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...

07/04/2024

According to the July 4, 1901 edition of the Victor Record, Victor had a rip-roaring couple of days scheduled to celebrate Independence Day including, among other things, a broadsword contest. Wherever you find yourself today, I hope you have an outstanding Independence Day of your own!

07/04/2024

I have a new photo page on the Stories from the Midland website.

I have a beautiful Zeiss Ikonta 35mm camera that my Grandad bought about 75 years ago. A few days ago, I ran the first roll of film through it in probably 50 years.

After loading the roll of Arista EDU 200 black and white film, I set off for Pine. I was headed there to shoot B-roll for a couple of upcoming Stories from the Midland episodes. Once I got to Pine, I photographed my way southeast into Buffalo Creek before turning northeast to enter Platte Cañon.

I have a beautiful Zeiss Ikonta 35mm camera that my Grandad bought about 75 years ago. A few days ago, I ran the first roll of film through it in probably 50 years. After loading the roll of Arista EDU 200 black and white film, I set off for Pine. I was headed there to shoot B-roll for a couple of u...

07/01/2024

I spent a bunch of time today out running around and using a 35mm camera that is about 75 years old to take pictures for some upcoming video episodes for Stories from the Midland. While these two pictures do not relate to the episodes, I thought the subjects would be fun to capture with the old camera.

06/28/2024

As I use my cameras more to help promote my Stories from the Midland episodes, I'll be creating content for my Photos from the Midland channel. For the episode, The Mountain Men and Catamount Charley, I've created a video about using my large format camera to create the video's thumbnail while I wear a wig and beard. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iw4na5fK3Xo

06/28/2024

A new Stories from the Midland video is live! This one is about the mountain men and historic local Catamount Charley.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i4wL8Nhsr5s

06/28/2024

Episode 88 - The Mountain Men and Catamount Charley

While we've covered the same story about Catamount Charley in a previous episode, this story goes in depth into the evolution of the mountain men in general. This episode was generated as the audio version of a YouTube video. That video can be found over on our video page .