FWIW, something different. A ride report over many years. Then and now. Standing where the photographer stood many years ago. I didn't always get it right... rushed pics, different lens, and other excuses, but hey, there was always a bike pausing nearby or idling underneath! They do, or can, cause moments of reflection.
The mining community of Apex in the late 1800's, having a 4th of July parade... [image: Posted Image]
Apex today, a semi-ghost town about five miles NW of Central City... [image: Posted Image]
Bonanza, as in "It's a bonanza boys!" flared when a rich gold vein was discovered nearby. President Ulysses S. Grant visited upon reports Bonanza could be the next Leadville... [image: Posted Image]
The gold was mined and fires swept through the close proximity structures (A common fate of many frontier towns... wood heat, wood structures, no 911)... [image: Posted Image]
Tracks were laid over the Boreas Pass summit to haul ores from Leadville to Denver... [image: Posted Image]
The tracks were pulled up in the 1930's, and in the 1950's a road was placed on the old rail bed. Riding friend Rick cheesily agreed to place himself where the train was... [image: Posted Image]
The Cathedral Spires along the North Fork of the South Platte... [image: Posted Image]
That pastoral Bear Creek above would turn demonic when its raging waters would crash through towns below after heavy rains. The dam creating Evergreen Lake had me off to the side for the "now" pic... [image: Posted Image]
The Bradford Junction community in the late 1800's would gather at this ranch for all things social... dances, celebrations, etc. Perhaps this was a July 4th gathering. Bring your best attire was often the unstated rule... [image: Posted Image]
Today, busy U.S. 285 passes by the same place near the town of Conifer. Had the elevated highway not been present, could have relocation for a better comparison... [image: Posted Image]
Gold Hill is the location of one of Colorado's earliest gold strikes. An image from around 1890... [image: Posted Image]
In a way, not a lot has changed. Well, there are more trees... less need to cut down the nearby woods for structures and heat. Colorado's oldest continuously operating school is here. The massive Four Mile wildfire of September 2010 licked the edges of the town off to the left, but a valiant firefighting effort spared the historical buildings. If you have a BBQ sandwich at the general store, a pot bellied stove is a main source of the heat and the bathroom is about the size of your coat closet... [image: Posted Image]
A thrilling road just for owners of new fangled cars was built above Golden around 1920... [image: Posted Image]
Today the Lookout Mountain road thrills for owners of two wheeled transportation devices. The sun kindly obliged and a rider was caught just in time on the far left... [image: Posted Image]
Narrow gauge trains/rails were used 100 years ago because, well, they were narrow and could squeeze between canyon walls and rivers. Denver passengers often took weekend trips into the mountains on these trains. Not far from Buffalo Creek... [image: Posted Image]
The aptly named Peterhead Rock today. Could have climbed higher for a more accurate "now" image, but I risked life and limb just getting this high! [image: Posted Image]
Cripple Creek and Victor pumped out so much gold, the amount was greater than the California and Alaska gold rushes combined. Back then Victor had a population of 5,000... [image: Posted Image]
Today about 400 call Victor home. Most downtown structures are empty... [image: Posted Image]
Looking west towards Westcliffe in 1900, towards the dramatic Sangre de Cristos Range... [image: Posted Image]
Well, someone has surely came along since then with some seeds or seedlings! [image: Posted Image]
Funny how much of what was natural did not change too much after all that time. You can see the same boulders, rocks, cracks and crags in the pic hardly affected by time weather and man.
Human beings are just passing along and eventually, I suspect will not be in future pictures of the same sites.......
Thank you very much for posting the pics. They should all be in a book one day!
A great idea and very nicely executed. Are you going to be at SumSum? If so, I'd like to stick close to you. I might learn something, (or, more likely, lots of stuff).
Love it. I have a few similar photos of new/old here in Colorado. John Fielder books are my favorites. I hope that doesn't tarnish my "high intellectual image" HA! Yes, photo books are my favorites and I love to compare new/old and am often surprised at the number of NEW trees that weren't in the old ones. Good work!
[image: View Post]Beck, on 27 January 2012 - 06:04 PM, said:
Funny how much of what was natural did not change too much after all that time. You can see the same boulders, rocks, cracks and crags in the pic hardly affected by time weather and man.
Human beings are just passing along and eventually, I suspect will not be in future pictures of the same sites.......
Thank you very much for posting the pics. They should all be in a book one day!
Beck
95 VFR
Kind and thoughtful thoughts everyone.
There can be reflections from older images... what remains, where there is change, what vanishes. Photos of people from previous generations can cause a pause, at least with me, as if then was their time on the stage of life, and now we're up on the stage. May we say our lines well, and with gusto. A few more...
