WHAT: Pueblo and Frontier Pathways
WHEN: May 18 and 19, 2012
FAM Tour during the Professional Bull Riders’ Wild-Wild West Festival
Friday May 18th:
8:00 a.m. Meet for carpooling at the Courtyard by Marriott Denver South/Park Meadows Mall, 8322 South Valley Highway, Englewood, CO 80112.
10:00 – Welcome and orientation at El Pueblo History Museum
10:30 - Tour of the terminal
11:00 - “Living-History’ experience El Pueblo Trading Post 719-842-1854
Complex relations between American Indian tribes, France, Spain, Mexico, and the U.S. shaped Pueblo’s frontier history and set the stage for trading and ultimate tragedy.
Experience frontier cooking, adobe making, wool dying, Spanish Monte - gambling
12:00 - Lunch
Half of the group at Angelo’s on the river walk
Half at the Gold Dust Saloon in the Historic District
1:30 – Return to Museum for departure to the Steelworks Museum and CF&I Archives
7:00 - 8:30 Song of Pueblo a multi-media concert. Experience centuries of the colorful history of Pueblo and Southeastern Colorado through the lyrics and music written by renowned composer, Daniel Valdez.
Saturday May 19th: Westcliffe
8:30- Depart for heaven - Westcliffe via the Frontier Pathways Scenic Byway
Pull off to see Lake Pueblo Dam
10:00 - Arrive in Westcliffe at All Aboard Westcliffe for welcome and refreshments
10:30 - Depart for the historic and scenic splendor of Beckwith Ranch established in 1874, by brothers Elton and Edwin Beckwith, one of the largest cattle operations in Colorado. Meet Mrs. Beckwith.
12:00 - Depart for lunch at Sangrita
1:00 - Shopping and strolling to see art galleries, dining patios, and shops.
2:00 – Departure from All Aboard Westcliffe (3 to 4 block walk)
2:30 Arrive at Bishop’s Castle a mid-evil wonder under construction by one man for over thirty years. The marvel has stone towers, intricate wrought-iron bridges and a dragon’s head. (There are no restrooms at this stop)
3:00 Arrive at Lodge at San Isabel Lake for a pit stop and a taste of their buttery fudge.
3:30 Return to Pueblo through Rye and Colorado City
4:00 Arrive back at the museum, and a fond farewell!
PUEBLO AND FRONTIER PATHWAYS
Guide Line Review
BEAUTY, CULTURE and SCIENCE . . .
The Education Committee coordinated arrangements with the host committee for this tour and it was terrific. Those who carpooled met up with the rest of the group at the Visitor Center at the Museum in Pueblo. We were welcomed by Deborah Espinosa, Director of the Museum which is part of History Colorado. We met in the High Vista Gallery for muffins and coffee and an introduction to Pueblo, the museum and to the rest of our hosts. The museum has a turnout for motor coaches, two sets of restrooms and meeting rooms. Another interesting display in the lobby is a slice of a 338 year old tree which was cut down in 1883 for $50 to allow a street to go through.
Pueblo was established in 1841 on the Arkansas River which separated this area from what was then New Spain. Later it was part of Mexican land grants and then became part of the United States after the Mexican/American war. The first American women who settled here were Mormon. In 1854 the fort here was raided and settlers were killed. Pueblo originally was three small towns that grew together. South Pueblo was founded by GeneralPalmer (who also founded Colorado Springs) and he named the streets for U.S. Presidents. In territorial days theArkansas River was the boundary and Pueblo was part of New Mexico and was governed by the New Mexico Territorial Governor.
Pueblo prospered from the miners coming through in 1859 after gold was discovered in Colorado. Memorial Hall, which should be refurbished by 2013, seats 1800 people and has one of the oldest pipe organs in the U.S. There was a historic flood in 1921 that covered much of the city, destroying many homes and businesses.
Outside the museum there is a sculpture garden which is visible from the lobby. At the side of the museum is a living history exhibit where we made tortillas, ate corn bread which had been baked in the horno (outside oven), made adobe bricks, saw yarn being dyed using natural dyes, visited a general store and typical one-room home. We discovered the basis for the phrase “two bits” (a quarter). This was because the unit of money was a silver real which was cut into 8 pieces. Eight bits = 1 real = 1 ounce of silver. Eight reals = 1 gold escudo. This money was legal tender until 1860. An interesting note is that the reals had serrated edges where thestamping machine held them as they were made. If the edges were smooth, it meant that someone had shaved the edges and therefore the piece was not worth the full real amount.
