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OPINION
I collect Post Cards and old pictures. It has been interesting over the years tracking down old pictures. Like Fielder, the Denver photographer, I have tracked down old picture locations, mainly from right around here. As I research a spot I am often asked, “Watcha doin?” I usually show whoever asks the old picture I am checking. I have seen children look at an old scene and say, “It never looked like that.” But they never saw when it looked like that. Many of us never saw it look like it did a hundred years ago. As I give programs about the area’s history I even hear a bit of disbelief when I show a then and now photo. Sometime I even find myself amazed as I locate the modern version of an old picture. As I read old newspapers I find mention of this or that and it stirs a memory that often winds up on this page. I still find interesting stories about many of the industries here in Fountain. There was an interesting booklet done about Fountain in about 1912. There is a copy over at the museum. Over the years I have tried to locate the spot of some of these pictures. It was easier before the block on Main where City Hall sits was cleared, but I did find most of them. Years ago I gave my program on then and now to the Historical Society. Someday I need to go through their new pictures and try it again. When I used to talk about The Fountain Blast I would take kids over to the spot. Some were surprised that there was nothing left of the old cars or building. That was there in my pictures! Where did it go! On other searches other onlookers more or less said the same thing. In my collection I still have pictures of buildings and hills that look familiar, but I just have not nailed down exactly where they are located. Years ago I put one in one of the Denver papers because I did not know where in Colorado it might be. I got five answers, all different, and in the end four were wrong. I took the answers and went looking, and the one that was right was the fifth on the list to check! In research for my first book I discovered a collection of pictures at Colorado College of railroad pictures around Colorado City and Manitou. In it was a stone railroad station. It turned out to be a street car station that served Garden of the Gods! I am still looking for a picture of an old street car diner that sat on 115 near where the Fountain water pipe crossed! |
