As the town recovers from its annual Mountain Fair with this year’s theme of “Camp Bonedale,” it’s worth noting similarities to another famous gathering in the Rocky Mountains involving vendors, music, dancing, games and merriment. Carbondale’s celebration was not the first mountain fair in Colorado. That distinction goes to a rendezvous that started in 1825, […]
Sue Gray
Posted inOpinion
Historiography: Alice Cooper in Carbondale
In Mills, Iowa in 1875, Isaac and Sarah Cooper welcomed their second daughter Alice into the world. Shortly afterward, the family came to Colorado, where Isaac engaged in mining operations. After traveling to Boulder, Golden and Leadville, the Coopers eventually ended up in Defiance, at the confluence of the Roaring Fork and Colorado Rivers. Isaac […]
Posted inOpinion
Ditch the water
Everyone living in Carbondale is familiar with the Town’s extensive, gravity-fed irrigation system, comprising eight miles of open ditches and underground culverts that carry water diverted from the Crystal and Roaring Fork rivers between May and October. But the history of this ingenious system isn’t well-known. When homesteaders began settling here in the 1880s, they […]
Posted inColumns
Historiography: ‘Touch Not Yon Dandelion!’
Historically, Carbondale was known for its fine and abundant potatoes. What is less known is that the dandelion was responsible for the transition from grain crops to potatoes, according to premier spud grower Eugene Grubb in “Carbondale Pioneers, 1879-1890” by Edna D. Sweet: We grew alfalfa and our land was worth only $50 per acre, […]
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Historiography: Tragedy at Coal Basin
On Highway 133, near Redstone, Colorado, a memorial plaque reads: This monument stands in tribute to the miners of Coal Basin, who confronted adversity and proved themselves resourceful, innovative and intrepid. We honor their achievements and their sacrifices, remembering in particular those brave, good men whose lives were lost in the mines … Placed with […]
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Historiography: The Politics of Water
Turn on the tap, water pours out. We take it for granted. But our water was hard-fought in the early 20th century by some of the Roaring Fork Valley’s legendary champions of water rights. In the late 1880s, Glenwood Springs attorney Edward T. Taylor dealt mainly with cases involving land and water issues. Particularly concerned […]
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Historiography: The last picture show
“Carbondale History, 1887-1976,” by the Carbondale Study Club (1976): In the early days of the town, there was a motion picture theater on the north side of Main Street [351 Main, now The Pour House]. Every week there was a show … on Wednesdays and Saturdays. Admission was 10 cents for children and 15 or […]
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Historiography: Summer Christmases of years past
Trail and Timberline (Denver), Jan. 1, 1927: Due to an inconsiderate spirit as far as Father Winter has been concerned, we are all lamenting a lack of snow up to the present time. In the late 1800s, Norwegian immigrants introduced America to snowshoeing, or skiing as we call it today. Ever since, annual snowfall has […]
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Historiography: Bountiful ladies of Carbondale
Alma Osgood, the wife of mining magnate John C. Osgood, founder of Redstone, was known as “Lady Bountiful” by the town’s residents because she lavished them with gifts, especially during the holidays. Carbondale’s equivalent was Mary Jane Francis, a wealthy widow from Philadelphia who bought the Bull Dog Mine on Avalanche Creek. She helped found […]
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Historiography: We shall fall as the leaves
The Meeker Massacre, as it is known in Colorado history, was the final straw for the U.S. Government in its territorial struggle with the Ute tribes, leading to expulsion from their Colorado homeland. Famously, the “Meeker Incident” as it’s referred to by the Utes, culminated in a small band of rebels taking women and children […]