Beyond the Great Divide : 101 True Stories of Western Colorado

by Fay, Abbott

• ISBN13: 9781890437190
• ISBN10: 1890437190
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1999-06-01
• Publisher: Western Reflections Pub Co

Summary

Abbott Fay, Colorado's noted historian and author of I Never Knew That About Colorado, shares 101 unique stories of places and people during Western Colorado's early days.

Did you know that:
-- Several explorers claimed a wooden sailing ship was found near Red Cliff in 1879 stuck in ice in a cave filled with crystals and gold?
-- Delta women went on strike in the 1880s, refusing to cook evening meals until sidewalks were built and streets paved?
-- Silverton sprouted the first nationally recognized "cowboy band" in 1885?
-- In 1885, elephants pushed a train over Boreas Pass -- the world's highest railroad crossing?

Plus ninety-six other amazing stories . . .

Table of Contents

Part One Slithery Trails and the Devil'S Elbow
A Cemetery Which Vanished	10	(2)
Colorado's Youngest Volcano	12	(1)
How Treasure Mountain Got Its Name	13	(2)
Wild Whereabouts along the Winding Dolores	15	(2)
Red Cliff's Magnificent ``Crystal Cave''	17	(2)
Those Cramped and Slithery Trails	19	(2)
Gambling and Dancing for God	21	(2)
Elephants Crossing the Rockies	23	(1)
Curious Stops on the Roaring Fork Line	24	(1)
The Monster Who Devoured West Breckenridge	25	(2)
Negotiations at the Devil's Elbow	27	(1)
A Shocking Event on Electric Pass	28	(2)
Highest Fort in North America	30	(2)
Miracles at the Mount of the Holy Cross	32	(2)
Maybell's Old Victory Hotel	34	(2)
The Miraculous Pines of Silverton	36	(2)
Fort Lewis Had Several Lives	38	(4)
Part Two Salute to the Ute
How the Utes View Creation	42	(2)
The Dire Prophecy of Spiquet Pah	44	(2)
Placing a Curse with a Camera	46	(2)
Fighting Braves Driven Over the Edge	48	(1)
Why Ignacio Left Ignacio	49	(2)
Tabernash and Billy Cozens	51	(2)
The Beaver Creek Massacre	53	(2)
Americanization of Native Americans	55	(2)
Making Southern Utes into Modern Farmers	57	(3)
Part Three Spiritualists and Sages
Sensible Settlement of a Ute-Navajo War	60	(2)
A Toothache Led to a Discovery	62	(2)
Jittery Days Following the Ute Uprising	64	(1)
Spiritualist Miner of the Master Key	65	(2)
A Southwest ``Northwest Passage''	67	(2)
Garwood Judd: ``The Man Who Stayed''	69	(2)
Pat Dawson's Terrible Coffee	71	(2)
The Nimble Fingers of the Lay Postmaster	73	(2)
Mr. Osgood's Amazing Oldsmobile	75	(2)
The Secret Travels of a Monarch?	77	(2)
The West's Most Extraordinary Hermit	79	(2)
Pulleys and Weights for Broken Hips	81	(2)
Leaving the Wilderness Wild	83	(2)
``Sage of the Sagebrush''	85	(2)
The Wandering Jew of the Rio Blanco Country	87	(2)
Counting Sheep for 65 Years	89	(3)
Colorado's Toughest Game Warden	92	(2)
Escaping Annihilation at Crystal City	94	(2)
When Otto Got Married	96	(2)
Unsung Heroines of Education	98	(2)
The Old Man Who Took to the Air	100	(2)
The Camp Hale Pipe Smokers	102	(2)
Buster Brown Ended up in Craig	104	(2)
Part Four Four Great Escapes
Crawling to Cochetopa Pass	106	(2)
A Barefoot Three Hundred Mile Run	108	(2)
A Crucial Ski Race Near Steamboat Springs	110	(1)
Stranded on a Mountain Ledge	111	(3)
Part Five Creative Cowboys and Stubborn Women
Luring the Gullible	114	(2)
When the Thundering Herd Crossed Mancos Valley	116	(2)
The Great Colorado Land Rush	118	(3)
Colorado's Capitol Building Came from Aberdeen	121	(2)
Those ``Dobes'' near Crawford	123	(2)
The Telluride Pinheads	125	(2)
Delta Women Wielded Their Power	127	(2)
Discovering Stones that Burned	129	(3)
Cuisine at the Black Canyon Hotel	132	(1)
Busy Days on the Unitah Line	133	(2)
The Great Cricket War	135	(2)
Skimming over the Continental Divide	137	(2)
A Sure-Fire Real Estate Deal Almost Failed	139	(1)
Those Old Rocks at a Durango Cafe	140	(2)
Colorado's Most Elaborate Ski Tow	142	(1)
The Great Garmesa Experiment	143	(2)
Inundated and Buried Alive	145	(2)
Boating Down from the Mine	147	(1)
Mythical Structures	148	(1)
Rangely Field Gets an Injection	149	(1)
The Hare-Krishna Cowboys	150	(3)
Colorado's Canny Canine Convention	153	(2)
A Christmas Tree in the Desert	155	(3)
Part Six Ordeals by Fire and Ice
Lethal Avalanches in the San Juan Mountains	158	(3)
Underground Holocausts	161	(2)
The Great Gunnison Die-off	163	(2)
Colorado's Largest Grassland Conflagration	165	(1)
The Rockies on the Move	166	(4)
Part Seven Civilizing the Slope
The Canon Pintado Art Gallery	170	(2)
Cold-Shouldering a Tuba	172	(1)
America's Original Cowboy Band	173	(1)
When Delta Had Operas	174	(2)
Scholars and Musicians at Gunnison	176	(2)
The Perry-Mansfield Dancing Camp	178	(2)
When Broadway Came to Grand Junction	180	(2)
Grand Junction's Problem with Dalton Trumbo	182	(2)
The Erudite and Musical Invasion of Aspen	184	(2)
Western Colorado's Largest Art Creation	186	(4)
Part Eight Sham Duels and Outrageous Outlaws
Lake City's First Duel	190	(1)
Another Surprising Duel	191	(2)
That Sloppy Hanging in Lake City	193	(2)
The Tragedy at Grand Lake	195	(2)
Queen of the Cattle Rustlers	197	(2)
``Not Much Damage Done''	199	(2)
Ray Simpson's Remarkable Marksmanship	201	(2)
A Beheading Near Bedrock	203	(2)
Those Grisly Soap Kettle Murders	205	(2)
A Gangster Resort at Sweetwater Lake	207