Adobe bricks used in the structure have straw in them, which wicks the water away from the center of the brick as it dries and also reduces cracking but slightly diminishes the strength of the bricks. Adobe is generally made of 26% clay and 74% sand and water is added to make a mixture that holds together. These bricks must dry for three weeks before they are strongenough to use in construction.
In the lobby area of the museum is a cultural/heritage/by-way mural which includes Bishop’sCastle, built by one man without machinery.
After our morning tour, our group split and half of us went to Angelo’s Pizza for lunch and the other half went to the Gold Dust Saloon. Angelo’s is on the Riverwalk and we were able to watch the rehearsal for the dedication of a piece of the World Trade Center. Pueblo is called the "City of Heroes" because there have been four Medal of Honor winners who were from Pueblo – one from WWII, two from the Korean War and one from the Vietnam War. The Riverwalk has been built within the past ten years and has many restaurants, parks, walking trail and at least two covered stages where concerts can be held.
Our next stop was at the EVRAZ, formally Colorado Fuel & Iron Company (CF&I), museum which is across the Arkansas River into what was once Mexican territory. It is part of theBessemer neighborhood now. Victoria Miller (the curator of the CF&I museum) gave us so much information about the history of CF&I. She is a walking encyclopedia about CF&I. CF&I is now owned by EVRAZ (a Russian company). EVRAZ is the largest employer, water user and land owner in Pueblo. The company was started in 1872 by William Palmer who had come west from Pennsylvania. Mr. Palmer owned the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad and wanted to connect Denver to Mexico City. Pueblo has the natural things used to make steel: coal from Los Animas, Huerfano and Fremont counties; iron ore from the San Luis Valley and also from Sunrise, Wyoming; water from the Arkansas River and limestone from Lime, Colorado which is about 60miles south of Pueblo. The limestone is needed to soak up the impurities in the molten steel. In 1872 the Colorado Coal & Iron Company started building the mill; ten years later the first rail came off the production line. The mill still makes rails. They also make fence posts, nails, wire, and bridge trusses. The mill made the trusses for the Royal Gorge Bridge as well as the cables for the Brooklyn Bridge and the Royal Gorge Bridge. At one time in the 1950s there wereapproximately 22,000 employees. CF&I owned and operated 62 mines and had water rights in the West. The company also controlled its own lumber mill. In fact it had control over every possible angle of the business including the newspaper, which it controlled until 1962. This corporate structure is similar to that used by Henry Ford and Johnson&Johnson.
In 1885 John Osgood started the Colorado Fuel Company which mined coal for homes in the area and was in competition with Mr. Palmer. In 1892 the two companies joined forces to produce steel and coal and became CF&I.
The building that houses the museum was erected in 1901 as well as the Administration building which is next door. The museum building was originally the medical dispensary. The company had its own hospital, nursing school, hired surgeons, had a pharmacy, and did X-rays. In October 1918 over 4600 people were treated here for Spanish flu. Dr. Richard Corwin came here in 1880 from Michigan and started the sociological department at the mill. He also started ESL classes – there were 42 languages spoken here in 1916. He also startedkindergartens, libraries, baseball teams, nursing school and a hospital. During the Depression there were also classes for women on how to cook and clean efficiently. The company formed a partnership with the YMCA. Dr. Corwin died in 1929 and in 1949 two of the hospitals in town combined – St. Mary’s and Dr. Corwin’s – becoming St. Mary Corwin Hospital, now part of Centura Health.
From 1915 – 1936 there were technological changes and social changes. In a period of ten years CF&I built 20 new mines – it was a vertical company (i.e., it mined the coal, made thecoke, mined the iron ore, had the water rights, and combined it all into making pig iron and then steel. The company owned the method for making steel as well as doing its own ads and marketing. CF&I also owned the towns that grew up around these mines. In Pueblo thecompany also owned the YMCA. CF&I was the 9th largest steel maker in the world at one time while US Steel was the 5th largest.
