ONE HUNDRED YEARS AG0--August 1897

* Every Saturday and Sunday the Colorado Midland railway will sell round trip tickets to Cripple Creek from Colorado City for $3.25. (Colorado City Iris - 8/7)

* The Pike's Peak Mineral Water company's goods are the most refreshing of any on the market. Their wild cherry tonic is a household beverage. All orders receive prompt attention and delivery. Orders by mail solicited. (Colorado City Iris - 8/14)

* Miss Everhardt has again very kindly extended the hospitality of her grounds, opposite post office, to the Colorado Midland Band and to the Ladies' Guild of the Church of the Good Shepherd. This evening, therefore, the band will serve ice cream and cake on these grounds to all who desire to take advantage of the opportunity. Everyone is invited, and it is hoped that a general, social time will be enjoyed. Ice cream, 15 cents. (Colorado City Iris - 8/14)

* Married at Webber hall, in Colorado Springs, at 5 o'clock Wednesday evening, August 11, 1897, Mr. Simon Krantz and Miss Rosa Finn, both of this city. Rabbi Hillkowitz, of Denver officiating. This was the first Jewish wedding ever celebrated in El Paso county and the ceremony was both solemn and interesting. (Colorado City Iris - 8/14)

* Colorado City Hose No. 1 is getting its team in fine form for the Fireman's tournament at Grand Junction, September 7. The company which beats them, barring accidents, will make swift time. (Colorado City Iris - 8/28)

* Prof. W.W. Putnan, the new superintendent of the Colorado City schools, arrived in the city Thursday and has already taken up his school work. School will open on September 7th. (Colorado City Iris - 8/28)

* J.M. Wilbur, late of Alamosa, Colo., has leased the blacksmith shop at the corner of Fifth street and Washington avenue and has built an addition to the building. Mr. Wilbur is a wagon and carriage builder and is a first class workman. He will conduct a general blacksmithing shop and carriage and wagon factory and should receive every encouragement for our citizens. (Colorado City Iris - 8/28)

* On Wednesday evening, a big wagon train left this city for Yuma county Arizona. The train was in charge of T.S. Clow, the veteran saw mill man who goes to that territory in the employ of Rio Colorado Gold Extraction company of this city. There was 12 head of horses and 5 wagons in the outfit. The property is owned by the above named company and will be used to open up the company's properties and haul ore from the mines to the mill which will be erected on the Colorado river by the company. (Colorado City Iris - 8/28)

* Oh, don't forget Watermelon day this year, September 2, at Rocky Ford. The Santa Fe will run a special train. Two dollars round trip. Everybody is going. (Colorado City Iris - 8/28)

* The Barker House at Manitou has been sold for $35,000 to a St. Louis company. (Colorado City Iris - 8/28)

* The Teller Institute and Colorado Midland bands have been engaged to play at Grand Junction on Peach Day. A great hose tournament is promised also. (Colorado City Iris - 8/28)

* At the town board meeting on Monday evening, Chairman Borst of the committee on public buildings, submitted a plan for an addition to the town hall, said building to be used for storage and stable. The proposed plans call for a one-story building 40x42 feet in size. On motion the clerk was authorized to advertise for bids on said building. Hon. A. L. Humphrey, president of the school board, appeared before the board and asked that the school board be allowed to repair the old town hall and use the same for a school building for a term of years. On motion the town attorney was instructed to prepare a contract with the school district to use the building for a term of five years in consideration of making valuable improvements on the building and keep the same in repair.

* On the eighth day of September at 12 o'clock noon, George W. Ristine, Receiver, will sell at public auction, at the Colorado City depot, all the property and assets of the Colorado Midland railroad.

* Tuesday evening hail fell on the head of Camp creek to the depth of several inches. The hills looked white as snow. The hail stayed on until afternoon of the next day. The severe storm stopped the street cars for two hours. Considerable damage was done in Colorado Springs by rain and lightning.

* Marshal Allen discovered fire in the Anheuser-Busch bottling establishment, located at the corner of Washington avenue and Sixth street, about 10 o'clock Thursday night. The fire started near the boiler furnace and was extinguished before serious damage was done. The fire alarm was not sounded.

