Salida Centennial Photo Collection
Salida, Colorado celebrated its centennial in 1980. The Salida Centennial Committee compiled this collection of old photographs to help preserve the history of Salida and the surrounding areas. Photos were donated from: • Frank Thomson • Donna Nevens • Salida Museum • Alice Chinn • Salida Fire Department • Josephine Soukup (Kratky) • Ernest Brownson • Alta Proctor • Janice Pennington • Dick Dixon
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- Charles Hanks
- Charles Hanks. Haley-Bratton Collection.
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- Colchester Mining and Milling Company - No. 1 Tunnel
- Increased mining activity – and some small financial successes in the late 1890’s – prompted a spate of prospecting by Salida businessmen and even a few children. They swarmed up the gulches northeast of town with picks, shovels and a little dynamite seeking “color.” They weren’t disappointed – at first – because they found showings of gold, silver, copper and lead. For a time during the winter of 1895-96, many businesses closed early so proprietors could go “mining.” No. 1 tunnel is just above the level of the D&RG mainline and about 100 yards away on a “gentle slope, just right for men pushing loaded ore cars to the railroad,” according to a Salida Mail article. Tunnel No. 2 is a few hundred feet above and a little east of the discovery opening. Plans were to connect the two inside the mountain, but ore ran out before then. Haley-Bratton Collection.
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- Colchester Mining and Milling Company - No. 1 Tunnel
- Increased mining activity – and some small financial successes in the late 1890’s – prompted a spate of prospecting by Salida businessmen and even a few children. They swarmed up the gulches northeast of town with picks, shovels and a little dynamite seeking “color.” They weren’t disappointed – at first – because they found showings of gold, silver, copper and lead. For a time during the winter of 1895-96, many businesses closed early so proprietors could go “mining.” One of those efforts was the Colchester Mining and Milling Company, which dug two tunnels – No. 1 above – into the side of the mountain between Cleora and the mouth of today’s Longfellow Gulch. No. 1 tunnel is just above the level of the D&RG mainline and about 100 yards away on a “gentle slope, just right for men pushing loaded ore cars to the railroad,” according to a Salida Mail article. Tunnel No. 2 is a few hundred feet above and a little east of the discovery opening. Plans were to connect the two inside the mountain, but ore ran out before then. Haley-Bratton Collection.
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- Colchester Mining and Milling Company - No. 2 Tunnel
- Tunnel No. 2, Colchester Gold & Copper Mining & Milling Co., Salida, Colo. Haley-Bratton Collection.
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- Colchester Mining and Milling Company - No. 2 Tunnel
- Increased mining activity – and some small financial successes in the late 1890’s – prompted a spate of prospecting by Salida businessmen and even a few children. They swarmed up the gulches northeast of town with picks, shovels and a little dynamite seeking “color.” They weren’t disappointed – at first – because they found showings of gold, silver, copper and lead. For a time during the winter of 1895-96, many businesses closed early so proprietors could go “mining.” One of those efforts was the Colchester Mining and Milling Company, which dug two tunnels – No. 2 above – into the side of the mountain between Cleora and the mouth of today’s Longfellow Gulch. In the first photo, Thomas T Foster stands at left of the entrance to tunnel No. 2, arms folded across his chest. The boy with the shovel is his son, William Garnet Foster. The man in the vest is unidentified, as is the seated man; Richard Milton Bratton stands at the far right. The other men in the operation are unidentified. Haley-Bratton Collection.
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- Colorado & Southern Portrait
- Colorado and Southern trains served Nathrop and the Western Slope via the Alpine Tunnel after the demise of the storied Denver, South Park and Pacific about 1899. The C & S struggled financially as did its predecessor, finally abandoning the run to Gunnison in 1910 with closure of the Tunnel. The line from Buena Vista to Hancock was abandoned in 1924. (1) Maud Perschbacher dates this picture as taken in July or August, 1910 at the Alma Station. She identified the people from left to right as: a blind man named Redman, depot agent John Geyer and his wife, fireman Bill Cantonwine, engineer Bill Gallagher and his wife, conductor Jack Harris and his wife, Maud (Matthews) Pershcbacher holding her son, William Earnest Perschbacher (aged 3 months), John Raymond Perschbacher (son of Joseph and Maud), brakeman Joseph T. Perschbacher and Leonard Perschbacher (son of Joseph and Maud). Leonard Perschbacher Collection.
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- Colorado & Southern Rail Crew
- Sometimes the only way to keep trains running on the Colorado and Southern was for crews to laboriously hand shovel snow from the tracks. This crew attempts to free a train trapped by slides between Hancock and the Alpine Tunnel. Leonard Perschbacher Collection.
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- Colorado & Southern Railroad Engine No. 30
- Colorado & Southern engine No. 30. Leonard Perschbacher Collection.
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- Colorado Automobile Company
- An image of an automobile parked in front of a building with sign reading 'Colo. Auto. Co.', taken by John Kratky, who lived in Salida between 1912-1920. Josephine Soukup Collection.
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- Commodore W.S. Schley
- Dressed in Sunday finery, Nina Churcher, held by Frank Churcher, presents a bouquet of flowers to Commodore W. S. Schley who doffs his hat in thanks on May 27, 1899. Schley, and Admiral William T. Sampson, became naval heroes when they bottled Spanish Admiral Topete y Cervera and his fleet in Santiago Bay, Cuba, on May 19, 1898, then destroyed the Spanish fleet as it attempted to escape July 3. Celebrities, dignitaries and politicians frequently made themselves visible – or spoke – from their railroad cars as yard crews swapped locomotives. When residents learned someone special was coming, it was a good excuse for a parade – winter or summer. Frank Thomson Collection.
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- Crews-Beggs Mercantile Co.
- Using space left vacant by the 1888 fire, Charles Webster Crews and R. H. Beggs constructed this building in 1900 as a branch of their Pueblo store. The company, founded in 1882 in Leadville, went out of business in 2000 after closure of the Salida store – the last of three. John Ophus Collection.
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- D Street Suspension Bridge
- Construction of the D Street suspension bridge was an early priority of the Denver & Rio Grande because so many of its shop workers and yard hands lived on that side of town. The bridge shortened their walk to work. On May 30, 1904, over a thousand people were milling about downtown Salida for the Memorial Day celebration and 20-30 were on the footbridge, watching the festivities upstream. Everyone on the bridge leaned on the upstream side of the bridge to get a good view when a cable snapped, and the bridge collapsed into the river, taking everyone with it. Most made it out of the water with help from the people on the banks, but four people died that day. Alice Chinn Collection.