Of course, with the business comes employee unrest. The first rail came out of the factory in 1882 and in 1883 the company had its first strike. In 1904 CF&I was more than $7 million in debt and the president, Mr. Osgood, asked John D. Rockefeller for a loan. Instead of a loan,Rockefeller bought the company and owned it from 1904 – 1944. The workers were out from October 1913 until April 1914 when the Ludlow massacre occurred. CF&I employed 10% of the state population during this time, which included WWI and WWII. Rockefeller sold the company in 1945 and it became a national steel maker. In 1970 the company was sold to the Crane Corporation (toilets and sinks) whose ads noted that their products were used in “fluid management”. However, the industry declined because of global competition. The EPA forced the company to clean up and the company became more of a recycling plant rather than a manufacturing plant. Retirement figures bloomed and there was not enough money in the bank to pay the pensions. In 1986 the company was owned by the shareholders, and in 1990 went into Chapter 11. In 1993 the company was bought by Oregon Steel and then sold to EVREZ. Today there are approximately 1200 employees and the company produces rails, seamless tubing for oil drilling, rods and bars for scaffolding, rebar and wire. The mill makes over one million tons of steel here every years. They made the rails for the light rail system in Denver, some of which were made from still that came from the old Mile High Stadium. Current production is equal to what the plant produced at its peak though it is done with fewer employees.
Bessemer was one of the mine towns and was annexed into Pueblo in 1892. Other towns included mines in Crested Butte, Redstone and Canon City. In 2000 the Bessemer Historical Society bought these building and all the contents. The contents include over 60 million pieces of paper including sales brochures and pay records as well as over 100,000 photos, 15,000 blueprints and other business papers. The museum is a non-profit and is generally funded through grants and donations. Last year they did a mailing to former and retired employees requesting donations.
Then we watched a 1968 Disney film “Steel and America”. It noted that there are billions of tons of iron in the world. The first U.S. ironworks was built in 1648. Valley Forge was an ironworks. By 1864 two and a half tons of steel could be made in a minute in a Bessemer converter which forced air into the steel to make it harder. Low grade iron ore called taconite could be used. Coal was burned in a coke plant (it becomes similar to charcoal) and is used as fuel in a blast furnace as it can go to higher temperatures. Molybdenum is used in making stainless steel and keeps it from rusting.
We also walked through the Mine Rescue Car – a specially outfitted railroad car that went to the mines and taught mine safety and first aid. This car was retired in 1941 and was used as an office for the next 50 years.
Victoria told us about an upcoming event which will take place on August 4th which will be the 140th anniversary of steel making here. You will be able to go into the tunnel under the road, go through the mill, and also enjoy music and a beer garden. All this for $5/person.
About 4 pm we went to the Clarion Hotel and checked in. The Clarion was booked by the sponsors and housed us all. The Clarion is located at the Royal Gorge exit (Highway 50 west on Elizabeth Street). It is one of three motels at this intersection and it is easy to get either from I-25 or Highway 50. At 6:30 we all were back at the museum to hear the Pueblo Oratorio. The Pueblo Oratorio is Pueblo’s history told in song, narration and photos. It was really good. The originator has done oratorios for other cities as well. The band was four pieces and each person had a part in the narration and the music. Some of the museum staff are in the video accompanying the music.
After the oratorio, we were on our own for dinner – this weekend was the Wild Wild West Festival with many food booths and also professional bull riders and a midway with Gary Sinese playing bass as part of the Lt. Dan Band so we were well entertained all evening. The city provided a shuttle from a mall parking lot to the center of town – this service is similar to the one they provide during the State Fair. There are parking garages in the center of town, however, not enough to accommodate the influx of approximately 60,000 people for this festival.
Saturday we started our coach tour with a drive down Elizabeth Street to see the old homes, many of which were once owned by mill management though some workers did make enough to live next door. We passed the house owned by Murray Bernstein who hypnotized and then wrote the book about “Bridie Murphy”. We also drove past Rosemount – once owned by the Thatchers, prominent banker and leading businessman. Interesting trivia – Pueblo once had more bar stools per capita than any other town in Colorado – the mill workers would end their shift and head straight for the bar.
We passed the Union Depot, built in 1889, which once had more than 55 trains a day. In 1891, there were 51 trains, with over 18,000 passengers and 164,000 pieces of luggage each day! This amounted to over 164,000 passengers each year. The Denver & Rio Grande ran north to Denver and the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe (AT&SF) ran to the East. The AT&SF and the Union Pacific fought over which line would go to the Pueblo depot. AT&SF imported “hired guns” to help in the decision making. Bat Masterson was one of their hired guns.
We then passed the Robert Hope Rawlings library which is just nine years old. Built at a cost of $22 million, it also houses a 100-seat theater. The fourth floor is a newspaper museum which has an animated newsboy named Okie. During the Depression there were many WPA and CCC projects built across the U.S. Many zoos were built as WPA projects.