SEVENTY-FIVE YEARS AGO--August 1922

* That the Allingham Candy company, which negotiated for the purchase of the old city hall in Colorado City from the city council some time ago, will not engage in business on as extensive a scale as was at first promised, was the statement made in city council meeting yesterday morning by City Manager A. M. Wilson, who recommended that the building be leased to the company for a year instead of going ahead with the sale on the terms proposed. The company promises to install $50,000 worth of machinery and employ at least 50 person in the candy plant. The city attorney was instructed to draw up a lease as recommended by the city manager, because of the deposit already made by the company. (Colorado Springs Gazette - 8/9)

* Now comes Spencer Penrose, donor of the famous Penrose trophy awarded each year to the winner of the Pikes Peak hill climb classic, and enters a car for the big race that will make some of the fast entries from the eastern factories look to their laurels when the race is run Labor day. The big Pierce Arrow car which has been used by Mr. Penrose for the last year or two will be stripped and cut down for the race. It will be piloted by Harry McMillan, who has been the Penrose chauffeur for many years. McMillan is an experienced driver and thoroughly familiar with the grades on the peak. Another last minute entry that came in yesterday, was from H.J. West of Denver, who is to drive his own Lincoln in the big event of the day for cars of more than 300 cubic inches displacement. This is the first Lincoln car to be entered in the Pikes Peak race, and the fans are going to watch its performance with considerable interest. (Colorado Springs Gazette - 8/10)

* The greatest pageant ever staged in the Springs was seen yesterday by a crowd estimated at 50,000 persons. Even though no prizes were offered for the best float, Colorado Springs believed so thoroughly in the idea of the "Passing of the West" that no effort or expense was spared to make them as beautiful and historically correct as possible in portraying the periods which they were intended to represent. The floats and participants were arranged to pass in the chronological order of historical events, starting with the cliff dwellers and concluding with the modern era which many of the living pioneers did most to start. (Colorado Springs Gazette - 8/16)

* As the result of participation in the "Passing of the West" pageant-parade last Tuesday by members of the pioneer volunteer fire department, an association of survivors of the original brigade has been formed and the firemen will meet occasionally to talk over old times and renew acquaintance. The association was formed as the hook and ladder truck on which the firemen were riding rolled along in the parade. B.B. McReynolds was first elected president of the organization and his election was followed by those of F. J. Enquest as secretary, Dr. W. L. Bartlett, vice-president, Edward Eaton, second vice-president, and C. E. Aiken, treasurer. (Colorado Springs Gazette - 8/21)

* Bethany Baptist Notes - The Trinity M.E. congregation will meet with us Wednesday night, August 23 in a union prayer meeting. Immersions at close of service. Due to the cordial reception given the choir in their musical service last Sunday evening, plans are being made for another program in the near future. (Colorado Springs Gazette - 8/21)

* At 10 a.m., October 10, 1852, a train consisting of an engine and a few day coaches, the first run on the new Rock Island road, left Chicago for Joliet, the terminus of the line at that time. At 10 a.m., October 10, 1922, 70 years after, another train will enact this first run. The train will be the Rocky Mountain Limited from Chicago to Colorado Springs and Denver, pulled by a huge engine of the latest type and containing baggage cars, day coaches, parlor cars, Pullmans, and a dining car, equipped with all the modern conveniences of travel. At all points along the Rock Island line, the seventieth anniversary of the operation of its first passenger train will be celebrated. (Colorado Springs Gazette - 8/28)

* Special interest to the local police department of the cleanup of a ring of 33 confidence men in Denver is attached to the fact that one of the con men, Adolph Duff, 54 years old, operated in this city nearly 20 years ago when Colorado City was in its hey-day as a "touch town." In those days, Duff worked his confidence games on the trains between La Junta and Denver, and also did a bit of pickpocketing around the Colorado Springs depots, and in Colorado City, it is said. Duff and his gang were eventually chased out of town during the administration of W. S. Reynolds as chief of police, and although he was said to have moved to Montana and there "gone straight", his arrest in Denver indicates that he soon resumed his former trade.

