Cobweb Express

TRAIN WRECK!
by Mel McFarland

I collect old post cards and a hundred years ago it was possible to get a post card made from anyone’s pictures. These are some of the most valuable post cards today, IF. The IF is if they have something to show what or where it is. I have looked through tons of old cards of people, houses, animals and buildings where there was not as much as a date or a name. In very fortunate cases I recognize something in the picture to give a clue. Around here there are certain places that are obvious, like Balanced Rock.

With my interest in trains, that is something I really look for. I have found lots of pictures of train wrecks. In some cases it would be impossible to know when or where they were. Fortunately, in many cases the date and maybe the location was written on the picture. In the BEST cases there is even a message about it on the address side. Thirty years ago when I was just starting on my first book I ran into a picture of a train wreck somewhere near here. I could see it might be in Ute Pass, but there was no date or other information. I showed it to others, but mainly no one had any more information, BUT I found more pictures! There were lots of variations in the pictures and each one told a bit more about the accident and th location. It indeed was Ute Pass, but I still had no idea of the date.

It was clear that it was a serious accident, and lots of people could go look at it, and the cleanup. After a couple years I finally found a picture with a date. My, Oh My, was I happy. I rushed off to the library and their old newspaper files. It was in August, 1920, a short distance up Ute Pass. One of our summer rains had washed away part of the track. It was in one of the worst spots and closed the line for almost two days while they got the train out of the way and filled the hole. People drove up the pass just to look at it! A group of tourists from Chicago were stranded in the pass until the wreck was cleared.

People had pictures and post cards made and sent them to friends all over the area, but few put the information on the pictures. They probably wrote letters to tell the story, or sent newspaper clippings, but those have been lost. I bet there are pictures that show some good views stashed away in Chicago! I bet no one knows today anything about THOSE pictures! I bet there are pictures of Fountain that no one knows is Fountain, somewhere.

CONTACT THE WRITER • MCMIDLAND@YAHOO.COM

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