In the late 1800's the townsite of Tarryall, on the magical Tarryall Road (County 77 - Park County) sprang to life with nearby gold and silver deposits... but it wasn't a long "sprang". The town also went by the unflattering name of "graball". Guess the merchants, tradesmen, middlemen, etc. charged or took whatever they could from the miners. The nearby county seat was named "Fairplay" because we "play fair" with the miners. The "garden spot" of Tarryall in the 1880's... [image: Posted Image]
A riding friend and I wandered all over the place trying to find the location of the above... [image: Posted Image]
Back when inmates were sentenced to "hard labor", the nearby residents at the Canon City State Prison constructed this amusement park like road called Skyline Drive. [image: Posted Image]
I found the photo above after taking the photo below. If ever in the Canon City area, ride this thing. The one way road with its blind rises will leave you with your stomach in your throat if you gas it a bit! [image: Posted Image]
[image: View Post]Monk, on 28 January 2012 - 02:54 AM, said:
Looks like "FM light and Son's" is not only still there in Steamboat but has expanded.......
Yes, how about that. And the Safeway Store, at the time, next door. Grocery stores have changed a bit since then!
Surprised my wife with a weekend riding trip to Steamboat Springs two years ago. She wanted the destination a secret. Well, I forgot well-known F&M Light places advertising signs on highways leading to Steamboat... "See F&M Light in Steamboat Springs for the best selection of cowboy boots. 45 miles." Dang. After about five of them she guessed where we were going. :huh:
[image: View Post]sfarson, on 28 January 2012 - 02:18 AM, said:
... May we say our lines well, and with gusto. ...
Amen to that my friend ... great set of pics sfarson, thx for posting.
BTW ... I've been thinking (read "dreaming") of a new Hypermotard for my garage and have seen a few incredible pics of yours on the Duc website - very nice indeed!!
This is one of the best posts I've read on Vfrdiscussion in a while. What a great way to explore and document the area you live in. It's really quite amazing when you look at historical photos and see how much things have changed.
Kind thoughts everyone. As always. For a few more strolls through past...
A festive 1901 Labor Day in the thriving, mining community of Eldora... [image: Posted Image]
Well, with the mines less thriving, so is the now sem-ghost town of Eldora. What a contrast... [image: Posted Image]
Boy, when roads were created for autos around 1910-1920, there was a craze to go on group "drives". We can relate with our two wheeled things eh? This is Bear Creek Canyon west of Denver. How would you like to be going the opposite direction? [image: Posted Image]
When fires swept through communities back then, seriously, little could be done. Many towns saw flames pass through more than once. The Cripple Creek fire of 1896. Dang... [image: Posted Image]
Hey, let's start building more often with brick. Four years later in 1900... [image: Posted Image]
And 110 years later. I should actually be a few feet forward... [image: Posted Image]
About 60 years ago, the D&SP station house in Como was in a state of decay after the tracks over nearby Boreas Pass were pulled up. [image: Posted Image]
Things are coming around a bit, but things are also still a little slow and sleepy in Como (named by Italian miners who thought the area reminded them of home)... [image: Posted Image]
Nevadaville, about a mile SW above Central City, boasted in 1865 a population of 4,000... one of the most populous towns in the state at the time. The first big gold strike was nearby... [image: Posted Image]
This post got me to thinking maybe I could do the same thing here locally. So I googled some old photos taken around the area looking for prospective sites. Fat chance! Our horizon is so flat here that there is nothing permanent enough to figure out where to take the "now" photo from.
This is a nice post, sure nice to look how things change during time. Spechally two places I like, both seem to be werry enjoyable whit a 2 wheeled :tour:
This... [image: Posted Image]
And this [image: Posted Image]
I think this thread pretty much epitimizes what a road trip on the VFR means to me. Travelling to places I have never been and trying to capture the feel of the history each stop has.
You just took it to the next level with putting the past and present pictures together. Truly epic. Well done Sir!
Wow,and as everyone has said Thank You for the great post :fing02:
I wonder how many of us will be thinking about this thread next time we ride....I know I will be.
The well attended Boulder Falls in Boulder Canyon with well attended to men sitting still for the cam... [image: Posted Image]
The Falls were closed to stabilize the rocks and hillside behind me, so I looked left and right and snuck in for a pic with no one present... [image: Posted Image]
Platoro was a flare and fade mining community in deep southern Colorado... [image: Posted Image]
Today, it mostly sees residents in the summer. If you have a DS bike, while not observable in this pic, the South San Juan Wilderness abounds in all directions. Forest Road 250 winds through it all, and it is a truly magical place that will put you in a I-have-no-words-to-say trance... [image: Posted Image]
Russell Gulch is another boom and bust town. During boom times over a thousand lived here... [image: Posted Image]
Today during bust times it is hardly populated with people, but it is populated with old and empty and small miners cabins... [image: Posted Image]
If you hopped off the train in St. Elmo in 1878, this is how you might have been greeted... [image: Posted Image]
These are beautiful and brutally painful! I had the pleasure of my dad being stationed at Fort Carson as a kid and have been trying to drag my wife back out there ever since...unfortunately she's not having any part of it :sad: .