* Thousands of spectators watched the throng of masked and costumed dancers at the annual Shan Kive of the Pikes Peak region held on Nevada avenue and surrounding streets.

* Retired U. S. Marshal W. J. Snively or "Happy Baldwin" as he was called has returned to the region to pass his last few years under the shadow of the peak. At the time of his first visit here in 1870, he came at the head of a gang of deputies, looking for desperadoes, masquerading under the guise of Indians and committing all their crimes in the name of the Redskins. At the time of his visit here there were half a dozen shacks in Manitou and a great many Indians in the hills. There were 2,500 people in Denver and 17 families in Pueblo. Snively had the district extending from Canada to the Mexican border to look after, with 950 deputies to help him.

FIFTY YEARS AGO--August 1947

* Carl Dufford, 1617 West Kiowa St., owner and operator of the Sanitary Laundry and Dry Cleaning Co., 2517 West Colorado avenue, and Laundry Engineer, Roy Hines, 31 Manitou avenue, were burned about the face, hands and ankles about 1:30 o'clock Monday afternoon when a boiler near which they were working blew up in the rear of the establishment. Fire companies 3 and 5 answered the call and reported that the cause of the explosion was unknown, since not a great deal of steam pressure was up at the time of the accident. (Colorado Springs Independent - 8/7)

* Bronc day will be celebrated Saturday at Green Mountain Falls with several hundred riders expected to participate in an affair that started nine years ago in connection with the marathon race up Pikes Peak. Costumed riders will start the colorful event with a parade, to be followed by field events at the baseball diamond there at 1:30 o'clock. Square dances on the town's tennis courts will begin at 8 o'clock in the evening. Master of ceremonies for the highlighting event of the summer season in the Ute Pass area will be Harry Dively, who originated Bronc day nine years ago. (Colorado Springs Independent - 8/7)

* West Siders who pass up George Miller's band concert at Bancroft Park on Thursday evening are really missing a musical treat. (Colorado Springs Independent - 8/7)

* Surprise! The employees of the Golden Cycle mill received an unexpected raise in wages on August 1. The miners in the Cripple Creek district also were given a substantial raise. (Colorado Springs Independent - 8/7)

* The flotation plant at the Golden Cycle Mill now is treating 1,000 tons of ore per day. This is very low grade ore that could not be treated successfully and economically by other methods. (Colorado Springs Independent - 8/7)

* Louis Unser, seven times winner in the Pikes Peak Hill Climb on Labor Day will be in the race again this year. He will drive the Maserati car he used in previous races, with added improvement. Louis grew up in Colorado City. For a great many years some members of the family have resided in the 2700 block on West Colorado avenue. Forty years ago, the father, Louis Unser, Sr. and the boys worked at the Borst meat market, then at 2502 West Colorado avenue. They all rode motorcycles, the father and three sons, Louis, Jerry and Joe, who was killed on the Denver road when using a front wheel drive car. (Colorado Springs Independent - 8/14)

* A deal was closed last Friday whereby the Cole Drug store at 2512 West Colorado avenue changed hands, it being sold by Palmer Peterson to H. H. Cooper of Ness City, Kansas, and William H. Lidke of this city. The name has been changed to the Cooper-Lidke Drug company. Mr. Cooper is a business man of Ness City. Mr. Lidke came here in 1941 from Denver, was in the armed service in 1943-45. He is a pharmacist, will manage the drug store, is married, has two daughters and resides at 171l West Bijou street. About 50 years ago, the late James McIntosh erected the brick building and moved the drug store to its present location. C.H. Cole owned the store for a number of years. (Colorado Springs Independent - 8/14)