We headed out of town and passed the Charles Goodnight Ranch. Mr. Goodnight was the first to drive cattle from Texas to Wyoming and made his money in cattle ranching. An interesting neighbor was Annie Blake who bought a land grant for $10,000, sold 1/3 of it for $5,000, another 1/3 for $5,000 and then sold the remainder to the city for $130,000 – a good businesswoman!
Current projects along the Arkansas River include cleaning up the water to promote Gold Label fishing. The dam was built between 1962 and 1970 and covered the town of Swallow. We headed toward Wetmore and Rye. At one time the stage delivered the mail – every three days. The driver, who lived on the route, would shoot off his gun when he got about a mile from home so that his wife would know to get dinner on the table.
We crossed the Wet Mountains and arrived in Westcliffe. Westcliffe once had a population of over 5,000 though there are roughly 500 people there now. Westcliffe and Silver Cliff run together with a total population of about 900 people. Our first stop was was at Westcliffe's former railroad Depot, now a small museum. We received a general overview of the history of the towns as well as coffee and muffins. The rail museum is restoring two rail cars that were used to repair rail along the roadbed. We went to the Beckwith Ranch and “Mrs. Beckwith” met us there for a tour of the ranch house and some history. Mr. Beckwith came to this area in 1869 and built a two-room cabin which is the basis for the current house. It was electrified shortly after its erection. Mrs. Beckwith was born in Ohio in 1845, married Charles Davis and came west after her father died in the cholera epidemic. Her family owned 7,000 acres, ran 3,000 horses and held horse races in Ohio. Mr. Davis died from TB. Then Mrs. Beckwith married Welton Beckwith in 1875. They had a daughter, Velma, in 1877 and they had great plans for her future. Mr. Beckwith was a state senator and they were socially prominent. Unfortunately their daughter eloped with the assayer’s assistant and her parents disinherited her. The Beckwiths were worth millions of dollars. They ran cattle which they sold to the miners and made millions. Mr. Beckwith died in 1907 from hallucinatory problems caused by perious, or untreated syphilis. The land they owned was a land grant signed by U.S. Grant. After Mr. Beckwith died, the ranch was sold in 1907 and had many owners in the interveningyears. Currently the ranch is owned by Friends of the Beckwith. After Mr. Beckwith’s death, Mrs. Beckwith lived in Denver at the Brown Palace Hotel and she died in 1931. The house is being restored to the period bit by bit. Some of the first restoration has been completed and the ballroom on the main floor is a lovely rose color with an unusual wallpapered ceiling. The main parlor also has a wallpapered ceiling as well as a replica pot-bellied stove. We did see remnants of the original wallpaper in two of the closets.
An interesting piece in the kitchen is a hoosier which is a cabinet with a flour bin with a sifter attached and a pullout shelf. There is also an attached cold storage room where meat would be hung and the refrigerator (ice box) would be placed. Just outside the door to this area is an ice house.
The second floor has an original painting of owls just above one of the door frames. There is a long porch outside the library/study area on the second floor where musicians would play when the Beckwiths entertained. Mrs. Beckwith’s room has a bedroom set from before the Civil War, made in New Orleans. It has been used very little over its lifetime – it was stored in a tax shedfor years, then in a barn for 70 years and finally in the ranch barn for the past five years. It was recently moved into the house.
There is a small bedroom on the second floor that has child sized furniture now. This room could have been the sewing room in the Beckwith’s time. We explored all the outbuildings and then returned to the coach for the return to town for lunch. We had an excellent lunch on the patio at the Sangrita restaurant and then were on our own to walk about town. There are many small independently owned shops in town including an Amish furniture shop, a great bakery and a library that Daphne almost emptied and carried home with her since they were giving books away.
After lunch we returned to the coach and drove to Bishop’s Castle – a stone structure that Jim Bishop has been working on for over forty years. There are no windows, just window frames, in the castle and it rises over three stories above the road. Jim has done all the wrought iron work on the castle as well and it is beautiful and graceful. The Bishops had one son;unfortunately this son was killed when a tree stump they were removing fell on him.
Then it was on to the Lodge at San Isobel where we sampled their homemade fudge and looked at the lake. The lodge is a seasonal lodge and when the family arrived this spring the snow was still above the eaves. There is parking for several cars and a coach can pull in here. They do have several rooms for rent, averaging about $85/night. The lodge has been family owned for two generations and the third is growing up to take over some day.
After our visit to the lodge, we headed back into Pueblo and made our farewells to our delightful hosts.
-- Nancy Brueggeman