Thanks so much for putting these together, excellent job and even better content!
Excellent job on the the posting and finding the now pics. I orginally expected to see now and then pics of members motorbikes but was pleasantly surprised with the post, good job. Thank goodness for silver halide photos (black and white) they will last for damn near ever. We are a making a mistake going to digital because in a hundred years from now you probably won't be able to find any digipictures from our time. It's a shame, so go and buy some kodak so we don't lose b&w film.
sfarson, those are just fabulous. I've looked at them again and again. I owe you a "thank you"! The photos are reminiscent of Northern Nevada where I live and the nearby Sierras in California.
Pagosa comes from the Ute word "Pahgosa". The chamber of commerce says it means "healing" waters. Uh huh. The more correct meaning is "smelly waters". :laugh: Indian tribes would fight over the possession of hot springs. Back before there were nice hot showers or hot tubs, these kinds of places had serious appeal. To build up the downtown area, the San Juan River was relocated south about 100 yards, near the sulphur hot springs, which are behind me. In front is the downtown today... [image: Posted Image]
The Nevadaville City Hall in 1933, decades after the mines closed down and the miners moved out... [image: Posted Image]
When the last residents of St. Elmo rode out (literally) on the last train before the line closed, the abandoned buildings were left on their own. In 1930, a few decades after the place became a ghost town... [image: Posted Image]
After another 80 years, some occasional care has helped them withstand the elements... [image: Posted Image]
Paused at the motorcycle destination spot of Deckers today. Great riding in every direction. Gold medal fishing abounds in the Middle Fork of the South Platte here. Saw some rainbow whoppers snacking on natural flies as I strolled along the river finding where the photographer stood long ago. There's a fly shop (Flies & Lies) here. The river and dirt roads of 100 years ago have been rerouted. Most of the structures are gone as well. Oh but those hills remain unrerouted...
Facing north, the river and road crossings of Deckers back then... [image: Posted Image]
Climbed the hill overlooking Deckers in the motorcycle gear. Could have scrambled a little higher to the rock the individual is sitting on, but would have been amidst a dense stand of trees... [image: Posted Image]
It actually was quite the idyllic place back then. Good fishin', good game in the forests, etc... [image: Posted Image]
And you know, the fishin' and the huntin' remain good, as does the ridin'. A guard rail and a seriously big tree nearby prevented me from a slightly better perspective... [image: Posted Image]
The old Deckers post office and store was to the north of today's structures. Can see it in the first old image above, across from the large dark building... [image: Posted Image]
Just an empty and small grassy field, with a hillside more populated with trees (very typical nowadays)... [image: Posted Image]
Bear Creek would rampage through Morrison periodically after heavy rains would soak the canyons above town. The dam at Evergreen ten miles to the west put a halt to the unruliness of the water, but not before this flood 80 years ago, with mud the photographed aftermath... [image: Posted Image]
<ot>I don't get it why they make modern computer screens the size (in pixels) needed to watch HD movies. Fortunately my trusty old CRT at 1392 vertical pixels is still doing OK, no need to scroll to see two pictures.</ot>
When you hit F11 your brower goes full screen and you do not need to scroll that much.
Not much has changed. Google streetview with Amsterdam in the background.
V4 Rosso... Sorry I missed this! You know, my mom's side of the family comes from Rotterdam, and the images I've seen look similar to what you have place here! Excellent then and now.
OK, it has been awhile. Here's another collection...