* The laundry boiler explosion last week caused a traffic congestion between Twenty-fourth and Twenty-sixth streets on West Colorado avenue the like of which has not been seen over here in many years. In the old days some serious fires did occur in wooden buildings. There were several blazes in what is now the 2500 block, one being where the laundry is now located. Others, where the Moore warehouse and free parking lot are. One of the most serious fires in Old Town in the last 40 years was when the Ridenour & Rettiger livery stable, where the one-story brick building just east of McDonald & Huff's now is, burned. About 30 head of horses were lost. In the back end of the building the dead bodies lay against each other. The building was a total loss. The dead animals were hauled to a draw just west of Ramona, which is still known to old-timers as Dead Horse Gulch. (Colorado Springs Independent - 8/14)

* Bronc Day attracted more than 2,000 persons to Green Mountain Falls Saturday. About 150 riders and several hundred cars were in the colorful parade which started the days festivities. Two old-timers figured in the activities. Henry Brockhurst, as the first baby to be born in the scenic Ute Pass town, and E. V. Vance, 83, veteran rider of the range who even today acts as guide for horseback trips in the area. Both men were introduced and given ovations by the crowd. (Colorado Springs Independent - 8/14)

* Martin Drake, who is not quite as old as Old Town, is working part time at the Colorado Springs National Bank, following a hip ailment which caused him to use a walking stick. Martin is past the three score and ten years, most of which he has spent in Old Town, and he isn't going to quit for some time more. (Colorado Springs Independent - 8/14)

* The house at 2818 West Pikes Peak avenue, the original fort in early Colorado City days, has a "for sale" sign on the front of the building. Recent repairs have been made and there are curtains in the front windows, though the house has not been occupied for some time. The owner of the property asked the Pioneer society to remove the bronze marker set in granite in front of the property, which was declined. He said he would get up a petition asking that it be taken away, but there is no report of anything being done. The house was originally made of logs or slabs and used as a stockade or fort to protect early Colorado City residents from the Indians then common hereabouts. (Colorado Springs Independent - 8/21)

* The recent incorporation of the H. and H. Mining and Milling company, which will work the old Standard Mill dump in old Colorado City, brings back memories of happy days in Old Town. Forty years ago lights never went out in the Standard mill. Several hundred men were employed, working three shifts. It was one of the busiest places hereabouts. The mill dump, covering about 40 acres, has been worked some other times since the mill ceased operations in 1912. Likely there is considerable gold and other minerals in the dump, as in the early days extracting was not as modern as now. The incorporators of the H. and H. company are L. S. Harner, for many years superintendent of the Golden Cycle mill; A. V. Hagen of the Hagen Fuel and Feed company, and Edward J. Nugent, for years an employee of the Golden Cycle company. His father was street commissioner of Colorado City many years ago. The Colorado-Philadelphia Reduction company began operations in 1896, and was taken over by the U. S. Reduction and Refining company in 1904. Operations ceased in 1912, following which the building were torn down, except the office and storerooms, both brick. The Colorado Midland railroad spur to the mill was also removed. The mill property changed ownership several times after operations ceased. When the Standard mill was at its height, the Telluride, now the Golden Cycle was built. Later the Portland was built southeast of the Golden Cycle. Two railroads, the Midland Terminal and Cripple Creek Short Line, brought ore from the mining district. The wagon road to the Standard mill dump runs south from about 3021 West Colorado avenue. It was know as Chlorination avenue. Recently, when the John Bock interests bought the camp ground just east of the road, the name was changed to Golden Lane.

* The move of the El Paso County Pioneer Society to place a marker in the Colorado City cemetery south of the Mesa road, near the old Brewer home, has caused renewed interest in the place where early residents were laid away. Just when the marker will be placed is not known. The old cemetery is a deserted place. Not a tombstone or marker is left, though there are numerous places where such were. A few stone bases where there were tombstones are still there. Some of the marble markers have been broken off where they fit into the stone base. The cemetery comprises a few acres and is fenced with barbed wire. There are four rows of abandoned graves running north and south along the east side of the plot. Most of those are merely depressions, where bodies have been removed or the ground has caved in through neglect. The only flowers are wild ones, the same being in regard to shrubbery. There are some other graves outside the four rows, but they are scattered. Cattle used to roam over the old cemetery, but do not now, as evidenced by the large number of yucca plants that are undisturbed. It is said that stock will eat the pretty wild flowers, regardless of the sharp pointed blades.