dirt 100 yards to and through the setting above, and then stop at the Sopp & Truscott Bakery at the east end.  If it isn't open there will be a metal chest at the door with wrapped loaves of soft and freshly baked bread of sundry kinds.  The honor system has a small chest inside for your $4 - $5.  If you turn around from the images above, here it is...


Georgetown, a community that thrived from the late 1800's silver boom, and continues to fare well today.  It is located on I-70 where the eastern climbing grade to Loveland Pass and the Eisenhower Tunnel increases notably.  Interesting how starting ten miles east of Georgetown the fever came ores of gold, but not here, nor Silver Plume on the other side of the interstate.  Georgetown is also at the northern base of the Guanella Pass Scenic Byway, and the north side was re-engineered and repaved last year.

Here's the Alps like Guanella Pass Road...


The last switchback before the summit is attained...


But anyway, this is a then/now thread, and here is Georgetown over 100 years ago...


I-70 comes up this Creek Creek drained valley and hugs the slopes on the left, though one can hardly tell from this treed image from the same location on the Guanella Pass Road (which was constructed as a wagon road for the silver mines up above)...


Parades were big events back then, communities large and small often had them for Memorial Day, 4th of July, and Labor Day.  Three images a photographer captured from the same spot as the parade made a turn...






Today.  Thankfully those mountains in the background helped find the location, for the buildings hardly do...


At the rear end of the parade.  Dressing up was a common practice for events like a parade, but seemingly it was the thing to do whenever out in public...


Today.  More trees and some structural changes...

[Mrs. DantesDame]

Thank you, again.  

[Justin]

Thank you, again.  

ditto

I have to remember to carry cash next time I go by the bread shop  

[HPTuner]

Awesome thread! I LOVE this stuff! Thanks for taking the time!

[sammyseaman]

 

[sfarson]

ditto

I have to remember to carry cash next time I go by the bread shop  

You will be glad you have that $5 bill with you.

[Orson]

Good stuff  

how long does it take to locate and line up each matching picture?

[Mrs. DantesDame]

Good stuff  

how long does it take to locate and line up each matching picture?

Orson, you should do this on your rides around Europe  

[Orson]

Orson, you should do this on your rides around Europe  

I'm guessing each picture takes at least three hours of work  

This is the closest I've come

"Wheat Field With Crows"  

[Mrs. DantesDame]

"Wheat Field With Crows"  

 

[esqualey]

These are just great!  I would bet the Colorado Historical society would be VERY interested in this project.  Maybe make a book!  

Pauley

[miles]

Cripple Creek and Victor pumped out so much gold, the amount was greater than the California and Alaska gold rushes combined.  Back then Victor had a population of 5,000...

Sorry to burst your bubble, but that's not accurate.  The mines in the Cripple Creek/Victor area produced 22.4 million ounces of gold, but the California gold rush produced 12 million in the first five years, then another 11 million in the following ten years as methods changed.  The next couple of decades produced another 20 million ounces by dredging the rivers that flowed down from the initial gold rush areas.