Shawnee, Colorado was a place for tourists to stay a spell. The train noted in the preceding post would drop off Denver paying passengers at the Shawnee train stop for some relaxin', hikin', fishin', etc. About 100 years ago, looking east from Shawnee, this was the view. The tracks are unseen here, down and to the left alongside the North Fork of the South Platte River. But the wagon road is visible... [image: Posted Image]
Now, 100 years ago from the same location as above, if one turned 90 degrees to the right in the wintertime, and looked up, here is where some of the visitors would stay... [image: Posted Image]
It is one of the oldest remaining structures in Shawnee today... [image: Posted Image]
From a distance, one can see how Shawnee looked back then. Can see the above Grand View Hotel to the left of the access road. The really big lodge to the right burned down in 1929. Many of the lodges along the train route burned down mysteriously in the 1920's and 1930's as train traffic gave way to auto traffic. Travelers by auto could come and go from Denver without staying the night or weekend. The probable reason for these lodges turned to ashes? Insurance money. [image: Posted Image]
Well, I hiked up a hill through a garden of cow pies as far as I could go, but elevation gain was no more with a serious barbed wire fence hoping I would make its day. Turned around for Shawnee today. That tree in the field next to the plowed field could be the same one seen today... [image: Posted Image]
West Creek, about thirty miles west of Pikes Peak around 1896-1897... [image: Posted Image]
This month is the ten year anniversary of the massive Hayman wildfire, which consumed 138,000 acres and numerous scattered homes in the Westcreek area. Today, it is a quiet place, but what a diff versus 1896-1897... [image: Posted Image]
Today, with a delightful power pole. There was a home behind me preventing a more elevated and precise "where the photographer stood then"... [image: Posted Image]
So I ride about a mile south along West Creek where a few structures of West Creek "suburbia" were placed. The larger structure is the West Creek Holiday Inn. Flash and dim mining communities often had many living in tents, including in the winter. At least it appears there is a wood stove fire in the white tent.... [image: Posted Image]
Guess it is fitting to have horses of the day stand in tribute to the past. Could have hopped the fence and joined them for a slightly better "now" perspective... [image: Posted Image]
Have passed through this canyon (back then a train bed, today a chip seal on the old bed) casually the past year or so trying to spot the location of this 100 year old image. No luck. Until a few days ago. "Poised Rock" is that round rock at the top of the sloping rock face. See that dot of a tree in front of it? [image: Posted Image]
The North Fork of the South Platte, about 30 miles SW of Denver. Some things change, some things do not... [image: Posted Image]
I continue to be amazed. Still my favorite post. There is no doubt in my mind that the two trees you mention are the ones seen now all grown up. So cool.
Please have a book published and ready to buy and have autographed by SumSum2.
Hey all, gracious comments and thoughts. I'll have another batch one of these days. Rode to the semi-ghost town of Montezuma today. Hope to stop by the Colorado meet later this summer!
Steve
In 1905 the community of Divide, west of Pikes Peak was a stop for the Colorado Midland Railroad... [image: Posted Image]
Many times I've ridden by blissfully on U.S. 24 and never noticed the historic depot! If you can trust me [image: Posted Image], the VFR is parked just out of view... [image: Posted Image]
[image: View Post]sfarson, on 04 June 2012 - 07:32 PM, said:
my mom's side of the family comes from Rotterdam, and the images I've seen look similar to what you have place here! Excellent then and now.
On the outskirts of Rotterdam you will still find villages similar to the one in this pic. Most of Rotterdam itself has changed beyond recogntion since it was destroyed during WWII. Next time I'm there I hope to remember to take a pic for this topic.
Again a nice series of then and now images. I am amazed by the excellent quality of some of the old photographs.
see if you can find out where exactly they lived (town or even better street plus house number). am sure we will find a wauy to take some pictutres (with VFRs in them ofcourse)
[image: View Post]V4 Rosso, on 07 June 2012 - 04:07 AM, said:
[image: View Post]sfarson, on 04 June 2012 - 07:32 PM, said:
my mom's side of the family comes from Rotterdam, and the images I've seen look similar to what you have place here! Excellent then and now.
On the outskirts of Rotterdam you will still find villages similar to the one in this pic. Most of Rotterdam itself has changed beyond recogntion since it was destroyed during WWII. Next time I'm there I hope to remember to take a pic for this topic.
Again a nice series of then and now images. I am amazed by the excellent quality of some of the old photographs.
Thanks V4 and Dutchy! I will follow with my mom to see if she has any extra info. The image she showed me not too long ago was my great grandmother standing in front of her Rotterdam home, and there was a housing resemblance to your images V4. But this would have been pre-WWII. Both sides of her family are Dutch, but thinking out loud, I need to ask her if both came from Rotterdam. Her maiden name is Kingma.
Once I was having lunch on the square in Brugge, Belgium, and struck up a conversation with a couple from a nearby table who were on holiday from Amsterdam. I mentioned "Kingma", and the couple noted knowing others with that last name. Speaking of WWII destruction, was told Brugge was spared by the German commander when he refused to turn the town into rubble as forces retreated in the face of the Allied offensive. Later, the citizens of Brugge honored the commander for disobeying his orders. Well, this is what I was told. Was in Brugge numerous times on business, and once, drove east through the Netherlands, past Antwerpen and Eindhoven on my way to Germany for other meetings. Wonderful memories.
Lurv your work sfarson -> is it my imagination, or would you say that, on average, there's more trees and shrubs to be seen in the new pictures than is showing in the older pics of the same areas?
Tex... It isn't your imagination. Back then trees in the vicinity of early Colorado mountain communities would be cut down for construction, furniture, heat, etc. Plus forest fires usually ran their course. Many more trees nowadays... but the forests aren't as healthy given fire suppression efforts.
End of thread · 90 posts recoveredWayback Machine snapshot 18 Jun 2012