Stories from the Midland

08/23/2024

A quiet moment in the SFTM studio...

08/23/2024

Okay! It's time for another Stories from the Midland episode. This one is about the Denver & Rio Grande Western's K-37 locomotives, engine 499, and the conditions within the D&RGW that led to their creation.

On June 11, 2013, I found myself at Royal Gorge Park looking up at Denver & Rio Grande engine 499. The picture I took of that locomotive is one of my favorit...

08/13/2024

I have a new Photos from the Midland episode I just uploaded. This one is about exploration of the Theresa Mine in Vindicator Valley just outside of Victor, Colorado. With this episode, I'm trying out a new format. The video is completely unscripted and is of me walking around the mine, looking for cool pictures to take. I hope you enjoy it!

Also, I will have the next Stories from the Midland video soon. Have a great day! I think the Theresa Mine is a magical place. It’s here that I first fell in love with Teller County history, eventually leading to the creation of Stories from the Midland.

We're changing things up with Photos of the Midland. In this episode, I wander around the Theresa Mine outside of Victor, CO looking for cool pictures to tak...

08/11/2024

I've created a new photo gallery on my Stories from the Midland webpage. It has all of the film photographs from my visit to the Theresa Mine, yesterday.

The Theresa Mine with the Mamiya C220Vindicator Valley Trail outside of Victor, Colorado is a very special place. Walking the two mile loop brings visitors face-to-face with so many mining structures. The Southern Teller County Focus Group maintains the trail and has put up quite a few interpretive....

08/11/2024

One of the things I find great about the Theresa Mine is the ability to go into the outbuildings, specifically the hoist house. I find being able to stand in the control room and reach out and touch the old controls is amazing. With one of the levers, when I push and pull it, I can actually see the brakes engaging and disengaging from at hoist.

I took this picture while working on a future project. I used a Mamiya C220 twin-lens reflex, medium format camera loaded with Arista EDU Ultra 400 film. I lit the levers with a Lumecube RGB Panel Go.

08/05/2024

As I cross milestones with my relatively new YouTube channel, I feel like I must be doing something right. The latest milestone... I got my first troll! Wooo! I'm sure I have many more coming my way...😆

This was left for me on my latest video, the one about Zebulon Pike.

08/02/2024

A new Stories from the Midland episode is posted, this one about Zebulon Pike - the man for whom Pikes Peak is named.

Zebulon Pike was the first American adventurer to see Pikes Peak. He initially saw it as a "small blue cloud" on the horizon from 111 miles away. The peak wa...

07/19/2024

It's going to take me a little longer to get the next Stories from the Midland episode out. I'm currently out o the country and getting ready to head home. I'll get working on the next episode as soon as I'm back. See you soon!

07/12/2024

Episode 89 - The Pursuit of George Ballew

This episode expands on the story of George Ballew is told in our audio episode about the town of South Platte. He was a drunk that seemed to hate all the world. He tried to be a murderer and became a fugitive who led law enforcement from almost all southern Colorado on a spirited chase. And in the

07/12/2024

I just released the most next Stories from the Midland video, "The Pursuit of George Ballew." Angry and drunk can lead to a lot of crazy and lead to pursuit by a lot of cops. I hope you enjoy it!

07/05/2024

I just released the latest SFTM video, this one about the bravery and sacrifice of a C&S engineer named William "Billy" Westall. In Jefferson County, on the road between South Platte and Buffalo Creek, you can find the memorial erected in his honor not far from Dome Rock.

William "Billy" Westall was a train engineer for the Denver South Park & Pacific Railroad who made a steep sacrifice to protect the train passengers under hi...